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VDP templates with theme-driven layer variants

Published: 28 August 2007 Publication History

Abstract

Many graphic artists and designers have adapted their skills to the use of tools that extend static layout applications, allowing the creation of Variable Data Print template documents. These connect text and image placeholders to database fields, allowing creation of a set of instances at job time. Much of the VDP work flowing through digital presses originates this way. However, in the field we have observed limitations to simple approaches which make it hard to create templates that do much more than can be achieved with mail merge and variable backgrounds. In this paper we describe two examples which illustrate the problems. Solutions have been developed but a frequent drawback is that they move the graphic artist out of the loop, either because they do not support the fine layout control creative professionals expect to use, or because they are aimed at programmers and database professionals. Agencies and PSPs however, are so keen to keep creative professionals in the loop that we have seen ingenious but fragile and inefficient in-house solutions which support complex VDP outputs while still keeping the designer in the team. We have developed tools for creative professionals that extend standard layout applications and allow designers to go a step beyond simple VDP. This paper describes the application of these tools to real use cases. We show that the tools can replace custom solutions giving improvements in VDP job creation, database simplification and resilience to changing requirements.

References

[1]
Bennett, Penny K. The Handbook for Digital Printing and Variable-Data Printing. PIA/GATF Press, Pittsburgh, 2006.
[2]
Giannetti, F., Sellman, R. Anvil Segmented Workflow Toolset. HPallLabs Tech Report HPL-2007-18. Available at: http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2007/HPL-2007-18.pdf
[3]
Groom, S. A. Story-centered Marketing: A Communicative Turn. PhD Thesis. Duquesne University, 2005. Available at: http://etd1.library.duq.edu/theses/available/etd-04012005-114933/. URN: etd-04012005-114933
[4]
HP Indigo Yours Truly Designer for Quark Xpress. See http://www.hp.com/digital_press/workflow/yours_truly.html
[5]
PPML Templates: Methods and Workflows. Version 1.0.2002 http://www.podi.org/

Cited By

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  • (2012)DPLfwProceedings of the 16th International Software Product Line Conference - Volume 110.1145/2362536.2362552(96-105)Online publication date: 2-Sep-2012
  • (2012)Optimal pagination and content mapping for customized magazinesJournal of the Brazilian Computer Society10.1007/s13173-012-0066-618:4(331-349)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2012
  • (2011)A novel physics-based interaction model for free document layoutProceedings of the 11th ACM symposium on Document engineering10.1145/2034691.2034725(153-162)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2011

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  1. VDP templates with theme-driven layer variants

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    DocEng '07: Proceedings of the 2007 ACM symposium on Document engineering
    August 2007
    236 pages
    ISBN:9781595937766
    DOI:10.1145/1284420
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 28 August 2007

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    Author Tags

    1. PPML-T
    2. VDP

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    DocEng07
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    DocEng07: ACM Symposium on Document Engineering
    August 28 - 31, 2007
    Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

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    Cited By

    View all
    • (2012)DPLfwProceedings of the 16th International Software Product Line Conference - Volume 110.1145/2362536.2362552(96-105)Online publication date: 2-Sep-2012
    • (2012)Optimal pagination and content mapping for customized magazinesJournal of the Brazilian Computer Society10.1007/s13173-012-0066-618:4(331-349)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2012
    • (2011)A novel physics-based interaction model for free document layoutProceedings of the 11th ACM symposium on Document engineering10.1145/2034691.2034725(153-162)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2011

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