August 21st, 2017
Posted in Photo Books | Comments Off on Custom Printing: New Photo Book Printing Equipment
I wrote a blog posting recently about advances in photo book production that allow for lay-flat binding of books up to 18” x 18” in format. This essentially means that you can produce photo books with every page spread a full-bleed 18” x 36” double-page image and with no image area lost into the gutter on any page spread. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Photo Books | Comments Off on Custom Printing: New Photo Book Printing Equipment
August 14th, 2017
Posted in Photo Books | Comments Off on Custom Printing: New Photo Book Binding Equipment
A close friend and colleague in the commercial printing business recently brought to my attention an article about new binding equipment for photo books. So I did some research online and discovered another area of growth within the custom printing arena: ultra-high-quality short-run books of photographs. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Photo Books | Comments Off on Custom Printing: New Photo Book Binding Equipment
August 8th, 2017
Posted in Large-Format Printing | Comments Off on Large Format Printing: What’s Behind the Standees?
My fiancee and I spent about ten hours this week installing standees. It’s that time of year again, and movie theaters are receiving stacks of cartons containing the large format printed pieces that we will assemble into the (sometimes) massive cardboard structures used to promote upcoming movies. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Large-Format Printing | Comments Off on Large Format Printing: What’s Behind the Standees?
August 1st, 2017
Posted in Fine Art Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Using Commercial Printing Technology in the Fine Arts
When I’m not brokering commercial printing or writing about printing, I’m usually preparing for the art therapy classes my fiancee and I offer to autistic students. My fiancee is an art therapist, and I have a background in fine arts as well as graphic design and custom printing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Fine Art Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Using Commercial Printing Technology in the Fine Arts
July 24th, 2017
Posted in Design | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Choose the Right Font for Readability
I was at the house of a small literary publisher recently. We were discussing paper choices and binding options for an upcoming book. Apropos to nothing, both the husband and the wife (the publishers) asked my opinion of the typeface for the text and the titles of the new book. They knew I had been an art director and that I still did a little graphic design on the side. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Design | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Choose the Right Font for Readability
July 16th, 2017
Posted in Book Printing | 2 Comments »
As a commercial printing broker, I am in the position of potentially crafting a deal that would make a client happy while bringing more work to a good printer. What’s interesting is that there are a lot of assumptions that may be negotiable, if the client, the printer, and I go slowly and work together. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book Printing | 2 Comments »
July 11th, 2017
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Printing a Book Without Art Files
I just received a sample print book in the mail from a client saying he needed to potentially reprint the book without having the plates or art files.
I told him that this is not unusual. After all, once a print run has been completed, depending on the length of the run, the plates may have degraded. Long ago, many printers used to save the negatives and discard the plates. Now, I noted, printers save the digital information for a book printing job on hard drives or removable computer media. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Printing a Book Without Art Files
July 7th, 2017
Posted in Book Printing, Digital Printing | 2 Comments »
I am currently working with a print brokering client who produces a number of East Coast beach resort advertising print books, which are manufactured in China because it’s unbelievably cheap. However, she has to deal with a longer lead time, which cuts off her ad sales earlier than she might like. In addition, her print book production schedule falls during Chinese New Year, so book production slows down during this time. Also, there is always the potential for dock strikes, necessitating the rerouting of her books to another port for entry into the United States. Also, if something goes wrong, well, China is far away. So my client pays a lot for the discounted book printing prices. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book Printing, Digital Printing | 2 Comments »
June 26th, 2017
Posted in Fine Art Printing | 2 Comments »
I love it when my work as a commercial printing broker and designer overlaps with the art therapy work my fiancee and I do with the autistic. Granted there’s always room in our class to discuss principles of design, which I am increasingly aware pertain to both the fine arts and the graphic arts. But most recently my fiancee came up with an art project that involved incising and then printing styrofoam plates made from the packages used to wrap food in the grocery store. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Fine Art Printing | 2 Comments »
June 19th, 2017
Posted in Rack Cards | 4 Comments »
A friend and colleague of mine has a small business. She is a Reiki practitioner and hypnotherapist. A few days ago she asked my opinion regarding her promotional materials (a business card, a rack card, and a website). Since I still do a little graphic design on the side, I offered to help her. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Rack Cards | 4 Comments »