blinkplan blog

While Joerg is on his way to show off our brilliant software in London, I’ve been working on some flatplans for clients. I’ve been using the new ’save’ as function a whole lot - what a stroke of genius. (I can say that myself, because I didn’t think of it.)

You can base your new flatplan on any previous one stored on Blinkplan, and you can choose between keeping just the page structure (eg, three ads followed by an editorial page etc etc) or you can keep all the previous content. The latter option is particularly cool for mags that have a lot of regular pages. You just edit the few that need to change.

Love it!

I hope you all had a good New Year!

We have a new feature for you. When you create a new flatplan, you can base the new one on any of your other flatplans - either only the layout, or the layout plus the content - which is essentially a “Save as…” feature.

So if all your issues are layed out in a very similar fashion, you’ll be able to get a good head start on your next issue, and all you need to do is fill in the content, and make adjustments here and there. Please use the Feedback site to let us know if this solves the “Save as…” problem.

Kerry is in the Maldives this week. So if you have any flatplan / pagination / map questions, and you have been dealing with Kerry directly, please send them to the hello@ address rather.

From Folio:

Blinkplan expedites production map design and management processes, creators say

By Vanessa Voltolina

A pair of magazine and software design professionals are targeting magazine publishers with their new program, Blinkplan, which they say offers the most convenient way to draw up flatplans—the diagram, or map, that shows where articles and advertisements are laid out.

Launched this fall, Blinkplan was created by South Africa-based software designer Joerg Diekmann and former magazine managing editor Kerry Rogers. The system, which is accessed at the Blinkplan web site, automatically gives a running subtotal of how many ads, editorial pages, advertorials are in a given issue. The system can create PDFs and re-flows pages when a spread is moved. Up to three maps can be worked on at the same time.

Diekmann and Rogers spent about a year-and-a-half in testing phases before working with their first magazine client: the South African edition of Cosmopolitan. “They used it for about six months until the product evolved into what it is now,” Diekmann wrote in an e-mail FOLIO:.

After working with the magazine, Diekmann and Rogers discovered that Blinkplan’s process reduces the time to produce a map (using conventional spreadsheet, design package and all-inclusive systems) by half. “We definitely want to get more glossies on board like Cosmopolitan, but we think Blinkplan is also right for smaller trade magazines, contract magazines, and other business-to-business type magazines,” Diekmann wrote. “There are so many magazines that cannot afford bigger, and more fully featured systems.”

A monthly subscription to the Blinkplan system costs $29 per month. Weekly magazines can opt for a package deal ($55 per month) that stores 12 maps at a time, the company says.

From Print Media Management:

Blinkplan, an online flatplan system, has been launched,which saves time and helps prevent potentially costly pagination mistakes at print stage

Blinkplan, an online flatplan system, has been launched,which saves time and helps prevent potentially costly pagination mistakes at print stage, the company says.
Implemented through a web browser, Blinkplan’s online flatplan system automatically reflows pages when a spread is relocated, removing the need to manually shift spreads and rename them, and displays a running subtotal of how many adverts and editorial pages.

The system calculates ideal locations for bind-ins and checks content-filled pages against print section sizes to make sure they match up. It also generates a PDF to easily email or print the flatplan, allowing colleagues to view. Payment is calculated according to the number of flatplans required.

Blinkplan is a cool new web application on which to create flatplans for magazines and booklets. It’s easy, intuitive, fast and inexpensive, and fulfils a long-standing need in the industry.

Blinkplan was launched on 15 September 2008 by leading South African web-application designer Joerg Diekmann and South African magazine professional Kerry Rogers. Since then,

Blinkplan has seen an enormous response, with signups throughout South Africa, Europe and Asia. It’s had a great deal of positive feedback, most along the following lines:

“You’ve certainly nailed a basic industry need that was surprisingly hard to find on the web. Building these things in Excel or Word is not impossible, but not nearly as simple as you make it.”

Since its launch two weeks ago, Blinkplan’s fast, inexpensive flatplan program has seen an enormous response, with signups throughout South Africa, Europe and Asia. It’s had a great deal of positive feedback, most along the following lines:

“You’ve certainly nailed a basic industry need that was surprisingly hard to find on the web. Building these things in Excel or Word is not impossible, but not nearly as simple as you make it.”

Here is a summary of Blinkplan’s main features:

Easy, flexible payment options

Blinkplan subscriptions vary in price from $15 to $69 per month. There are no contracts – Blinkplan is run month to month. You can cancel or change your pricing plan any time.

Privacy

Your flatplans are 100% confidential as Blinkplan uses SSL security – the same encryption system that banks use.

Security

Stored on Blinkplan’s server, your flatplans are safer than if they were on your office file server or your hard drive. Our servers are backed up daily and weekly and are protected against crashes by means of storage at more than one location.

Page categories

You can name and colour-code up to 30 different page categories – for example, ‘ad’, ‘editorial’, ‘promotion’, etc. These page categories can also be used for basic production tracking in that you can create colour codes for, for example, ‘sent to print’ or ‘text not in yet’.

Automatic totalling

At all times, Blinkplan displays how many pages of each category you have, as well as a grand total.

Automatic re-flowing

When you move a spread, the affected spreads re-flow automatically.

Fractional-ad accommodation

Blinkplan has a number of templates that allow you to split your page into, for example, quarter blocks, halves or strips. These fractions are accurately and automatically totalled.

Spanning

If you’re flatplanning a long story, for example a fashion shoot, Blinkplan allows you to repeat one page up to ten times. You fill in the info once, tell Blinkplan how many times to span it, and it does the rest.

