Editor's Notes: Wonderful World

EskoWorld 2013, the annual conference for Esko users held last month in Phoenix, Ariz., was successful on many fronts, with more than 600 attendees taking home much useful information and many fond memories. The conference got off to a great start with two highlights taking place on Sunday, May 19. Carsten Knudsen, Esko CEO and president, gave a nice send off to the recently retired Simon James, who held a variety of management positions with Esko including president Esko North America and Esko senior VP, global marketing. James rode into the presentation on a rodeo bull to a standing ovation and then sat through a 2013 version of "This is Your Life."

One other conference highlight on the first day was the keynote presented by Bill Capodagli, titled, "If Walt Ran Your Organization." The "Walt" here is Walt Disney, and Capodagli presented a number of key management principles that are at the heart of the Disney Company's 14 percent return over the past 60 years. Foremost among Walt's management style were these driving thoughts—Dream, Believe, Dare, Do. In addition, Capodagli reported that Walt had a longterm mentality, coupled with an approach to trying new things that he summed up as "celebrate failure."

What I found more interesting was the flashback I had to my younger days when one of my favorite TV shows on Sunday night was "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color." This program debuted in 1961, but I didn't quite get to experience the wonderful world of color on TV until I got my first color TV around 1976 (but I enjoyed to show just the same).

The reproduction of color in different media has come a long way in the more than 50 years since it made its television debut, and the science of color continues to make significant strides in the package-printing world. As a matter of fact, color management is one of the "hot buttons" in package printing.

FTA's Annual Forum has devoted a number of sessions to the topic over the years, and the 2013 conference included a comprehensive session on the expanding use of expanded gamut printing. DuPont's Mark Mazur; Esko's Mark Samworth; and Kevin Bourquin of Cyber Graphics each highlighted how the use of standards, and improvements in measuring techniques and color management/workflow software have contributed to the great strides made in color accuracy and predictability in recent years.

This issue of packagePRINTING includes an article discussing the merits of the use G7 standards in packaging. It's another tool that package printers can use to produce consistent, accurate, and predictable color reproductions.

Walt was right in so many things, but for sure, it's a wonderful world of color.

Tom Polischuk, Editor-in-Chief

We welcome your comments regarding any part of packagePRINTING.

They can be addressed to Editor, packagePRINTING, 1500 Spring Garden St., 12th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19130, or tpolischuk@napco.com.