About Drapress

Born in a print shop

Drapress was founded out of a real need in the industry. The person who built the system worked for 15 years in offset and digital printing. Over those years he saw up close every kind of problem that print shop owners, graphic designers and customers run into day to day.

The problems we saw up close

• Files that arrive with problems. The bleed is missing, the images are low resolution, the colors are screen colors (RGB), or the fonts were not embedded. Often the problem is discovered late, sometimes only at the press.
• Endless back and forth on WhatsApp and email. "Which file did you approve?", "I sent a corrected version", "Is this the latest file?". The versions get mixed up, and sometimes one file is approved and another file is printed.
• Customers who do not understand what is being asked of them. Bleed, resolution and spot colors sound to them like a foreign language.
• Graphic designers who get partial comments. They make corrections without knowing exactly what the problem is, and send it again.
• Tracking on notes and from memory. Who is working on what, what is stuck and what is ready: a question that comes up at the print shop every day.
• A repeat order that starts with a search. Where is the file from last time, and which version of it was printed.

Why we decided to build

After years of running into the same obstacles, the founders of Drapress decided not to wait for a solution from outside. They built a system that answers exactly the problems they had run into themselves. Every screen in Drapress was built against a real situation from the print shop.

What Drapress does today

• One place for every job: the order, the files, the versions and the approvals.
• Automatic file check: page structure, size, bleed, font embedding, resolution, spot colors, color space (RGB), rich black text, overprint and transparency. The findings are explained to the customer in plain words, and the check reports and does not fix.
• Approval locked to the exact version. The original is never deleted, and every correction creates a new version. A change to the content cancels an earlier approval.
• Proof by product: flip-through for booklets, front and back, single flat surface and fold.
• A production board and a workstation at the machine. You see who is working on what and at which stage, and the customer is kept updated.
• A branded store and a customer portal, including repeat orders.
• A print request network. Customers and graphic designers send a request, compare quotes and choose.

What it gives each one

• For the print shop: problems in a file are found when it is uploaded, not at the press, and there is a clear picture of all the jobs.
• For the graphic designer: a clear report of what needs to be corrected, and an approval locked to their exact version.
• For the customer: an explanation in plain words, a proof that looks like the product, and tracking of the order.

We keep building

The system keeps growing according to what print shops need. The All the tools page shows what is available today, and the roadmap page shows what is on the way.