The company said that the new capabilities help print service providers create more innovative and better targeted direct mail campaigns with lower production costs and faster turnaround times.

　　Smartstream Designer 4.0 streamlines pre-press processes and helps print firms create, integrate and preview all versioned jobs with any combination of fixed data, variable text and image elements.

　　It is also an easy-to-use impositioning tool for HP's large-format printers, whether the job includes versioning or not.

　　The company added that Smartstream Designer can take targeted marketing campaigns beyond large-format print.

　　Using different media designed from the same Smartstream Designer files, print service providers can create multi-application campaigns ranging from large-format posters for point-of-sale to flyers and postcards for loyalty and special-offer campaigns.

　　Smartstream Designer 4.0 is available as part of HP's Smartstream Solutions digital workflow portfolio, which enables graphic arts customers to create a variety of digital print applications using components developed by HP and its partners.

　　Graphic Tech implemented Smartstream Designer 4.0 to expand its capabilities and provide customers with effective localised campaigns.

　　Jim Blee, chief operating officer at Graphic Tech, said: 'With HP's Smartstream Designer, we have the added value of offering our customers, at very little additional cost or time, regionalised marketing materials - and not just geographical versioning, but also localisation for highly specific elements, such as weather patterns.

　　'As a result, we have taken on bigger jobs than we could have previously,' he added.

　　Graphic Tech completed an urgent print job for a nationwide pre-school chain that involved printing 460 banners of 96 x 35in on vinyl and 243 yard signs that measured 23.5 x 23.5in on paper and self-adhesive vinyl, all with different telephone numbers and each featuring one of three different logos.

　　Without VDP capabilities, Graphic Tech would previously have had to produce each file separately for each variation - requiring more than a month of work hours just for pre-press.

　　Instead, the designer built a single file and, using VDP software, linked it to a database provided by the customer.

　　The PDF proofs were sent to the customer within two days - an approximate 93 per cent reduction in pre-press time.

　　The banners and yard signs were printed on the HP Scitex TJ8500 printer and drop-shipped to each individual location number on the file.

　　Image Options uses Smartstream Designer 4.0 to produce more advanced campaigns for customers and offer capabilities to win new customers.

　　The company has helped transform a quarterly employee recognition campaign for a retailer.

　　Using VDP capabilities for the first time, Image Options printed 3,600 banners of one size and 1,500 of another size.

　　Each banner was unique, including district, department name and dates, printed on one of seven different background themes.

　　Tim Bennett, chief executive officer of Image Options, said: 'We've produced similar campaigns for the past three years for the same retailer and it typically took in excess of 25 hours for layout and pre-press.

　　'Using Smartstream Designer, reproducing the identical job required only about three hours.

[时间：2010-03-30  来源：互联网|#]