Better, Greener Publishing

Speed. Convenience. Tree hugging. 

Current printing methods and technologies are always improving. The summer 2010 edition of Custom magazine recently highlighted these advancements. Not only are they making our jobs easier, but a little greener.

Last fall, a company needed 600 copies of a publication for a last-minute conference. Using NSO Press in Denver, it received the final product in less than two days, reported Custom. Even a year ago, that may not have been possible. 

Programs like InSite certainly help. Workers in every step of the process can make corrections and approve a copy without printing so much as a page. PDF files can be edited and revamped by a multitude of people from different areas in the same day.

Even more than that, advances in proofing systems have made better how we see green. These benefits include editing on computer screens instead of hard copies and high-quality recycled paper with environmentally friendly inks that can include soy and vegetable-based types. As for Wax, we’re shifting to digital proofing, and our San Francisco Health Plan publications, including Healthy San Francisco, are printed on recycled paper.

Electronic publishing, of course, is the greenest of all, but no one can deny the benefits of the printed word in hand. And when the printed word can get the message to the consumer in no time at all, everyone benefits.