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December, 2007
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Brochure printing can be a worthwhile venture for your business. As a marketing tool, a brochure is a multi-faceted information-driven pamphlet that can establish your business as an expert in the field.
Customer attention and intrigue should be your main focuses when designing your company brochure printing. Conceptualizing for brochure printing services involves many different elements that must be taken into consideration in order to create an effectual piece. Important custom brochure printing design components include:
Composition
The composition of your piece refers to the relationship between all of the elements and characters within the specified area. In order for your brochure printing to be visually appealing, these elements should be harmonious with one another.
Relationship between Positive and Negative Space
In design, areas of white space are just as crucial as words and images. The negative areas within and around the images and words, give the viewer’s eyes a place to rest. When creating a design for a brochure printing company, it is important to make negative space active so that it adds to, rather than takes away from, the overall composition. In order to create this cohesive relationship, you should pay close attention to size and placement of positive objects in relation to negative space. Extreme contrast makes for a more active and interesting custom brochure printing design.
Balance
The visual weight of design elements in brochure printing should be evenly distributed throughout. If there is no balance, the viewer often becomes confused and overwhelmed with the composition. The simplest way to achieve balance is through symmetry. While symmetry is an effective design, it is much more intriguing to achieve balance in your custom brochure printing services through asymmetry. Varying the distance and density of your design elements will shake things up but maintain visual weight.
Attention and Hierarchy
As the viewers’ eyes fall on your brochure pages they will follow a particular direction. By focusing on the arrangement, size, and line placement of your piece, you can manipulate the eye to follow a specific road map. Contrasting the weight and shape will allow you to create a hierarchy of design elements. Those components in your brochure, which are more important, should stand out from those that are less important. Heavier type faces, or larger fonts can be used for this purpose. Additionally, lines can be used to connect or isolate areas of your brochure printing.
Color
Color can be very symbolic. Several cultures have specific colors which are used to represent different emotions, actions, objects, etc. You should never randomly choose full color brochure printing colors. The colors of your custom brochure printing should be visually appealing, complimentary, and meaningful. Also, colors can be used to connect or isolate certain points.
Layout Design
Brochure printing uses strong layout to allow for storytelling. Typically, the front panel is a teaser meant to grab the readers’ attention and provoke the page turn. The second panel’s purpose is to hold and maintain the readers’ interest. At this point a clear theme is developed. The inside panels are the source of information. Finally, the back panel is the call-to-action. Many brochure printing companies offer a mailing label, an order form, or a message to readers about how they can get more information.
Typography
The style of your font can change the entire look and feel of your brochure. Not only is type important for theme consistency, but it also helps to convey a message. Never use a true type font because they do not convert well from one machine to the next.
Readability and Legibility
Readability refers to the ease with which a group of text is read. Letter shape is one factor that can be altered to allow for higher readability. For example, large amounts of text, in newspapers or books for example, are typically printed in serif fonts. Serif fonts have a drastic contrast between thick and thin. They also have strokes projecting off the letters at the bottom or top.
Legibility refers to how clear and recognizable individual letters are. Individual letters in short phrases, such as headlines or pull quotes, are often more legible in sans serif type.
Font Size
When choosing a type size, consider your audience. For reading ease, general brochure printing should be about 12 points. Large fonts are usually easier to read. However, the larger the font the more mid-sentence hyphenation will be required. As a rule, hyphenation should be kept to about two per paragraph.
Line-spacing and Word-spacing
Every inch of space in your brochure is crucial. The space between paragraphs, lines, and characters can all be varied to set-off and call attention to different clusters of information.
Images
Pictures are meant to enhance custom brochure printing copy. This means that the images you choose should be properly aligned with your business, subject matter, and design style. Photographs, original illustrations, and clip art are all suitable sources for graphics. No matter the type of image, if it doesn’t fit in with the rest of your brochure printing it will be painfully obvious. Additionally, quality and size of the photo should be considered. If you have a perfect image with a major flaw, edit the picture before you incorporate it into your brochure. With today’s technology, your graphics can be intensely altered. If the graphic is important, don’t be afraid to go too big. Also, remember the rules of balance for multiple images.
