Prepress

Ghent Workgroup Issues Survey to Develop New PDF/X-4 Standards and Best Practices

Thursday 28. March 2013 - Newest GWG survey will analyze current industry needs; use of PDF/X-4

The Ghent Workgroup (GWG), in its continuing effort to provide the global graphic arts industry with free and easy to use specifications and best practices, issues its latest survey requesting industry feedback regarding use and current needs when working with PDF/X-4. Note that these needs can include both print production and e-media production requirements.
Please click here to take the brief survey.
David Zwang, GWG Chairman, says, “The goal of the newest GWG survey is to discover how changes in the new PDF standards are, and could be, contributing to optimizing the production process within the industry.
“We are constantly working to identify new areas where specifications and best practices can be used to help the industry become more efficient in its design and production efforts. The results of the survey will be reviewed and used in the development of new specifications and best practices.”
Survey
The GWG PDF/X-4 survey is estimated to take less than 10 minutes to complete, and is broken up into topic segments, as follows:
* Market Focus
* Industry standards
* PDF creation, checking and processing
* PDF delivery
* Workflow
* Ghent Workgroup – GWG
Based on the results of the survey, the GWG can focus continued development and educational outreach efforts to address the pressing issues that our international constituents in the graphic arts community are facing.
Previous GWG Survey Being Used to Develop Next Level Standards and Best Practices in Cross Media
The PDF/X-4 survey is the latest in a series produced by the GWG in the past few months, alone. The most recent survey, completed by the GWG Cross-Media Subcommittee, assessed the cross media needs and interests of publishing, production, and creative professionals worldwide.
Two significant findings from that particular survey included the fact that the proliferation of mobile devices has propelled cross media publishing’s growth; as well as evidence that 75% of jobs received are destined for both print and e-media.
Based on the findings from the Cross Media survey, the GWG is currently developing new standards and best practices for publishing, creation, processing, workflow, exchange and output in cross media environments.
Zwang says, “We were very pleased with the participation in, and feedback from, our last Cross Media survey, and greatly appreciate the industry’s take on the very important PDF/X-4 subject area as well.”