Streamlining Assets
It's axiomatic: Time is money. For companies with either to waste, digital asset management holds few enticements. For budget-squeezed ad agencies, package designers, and converters that need to make the most of both, however, the tools of digital asset management (DAM), properly implemented, can greatly enhance their ability to locate, manage, and archive digital files and the metadata (format, authors, versions, permissions, etc.) used to describe them. Whether customers opt for a client sever-based system, or a subscription or SAS (software-as-a-solution) option, Web-based workflow systems with integrated asset management functionality enable creative professionals to archive and recall images, artwork, audio, video, or text for use in new jobs. This will save the time and energy that would be needed to recreate a project from scratch, avoiding redundant project approvals, and shrinking the overall time to market.
For consumer product companies (CPCs), organizing, tracking, managing, archiving, and retrieving digital assets plays a critical role in managing a global brand presence, as well as in protecting their brands from regulatory or legal challenges. It can also help alleviate the disruption that can arise from an unforeseen change in print provider. For converters, asset management saves production time and labor by avoiding unnecessary rework and enabling the fast, efficient recall of package elements for preparation and modification.
Automate and streamline
Workflows that generate the "rich media" assets typical of consumer product packaging are fundamentally dynamic, in line with requirements that must be updated as regulations change; as flavors, colors, or other ingredients are added; as design elements are revised; and for myriad other reasons. Applied to packaging, DAM systems or modules should automate and streamline the collection of assets; ensure the security and confidentiality of those assets; and accommodate growth and change in assets—all without compromising the speed or functionality of the creative or production process.
Client/server solution
Kodak's (www.kodak.com) InSite Creative Workflow is an in-house client/server solution that manages content creation and approval for ad agencies, publishers, and creative individuals. It includes the Kodak Smart Review System, which offers a range of tools for collaborative reviewing and virtual proofing. The integrated Asset Library is a DAM solution designed for use in a print production environment that manages and stores digital files, providing all project stakeholders with instant access to their digital assets, including photographs, illustrations, editorial content, and job specifications. Together, the InSite Creative Workflow System and the Asset Library enable users that host the software to offer them to customers as tools for creative content development and reuse of assets.
Print service providers and creatives are accustomed to dealing with the challenge of hosting images and other digital assets for their customers, including the task of "picking up" images used in previous production jobs for use in new work. But no matter how organized and accessible a company's internal files, unproductive time spent searching for creative content increases operational costs and its customer's frustration with the process. One company that understands this better than many is Cyber Graphics (www.cybermemphis.com), headquartered in Memphis, Tenn.
Case in Point
Formerly the in-house prepress division of Bryce Corporation (www.brycecorp.com), the company was established as an independent prepress company in 1994. It now supplies plates, design work, photography, and press-ready files to flexible packaging converters and CPCs around the world.
With growth, however welcome, comes additional content management responsibility. Two years ago, the company became a beta site for Kodak's InSite Creative Workflow, and today relies on the system to manage approvals and expedite online reviews. It also offers InSite Creative's Asset Library as a value-add for its customers.
"We absolutely love InSite Creative in our design and photography workflow, where we have multiple revisions and multiple opportunities for client feedback," says John Davis, art director for Cyber Graphics. Not only do the system's review and approval management features make it easy to track changes over dozens of revisions, but, for design work, "the InSite Creative Workflow system shortens the timeline of a design project, helping the customer get its projects to market more quickly."
Davis' team is the primary design and product photography resource for a great portion of Cyber Graphics' customers. Before installing InSite Creative, Davis says the company wrestled with the time and costs incurred in connection with routine client collaboration and approval. Cyber Graphics was forced to rely on email and FTP sites to communicate with its customers, and "if the project involved photography, the client had to fly here for the photo shoot, or we'd provide them with a drawing of what we were going to photograph, and they would have to trust that we could match it."
In terms of digital assets, primarily PhotoShop, Illustrator, PDF, and JPG files, "Everything was backed up, but we didn't have a formal way for customers to log in and view their files," Davis says. This meant that a key element change might require the designer to remember to apply the change on a project-by-project basis. Since installing InSite Creative, however, "We can engage in real-time, online collaboration for photography and design projects, and go through any number of back-and-forth iterations with the client using the system's review, approval, and commenting tools. It's easy to set up new projects and asset libraries," Davis continues. "Our customers appreciate the security and transparency of the InSite system. A lot of people we speak to are excited to know we're going to protect their files (mostly JPEGs and PDFs) and give them secure access."
Cyber Graphics currently has 60 customers set up to use the InSite Creative workflow. While Davis doesn't know precisely how frequently those customers are logging in, he confirms that Cyber Graphics is constantly posting new or revised files to the InSite servers for precisely that purpose. One thing is certain, he says: "We're going to be using it more and more because I see the added value and how it can benefit our customers." pP
- People:
- John Davis