If your custom brochure printing design is haphazardly created with no deliberation, you might as well take the budget allotted, and throw it in the garbage. Sitting down to read a six page brochure is a commitment of time and effort. If you don’t put in your time, the consumers won’t put in theirs.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Templates, Design on December 31st, 2007
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Ah, the age-old question whether to choose photo printing with a gloss finish or a matte finish. Personally, I am ridiculously indecisive and often spend a great deal of time deciphering between finishes. In fact, I am in the middle of an online custom printing order as we speak. I have stepped away to map out the options, and hopefully by the end of this blog entry, both you and I will come to some kind of conclusion on our individual custom online printing projects.
Glossy Pros
- Photo printing will have a shiny finish. This can be attractive to the eye.
- Colors are vibrant. Since glossy makes print shine, your colors will shine as well.
- As long as the original photo is in focus and not blurry, images with glossy print will typically appear crisp and sharp.
- Glossy finish refrains from creating a textured look when scanning and converting to digital c printing.
Glossy Cons
- Very likely to attract fingerprints and smudges.
- In order to remove fingerprints and smudges, you need to use a photo cloth and/or a liquid solution and be extremely gentle. Rubbing or scrubbing photo printing, no matter how delicate the cloth, can produce scratches.
- Glossy photos produce a glare, making them difficult to see from certain angles and uncomfortable to the eye.
- If the original is of poor quality, producing work with a glossy finish might accentuate the flaws.
Matte Pros
- Matte custom online printing services will conceal visibility of fingerprints and smudges.
- The majority of professional giclee printing is printed on matte-finish paper. This means that matte giclee printing will have a more professional look. This is especially true with black and white photo printing.
- Glare is significantly reduced with matte-finish prints.
Matte Cons
- Matte finish textures often make photos look grainy.
- Since matte finish is dull as opposed to lustrous, matte photo printing colors are less vibrant.
- When the photograph is scanned or converted to digital, matte-finish prints may produce a distracting pattern or texture.
So, overall it seems that photo printing finish should depend on the project you are handling. Glossy finish accommodates a more artistic display. If you are using very detailed and clean original photos, they will translate well to glossy. Also, if you are using plexiglass mounting, or another type of protective display case, susceptibility to smudging will be kept at bay.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a much more buttoned-up professional appeal, then matte-finish is the way to go. Matte-finish can be used effectively for promotional printing and corporate identity printing.
I hope this has helped you plan out your project and successfully complete your online custom printing order. As for my own custom online printing purchase – I am on my way to checkout right now.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Products, Education, Digital C Print on December 31st, 2007
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When it comes to giclee printing paper, size just matters. Believe it or not, the thickness of your printed page can affect the impact of your promotional printing piece. Although there is very little noticeable difference in quality of print from thin paper to thick, a weighty page will speak for itself.
How can any text be taken seriously on a flimsy piece of computer paper? If you’re expecting to get your brochure printing or letterhead printing done on the same type of paper that little Johnny used for his 3rd grade book report – well, it’s time to reconsider.
Heavy paper has an air of importance that is crucial in professional promotional printing. The feel is more sturdy and substantial. Custom RGB printing on thick paper will also translate visual weight to the eye. The appearance is much more serious and business-like than a thin piece of paper.
This paper is especially detrimental in business card printing. This is the case because business cards are typically small squares of paper, usually no larger than 3 inches by 5 inches. If you go flimsy on custom business card printing, it will just resonate cheap. You don’t generally hand a business card to someone whom you are acquainted with already and in handing it to someone you have not before, the first impression rule comes into play. People don’t want to pay for legit products and services from a business that can’t even spend the time, effort, or funds for anything more than amateur business card printing, created with a home desktop.
Thick papers hold up well, especially against heavy ink coverage, which is also a better design choice. Even when it comes to photo printing, thicker paper just looks better. Full color photo printing should be done on thicker inkjet photo printing papers.
