Clemson University this week dedicated the Harris A. Smith Building, home to the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics, where students and researchers will study not only how packaging is designed and manufactured but also how products will be perceived, marketed and consumed in the future.

The Harris A. Smith Building is the only university program in the country that will bring together packaging science, graphic communication, the materials, environmental science, manufacturing, marketing and psychology disciplines to study packaging methods, said Chip Tonkin, the institute’s director.

The Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics was initially created at Clemson University to exploit the synergies that exist between the graphic communications and packaging science departments. But according to the University, packaging design incorporates much more than the structural and aesthetic elements that typically come to mind: done properly, this process should incorporate a wide range of disciplines, including material properties, structural attributes, environmental sciences, manufacturing, marketing and psychology. As this became apparent, our mission broadened into something that will have a much greater impact.

The institute initially will focus on four areas:

* Designing environmentally sustainable packages;

* Developing electronic films that can be printed on packages to create displays, track shipments or apply environmental or biological sensors;

* Testing the impact of package design on consumer attention, buying patterns, use and disposal in its consumer experience lab; and

* Integrating the multiple steps in package design and construction into a single work flow.

“We think in these four areas we can make a name for ourselves,” Tonkin said. “Nobody has really looked at packaging as a core competency.”

The 28,000-square-foot building is named for Harris A. Smith of Atlanta, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Smith Container Corp., founded by the Smith family in 1907. He sold the company a few years ago and saw an opportunity to create a global center for packaging innovation by investing in Clemson.

Smith made gifts and pledges of $3.7 million and Sonoco Products Co. of Hartsville $2.5 million for the construction of the building and to launch the packaging institute.

Sonoco Products was recently in the news after it was learned they are the producers of the canister cereal packaging Target is using for its Archer Farms brand of cereals.  The unique cereal packaging caused quite stir within the industry and a wide range of consumer feedback both positive and negative.

Brier Dudley

Serial Web entrepreneur Kelly Smith took the wraps off his new venture, which he’d been calling “Pressplane” since September.

Now called Inkd, the Pioneer Square company is an online print and design marketplace, like a stock photo agency handling graphic art.

Companies designing printed materials can use the site to find and buy graphics and artists can use the site to distribute their work.

Inkd is aimed particularly at small businesses and offers them all sorts of templates for printed materials.

Artists can upload designs for material such as business cards, brochures and letterhead. They’ll receive a commission, generally 20 percent, if their material sells.

Inkd went live over the weekend with more than 800 original “agency quality” designs.

Here’s how the company describes itself on its introductory blog:

We’re a lot like a stock photo company except this marketplace is about print creative. Are you an exceptional print designer? Love brochures and business cards? Why not turn that passion into additional income? Are you a business that has a need for great creative but you have a short deadline or a limited budget? Inkd is for you. In fact, Inkd is really for anyone who appreciates great print design.

Inkd is the latest product from Smith’s incubation company, Curious Office. It previously launched and sold online books community Shelfari and Imagekind, an art marketplace that’s a cousin to Inked.

For his new venture, Smith received $1.7 million in funding in September from Second Avenue Partners and a group of prominent Seattle Web entrepreneurs, including:

Salmi, who started AtomFilms here and is now MTV president
Zillow boss Rich Barton
Former Expedia Chief Executive Erik Blachford
BuddyTV founder Andy Liu
Whitepages.com founder Alex Algard
Madrona Venture Group’s Geoff Entress
Startup veteran Andy Sack, who founded Judy’s Book
Curious Office co-founder Adrian Hanauer
Tech investor John Cunningham
Former Corbis Chief Executive Doug Rowan

UPDATE: Smith said the company still has at least 12 months worth of cash left. It now employs five full-time and three contractors.

Rave Computer, based in Sterling Heights, said last week it will be the information-technology systems integrator and sole provider of industrial computers for the Valentine Robotics Vision & Systems Group, also in Sterling Heights.

Rave has developed advanced technology solutions and configured five base systems, designed to be cost-effective and provide optimal performance to Valentine’s end robotics products.

“Rave Computer’s partnership with Valentine further solidifies Rave’s presence in the IT integration market,” said Joe Borowicz, chief financial officer, Rave Computer.

Valentine Robotics benefits by having a local partner that can be leveraged for its IT knowledge.

X-Rite to aid institute

X-Rite Inc., the world leader in color management, measurement and communication technologies, has announced that it is partnering with Clemson University’s new Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics to provide the school’s students, faculty, research staff and corporate partners with the technology and knowledge resources to pursue education and spearhead research in packaging science and technology.

X-Rite will assist with every facet of color reproduction, from inspiration and design to output, for projects that represent real-world packaging workflows.

The new institute, which will open Tuesday, establishes the nation’s first formal collaboration between the disciplines of packaging science and graphic communications.

As the new think tank for the packaging industry, the institute will provide a focus on innovation for the next generation of packaging professionals and will place Clemson University among the institutions serving the future of the printing and packaging industries.

