Twenty-first Century Printing Trends - Variable Printing (I)

The development of technology has enabled the printing and communications industry to reach a new field - point-to-point, variable printing or personalized printing, which is a more effective way of communication.
introduction
The communicating party must have the ability to produce special information, and the receiving party must be willing to accept and understand this information, which is the basis for effective communication. Key factors include the recipient’s willingness to receive information, his interest in information, his ability to understand information, and most importantly, the recipient’s ability to take action.
Peer-to-peer micro-transmission treats recipients as individuals with independent preferences and needs. This mode of communication provides recipients with specific information to meet their requirements. Micro-communication will have contact with the recipient, micro-communication will focus on the values ​​of each audience, and will have an audience relationship network. Some studies have shown that the response rate of personalized mail sent to conditional buyers is 10 times higher than the blind mass mailing (Alexander, 1999; Crockett, 1999; Romano, 1999).
The basic technologies and major media for micro-propagation are products of variable printing, a combination of full-color digital printing and database technology. The concept of variable printing came about in 1970. Some major financial companies, like American Express and Citibank NA, have been using object marketing techniques to identify potential consumers. Due to the development of database technology, the increased availability of databases that store consumer data, and the fact that most people prefer personalized direct mail rather than misleading mass mailings, variable printing has become a new trend in the print communication industry.
Based on the level of content and change, variable printing can be divided into two generations (Romano, 1998; Ray, 1998). The first generation of variable printing processes is represented by high-speed inkjet printers that print very little information on each sheet. Second-generation variable printing has made full use of variable amounts of data and digital presses to create a single image including color graphics. Full prints of pictures and pictures. Romano (1998) further divided the variable printing into twelve different levels, ranging from "write addresses for the residents, the same contents, the lowest level of the same paper" to the "personalized mails for the printed sheets or the recipients. The highest level of each pixel on each part (P.18).
The development of database technology, online on-line technology and digital printing technology now establishes a solid foundation for variable printing. Databases and software systems allow printers to create multiple copies of a document. Each copy has its own unique personality, and it can also be passed directly to the digital press or stored as a file. By analyzing consumer preferences, buying patterns, revenue status, and other consumer market conditions that are collected online, e-commerce can accurately meet everyone’s needs. Digital printing can print personalized reproduction products with stable quality. Relying on database technology, online on-line technology, and digital printing technology, each print can be highly personalized, making variable printing a very useful tool for object marketing. Because of direct marketing and the increase in efficiency and acceptance, variable printing - a value-added tool - will continue to grow and generate more revenue opportunities in the future (Mathison, 1998; Romano, 1998; Romano, 1999; Tilden, 1998 ).
Variable Printing Technology Overview
Variable printing is a powerful tool for direct marketing activities. Its purpose is to pass the correct information to the corresponding object. Information based on consumer preference, with a high degree of variability, will increase the exchange between merchants and consumers, and increase the response rate, which is different from mass communication and broadcasting. The starting point of this process is the target consumer. This workflow is relative to conventional printing. The latter's workflow begins with object authentication. After the object list is generated, it is the content information list. The different information displayed on each print is based on the preferences and needs of the target recipient. Therefore, the transmitted information will be very agitating to the recipient.
In order to pass appropriate information to the right target audience, database analysis and database management are the most important tasks in making variable printing. Because of the importance of databases in variable printing, printers need to shift focus from printing operations to database preparation. (Ray, 1998; Romano, 1998; Tilden, 1998) and position themselves as providers of information services rather than printers or printers.
Important conditions to consider for successful variable printing include:
1. Effective database analysis, management and maintenance
Variable printing workflows differ from traditional printing. The most important process of variable printing is database analysis. Its function is to study the plan or behavior, to be familiar with the connection between the action plan and business purpose, and to confirm the strategy for realizing the business purpose. The database analysis of variable printing includes thorough investigation and research on the purpose of publishing/printing, useful data, each target and method, and the content of information. More importantly, the database needs to accomplish this goal. The next step is to organize useful data, organize relationships between databases, and build databases. After the database is established, in order to manage and maintain them, there needs to be a definite procedure to define and process the target, method, and database structure type. An easy-to-manage database system allows printers to efficiently collect, store, and restore data and information for variable printing.
2. Value-added plan
Make sure that both the inside and the outside of the print show something that can really attract attention. The most important feature of personalized mailings is to let recipients open it, because most mail prints are thrown away before they are opened.
The contents of the mail print should be for the recipient. The choice of a word or picture should be based on the designer's precise knowledge of the recipient's personal details. In order to show consumer preferences, designers have to have a real, substantive understanding of each recipient of the database.
3. Variable printing plan
Most of the cost of the variable printing plan lies in the supply of digital printing machines and parts, such as toner. The appropriate method for keeping costs to a minimum is to print immutable information on the lithographic printing press and then to personalize the information on the digital press.
Bad prints on mail printers may cause problems for variable printing, because bad prints means that some people will not receive the information transmitted by the print sheet. In order to pass the information to 100% of the target group, it must be reformulated. Plan or regain the production process.
4. The choice of software:
In order to produce actual printed copies, it is necessary to use appropriate software to combine variable information and digital printing equipment. We have many software programs available, each with its own unique features. Therefore, in order to select the right software, detailed investigation and research must be conducted. Today's variable-variable database software provides a wide range of performance and is targeted by a wide variety of applications. The most appropriate database software depends on the type of file it uses or uses to produce it. There are many tools available for selection in the special variable database application phase. One of the best ways to distinguish between these programs is to evaluate the suitability and scalability criteria that each program provides.
Adaptability is a measure of the ease of use of software and the ability to support a wide range of variable print applications. For example, an easy-to-use graphical interface and complete control of the position, orientation, and attributes of different elements (including text, images, and layouts). Scalability is a measure of software's ability to adjust a large number of variable workloads based on the size of the Post script file and the number of variable records. In addition, scalable software supports most client and server platforms.