From Clean Slate to Direct-to-plate

McCord's prepress department backs up files onto DLT daily, while finished jobs are archived onto DAT tapes. Despite the popularity of CD-R media, Shaw says McCord uses DAT because it is considerably faster. "We go into the tapes a half-dozen times a day for pickups," she explains.

For digital proofing, McCord took the same empirical approach it used in choosing the Galileo platesetter. The firm tested just about every technology on the market, including DuPont Digital WaterProof, IRIS Realist, Kodak Approval, Polaroid PolaProof and even Creo's Trendsetter.