Cosmos Communications Simplifies Proofing Process

Since 1933, Cosmos Communications has been a specialist in marketing and promotional support services. With offices in Long Island City, NY, and Bridgeport, CT, its goal is to support clients with an array of creative and unique marketing support services to optimize the effectiveness of their promotional efforts. Its Total Marketing Support delivers a wide range of services, from award-winning print, to photography, web development and beyond. All resources are in-house.

The firm's 50-member print and prepress departments develop everything from catalogs and brochures to one-page ad inserts. Cosmos’ fleet of presses run the gamut from a digital Heidelberg DI press to a 40 inch eight-color perfecting press capable of running a 16 page 8 1/2 x 11 catalog in one pass. In between are 40 inch six-, four-, two- and one-color presses that perfect and have in-line aqueous coating.

In 2006, Cosmos was using its workflow to drive an inkjet printer for proofing. Because it used ICC profiles, any change in ink, paper, or other variable meant they had to rebuild their profiles—which was a hassle to do. “It was way too time consuming. We couldn’t get good color between printers. When we created a proof fingerprint from one printer, we had to remember where it was created, and for which press,” explains Derek Lambert, Cosmos Communications director of prepress technology. “Meanwhile, our first proprietary system jammed all the time and, while our second proprietary system was much better, we were spending $45-60,000 a month on materials.”

Lambert decided to look at new proofing systems, testing just about any system he could find. “My objectives were, above all, consistency along with easy maintenance and cost-efficiency. I also needed a system that would give halftone dots, because older print buyers were raised looking at dots. The consistency between two different model printers had to be same. I wasn’t proofing to an industry standard like GRACoL, but to a house standard. I needed selective color control."

The first two systems tested by Lambert did not pass muster. Then Lambert was told about GMG ColorProof. “Contrary to what I thought, it was an easy system to learn, with the help of the manuals and GMG’s training class, ” he says.

Lambert was able to create perfect proofs between his inkjet printers. “We purchased GMG ColorProof and GMG DotProof for three printers—an Epson 9880, an Epson 7880 and HP 1050C for newsprint. Our material costs were cut from $45-65,000 a month to $10,000 a month. Everyone is happy. Callibration is easy and fast, and the color accuracy is great. Our proofs pass all industry standards, and GMG ProofControl validates that. With GMG ColorProof, I can even build my own profiles. And, except for some newspaper proofs, even the older print buyers don’t require dot proofs any more.“

GMG ColorProof also became the ‘go-to’ system for spot colors. Cosmos’ proprietary system did not have every spot color available in its library. “I made a proof and sent it to one of my clients. It didn’t even match the swatch,” comments Lambert. “We sent a GMG ColorProof sheet that was dead on. It was more accurate than our proprietary system, and didn’t need expensive labor to swap toners in the machine to add extra colors. GMG ColorProof does everything automatically. All the selective controls for spot colors are great. They even let me tweak spots and tints.”

GMG ColorProof is also very fast. “Complicated jobs that might take GMG ColorProof 12 seconds took another system one to three minutes to produce,” adds Lambert. “We take photos for 400-page auction catalogs. We need accurate color and can’t wait all day for proofs. With GMG ColorProof, we don’t.”

Last year, Lambert decided that Cosmos needed to operate under an industry standard. Customer-driven demand drove Cosmos to work towards G7 certification. “Our GMG ColorProof system was basically ready for our G7 certification testing. It could create SWOP3, SWOP5 and our own Cosmos standards,” explains Lambert. “We needed to migrate from our Cosmos press standard. We went through the process with some G7 experts, profiled the presses, and became standards-based. Fortunately for us, our GMG proofing system didn’t need any work.”

“GMG ColorProof is a very user-friendly, cost-effective and color-accurate system. With it, printers can expect a substantial ROI,” concludes Lambert. “I’m already looking at my next investment, GMG InkOptimizer, to deliver more control on press, and less makereadies—and all with less ink.”