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14/01/2010 - Stylus Pro GS6000 Takes Its Place In History

Museums offer unique challenges to designers and signmakers. “There’s no such thing as a standard graphic in a museum,” says Jane Scherbaum, Deputy Head of Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum. “Each exhibit has its own specific demands for materials, mounting and purpose – and these change on a weekly or even daily basis! Our job in the museum’s Design Studio is to meet these requirements quickly and accurately, while controlling costs.” The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is the world’s greatest museum of art and design. Its objective is to enable everyone to enjoy its collections and explore the cultures that created them. All efforts are focused upon a central purpose, the increased use of its displays, collections and expertise as resources for learning, creativity and enjoyment by audiences within and beyond the United Kingdom. Labelling of museum objects is a crucial component in this education process, as well as providing wayfinder signage, directories, maps and general display signage around the Museum. Most of these graphics are produced in house by the Print and Production team; Phil Collett, Keith Hartnell and Dave Potter “For many years we supported the museum with an HP inkjet printer and by outsourcing work to local graphics suppliers,” says Scherbaum, adding, “We were quite limited in terms of the materials and substrates we could print on and had issues with fading and were still having to outsource a number of projects. Taking more control of our own signage was very important to the V&A. We have no room for excuses and we didn’t want to be relying on external suppliers when V&A staff are relying on us.” The V&A design team has worked for several years with Colyer London who supply business solutions and office products aimed at London-based creative departments. It was Colyer who recommended the odourless, eco-friendly solvent Epson Stylus Pro GS6000. “We liked the recommendation, particularly because of Epson’s reputation in the art reproduction market, but we wanted to make sure we selected the right machine for us. We carried out a comprehensive search of different products and the Epson GS6000 really did have an advantage in terms of print quality, durability and colour gamut. Colourgen demonstrated the printer’s capabilities very well and the fact that we could locate the printer in our cosy typesetting room, which has no facility for air extraction, was an important factor,” she says. Developed exclusively by Epson, the Stylus Pro GS6000 features Epson UltraChrome® GS ink, a new odourless, low solvent-based ink technology with eight individual colours, including orange and green The Stylus Pro GS6000 produces the industry’s widest colour gamut for unparalleled output quality on nearly any solvent-based media. As well as delivering very high quality, the printer’s new Dual-Array MicroPiezo® AMC™ print head has been uniquely engineered for the demands of high-production solvent printing. It offers production speeds of up to 25sqm/hour to deliver fast drying, scratch resistant prints that are water and UV resistant for up to 5 years outdoors. Colourgen and Colyer installed the GS6000 in April 2009 and the team were quick to put it through its paces. Phil Collett was suitably impressed with the new machine, “Once we got the printer into the room, it was up and running very quickly. We were all very pleased with the lack of odour from the printer. “ He continues, “Our main day-to-day task is printing gallery graphics, posters and temporary signage, which previously all had to be laminated. A big issue was how quickly the images tended to fade. With the GS6000 we can now print directly to self-adhesive vinyl then mount on to a wide range of substrates and so far we have seen no fade at all. The machine’s print capability on vinyl is excellent and we can now produce label strips quickly with no need to laminate, this saves us a lot of time and expense”. Exhibitions change on a regular basis at the V&A and each time something is moved or a new exhibition comes in, there is a massive need for new signage. “We have to work very closely with museum management so that we can deliver the signage they need, when they need it. Because it is a solvent printer, we have a lot more flexibility in terms of substrates and combined with the speed, the GS6000 has put us in a much better position to meet these requirements and respond to last minute changes fast,” adds Scherbaum. We can also be a lot more creative and are constantly experimenting with new materials so we can offer the museum more choice and keep costs as low as possible. Having consistent, accurate colours are another key requirement for the V&A. Phil Collett explains, “The Epson is fantastic for colour matching. It works well with the ColorGATE ProductionServer Pr RIP to produce colours that match consistently with existing displays and designer’s precise requirements. “ Jane carried out a detailed review of the true cost of running the printer. “I compared the like for like cost of producing graphics for our Fashion Gallery with the GS6000 and our previous HP printer. I was amazed to find the costs were virtually the same. Considering the increase in quality, durability and the different types of media we can now use, this is a major advantage for us and the Museum.” She continues, “The GS6000 has allowed us to take a lot of the work that was previously outsourced, back in-house. This includes external signage on the Museum façade, which has saved us a lot of money and given us greater control over the content. There is plenty more signage throughout the museum that I am sure the GS600 can handle and we are continually looking for new media and substrates to work on.” In conclusion, Jane Scherbaum is delighted with the Epson GS600 and the support received from Colourgen and Colyer. “The GS6000 has given us a new dimension. Our graphic designers can work on creating new and innovative ideas for displays and graphics and we can deliver this under our own steam. The printer itself has been very reliable, is comfortable to work with and has been surprisingly cost-effective. We are certainly pleased to have it and look forward to doing even more with it in the future.”
Ends.

Information For Editors

Colourgen is the UK’s leading specialist distributor of large format digital colour printing solutions, consumables, bespoke software, engineering and support services. The Company is the exclusive UK distributor for the Seiko II ColorPainter V-64S and H-Series mild solvent printers as well as the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 and OKI 9650XF print solution. Colourgen also distributes EPSON’s aqueous large format printers and consumables and the Seal and Kala ranges of laminators and finishing products. Colourgen specialises in delivering total solutions based on the industry’s best, most reliable products together with unrivalled consultancy, installation, technical support, maintenance and training.

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