Section management

Type in your section sizes and Blinkplan will show you whether you have too few or too many pages. Change your sections and you won’t lose any content – Blinkplan will simply show you whether or not your content fits.

Stitch-in calculation

Blinkplan automatically calculates all possible locations for stitch-ins or bind-ins. Once you’ve chosen your position, it adds a graphic clearly illustrating (for printers, repro houses etc) where the stitch-ins should go.

Notes

A field for notes allows you to type messages about your flatplan for your team or factory.

PDF generation

In one mouse-click, Blinkplan can generate a print-friendly, e-mail friendly PDF of your flatplan. You can store this on your computer and send it out to your colleagues. There is also an option to e-mail flatplans out directly from your Blinkplan web page.

For more information, visit http://www.blinkplan.com.

For regular updates, check out our blog: http://blog.blinkplan.com.

REVOLUTIONARY FLATPLAN SOFTWARE PACKAGE DEVELOPED BY SMALL SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS

A magazine flatplan is like one of those little puzzles with eight squares that, when arranged correctly in their plastic frame, form a picture. It takes a lot of shuffling to get one right. And like the puzzle, a flatplan usually involves a lot of re-doing, time-wasting and hair-pulling.

Once you think you have the correct number of pages, you need to count the ads to make sure you haven’t missed one, and you can count on someone interrupting you just as you reach the end, causing you to have to start again.

And just when you’ve established that you have the correct number of ads, editorial pages, advertorials, etc, chances are you’ll realise that the DPS on page 100 would be better off on page 10. Then begins the process of manually shifting 45 DPSs along one slot in order to relocate the spread.

In the meantime, an impatient team is asking you, ‘What’s taking so long? It’s just a bunch of blocks!’

What are the options for creating a flatplan?

Spreadsheets

A spreadsheet makes a nice neat flatplan with a small file size. It can be sent out to sales and creative teams alike because most people are able to open spreadsheets. On the down side, it takes a lot of time to format and re-flowing has to be done manually.

Design packages

Using a design package to create a flatplan allows a fair amount of visual flexibility, but the files are huge. PDFs are fairly easily generated but the plans are only modifiable by someone with the software – and the hardware to support the software. Manual re-flowing and totalling make this a time-consuming method.

All-inclusive systems

Some design-and-production systems (often costing in the hundreds of thousands) include a pagination package. This is only viable if you need the full package. In the tight, competitive SA market, most SA publishers prefer to put their resources into quality.

Now there’s a fourth option: Web expert Joerg Diekmann and magazine pro Kerry Rogers have spent just over a year developing Blinkplan, a secure online package that speeds up the flatplan-design process significantly. It’s cost effective and simple, and among other things, it:

-       reflows affected spreads automatically when a spread is relocated

-       automatically displays a running subtotal of how many ads, editorial pages, advertorials (up to 20 self-defined categories) there are

-       automatically calculates stitch-in locations

-       has a safe backup system, works on pretty much any machine with a modern web browser, and generates PDFs for easy viewing and printing

In this economic climate, when budget constraints mean many magazine employees are carrying the workload of more than one staff member each, no employer can afford to pay someone to sit for hours counting little blocks on a page. The Blinkplan system saves a lot of time and helps prevent potentially costly pagination mistakes at print stage. It is also inexpensive and can be run on PC or Mac with a modern web browser.

Blinkplan’s originators

Joerg Diekmann: A ninja software designer with over twelve years experience in building web applications

Kerry Rogers: A former managing editor (and flatplan-maker) of one of SA’s top-selling magazines, with eight years’ editorial and production experience in the consumer and custom magazine-publishing industries.

For more info, visit www.blinkplan.com

From BizCommunity:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

The brains behind the program are Joerg Diekmann, a ninja software designer with over 12 years’ experience in building web applications and Kerry Rogers, a former managing editor (and flatplan-maker) of one of SA’s top-selling magazines, with eight years’ editorial and production experience in consumer and custom magazines.

Says Rogers, “As far as we can tell, there is nothing else like it on the market - most other options either expensive or not tailored to magazines. Blinkplan is a 100% South African product. A year and a half of tech expertise has gone into it, and it has been extensively tested on a major SA consumer title.”

Little puzzle with eight squares

A magazine flatplan is like one of those little puzzles with eight squares that, when arranged correctly in their plastic frame, form a picture. It takes a lot of shuffling to get one right. And like the puzzle, a flatplan usually involves a lot of re-doing, time-wasting and hair-pulling. Normally there are three ways of generating a flatplan: spreadsheets, design packages and all-inclusive systems.

Once you think you have the correct number of pages, you need to count the ads to make sure you haven’t missed one, and you can count on someone interrupting you just as you reach the end, causing you to have to start again.

And just when you’ve established that you have the correct number of ads, editorial pages, advertorials, etc, chances are you’ll realise that the DPS on page 100 would be better off on page 10. Then begins the process of manually shifting 45 DPSs along one slot in order to relocate the spread.

In the meantime, an impatient team is asking you, ‘What’s taking so long? It’s just a bunch of blocks!’

Blinkplan is a secure online package that is supposed to be cost effective and simple, and, among other things, it:

• reflows affected spreads automatically when a spread is relocated
• automatically displays a running subtotal of how many ads, editorial pages, advertorials (up to 30 self-defined categories) there are
• automatically calculates stitch-in locations
• has a safe backup system, works on pretty much any machine with a modern web browser, and generates PDFs for easy viewing and printing
• makes sure that the number of content pages corresponds with the defined print sections