Taking your project to a promotional printing company is your best bet for thick paper giclee printing. If you’d rather chance it on your own home destop, understand that you’re taking the risk of a major paper jam. Many commercial printers do not handle thick paper well, especially if they don’t provide a straight paper path of printing.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Design, Education, Digital C Print on December 19th, 2007
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Sometimes in life it is better to choose the more difficult path. For example, perhaps you’d rather visit a friend face-to-face, as opposed to talking to him or her on the phone or through the computer. Also, you’d probably rather attend a concert or a sports game, than watch it on television.
Passing up the ease and simplicity of online custom printing, to order your promotional printing at a printing store, however, is probably not a good idea. It barely makes sense when you can probably find more options and capabilities online. I understand that there are many people out there who just aren’t technologically-inclined. So, the concept of going through any type of computer-related process is daunting. However, the steps are mapped out for you on most custom online printing sites. Specifically, the one you’re at right now. Each specification is a matter of a mouse-click.
But what if you’ve never purchased corporate identity printing materials before? Honestly, this is a non-issue. Online custom printing affords you time to click around and try things our before you make your final decisions. All of the specifications are laid out for you. So, all you have to do is select.
If you’re a first-timer in the printing industry and you actually go to the giclee printing company, you may feel intimidated by the printing lingo. You may also find that the representative may be too busy or not a good instructor when it comes to explaining the giclee process. This may propel you to make a quick decision without thinking it out. This site was built on the principals of educating our customers and in turn offering productions to customers who know the difference.
Also, who wants to lug all of their promotional printing materials to a printer? With custom online printing you can upload as many files as you need and receive soft on screen PDF proofs or hard proofs back to you at your location for approval before your work is produced. Virtually the same process that you go through in person. If the word “upload” scares you, and you feel that I’m getting too technical, not to worry. Upload just means that when you click on the “upload” button, a little window will come up with access to all of the files and documents on your computer. Once again, all you have to do is click.
So, as you can see, the advantage of online custom printing strongly outweigh the option to order in-store. Happy ordering!
Filed under: Uncategorized, Proofs, Education, Technology on December 19th, 2007
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RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the color scheme used in computer graphics. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black or “Key”), on the other hand, is the standard for printing color images. The computer screen displays light. As colors are added in RGB, light is added as well. Alternately, the CMYK color scheme is used in combining inks. Therefore, as more colors are combined, the resulting color becomes darker.
If you are working in RGB, you must convert your promotional printing files from RGB to CMYK so that they can be printed on a printing press. Unfortunately, not all colors can be replicated in the transfer process. While some colors may be out of the CMYK gamut, it is usually difficult to tell the difference in full color fine art printing.
So what the differences?
RGB uses the colors red, green, blue which are the primary colors of light. The secondary colors to these are cyan, magenta, and blue, which can be found in CMYK. Therefore, CMYK is opposite RGB.
Both RGB and CMYK modes use 8-bit channels for each of their colors. Since RGB includes 3 colors, RGB is a 24-bit model. CMYK, on the other hand, uses 4 colors, and therefore it is a 32-bit model.
The RGB process of color is additive. The colors throughout the color spectrum are created in RGB by adding different intensities of red, green, and blue light to black. Black is equivalent to no light on the computer screen. The intensities of RGB light can be as weak as 0, or as strong as 255.
The CMYK process of color is exactly the opposite. As RGB light is striking an object, CMYK colors are absorbing the light and reflecting back appropriately. The amount of light absorbed depends on the amount of CMYK color present. Therefore, CMYK is considered a subtractive process. The colors displayed by CMYK are the result of subtracting varying amounts of red, green, and blue light.
When your promotional printing project uses custom RGB printing, the eye sees the varying light of red, green, and blue (and all the colors they produce) before they are absorbed. When you produce Giclee printing in CMYK, however, we are seeing the color lights that have been reflected back to us after absorption.
This is just more proof that full color photo printing is an amazing and intensely detailed process.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Design, Education, File Preparation, Technology, Digital C Print on December 19th, 2007
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Thank you to all of you whom had entrusted us with their Graphic Communications in 2007.
We look forward to serving you in 2008 with new products such as direct mail and an expanded line of business stationary that steps away from the commodity printers and offers your brand a distinctive appeal.
It’s all about reaction and response.
Thank you,
The staff and management
Filed under: Uncategorized, My Account, Education, Home Page on December 18th, 2007