The single most important tool in producing any publication is the flatplan. This ingenious exploded diagram of a publication, similar to a film storyboard, enables everyone involved in its production to see pages, content, print sections or signatures, pagination at a single glance. Flatplans are constantly updated to reflect the inevitable changes that will occur, from a feature that needs to be extended, shrunk or dropped to a specific ad that needs to go opposite a particular editorial page. Such changes will necessitate a rearrangement of a section so that balance and pacing are till maintained throughout the publication. Each time such an alteration or amendment occurs, a new flatplan has be printed out and distributed to keep everyone up to date on developments. (From Yolanda Zappaterra’s Editorial Design)

As a design studio that works with print productions we are always looking for ways to improve the workflow between the content providers and designers. The time spent checking for updates and distributing the flatplan is a reoccurring timesink, and a factor that can create confusion in all productions is the. Editors or studio managers tend to create and muddle through their own «system» using tools like Word, Excel, email and handwritten notes. In the long run this becomes unbearable.

About a year ago we started to look for a product that could fit into our and our clients workflow. Surprisingly, nothing fit the bill. Unable to find a product out there that meet our needs, we started experimenting. Our first two goals was to create something that was simple to read and simple and effortless to edit. Secondly something that lots of people could have open at the same time and asynchronously receive updates as they wore made. What we ended up with was a product simply called Flatplan.

We know from long experience creating magazines and books where to draw the line. Flatplan isn’t a production environment with asset management and InDesign plug-ins that break down and stops your entire production. It’s simply tool to help you plan, manage and collaborate on your flatplans.

 

Down the road

We’re still working on new features. Not promising anything, and without any eta., here is a short list of things to come:

• Search
• Export to PDF
• Versioning
• Templates
• Stich-ins