The final two magazines, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, went CTP for their June issues. This concludes the transition of all 18 NatMags titles, including NatMags Specialist Media (AIM).

The first magazines produced CTP, in August 2000, were Focus and Prima Baby, originally owned by Gruner + Jahr. Since then, it has progressed sporadically.

Group manufacturing director Alice Symonds said: We havent really been very consistent with the transition. In the early days, we only did one magazine at a time. But as we had more trials we increased confidence and since last August weve really accelerated the changeover.

NatMags works mainly with printers Polestar Chantry and Jarrolds, while Argent Colour and Graphic Facilities are its key repro suppliers. It took several stages of trials in order to smooth out problems and create a common workflow and file format.

According to Symonds, the next step for NatMags will be to encourage its advertising clients to produce files that it can better control, followed by implementation of industry standards and commonality for digital images.

As co-chair of the PPA Production and Technology committee, Im very keen for NatMags, as well as all the PPA members, to adopt the pass4press guidelines as the accepted industry standard, said Symonds.

Later in the year, NatMags will experiment with colour management and soft proofing. All future magazines launched by its recently formed contract publishing division will also be 100% CTP.

Story by Rachel Barnes