Dr. John Warnock and Dr. Charles (Chuck) Geschke, the co-founders of Adobe Systems Incorporated, have been honoured with the global Ipex 2010 ‘Champions in Print’ awards which acknowledge the huge contribution of those who have influenced and shaped the development of the printing industry.
The Ipex Advisory Committee, which represents a broad range of major exhibitors, visitor groups and trade associations, has awarded the accolade in recognition of the roles they played in inventing Adobe® PostScript® technology which revolutionised desktop publishing by providing a radical new approach to printing text and images on paper.
John Warnock says, "We are delighted to accept the Ipex "Champions in Print" award. When Chuck and I founded Adobe in 1982, we hoped our technology would have the potential to make an important contribution to the communication of ideas. But if anyone had told us it would be part of revolutionizing the printing and publishing industry, we would have been sceptical. We were fortunate in that we have always hired bright and creative people at Adobe. I'm proud to say that Adobe has been built on the legacy that has continued to revolutionize how the world engages with ideas and information, whether in print, on the Web and across all manner of devices."
Chuck Geschke says, "We are honoured to accept this award on behalf of everyone at Adobe who has worked with us to advance the future of the print and publishing industry. The revolution that began as desktop publishing in the late 1980s changed the cost, productivity and efficiency of an industry without compromising the 500 years of the traditional aesthetics and quality of the printing trade. The technology and products developed at Adobe since its founding have had a major influence on the evolution of the graphics arts industry. Today, Adobe continues to drive the transformation of print communications from a manual, mechanical process to a fully digital workflow."
Geschke and Warnock met in the late 1970s at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre, where Geschke directed research activities in computer science, graphics, image processing and optics, and Warnock worked as a principal scientist. The pair went on to set up Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1982 and launched PostScript which enabled content from a computer file to be printed exactly as it appeared on screen, with all formatting, graphics and fonts intact.
Building on the success of PostScript technology, their company expanded into desktop publishing software with Adobe® Illustrator® and Adobe® Photoshop®. These applications enabled designers to create and manipulate complex images and graphics for print. Later on, the launch of Adobe® InDesign® redefined page layout for publications, allowing many magazines, newspapers and corporate brands to adopt modern production workflows. The development of Adobe® Acrobat® software, and the Portable Document Format (PDF), helped advance the print industry further by enabling the use of electronic files for high-fidelity printing.
Ipex 2010 Event Director, Trevor Crawford, says, “The sheer number of nominations that both Dr Geschke and Dr Warnock have received since the launch of the Champions in Print awards is testament to the impact they’ve had on our industry. Both had a vision for publishing and graphic arts which has forever changed how people create and engage with information. We’re extremely pleased to recognise their outstanding contribution to the graphic arts world and hope we’ll continue to attract large numbers of nominations for different industry figures.”
In addition to chairing Adobe Systems Incorporated, both men serve on the boards of the various educational, arts, technology and other non-profit organisations. Geschke serves on the boards of the San Francisco Symphony, the Commonwealth Club of California, as well as being a board trustee at the University of San Francisco and an advisory board member for computer science at Carnegie-Mellon University. Warnock is active on or has served on the boards of the Sundance Institute, the American Film Institute and the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.
The Ipex 2010 ‘Champions in Print’ Awards were launched to honour individuals who have influenced and shaped the printing industry across the world. There will be ten ‘Champions’ in the run-up to Ipex 2010, which will take place from 18th - 25th May at the NEC, Birmingham, UK. The first three winners were Indigo founder and industry pioneer Benny Landa, J.K Rowling, author of the top-selling Harry Potter novels, and Professor Frank Romano at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
To nominate a living person for the next ‘Champions in Print’ award, complete a nomination form on-line by visiting www.ipex.org/cip. If a nominee hasn’t yet been selected as a winner, he or she can be nominated again. Entries must be supported by a brief summary of the nominee's achievements.
