Sign of The Times

Finding custom fine-arts printing and publishing services just got easier because the new Vashon Island Imaging sign is now proudly on display.

Vashon Island isn't a very big place so you'll eventually drive by and now you'll know when you've arrived at our giclée and laser printing company. It's also where I print my book about pixel perfect printing, Giclée Prepress - The Art of Giclée (ISBN 9780-9865-75112, 272 pages, 477 pictures).

Vashon Island Imaging specializes in fine quality laser and giclée printing. Services encompass everything needed for giclée artwork production including copying and scanning, prepress, printing, coating, and either stretching or mounting. Laser printing is geared toward high-end applications like posters, brochures, mailers, and book publishing.

Education and training are an important part of our offerings. Digital imaging seminars are held periodically on a group basis and 'on demand' for individual tutorials. The cost is $5 an hour for groups. That's right, $5. No I have not lost my mind because my goal is to help people get more out of their printing, whether they print their own work or send it out to companies like Vashon Island Imaging. If people get better results they will be happier. If they are happier, they will come back for more.

There is nothing more frustrating than having a disappointing print emerge from your super-duper printing machine. To be honest I have to admit that these days you can get a pretty good print 'at the touch of a button'. But believe me you are only getting average results... because that's what digital imaging devices do, they average. My book explains this problem in detail and so do some of my other blogs. In a nutshell every device has limitations as to the number of colors it can produce and the 'character' of those colors. No one picture file can look good on all devices because each renders the file with different luminance and chromatic qualities. Original picture files therefore need to be adjusted to look their best on a given media or display. That is called 'prepress'.

People mistakenly think that when they use the latest version of PhotoShop® or equivalent together with fancy printing machines that they've got printing covered. Since the results look pretty good, it is difficult for people to imagine that there could be more... but there can be... a lot more.

Printing is like driving. A Ferrari's performance is as good as its driver. Similarly a giclée or laser printing machine output is only as good as the prepress artist's efforts.

Makes sense so far, right? Then explain to me why 90% of our new clients at Vashon Island Imaging are unaware of what prepress is and why just as many are clueless about the meaning of 'giclée' (or how to say it).

If I earned a dime every time I explained the meaning of giclée I wouldn't have to print for a living, or so it seems. What started as a 'spiel' has become a litany. I've got it down to almost '25 words or less'... giclée is a French word that translates as 'spray'... it is a process works by spraying dots instead of 'contact printing' them... resulting in the widest dynamic tone range and most detail of any printing process. (OK, 36 words.)

If I still have their attention then I explain that the quality of our printing at Vashon Island Imaging derives from our prepress, which is a house specialty and what I teach at the seminars and in my book.

If my clients can do the basic prepress then I can concentrate on the finishing touches and the result will be even better. And if they are printing themselves or somewhere else, they will get better results than if no prepress work had been done at all... and guess what, most other print shops don't do any prepress to speak about.

At Vashon Island Imaging we include a fair amount of prepress because we don't want any bad looking prints out there. Remember what hair stylist Vidal Sassoon said? 'If you don't look good, we don't look good'. So it goes in giclée. We target the high end of the market. There is already a good business oriented printing shop on the Island (Vashon Print and Design). Vashon Island Imaging picks it up from the high end of their spectrum and takes it to the quality levels needed for fine-arts reproduction and publication... all the way through finishing and display.

We have time to do it right because time passes more slowly on Vashon Island. When people come here for a visit I remind them to turn their clocks back 5 or 10 minutes. Good things take time (and care). That's part of the Zen of giclée and what you'll find behind our new sign.

If you can't make it to the studio visit us at www.vashonislandimaging.com where you are welcome 24/7.