Color reduces search time by as much as 80%.

Color reduces errors by 80%.

Information can be located 70% faster if it’s
in color.

Document sorting improves by 15% when highlight
color is used.

Highlight color improves search time by 39%
compared to using different fonts.

Color increases comprehension by as much
as 73%.

Color increases learning and retention by 78%.

Sources
Studies
Loyola College, Maryland, U.S.A.,
by Ellen Hoadley, Ph.D.,
Laurette Simmons, Ph.D.,
and Faith Gilroy, Ph.D.
Case & Company,
Management Consultants
Bureau of Advertising, Color
in Newspaper Advertising
Maritz Motivation, Inc.,
Southern Illinois

Sounds great so why isn’t color more widely used in large format documents? The most common objection is cost. While it is more expensive for color prints the cost has been coming down due to reductions in the cost of color printers and supplies. You also must consider the cost of printing documents is almost always less than 1% of the total project cost and how much can be saved by reducing errors and the greater efficiencies gained by the use of color. A harder objection is how people with color blindness will be affected by the use of color. Not being color blind it’s hard for me give an intelligent response however since color is already in use in many aspects of the work place there might be ways to adapt. Please send any comments that may enlighten us on this.

The reprographic industry is a relatively small industry with approximately 3000 firms in the United States. It is comprised of entrepreneurial businesses serving predominately the large- and wide-format reproduction needs of the architectural, engineering, manufacturing, retail, and advertising industries. Average sales volume is about $1.5 million and average employee counts are 20-25 people.

Large-format reproductions are produced with a variety of technologies dependent, in part, on the application of the final product and quantity needed. Examples of typical reproduction methods include: diazo (blueline), electrostatic (xerographic), photographic, laser, and ink jet.

Reproductions can be made from the same size or smaller/larger hard copy originals. Prints can also be computer generated from CADD (computer aided design and drafting) files or from a growing variety of desktop publishing and design software packages.

In addition to addressing the large-format reproduction needs of their customers, reprographers frequently sell reprographic equipment and consumable supplies. Other business services such as mounting and lamination, quick copying, microfilming, scanning and facility management are also provided.

Typical items produced by reprographers include architectural/engineering blueprints and renderings, indoor and outdoor signage, maps, billboards, backlit displays, trade show graphics, legal and medical exhibits, etc.

From epapercentral.com

Large E-Paper Displays

SDC’s can also be combined to produce large format displays. The Citizen Bendable Clock is such an application. Equally noteworthy as its wide surface area is the “bendability” of the clock, another important advantage of the technology.

At the EXPO 2005, in Aichi Japan, Toppan Printing exhibited a large wall-sized newspaper that made use of E Ink technology. The wall-sized newspaper was actually an application of LCD (liquid crystal display), which displayed the colored photos, and electronic paper, which was responsible for displaying the text. Perhaps future e-paper applications would be similar to this; combining various technological solutions to solve a single problem.