One print job, from start to finish
A feature list never tells you one thing: in what order this work happens, and in whose hands. Below is a single job — Olive oil 500 ml back label for Aegean Foods Ltd., 15,000 units — and every step it goes through from leaving the desk to entering the archive.
Watch the grey lines: at each step they say what gets recorded. That is the real work the product does.
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01Customer
The enquiry arrives
The customer phones the account manager or sends a WhatsApp message: "We are redoing the olive oil label, 15,000 units, needs to be ready by month end."
- This step happens outside BaskıGATE. The system does not collect enquiries or prepare quotes.
- What we are trying to change is not where the job comes from, but where the approval is recorded.
Nothing is recorded at this step — the process still starts in WhatsApp.
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02Account manager
The job is opened
The account manager picks the customer and opens the job. If the customer is on file, their approvers are already there; if not, they are added on the same screen.
- The ERP job number is entered; the system refuses to open the same number twice.
- The job type is chosen: new work or a repeat run. On a repeat run the old job is pulled from the archive and its approved version comes back as it was.
- A deadline and a responsible designer are set; the job appears on that person’s dashboard.
- The customer’s approver and backup approver are named — the reminder chain uses both.
On the record: job opened — who, when, for which customer
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03Account manager
Order details are entered
The technical details the customer will approve are written out one by one. These fields are what later answers the question "what exactly did we approve?".
- Size, quantity, material, colours and Pantones, finishing (varnish, foil, die-cut), unwind direction, die number, deadline.
- A field left blank is shown to the customer as "not specified"; it is never quietly skipped. A detail that was never approved must never look approved.
- All fields together are reduced to a single fingerprint — the specification hash.
On the record: specification recorded — combined hash of the fields
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04Designer
The artwork is prepared
The design is still done on the designer’s own machine, in their own software. BaskıGATE is not a design tool and does not try to be one.
- The heavy working file (AI, INDD, PSD) is never uploaded — it is stored as a WeTransfer, Drive or Dropbox link.
- The link is marked once downloaded; the "the file never reached me" argument goes on the record.
- The job sits on the designer’s dashboard as "waiting on you", with how many hours it has waited.
On the record: source file link added / downloaded
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05Designer
Print artwork is uploaded
What the customer will see goes up: front, back, die line — or a single PDF.
- PDFs upload alongside JPG and PNG; the customer zooms into the PDF in the browser, as it is, never flattened into an image on the server.
- In a multi-page PDF each page is browsed separately and each page can carry its own note.
- Separate attempts at the same job are kept as versions; which version was approved is never in doubt.
- The uploaded files together become a second fingerprint.
On the record: file uploaded — size, type, hash
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06Account manager
Sent for approval
One button. The system takes the combined fingerprint of the artwork as it stands and the order details as they stand, and seals the approval link to it.
- The product’s one rule applies here: approval is given to the file plus the details, together.
- Sending for approval with an open correction note raises a warning — going to the customer with an unclosed note is usually a mistake.
- The link has an expiry date; an expired link will not accept an approval.
On the record: approval requested — the sealed fingerprint
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07Account manager
Sent to the customer
By WhatsApp with a prepared message, or by email. Both carry the same single link.
- The email goes out in the print shop’s name and replies come back to the print shop’s address; the customer never has to see anything called BaskıGATE.
- The customer opens no account, sets no password, installs no app. They open the link on their phone.
- A print shop that wants to can point the system at its own SMTP server; mail then leaves from there.
On the record: sent — by which channel, to which address, when
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08Customer
The customer opens the link
They get a single page: a warning band at the top, the artwork in the middle, and beside it the details they are being asked to approve.
- They zoom in, zoom out, go full screen, and drag to pan around.
- They tap wherever the problem is and type; the pin stays on the file and does not drift out of place when they zoom.
- When the link was opened and how many times is recorded — this is the answer to "it never reached me".
- The warning text the customer read is recorded too: even if we change the wording later, what it said that day is on file.
On the record: link opened — time, which opening, IP and device
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09Customer
They decide
There is no single "I approve" button. Six items are decided separately: artwork, size, colour, material, quantity, deadline.
- Three choices per item: approve, request a correction, ask for a sample.
- Partial decisions are allowed — they can approve five and ask for a sample on colour alone.
- A job with a sample requested cannot reach production until the sample is approved.
- At the moment of decision the name, contact details, time, IP and device are recorded.
- A copy of the decision goes to the customer’s own email; the record does not sit with the print shop alone.
On the record: decision made — which item, which way, by whom
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10Designer
The correction round
If a correction was asked for, the notes turn into a two-way conversation. Saying "done" is not enough to close one.
- The designer replies under the note; only the customer can close it.
