Welcome to Under The Cone

At Rods and Cones, we live and breathe color. Under the Cone is where we share our knowledge and expertise from over 25 years of experience with those who share our passion.
March 24, 2026
End of First Quarter Insights

We're almost at the end of Q1, so we wanted to share some things we learned over the last few months. The first quarter revealed some clear patterns across print operations, which we can use to create more productive Q2’s. The shops adapting successfully are building workflows that let skilled operators focus on complex problems […]

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March 10, 2026
Spring is almost here!

Spring is almost here, but is your workflow ready to bloom? March and April typically bring production volume increases as brands launch Spring campaigns and retailers refresh seasonal marketing. Here’s a pre-rush workflow checklist to help get you ready for the changing season: 🌱Audit your Switch error logs from the past month. Patterns reveal where […]

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February 5, 2026
How to Use Submission Points | Jason's Tech Tips

One of the great things about working with switch is all of the numbers of ways that you can get jobs into the system. Over the next few videos we're going to look at a few of those ways. So what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at this switch workflow where we're […]

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February 25, 2026
💡 Workflow Wednesday 💡

Your turn to be a mad scientist by purposefully testing your workflows with bad files to see how your system responds. Most workflows are built and tested with perfect files, but this can leave you unprepared for when a problem file shows up. One smart testing strategy to help you stay ahead is deliberately submitting […]

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March 11, 2026
💡 Workflow Wednesday 💡

Your workflow's slowest step might not be where you think it is. We often see shops who assume their bottleneck is in preflight or RIP processing, when it's actually something mundane like file copying or network transfer. Use Switch's built-in timing to identify the actual bottlenecks in your flow. You might discover things like network […]

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March 4, 2026
💡 Workflow Wednesday 💡

Open your Switch ‘Temporary Processing’ folder. How many files are still there from last week? Last month? Temp files that don't get cleaned up can be symptoms of other issues, like flows that error out without completing cleanup steps, jobs that got stuck, processes that copy files but never delete the originals. These can all […]

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February 19, 2026
FESPA 2026 Puts Sustainability Front and Center

This May in Barcelona, the FESPA Global Print Expo is making sustainability impossible to ignore. The event has earned ISO 20121 certification for sustainable event management, demonstrating a comprehensive commitment to reducing environmental impact across every aspect of the show. From venue selection and waste management to carbon footprint reduction and sustainable sourcing, FESPA 2026 […]

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February 18, 2026
💡 Workflow Wednesday 💡

Struggling with consistency across different locations’ workflows? Here’s how to stop emailing Preflight Profiles between locations. For print operations with multiple sites or remote prepress teams, consistency is the biggest challenge. For example, the Denver office using one version of an Action List while the New York office uses another, creates quality variations that customers […]

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February 17, 2026
It’s Time for the Mobile Proofing Shift

☎️ An easier approval process is calling ☎️ Your client isn't always at their desk, but they probably have their phone on them, so your approval process just got faster. Enfocus Review has released a mobile-first interface for client approvals, and it's addressing a reality we've all been dancing around. Today's print buyers aren't sitting […]

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February 11, 2026
💡 Workflow Wednesday 💡

Trust your flows, but remember, the strongest workflows are ones with contingency plans built in. Switch flows that only work when everything goes perfectly aren't production-ready. Real workflows account for the inevitable problems like files that don't match expected specifications, network hiccups that interrupt processing, missing fonts or profiles, and other edge cases nobody anticipated […]

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