May 7th, 2020
Posted in Printing | Comments Off on 5 Steps You Should Take to Find the Best Print Company
Summary: Here are five things that should be of concern to you when you are looking out for a print company.
From the time Gutenberg invented the first printing machine, there are so many changes that occurred to printing machines. Printing machines did evolve greatly, and they are helping us to get print material much faster with better quality and fewer errors. So many companies are offering print services today than ever before. But, this has created a lot of confusion than good. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Printing | Comments Off on 5 Steps You Should Take to Find the Best Print Company
May 4th, 2020
Posted in Advertising | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Samples of the Fine Art of Advertising
I have been absolutely intrigued by the art of advertising for the better part of my life, perhaps because it usually blends visual art, writing, humor, psychology, and storytelling.
First of all, I want to draw a (minor) distinction between advertising and marketing. I consider advertising to be more targeted, directly selling a specific product or service rather than just nurturing a favorable image of a company (public relations) or increasing public awareness of a company (marketing). But really, they’re all the same in that the purpose is to make people aware of what you’re offering (either a service or a product) and to convince them to buy something. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Advertising | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Samples of the Fine Art of Advertising
April 27th, 2020
Posted in PresentationBinders | Comments Off on Custom Printing: How to Approach a New Print Job
What do you do if you’re faced with a new kind of commercial printing you’ve never seen before? Or at least maybe you’ve seen it but certainly not specified or bought printing for such a project.
This happened to me just this week, and I’ve been in the field for 44 years. When a client approached me with a request for a vinyl binder that will hold 32 stained wood samples, I had to decide how to proceed. I thought this challenge might be of interest to you since for everyone, at some point, everything is new. The big question is how you will apply your prior experience to make sense of the new job and find vendors who can manufacture it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in PresentationBinders | Comments Off on Custom Printing: How to Approach a New Print Job
April 19th, 2020
Posted in Design | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Asymmetrical Balance in Your Design
When I first started designing publications forty years ago, I had no formal training. I made a lot of errors. Or, worse, I produced a lot of mediocre work.
In part this was because I had started in publications as a word person. I wrote and edited, but did not yet think in terms of how to design a page for a print book, a brochure, or an advertisement in such a way as to grab the interest of the reader. I could, however, recognize good design. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Design | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Asymmetrical Balance in Your Design
April 14th, 2020
Posted in Envelope Printing | Comments Off on Commercial Printing: Tips for Printing Envelopes
I think most people would agree that in the realm of custom printing, envelopes are decidedly not sexy. That said, I’d actually like to disagree.
I recently came upon an old handbook on printing paper from the 1980s, which in fact includes a wealth of information that is just as pertinent now as it was when I started my career in commercial printing. It’s called Walden’s Handbook for Salespeople and Buyers of Printing Paper (published by the Walden-Mott Corporation). If you ask your printer or paper supplier, I’m sure you can get a comparable (but current) text. What makes this such a good print book is that it focuses only on paper and related subjects, unlike most textbooks on graphic design and printing that don’t have this depth in this one subject. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Envelope Printing | Comments Off on Commercial Printing: Tips for Printing Envelopes
April 8th, 2020
Posted in Design | Comments Off on Commercial Printing: Thoughts on Developing/Using a New Logo
I’ve been “refreshing” the corporate identity of a client of mine for whom I have been brokering commercial printing. In developing a new logo and new business card, letterhead, etc., I have been reminded of all the issues that arise in logo development and implementation: the issues I have mentioned a number of times in the PIE Blog articles. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Design | Comments Off on Commercial Printing: Thoughts on Developing/Using a New Logo
March 30th, 2020
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Everything Is Connected to Book Length
A print brokering client of mine (a husband and wife publishing team) has a perfect-bound print book going to press in a week. As initially bid, the book was 80 pages in length, 1500 copies, produced on 60# antique eggshell text stock with a 12pt. cover, 5.75” x 8.5” in format with French flaps, hinge score, luxury matte film laminate, and deckled edges on the text pages. It is one of a series of books with these very specific qualities, aimed at a market that appreciates the tactile qualities of print books. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Everything Is Connected to Book Length
March 24th, 2020
Posted in Photos | Comments Off on Custom Printing: A Few Random Thoughts on Halftones
With the Coronavirus threat upon us, I have had extra time recently, so I have taken this time to brush up on my knowledge of commercial printing. I thought I’d start by reviewing my textbooks on color prepress and custom printing.
In this light, I chose the subject of halftones. I thought my findings might be of interest to you. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Photos | Comments Off on Custom Printing: A Few Random Thoughts on Halftones
March 16th, 2020
Posted in Packaging | 2 Comments »
Everywhere I look now I see articles about how digital custom printing benefits the package production market. Moreover, this seems to be a two-way street, with the approach of a business to packaging and distribution changing and growing in response to advances in digital commercial printing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Packaging | 2 Comments »
March 9th, 2020
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Thinking Outside the Box
In my recent print brokering work, I have worked with two clients whose print books have lent themselves to various optional presentations to save money. The thing to keep in mind when designing a book is that book printing is actually a physical manufacturing process. We forget this. We often think of a book as an intellectual or artistic product, something more than an “object.” However, if you approach it as a physical product made from various kinds and thicknesses of paper that has to weigh a certain amount and open and close, and if you take into account the fact that different printers can do different things well and economically, then book printing becomes a puzzle of sorts, a challenge. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Thinking Outside the Box