- When a new version is opened, the open approvals on that job fall away by themselves — the approval had been given to the hash of the old files.
- The corrected artwork goes back out for approval; the loop continues from the same point.
On the record: new version opened — the previous approval voided
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11System
If no answer comes, it chases
Waiting on an approval stops being something the account manager has to keep in their head.
- +4 hours: email reminder to the customer.
- +1 day: WhatsApp reminder.
- +2 days: notification to the backup approver.
- +3 days: a "time to call them" alert to the team.
- Reminders go out only during working hours; never at midnight, never at the weekend.
On the record: each reminder separately — to whom, when, over which channel
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12System
Approval completes
Once all six items are approved the job moves to ready-for-production and a printable approval certificate is generated.
- The certificate holds the approved artwork, the order details as they stood, who decided, when, and the fingerprint — the equivalent of the shop’s paper approval form.
- The files are locked. If the artwork or the details of an approved job are changed, the approval falls away by itself and the job goes back to the designer.
- This cannot be switched off, not even by an administrator. A rule with an exception is not a rule.
On the record: approved — certificate number and seal
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13Print shop
Production and archive
The job goes to press. Finished work is not deleted; it moves to the archive.
- A product record is created: the approved current state of this product for this customer.
- Print history is kept — when this product was printed and in what quantity.
- When the repeat run comes a year later the approved version is pulled from the archive; nobody goes hunting through old email.
On the record: product archived / print run recorded
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14Print shop
If a dispute arises
This is the real point. For records to be worth anything in an argument it is not enough that they are tidy — it has to be demonstrable that they were not tampered with.
- The event log is kept as linked rings: each record carries the hash of the one before it, so nothing can be inserted between them and nothing can be deleted.
- One button exports the evidence pack: approval certificate, artwork, specification and the complete event log, together.
- The pack includes an independent verification tool — the other side can test that the chain is intact on their own computer, without ever logging in to BaskıGATE.
- Optionally the daily digest of the chain can be sealed by an external timestamping authority, so "this record existed on that day" can be shown as well.
On the record: evidence pack exported — who, when
The difference is not in the work — it is in being able to look back
Everything in that flow, item by item
Every piece of work named in the story above works today.
Itemised approval
Artwork, size, colour, material, quantity and deadline are each approved separately. The "I approved it, but the quantity was wrong" argument disappears.
Two-way notes on the artwork
The customer drops a pin on the problem and writes; the designer replies under the same note. Only the customer can close it — saying "done" is not enough.
Reminder chain
Email after 4 hours, WhatsApp after 1 day, backup approver after 2 days, a "call them" alert to your team after 3. Never outside working hours or at weekends.
The customer keeps a copy
The moment they approve, a summary of the decision and the file fingerprints land in their own inbox. The record does not live on your server alone.
Approval certificate
Not a stored PDF but a document rebuilt from the record every time. Artwork, specification, timestamps and chain verification, all on one sheet.
Export an expert witness can read
The job’s entire record chain is exported together with the hash algorithm and the method used. The independent verifier runs without ever connecting to BaskıGATE.
The chain tip is sealed off-site
Every day the tip of the record chain is copied off the server: to the owner’s inbox and to the backup store. A timestamp from a certificate authority can be added on top.
Customer portal
One permanent link for the customer: every job’s status, one tap into whatever is waiting for approval, and the certificate for finished work. No account, no password.
Approval from a sample
The customer may say "I can’t decide on screen, I need to see a sample". The job moves to awaiting-sample; nothing goes to press until the sample is seen.
Assignment and whose court the ball is in
Every job has an owner, and the screen shows who is holding the ball: the account manager, the designer, or the customer.
Source file link
A WeTransfer, Drive or Dropbox link is attached to the job and marked once downloaded. The heavy working file never enters the system, but its trail is never lost.
Owner’s report
Daily, weekly, monthly. It splits elapsed time in two: time spent inside the print shop and time spent at the customer. The first share is usually higher than expected.
Product archive
Every approved job becomes a product record. Eight months later, on the repeat run, the last approved artwork and specification are right there — and what changed is shown separately.
Print file archive
The production PDF is uploaded after approval and then locked. Because the working file stays with the designer, this is the company’s permanent copy.
Your brand, not ours
Your logo, your colour and your name on every screen and every email your customer sees. If you prefer, the mail leaves from your own server.
Nightly off-site backup
Database and files are sent every night to a provider other than your host, and the size is verified at the far end.
Open to your ERP
Job numbers and production stay in the ERP. The two systems meet over a read-only view; nobody types the same data twice.
Put your approvals on the record
BaskıGATE is being developed together with pilot print shops. Pilot shops use the product free of charge, set their own priorities directly, and steer what gets built next.