The Ghent PDF Workgroup, also known as the GWG, is an international assembly of user associations, software vendors, end users

End-user

Economics and commerce define an end user as the person who uses a product. The end user or consumer may differ from the person who purchases the product...

 and educational institutions from the publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 industry. The goal of the GWG is to establish and disseminate specifications for best practice

Best practice

A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark...

s for the graphic arts industry at large.

Since its inception in 2002, the GWG has created best practice guidelines for several different aspects of graphic arts

Graphic arts

A type of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of art forms. Graphic art is typically two-dimensional and includes calligraphy, photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, lithography, typography, serigraphy , and bindery. Graphic art also consists of drawn plans and layouts for interior...

 workflows. On the theoretical side, the group has created specifications for PDF files used in different graphic arts market segment

Market segment

Market segmentation is a concept in economics and marketing. A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations with one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function...

s, job tickets, color management

Color management

In digital imaging systems, color management is the controlled conversion between the color representations of various devices, such as image scanners, digital cameras, monitors, TV screens, film printers, computer printers, offset presses, and corresponding media.The primary goal of color...

 setups and more. On the practical side those theoretical specifications were accompanied where possible with freely downloadable settings for popular desktop publishing

Desktop publishing

Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...

 applications such as Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is a software application produced by Adobe Systems. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers and books. In conjunction with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite InDesign can publish content suitable for tablet devices...

, QuarkXPress

QuarkXPress

QuarkXPress is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on Mac OS X and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc...

, Enfocus

Enfocus

- History :Enfocus was founded in 1993 by Peter Camps. The company was started to develop solutions for the NeXT platform to edit PostScript files. With the decline of NeXT it migrated to the Macintosh platform...

 PitStop Professional and more.

The GWG has also published several white paper

White paper

A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...

s and the Ghent Output Suite, used to test the ability of workflows to correctly handle PDF files in typical production workflows.

History

In 2002, industry associations representing printers and publishers in Belgium and the Netherlands started to standardize how PDF files should look when they were delivered for publication or print. During that process the desire grew to also make it easy to exchange PDF files across borders. In June 2002, the Ghent PDF Workgroup was founded to help make the standardization process easier and to come to one international set of standards. Enfocus Software, one of the leading quality control

Quality control

Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...

 (preflight) vendors in graphic arts, was the driving force behind the birth of the Ghent PDF Workgroup.

Industry associations joined the group in increasing numbers and two years after its inception the GWG was also opened up to other graphic arts software vendors. The work of the group also started to expand quickly from it original focus on quality control to other areas like packaging specific workflows and job ticket standards.

End 2007, the GWG consists of more than 20 industry associations worldwide and over 20 graphic arts software vendors.

Executive committee

The work of the Ghent PDF Workgroup is overseen and directed by its Executive Committee, consisting of seven industry professionals. Each member of this committee is elected for a term of two years by the members of the group.

• Chair: Dave Zwang
• Vice Chair: David van Driessche
• Executive Director: Vicki Blake
• Marketing Officer: Tom Peire
• Technical Officer: Stephan Jaeggi
• Documentation Officer: Peter Kleinheider
• Treasurer: Andy Psarianos