When computer-to-plate (CTP) printing came on the scene a few years back and catalog content went digital, digital asset management (DAM) became the commonly used system it is today. CTP spawned new dilemmas: how to manage digital content (namely product data and images used for print and electronic catalogs); how to find the assets when needed; how to manage revisions; and how best to draw assets into the creative process. These emerging challenges created a ripe opportunity for DAM developers. Today, fewer
Gretchen A. Peck
Linda May Ellis has been on the front lines of digital asset management since long before the term’s conception. Ellis, the image librarian for Norwell, Mass.-based WearGuard, a business-to-business cataloger of work apparel and accessories, started with the company in the fall of 1992, long before the firm took its catalog production digital. “In 1993, we started getting computers — Macs,” she recalls. “Before that we were doing manual paste-up galleys with wax. We used transparencies, but were finding we had more and more digital images. “Using computers,” she continues, “enabled us to work faster. So we were able
