Jon Hempstead achieves unbeatable results with ProofMaster

Software Solutions

Jon Hempstead is well known as the founder of Hempstead May, a post production creative studio based in London and New York. At Hempstead May, Jon often worked for brands such as Burberry, Adidas, H&M, Louis Vuitton and Nike; and his work was regularly featured in Vogue, ID, Pleasure garden, Wall Street Journal and other such magazines.

After many years based in central London, Jon decided to head for a more active life in the south west of England to get a better work-life balance. In 2020, he, and his family, made the move full time to Cornwall, building a home studio for post production. While work is balanced with family life now – he still works for many of the advertising industry’s luxury brands; customers who demand the highest quality retouching for their images and contact proofing is an important part of delivering that service. As part of the set up for his new studio, Jon was looking around for a new proofing solution that would deliver the kind of quality he was used to at a price point his new venture would be able to justify

‘In the past I had used a different software for proofing, but the quote I got for a new system was very high, so I contacted PrintFactory as well. I had used the software for fine art printing and was keen to know if could use it for contract proofing,’ he explained.

Toby Burnett of PrintFactory picks up the story: ‘When we assessed Jon’s needs I suggested that our ProofMaster product would deliver what he wanted, although initially Jon was very sceptical that it would be capable of producing the kind of tight delta-e tolerances he was used to working to.

‘I suggested to Jon that he sends us some work that needed proofing in both RGB and CMYK versions, and we would run some samples on our demo printer – an Epson SureColor P7500.’

Jon continued, ‘I could not fault the results. The delta-e tolerances were exactly what we would have expected for a contract proof. The RGB versions gave a really accurate representation of the original file, which meant I could also use it for photographic and fine art printing. Toby suggested I buy a desktop Epson SC-P5000 SpectroProofer as this would allow me to calibrate the printer myself regularly to maintain proofing specifications. What I did not expect was his suggestion that the software was installed via TeamViewer – I was used to intensive installation and training with such systems!’

‘Yes, Jon was surprised at that,’ added Toby, ‘but ProofMaster really is very simple to use, and can be easily set up with a remote installation. As it runs on Windows and Mac OSX, Jon could just use his iMac. We simply waited until he had set up his printer, installed ProofMaster remotely and made the profiles he needed – given we were in the middle of the pandemic lockdown it was a perfect solution.’

‘Initially I took the view that I would try it for a few months using the monthly SaaS [Software as a Service] plan and see how it went, but I am completely happy with ProofMaster,’ said Jon. ‘I see no reason to use anything else; it fits the business needs 100% and my only capital cost has been the Epson printer.’

As we make the adjustment to smaller scale office working and working from home, businesses are looking at ways to use technology to connect staff and equipment.

ProofMaster and PrintFactory software allows customers to connect proofing and inkjet printing via the PrintFactory Cloud. Regardless of location, work can be printed, certified, audited and shared with all stakeholders in the production chain. Payment by SaaS allows businesses to scale up and down as their needs change.