More than 800 graphic designers and printers from the Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio area attended the annual event, which was held at the Millenium Hotel ballroom in Cincinnati on 18 October.

Color-Logic sales and marketing director Mark Geeves noted the "great turnout" from design companies at the event, which - despite being practically neighbours with Ariva - came about via a chance meeting at Drupa in Düsseldorf, Germany back in May.

"The VP of marketing for Ariva saw us at Drupa and said 'would you mind coming to our event'," he explained. "When I told him where we were based he couldn't believe it!"

Geeves added that Color-Logic, which was founded in 2010 to fill the gap left by the closure of the MetalFX scheme two years prior, tended to focus its marketing on designers rather than printers.

"It works for us because most printers will buy something when their clients start asking for it," said Geeves. "But it also benefits our printers, because it drives business to them.

"Designers are naturally creative, so samples are key when we're showing the technology to them - once they can see it, feel it and smell it, that's when they say 'wow, how do you do that?'"

Geeves added: "The good thing about Ariva is they don't mind us showing samples on other stock, so we had flexo, digital, screen and litho samples."

Color-Logic's software is now available in six languages and Geeves added that the company had followed up its appearance at Drupa, which he described as "a great launching pad into Asia" with Labelexpo in India.

"We're looking at Print China and we're also starting to do some business in Australia and the Philippines," he added. "We've sold into 25 countries now - we just got two more in Africa - so things are going really well internationally."