Royal Planning Co., Ltd. is engaged in total planning, design, production, typesetting, plate making, and printing. Founded and established in 1971 as a phototypesetting company, the Macintosh was first introduced in 1989, and about 160 out of 320 employees are involved in the DTP / prepress department, which currently has the most power. Since I mainly work for publishers and magazines, I recognized the importance of supporting the Windows DTP and OpenType font environment and the conventional environment, and introduced LETS as soon as possible.
The results that meet customer needs are LETS
In the first place, the introduction of LETS started with the explanation from a fontworks sales representative. We thought that it was essential to prepare a DTP environment for OpenType fonts in the future, so first of all we introduced 5 to 6 Macintosh and Windows licenses as a trial. Since then, there have been requests from customers, and as a practical matter, an environment where LETS is used has become necessary. Our company is not limited to internal operations, we dispatch operators to customers to Support the construction and production of DTP environments. In the field, we created an environment for InDesign and OpenType fonts on a Windows machine, introduced LETS OpenType fonts there, and are actually doing the production work.
Generally, the needs of customers have become diversified with the times, but I think that the need for building a Windows DTP environment is increasing. Some customers have Windows machines, but only use them for office work such as reports and spreadsheets, and do not have a DTP environment. We are a vendor who creates data with DTP, and even if it is a slight change or modification, customers who do not have a DTP environment are in a position to ask the vendor to correct the data. It is natural to come up with the idea that "If you modify a single letter, you can do it in-house ..." and that is the first step towards building a DTP environment.
With the advent of InDesign and OpenType fonts, the need for Windows DTP is increasing in addition to requests such as "I want to make some corrections and checks in-house" and "I want to take the initiative in the data". Against this background, LETS is easy to recommend to customers who are starting DTP in the future, and the simple and clear mechanism that all typefaces can be used with only the annual fee and the cost performance are attractive for customers, so LETS introduction I think it's the number one reason to decide.
Security of printer font cost and option setting
We introduced LETS to use printer fonts in addition to using OpenType fonts and Windows environments. Our company is still operating the OCF font mainstream even now. Since we operate in satellites distributed in various places, we own a considerable number of printers and imagesetters, and we purchase fonts for each machine. Of course, it can not be used as it is, so we regularly replace it with a new model. At that time, fonts will be updated, but most manufacturers are now discontinuing OCF fonts. As a result of considering whether to upgrade to CID fonts or introduce LETS, LETS will be cheaper in cost, and when adding a printer, the initial cost is lower than purchasing a new Packaging, so it is even more advantageous. There is a feeling.
With a large number of printers, management has become much easier. There is no longer any need for the troublesome management and labor of what type of font is in which printer, what type of Packaging is used, etc. as before. Also, the fact that the installation time has been considerably shortened compared to before is very helpful. Even if OpenType fonts become mainstream and the need for printer fonts disappears in the future, printer fonts are Support as an option, so we can use it with confidence because it can be dealt with by canceling the option contract.
You can build a font environment that matches the OS and App
Although InDesign has been used more recently these days, we still use QuarkXPress frequently, so we speculate that OCF fonts will continue to be used for some time. Even OCF fonts that have already been in the format of two generations ago can be used continuously because of the introduction of LETS, which is very helpful. I am very satisfied with the ability to quickly build a font environment that matches the OS and App, and LETS, which can flexibly respond to the rapidly changing DTP environment.
Regarding output, PDF submission, which is one of the advantages of OpenType fonts, is the most ideal, but it has not reached that point yet. Considering what to do when a sudden trouble occurs, we have no choice but to submit the data in native data that can be corrected immediately. Especially for weekly magazines that are running on tight schedules, even if the work is stopped for a while, it will be serious. I hope that an ideal PDF submission environment will be prepared for both the production side and the output side.
Keyman is a designer! ?
Our request is to spread LETS more effectively. Especially for designers, low-cost LETS may be easy to introduce. OpenType fonts have various useful functions, but I don't know everyone, and I think demand will increase if they are used. For fonts other than Japanese, Chinese is helpful. We sometimes exchange data with our printing companies in China, and we look forward to working with you to expand the scope of your work in the future.
＜ Editor's note ＞
A royal project that has a foresight and has been actively working on new technologies in various fields. We can see that the font market centered around OpenType fonts and that they are always paying attention to future developments. Please look forward to more and more active LETS.
Company Info
| Company name | Royal Planning Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Head office location | 3-14 Kandanishikicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo |
| TEL | 03-5280-0571（代表） |
| URL | http://www.loyal.co.jp/index.html |
| Establishment | April 1971 |
| number of employees | 320 (as of August 2004) |
| Business description | Planning, design, production, printing of various commercial prints, editing and production of various publications, DTP, typesetting, platemaking, printing, character / image information processing, database construction, system development, etc. |
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