Creative Graphics

CorelDRAW® has been the backboneof Summit Graphics since day one"The output engine in CorelDRAW
is just superb!”
Dave Deem
Owner
Summit Graphics"Summit Graphics,
located in Moline, Ill, has
10 employees and a longand established record asa high-quality print shop.
The company wasfounded in 1980, long
before computers entered
the world of desktop
publishing. But ever since
Corel introduced version
1.1 of CorelDRAW in 1989
they’ve been loyal
customers. Says ownerand founder Dave Deem:"It’s so powerful andeasy-to-use, we would
never think of using
anything else. It has been
the backbone of ouroperation since day one."“In the early 1980’s we were only doing
screenprinting work,” says Dave Deem. “Today wehave a digital workflow that’s divided approximately
into 40% screenprint, 40% digital color print and20% embroidery.”As seasoned printing professionals, the designers
and production staff at Summit Graphics use manyof the high-end printing features in CorelDRAW ona daily basis.
“The output engine in CorelDRAW is just superb!”
exclaims Dave. “We do all of our color separation
work directly in CorelDRAW. The excellent preview
makes it a seamless process. The same goes forregistration marks. And the built-in trapping feature
gives us great control over how two adjacent colors
spread into each other. This greatly reduces
misregistration problems – something that can occur
when colors from two different plates overlap or
adjoin one another.”CorelDRAW allows users to specify a trap width –the amount that one color spreads into another.
You can also specify image trap placement, which
determines where the trap occurs, and whether thetrap is a choke or a spread.
Another benefit of using CorelDRAW is its flexible
file handling capabilities. Summit Graphics recently
worked on a complex book cover project. The final
DRAW file was a mix of native Adobe Photoshop
files, TIFFs, vector text and spot process colors. "Thefile printed flawlessly," smiles Dave.
“I have tried most other graphics applications atsome point in the past, but I'll stick to CorelDRAW
for a number of reasons,” says Dave Deem. “Itscombination of ease-of-use, speed and flexibility is®

unparalleled in my mind. You get multiple functions
for each tool, and that really cuts down the numberof trips to the Toolbox. It’s a great timesaver, and anindication that the software designers at Corelknow what’s important to a professional user likeme.”
In addition to all the professional graphics
capabilities of CorelDRAW 12, the application alsooffers a variable data feature that enables users toemulate complex database functionalities right outof the box.
Many other graphics applications require users towrite scripts in Visual Basic or AppleScript to reachthis level of customization. Or hire a databaseadministrator to set up a Microsoft Access database.
In CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12, a non-technicaldesigner can do everything with a few mouse clicks
directly from CorelDRAW.
Iowa State University recently asked Summit
Graphics to print over 3,000 sequentially numbered
ID badges. Normally, printing 3,000 copies of a filethat has been designed in a graphics application,
each with a unique name and ID number, requires
technical assistance from an IT specialist. Not sowith CorelDRAW. The Print Merge function allowed
the designer to set everything up within CorelDRAW
with great control over fonts, colors and otherformatting attributes.
The client provided Summit Graphics with a simple
Excel file with all the names listed under First Nameand Last Name, saved as a Comma Delimited file(.csv). The Print Merge wizard in CorelDRAW asked
the designer to locate the Excel file and all thecolumns of data were imported automatically.

CorelDRAW allows the user to specify exactly howto format a sequentially increasing number field. In
this case, the designer used five digits, i.e. 00001,00002, etc. Should you want to start at number
other than 1, just click in the Start box and enter thenew number to change it.

"We do all of ourcolor separation
work directly inCorelDRAW. The
excellent preview
makes it a seamlessprocess."®

Once the three data fields have been defined, thedesigner can insert the fields in the drawing bychoosing File > Print Merge… > Create/Load Merge
Fields…. When the Print Merge Tool becomesvisible, the designer can start placing the variabledata fields in the document. Choose one of thethree data fields from a drop-down menu, and click
once with the cursor to place each field.
CorelDRAW indicates a variable data field in thedrawing by adding angle brackets around the field
name, i.e. <first name> etc. The text attributes are
fully editable, so the designer can change fonts, text
sizes and colors of all the variable data fields to fit
the rest of the design.

To find out more about this product or
any other Corel product, please visit
www.corel.com or call 1-800-772-6735.

© 2005 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved. 04/05 JB#328

Once both the static design elements and thevariable data fields are in place, the designer canmerge the data file and the drawing with a click on
the Perform Print Merge button. This brings up thestandard Print dialog box, which gives the designer
access to all the standard print features ofCorelDRAW. If you click on the Print Preview button
you’ll see a number of tabs at the bottom
numbered Page 1: Record 1, Page 1: Record 2, etc.
Click OK to start printing your customized
documents.
Dave Deem concludes: “Last year Summit Graphics
decided to use the variable data feature to create avery narrowly targeted marketing campaign to ourcustomer base. I believe the campaign was very
successful mainly because the high level ofcustomization available in CorelDRAW. We couldn’t
be happier with it!”