will be familiar to most: wrong dimensions, missing bleed, RGB colours where CMYK is needed, low-resolution images, and text or elements outside of the safe area. “Once you include checking, repairs, customer communication, and proofing, even a lowvalue job can consume hours and become loss-making,” says Duckworth. One of the newest challenges facing printers highlighted by Duckworth is the growing volume of AI-generated artwork, which brings many of the problems previously mentioned regarding colours, dimensions, and bleed. While this artwork can cause disruption, Duckworth encourages printers to be curious about AI’s potential, especially within software: “There’s a useful parallel with artwork: AI can help a customer produce a design that looks finished without them understanding whether it will print correctly. Similarly, AI-assisted coding can produce software that appears to work putting a paper-based process online. It needs to ensure that the information captured is accurate, complete, and usable by the next system in the workflow.” Whiteley’s advice to printers looking for new solutions is to identify where time is being lost and where staff are repeatedly entering the same information or chasing artwork, as well as transferring order details between systems. “It's also important to consider the customer experience,” says Whiteley, adding: “A web-to-print solution should make it easier for customers to do business with you, not simply move the administrative burden to another online interface. The ordering journey needs to be intuitive, with clear product options, accurate pricing, and straightforward artwork submission.” The Artwork Conundrum An important part of producing orders and supplying customers with a good experience is the artwork. As mentioned by Whiteley, customer artwork can cause a lot of disruption if it means team members are chasing files and corrections. This is why Artworker was formed, a software platform built to help printers collect, check, fix, and proof customer artwork within one workflow. Founder of the company, Nate Duckworth, says: “I’ve been in the print industry for 15 years, previously founding and running print businesses and building software to solve the problems we encountered. Artworker came directly from that experience: unsuitable artwork was consistently one of our biggest bottlenecks. It can work alongside a printer’s existing systems, with an open API for connecting the artwork process to other parts of the business.” A lot of the problems faced by printers while hiding weaknesses in security or how it handles data. “Understanding where customer information goes, protecting access credentials, and getting expert help where needed are all part of using these tools well. There’s enormous potential here, and printers who combine experimentation with a sound understanding of the tools will be well placed to benefit.” When it comes to investing in new solutions, Duckworth recommends testing out the software with your own files and the jobs you typically receive, measuring the total effort involved in getting a job ready for production. This should include an analysis all of the communication elements, instead of just the speed of one task. Duckworth also stresses the importance of it reducing your cost of handling each order, as well as understanding whether it makes your work more profitable. Duckworth says: “Learning a new A particular challenge is that many printers have already invested in MIS, RIP software, production management, accounting, and other business systems, but these systems don't necessarily communicate seamlessly with one another ▼Clarity Software has been working to integrate supplier catalogues directly into it solutions, working with businesses like Sign Trade Supplies and William Smith 56 email: editor@printmonthly.co.uk Issue 363 - November | December 2026 WORKFLOW SOFTWARE | DAVID OSGAR
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