Print Production Made Easy
- We provide a print production platform that integrates with your choice of story writer. We connect to a range of systems such as Arc XP, Aptoma DrPublish, Labrador CMS by Publish Lab and Sourcefabric Superdesk.
- Our solution is delivered via the Amazon cloud so we can scale on demand and let your employees access from anywhere in the world.
- We cover our installations with 24/7 support so you can be confident that help is available when you need it the most.
Automation and Integration
- We strive to automate as many tasks as possible to help you focus on the important parts. For instance, the way we handle page layout gives you best-in-class automation regardless if you use Adobe InDesign or not.
- We are experts in integrating our products in your existing environment.
- No matter if you are a small regional newspaper or a national publisher we would be happy to help you implementing a modern and efficient print workflow.
Roxen has delivered software and know-how to newsrooms world-wide for over a decade, and our web experience extends more than 25 years back. We integrate print and online products with tools from world-leading vendors.
With our heritage comes unrivaled efficiency and excellent cost benefits paired with class-leading support. We call it Scandinavian Newsroom Solutions.
In the Spotlight
Arc and Roxen working together
Arc XP is the publishing platform from Washington Post that some of the world’s largest media organizations use, Washington Post itself included. Mentor Medier in Norway is their first customer in Scandinavia.
Ole-Jacob Mosvold, director of technology and digital transformation at Mentor Medier, calls Arc XP a perfect choice for their corporate group with many publications and channels in need of a modern web publishing system.
“When we got acquainted with Arc they recommended Roxen for our print production and we have not regretted that for a second. We are very satisfied with their teamwork and the solution is impressive,” he says.
Matt Monahan, VP of Products at Arc, is no stranger to Roxen. In 2018 Roxen delivered Roxen Editorial Portal as a print solution for Arc to our joint customer Grupo Nación in Costa Rica.
“It’s like with people, sometimes you click! Since then, we’ve had good cooperation and made our customers very happy,” says Matt Monahan and describes the relationship between the two systems as “super-seamless”.
Arc recommended Roxen for our print production and we have not regretted that for a second.
By partnering with Roxen, we’re ensuring that these customers have a sensible path to produce that channel in an easy-to-use, cost-efficient way.
Aside from the merits of being a modern web-based system with a preference for automation, he believes that Roxen is a good fit for how Arc views editorial work in general.
“Roxen is a very user-friendly system, and they see print as a channel among others which agrees very well with the logic of Arc XP. When a user in Arc finishes a text, they choose a channel, like web, social media, or print. Roxen fits very well in that story.”
Even if the long-term viability of print news is open for debate, Matt Monahan considers that to be a distant future.
“We recognize that print will play an important part in legacy publishers’ revenue streams for the foreseeable future. By partnering with Roxen, we’re ensuring that these customers have a sensible path to produce that channel in an easy-to-use, cost-efficient way.”
Automated layout
At Vårt Land, the biggest of Mentor Medier’s publications, the change of systems has improved their editorial workflow, facilitated hiring of new staff (now that Adobe InDesign skills aren’t as essential), and contributed to a reduction in production cost. The focus now lies on journalism.
Managing editor Veslemøy Østrem speaks of totally new work routines:
“Previously your day might have started with an e-mail and an assignment, then writing until 3 PM and perhaps completing a web version before you left the office. Now we have web publishing as our top priority along with excellent journalism,” she says.
The newsroom now includes a news desk with a news director and a print manager. Three people take turns at the helm.
“We want everyone to agree on the digital-centric approach. And everyone needs to be familiar with and understand all our channels.”
Print production is headed by a print manager and a print editor that together put the final touches on page layouts that are created automatically in Roxen. They are the only users working in Roxen while reporters stay in Arc.
“Neither print manager nor page designers need to be Adobe InDesign masters. They can complete almost all tasks in Roxen, only occasionally applying minor edits directly in Adobe InDesign. The days of requiring expert knowledge in Adobe InDesign lie in the past, and that has simplified our task of finding employees for these roles,” Veslemøy Østrem continues.
We have not compromised one bit on our quality standards.
Vårt Land saves at least 15-20 man-hours daily through the move to Arc and Roxen.
Through the years Vårt Land has been awarded many newspaper design prizes, and while some feature pages are still manually designed, practically everything else benefits from Roxen’s automated layout.
“For example, we run a profile story in every issue, a spread that includes beautiful pictures, and those pages are now ready in half a minute after all story elements are made available in Roxen.”
“Despite the efficiency gains through automation we have not compromised one bit on our quality standards. I’m sure we can win new design prizes going forward,” says Veslemøy Østrem.
Remodeled workflow
The project implementation was overseen by Norwegian workflow consultants TikkTakk AS who took part in redesigning the newsroom workflow and conducted staff training. Putting workflow up for scrutiny also brought along a healthy discussion on content, according to Veslemøy Østrem.
“They are amazing project managers! It’s been very rewarding to analyze our products and how we work,” she adds.
Ståle Bjerke at TikkTakk agrees that substantial advantages come from having Vårt Land’s reporters only work in Arc.
“Story lengths are not as important as they used to be. Roxen’s automation adjusts photos and pull quotes to ensure the body text fits perfectly in the page design. The system also removes web-only elements such as links and videos that don’t serve a purpose in print. Recurring sections with crosswords and similar are built without any manual interaction.”
“Vårt Land saves at least 15-20 man-hours daily through the move to Arc and Roxen,” he concludes.