“The Sonoco Institute at Clemson is poised to be the one of the most color-controlled facilities in the industry, and X-Rite’s solutions are key to our success. From the tight calibration of all the projectors, displays and monitors, to the digital calibration of plates and color formulation quality control, X-Rite’s solutions will play a crucial role at every step,” said Chip Tonkin, director of the Sonoco Institute.

Pewaukee, Wisconsin — The Institute for Graphics and Imaging (IGI)—an education and training organization funded by and dedicated to the printing and graphic arts industry—will host a regional workshop devoted to FIRST 4.0—Flexographic Image Reproduction Specifications & Tolerances.  The workshop, sponsored by the Foundation of the Flexographic Technical Association, will be held on April 13, 2009, at the IGI facility in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Richard Black, Director of Digital Products at All Printing Resources, will facilitate the workshop.  Attendees will learn to optimize plates, inks, substrates and other variables in the flexographic printing process.  In addition, Black, who has extensive color experience, will detail the G7 process and appropriate color measurement techniques.  Online registration is available at www.flexography.org/online/meetings/regional.cfm.

Announcing the new training series, IGI Executive Director Ron Dahl commented: “IGI is pleased to host this outstanding new workshop.  The IGI facilities are an ideal venue for classes of this sort, and we are pleased to have been selected as the site of the initial workshop in this program.”

The Institute for Graphics and Imaging provides education and training in the graphic design, printing, and related industries.  Supported by a vast network of industry suppliers, printers, publishers, and governmental agencies, IGI operates on the campus of the Waukesha County Technical College in suburban Milwaukee.  IGI facilities, which include computer classrooms and access to the latest printing equipment, are available for sales events and corporate training courses.  For additional information go to www.igi.org or call 262-695-6260.

By Santosh Mishra

MSI’s newly launched 260GTX graphics series rules the market. Before some time the company had announced to launch its the next generation of the successful N260GTX series with a dual-fan and a quintuple heatpipe design called Twin Frozr for best stability even under a most stressful workload.

At the same time the N260GTX series comes now with 896 MB of 448 bit DDR3 memory and 100% solid state capacitors putting gamers in the best position to fully enjoy demanding DirectX10 games with their enthralling visual and sound effects.

With the MSI N260GTX series gamers now can choose between two solutions. For the most demanding power gamer only the dual-fan edition will do, but the occasional leisure gamer might already be satisfied with the single-fan edition.

MSI’s entire N260GTX series supports the NVIDIA PhysX acceleration technology. Modern DirectX 10 games allow for a most realistic and incredibly immersive game play when utilizing the PhysX technology.

MSI is the world leading brand manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards. MSI’s entirely new Twin Frzor on N260GTX series utilizes an intelligent PWM dual-fan design. The fan speed is automatically adjusted according to the core temperature of the GPU, guaranteeing ultra-low noise emissions under regular load while dynamically adjusting the fan speed during game play and 3D-operations and still remaining quiet.

In addition, the Twin Frozr on MSI N260GTX series uses an industry-leading quintuple heat-pipe design, compared to conventional twin- or quadruple-pipe designs this greatly improves heat dissipation efficiency.

Moreover the dual-fan design naturally also provides twice as big a cooling efficiency. With two fans the user is always on the safe site, should for some reason one fan not operate correctly, the second fan still secures effective cooling, thereby making sure that your graphics card won’t be damaged.

Currently there are two different types of capacitors prevailing in the industry, electrolytic capacitors and solid state ones, with the solid state capacitors offering greater longevity. Beyond a prolonged longevity solid state capacitors can also better cope with high frequencies and withstand more heat while providing a more stable current at the same time.

The graphic design sector has enjoyed a strong period thanks to the growth in web design work, but the economic downturn is likely to see marketing and IT budgets slashed.

The continued growth in the online sector and Australia’s strong economic growth have meant good times for the graphic design sector.

IBISWorld estimates that this industry will grow by 4.3% over the five year period to 2008-09, largely on the back of solid robust economic growth between 2004 and 2007.

A decrease in advertising and packing caused by the economic slowdown in the US slowed revenue growth in 2006-07, and revenue is expected to contract slightly in 2008-09 as the financial crisis hits demand for industry services.

There are two main barriers to future industry growth.

First, the sector is largely reliant on overall advertising and promotional budgets and expenditures by clients, which are under great pressure as the downturn bites. Second, the industry is being hurt by the development of easier forms of packaged design software that can be used by people who are not trained graphic designers.

IBISWorld forecasts that this industry will grow by 3.6% over the five year period to 2013-14. Growth will be insignificant in 2009-10 as the effects of the financial crisis continue to hurt demand for industry services. However, over the remaining years of the outlook period, a broad-based economic recovery will return the industry to strong growth.

On the supply side, technology will continue to improve the quality and reduce the production cost of design work. This will lead to higher profits and lower the need for large staff numbers, though employment is still expected to grow along with revenue.

On the other hand, improving technology will lower the barriers of entry to the industry, potentially creating more competition from low-cost desktop publishers. Another challenge to the industry is the evident oversupply of graphics courses and graduates in relation to industry demand and growth.