digitaldots.info

Digital Dots is an independent graphic arts research group specialising in digital prepress, printing and publishing technologies. The company is a collection of like-minded consultants and professional journalists with decades of experience working in the graphic arts industry. We publish a range of articles and reports and we also manage The Verdigris Project.

Environmental Labels for Printers and Publishers

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner One of the benefits of implementing an ISO standard or going for an environmental label is the management and process discipline it imposes. This may seem obvious, but labels and standards can be a useful tool for helping companies improve environmental management. In doing so, they often improve … Read more

Going Round in Circles

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The Greek government’s antics and dissemblings to the upper echelons of the European Commission have been astonishing. They’ve been played out on a public stage that one way or another has involved everyone. But life goes on beyond the bounds of Greek high drama, even for the European … Read more

Is Interest in Carbon Footprinting Stalled?

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner A couple of years ago carbon footprinting was high on the agenda for all industries. People worked feverishly to develop standards to support it, even in the printing industry which has a standard dedicated to calculating the carbon footprint of print media. ISO 16759 was published a couple … Read more

Water Water Everywhere

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Many printing companies around the world have rainwater capture systems which they use to water their shrubberies and lawns, or for flushing toilets. Not many of them see making their car parks and loading bays look pretty as being of benefit to the wider community. However they might … Read more

Building Margins

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner One of the things that standards compliance and process automation helps companies achieve is cost efficiency and improved margins. Too many business owners bleat about the cost of standards compliance or of workflow and process management technologies. The bleaters take what is really a very short term view, … Read more

Green Climate Fund Moving Forward

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Progress is being made to spend the $10 billion that has been committed to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). This fund is an investment fund set up by 194 governments and it’s goal is to provide a global investment vehicle to fund growth that also aids climate change … Read more

Ecolabeling Schemes for Print

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner There are numerous ecolabeling schemes around but only a few, such as those in Scandinavia and Hong Kong, are specific to printed matter. Schemes like the European Ecolabel or the German Blue Angel are generic, rather than being specific to print. The benefit of having a dedicated ecolabeling … Read more

Wheels of ISO Grinding Slow

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner The work of ISO is often seen as being grindingly slow and not always effective. But that’s the way of consensus building. It takes time and it’s a process that allows documents to mature as they evolve, taking everyone’s input into account and ideally reflecting it in the … Read more

Planning, Doing, Checking and Acting on Sustainability

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner When it comes to commitment to the environment and sustainability in the graphic arts, Ricoh is a clear leader having been at it since the 1990s. The company’s belief is that “economic, social, and environmental issues are inseparable” according to its sustainability report for 2014. For a company … Read more