Emma Elmer, PSP Rare

The UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher, producing 75 weekly and monthly titles. Two out of three women and 44% of men in the UK read an IPC publications – more than 26 million adults.

What we do for them

In 2003 IPC Media placed the pre-press business for its Southbank, TX and Connect divisions with Rhapsody on the understanding that our Emagine asset management system would be developed to serve as IPC’s in-house workflow tool. Henceforth, publications would be tracked and controlled within Emagine, with flatplans, status reports, comments and costs made readily shareable among IPC’s editorial and production staff.

Layout flightchecking and press profiling were installed to IPC’s specifications, along with automated workflows that enabled editorial teams to produce print-ready PDFs from the desktop. IPC’s ad booking and copy chasing workflows were also integrated into the system, as were robust contingency and disaster recovery procedures in line with the IPC Group’s IT strategy. Rhapsody then managed the transition to in-house print production, with our skilled studio staff lending support as and when required.

The success of the new system was confirmed in July 2010, when the 60 titles of IPC Media’s Inspire division were placed under the Emagine umbrella, making Rhapsody the sole pre-media supplier for all of IPC’s publications. Bespoke workflows introduced specifically for Inspire include automated print-ready file delivery and the simultaneous delivery of correctly profiled digital edition files to e-magazine providers YUDU and Zinio.

The largest independent mail-order clothes company in the UK designing for women, men, teenagers and children and supported by delivering over 20 million catalogues annually.

Getting the colour of their images right, both in print and online, is essential to Boden’s business, since any inaccuracies risk products being returned. That is why, over the past nine years, we have built a sustained relationship with the company based on quality service in the areas of swatch matching, professional retouching, and colour and asset management.

What we do for them

The client supplies our dedicated Boden team with swatches for each new season’s range, enabling us to calibrate the colours and to ensure that all new imagery is colour-matched and retouched to a consistently high standard. Using this information, we then convert the raw images to a standard colour profile, retouch and apply masks or clipping paths as necessary, and supply proofs to the client. In any one season we might handle up to 500 separate images and 2,000 swatches.

After the proofs have been approved, all images are stored ‘live’ on our Emagine asset management system. From here, they can be pulled into the client’s page layouts and automatically converted into other colour profiles, according to which printer is handling the job.

When the client uploads page-layout files into Emagine, the system responds swiftly by checking for errors and then generating colour-certified PDFs or digital proofs that can be viewed and approved online by all interested parties. Having kept track of the approvals process step-by-step, Emagine then dispatches the print-ready digital files to printers and online servers around the world, leaving Boden secure in the knowledge that their products will be seen by customers in the best possible light.

A full service publishing and digital communications agency. They use Emagine to develop a bank of words and images that enables their clients to reuse their assets across acquisition and retention programmes in both print and digital form. Clients include Kia Motors, UKTI and the Corporation of the City of London.

What we do for them
PSP Rare asked Rhapsody to help make their workflow more efficient. After careful analysis, it was decided that a hybrid version of our award-winning Emagine system would do just that. We worked alongside PSP to develop a cloud-based pre-production system that allows the company to manage content and share it with its clients in real time using password protection. Clients annotate and approve pages via a digital page-turner that allows them to track the progress of their publications every step of the way, saving them time and money. Rhapsody then takes care of the pre-press and colour management process, while still allowing PSP to make further amends online.

The September/October 2011 of Springboard, the Government-funded magazine for international businesses, will be produced entirely using Emagine and then automatically dispatched as print-ready and digital edition files, as well as in iPad app format for distribution via the Apple iTunes Store.

Emma Elmer, Production Director at PSP Rare said: “Rhapsody understood our workflow requirements and developed a personalized, unique workflow system that delivers on every level. By using Emagine, we have dramatically reduced the lead-times of our publishing schedules. The system has afforded us a greater level of integration between internal departments and our clients.”

As one of the most successful clubs in the English Premier League, Spurs produce two merchandise catalogues and one kit launch catalogue each year, along with numerous related material for its point-of-sale and advertising campaigns.

In late 2009 we were approached by Spurs’ marketing department to pitch for the club’s Spring/Summer 2010 catalogue – a job that embraced a wide range of pre media tasks from concept design and studio and location photography, to swatch-matching and colour management.

What we do for them

Our success depended on our ability to meet Spurs’ expectations by organizing and art-directing photo-shoots quickly and cost-effectively and then converting them into exceptional design layouts. The studio shots were done in our own 1,500 sq ft studio and we sent another creative team, complete with photographer, stylist and make-up artist, to take care of the location photography needed to bring the catalogue alive. The all-important swatch-matching and colour management was done by our high-end retouching team.

Thanks to Emagine, our online workflow and asset management system, the client was able to watch the catalogue come together and to give their input at each stage of the production process. Our account management team then ensured that the final pages were delivered to the printer on time and to the quality standards required.

Our creative team have since become involved in the design of all Spurs’ POS and advertising campaigns. Using approved imagery shot by Rhapsody and held ‘live’ on Emagine, the same material is regularly deployed in window displays, match-day programmes and other visual communication released by the club.

The most famous name in diamonds for over 100 years. Established in 1888, De beers began marketing its own diamond jewellery in 2001 and now has stores all over the world as well as a considerable online presence.

What we do for them

The company called in Rhapsody in 2011 to help portray its products more accurately for online viewing. On receipt of the raw digital images, our dedicated De Beers team convert the image files for online use and then begin the intricate task of cutting out and masking the individual pieces of jewellery. In some cases this involves applying up to 400 masks to a single image file.

In addition, each diamond shown has to adhere to De Beers’ strict brand guidelines in terms of the colours reflected by its facets, requiring our team to retouch and colour- correct specific areas within the stones. The same applies to the metals used in the settings.

All retouched images are supplied to the client for approval online via our Emagine asset management system or physically, as colour-certified Epson digital proofs. Approved imagery is then stored on our servers as live data, where it is readily accessible to the De Beers global brand team via Emagine.

Are a independent customer engagement agency offering digital marketing and custom publishing services to high-profile brands including Orient Express, Sandy Lane, Luxury Avenue, Berghaus, Ernest Jones, Maserati and Rolls Royce.

As ILN’s sole pre-media supplier, our Emagine asset management system is used by the company’s design and production staff, and by clients based across the UK, Europe, Africa and South America.

What we do for them

Our pre-press and media support for ILN includes high-end retouching, page make-up, flightchecking, colour management, PDF creation, proofing, IT support and disaster recovery. In addition, we offer asset management for individual clients and online editions through our partnership with e-magazine provider YUDU.

Berghaus, one of the world’s foremost outdoor clothing and equipment brands, is just one of the ILN clients to make full use of our skills and services. Using Emagine, we produce a bi-annual magazine for Berghaus, complete with image conversion and high-end retouching, in no fewer than eight languages. On approval of the final printer’s files, Emagine then outputs interactive digital files in all eight languages for conversion into e-magazine format by our partner YUDU.

and deliver with vision, timing and perfection.

whatever the challenge…