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.

100th Blog & Counting

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We started the Verdigris blog in 2012 just before a highly successful drupa and here we are with the 100th, just following IPEX. If anyone had ever considered that there was a battle underway between the two exhibitions, it would have to be said that drupa has won … Read more

Standards & the Market

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner When ISO 16759 was published in July 2013 expectations were mixed. Would the market really care or was this standard ahead of its time? Given the state of the economy pretty much everywhere, the more realistic expectation was that it would be received to general apathy. Interest in … Read more

Alphabet Soup for Print’s Environmental Impact

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner There are many things that scientists love, but probably none more so than acronyms and absolutes, such as DC for Direct Current or PDF for Portable Document Format. Neither could be anything else, but even though scientists love to deal in absolutes, environmental science is notoriously inexact. Climate … Read more

Brought to Book

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner All the people who chat about print fading away must not haave noticed the rising number of book fairs around the world. The Jaipur Literary Festival is one that springs to mind. It started in 2006 and has grown to be the largest event of its kind. An … Read more

Environmentally Friendly Substrates

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner One of the biggest concerns with print’s environmental impact is disposing of it when it reaches end of life. Fortunately we have in place robust paper recycling supply chains and there is a thriving industry in paper recovery and reuse. There is a less well developed model for … Read more

PET Peeves Revisited

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner A couple of weeks ago we wrote about the Indian government wanting to ban PET packaging because of concerns about its stability. The blog elicited a surprising number of responses, but one from a Verdigris member, got us thinking more about it. PET containers are recyclable of course, … Read more

April Blooms

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Hostilities between the WWF and Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) are not about to cease, but tensions may be lessening slightly. The WWF has announced that it welcomes APRIL’s recently launched Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP). This policy commits APRIL to forest conservation efforts in “areas equal … Read more

Pulp Fiction

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner We recently came across an environmental story that is just too good to be true, and yet it is true. It seems that in every mile of the M6 Toll motorway in the UK there are 92,000 pulped copies of Mills & Boon romantic novels. A novel approach … Read more

PET Peeves

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner Polyethylene terephthalate otherwise known as PET, is used in packaging worldwide and is readily recycled. PET provides the raw material for bottles and containers and for all sorts of food packaging, and can even be used for paper making. But in India there is a bizarre recommendation that … Read more

Gadgets for Geeks & Printers

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The weekly Verdigris blog by Laurel Brunner A few weeks ago we got asked by a trade journalist for help with an article, so through slightly gritted teeth we did our best to help the guy meet his deadline. His article was supposed to be a list of gadgets that printers could buy to help … Read more