Who we are

Take a cross-section of the best minds in the international graphic arts community and have them work together to develop best practices for the benefit of the profession worldwide. This is the Ghent Workgroup.

Our impact Our members
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Our vision

The GWG is an international organization made up of graphic arts users, associations, educational institutions and developers who build best practices for print and packaging workflows.

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Our mission

The resulting recommendations, specifications, and workflow testing suites make it easy for a growing number of professionals around the world to successfully create, process, and exchange graphic arts files for numerous applications.

Our history

June 2002

Our Beginnings

The initial idea for the GWG took hold among a group of professionals from Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, who were working at the time toward consensus on PDF creation and preflight settings. The process was complex, and it became clear that a more coordinated approach was needed, both then and in the future.

September 2024

GWG meets in Montreal, hosted by Ultimate Tech

29 January 2026

GWG gathers in Ghent to celebrate its 25th anniversary

GWG gathered in Ghent to celebrate its 25th anniversary, bringing together people who have been part of its journey from the very beginning to today. Former and current members, colleagues and friends came together to reconnect, share memories and celebrate 25 years of GWG.

January 2025

Raša unveils the new GWG branding

Rasa unveiled the new GWG branding, marking an exciting new chapter for the organisation. The new visual identity brings a fresh and unified look to GWG while building on the organisation’s history and values.

Our values

As an international, non-profit organization, these are the values we hold close to our hearts.

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Openness

All deliverables created by the GWG -videos, user guides, examples, test suites and more- are shared with the community.

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Diversity

As a group, we work internationally across languages, genders, and generations.

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Volunteering

Participation in the GWG is made possible by our members, who invest their time to make our industry better.

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Excellence

We strive for excellence in everything we create, whether it’s technical or educational.

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    Standards development

    From developing our own specifications, to collaborating with other standards organizations.

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    Industry collaboration

    Developing best practices and how-to guides for new developments to make technical innovation usable.

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    Community building

    Bringing together vendors, users, educators and students around important themes.

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    Education & training

    Educational days share vision and technical expertise with educational institutions.

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    Technical innovation

    As our industry evolves, we develop novel solutions and communicate them broadly to all stakeholders.

What we do

Our participants

Meet the people and organizations that make up the GWG, and discover how you can become part of the community.

Become a member Membership categories

Assocations

User associations active in graphic arts were the driving force behind the creation of the GWG, almost 25 years ago. They represent their members at the GWG meetings, and distribute the information created by the GWG to their members.

Industry experts

Industry experts such as consultants, resellers, and professional services organizations represent a wealth of wisdom from the graphic arts industry. At the GWG, they can learn what the future brings, and they get to educate the GWG subcommittees about their areas of expertise so that the GWG work remains grounded in production reality.

Vendors

Software and hardware vendors learn through the GWG what is coming to their market and help shape that future. They send subject matter experts to GWG meetings and implement the standards and best practices in their products.

Printers

Printers need good ways to handle incoming PDF files. The GWG provides quality control standards to ensure incoming files are properly checked (and, where possible, safely corrected). Printers also benefit from tools such as the Ghent PDF Output Suite to test their workflow and output devices.

Creatives

Most of what our industry produces originates from creative professionals. The GWG provides resources to ensure creative intent is properly conserved from creation through output.

Educators

Explaining a highly technical and rapidly changing industry to students isn’t always a walk in the park. The GWG provides material educators can use during their classes, and experts who love sharing what they know.

Students

Everyone in our industry was a student once. We all had to learn the ins and outs of the print industry. The GWG does what it can to help students get their bearings, understand the technicalities of our industry. And we love to share our enthusiasm about an ever-changing and challenging industry.

Join our community

You can make a difference too! Get in contact to see how you can help and share your expertise.

Become a member