October 2009

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Let there be (day)light

October 30, 2009 in Service Bureau by mczerepak | No comments

Well, it’s finally here. The Service Bureau’s very own wide format daylight balanced viewing area (and the largest viewing area on campus)

our new daylight balanced viewing area

The lighting bank is made by Just-Normlicht (which we consider to be the best) and will make the daylight balanced viewing of your test strips and prints from the Bureau easy (and fun! well, maybe).

Why should you view your test strips (or any print) in daylight balanced light? Viewing in daylight ensures that the colors that you are seeing are untainted by the various color casts present in other light bulbs and lighting conditions. It is essentially a pristine viewing environment in which you can assess your print and decide what changes (if any) you need to make.

standard school fluorescents

daylight balanced

Pretty big difference, right? So next time you print at the Service Bureau, don’t forget to step around the corner and view your print in the viewing area. We think you will be happy with the results.

-Michael

Tags: awesomeness, inkjet, light, Service Bureau

14 Karat Goldplated Staples

October 27, 2009 in Uncategorized by megmanuel | No comments

Studio OOOMS thinks we can all agree that the overly bland corporate environment can use any type of excitement boost that it can get. Enter these 14 Karat goldplated staples.

Intended primarily as a form of jewelry, these luxury pieces can be applied to clothing (or just about anything) with the help of your average stapler. Of course you can also impress your boss by turning in your next report decked out in gold. He will feel you.

140,00 euro

Not the most practical office accessory but still sort of cool in an out of touch “the economy is still kicking” kind of way. Studio OOOMS presents their 14 Karat goldplated staples.

“Studio OOOMS thinks we can all agree that the overly bland corporate environment can use any type of excitement boost that it can get. Enter these 14 Karat goldplated staples.

For info or to purchase check out OOOMS site.

What I did on my summer vacation

October 19, 2009 in Service Bureau by mczerepak | No comments

As the halcyon days of late summer pass and we drag out our sweaters and flannel in preparation for a proper chicago fall, it is only natural for our thoughts to return to those carefree times when our days were spent lounging by the lake, and taking endless bike rides.

Right.

At the Service Bureau we spend our summers preparing and fine-tuning our operation for the return of students. For me that means mostly creating profiles for any new papers and printers as well as fine tuning those already in our system.

What does this mean exactly?

First of all, I am talking about ICC profiles. I create custom profiles for all our papers and printers. Put simply, this is the way we ensure that the colors you see in your file are interpreted correctly by our printers. (we have 4 printers by the way, 2 Epson 9800′s, an Epson 11880 and our newest Epson 9900)

This is done first by printing color swatches. Thousands of them for every paper and printer we have.

12,000 color swatches waiting to be scanned

Then all the swatches must be “read” into the computer so the profiling software can compare the scanned results with what the program thinks the printed color should be. A few years back this meant reading them all with a handheld scanner. These days I get to use my best friend the Gretag-Macbeth IO scanning table and eye-one spectrophotometer. This takes a bit of time, but it’s mesmerizing to watch.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/6857157]

Once all the targets are read the program compares the results with its own data (tweaked to the parameters we tell it), then crunches the data and spits out a (hopefully) usable profile. If the results are not perfect, it’s back to printing and reading color swatches.

hours and hours of work

It’s all worth it though. The hours I spend creating these profiles ensure the highest quality of precision for your inkjet printing.

The weird part about it is that I actually enjoy it.

-Michael

Tags: awesomeness, ICC profile, inkjet, Service Bureau

Etsy: We Can Do That @ the Service Bureau

October 11, 2009 in Service Bureau, Services by Chad Gerth | No comments

How’s your Etsy store doing? Have you adequately monetized your art school education yet? Well why not? The Service Bureau can help. Here are a few of the things we can do:

Vinyl Graphics. (selling for: $13.00 / do it at the Bureau for: $4.00)