The Importance of Space

Most amateur designers ignore the impact of having “white” space in a brochure. Indeed, the temptation is to squash as many words and pictures into the pages and to create a smaller brochure that takes up less pages to reduce printing costs. However, this can be a big mistake. If you have a brochure with a fold, you need to ensure that the finished brochure has a number of pages divisible by 4. It is a waste of time to squash everything into 26 pages and then have two completely blank pages at the end of your brochure.

“White” space or space that does not contain text or images in a brochure is important. It allows the customer perusing the brochure to rest their eyes, as reading anything covered in text and images is tiring. It allows you to draw attention to certain features in your design, so that a bold heading stands out amongst the ‘white’ space.

Professionally designed brochures always have more ‘white’ space and are much easier to read. The space does not have to be ‘white’, as you can use blocks of colour or a background colour on the page to create the same effect. When you discuss the options with your printer, think about how the brochure will look if you use a background colour.

Your commercial printer will be able to tell you what margins and space you need to leave for the fold in the centre of your brochure and for the sides of the brochure. This is important information to have before you design your brochure.

The Importance of Quality

When you have your brochure printed, you want the best quality of printing. Your brochure will be the selling point to your customers and you do not want your customers to think it was a ‘backyard’ production, instead of a professionally printed business document. Before you even design your brochure, you should talk to the business printer to discuss the quality of the printing.

You will need to discuss the weight and shine of the paper with your printer to ensure your brochure printing turns out exactly how you want it. Heavier weight paper costs more, but provides a much more professional look and feel to your brochures. You need to decide if you will have gloss or matt finishes, and if the cover will be different to the inside pages. Many businesses choose a heavier card or gloss paper for the covers of a brochure.

Your commercial printer can help you decide if you want margins of white space or want to ‘bleed’ the colours to the very edges of the page. This information will have an impact on your design, so you need to decide this before you design your brochure for printing.

The printer will also be able to tell you what resolution and quality of images you need to provide for the finished brochure printing to look professional. There is little point in designing a professional brochure with plenty of white space printed on high quality paper if you then provide low quality pictures that look terrible when printed.

Your brochure printing is an important part of your marketing campaign and you need to ensure you have high quality and professional printing. Customers will judge your business on the quality of your brochures, so make sure your brochures are professionally printed on high quality paper. Discuss your brochure printing needs with your business printer to get the professional finish on your brochures.

The Importance of Space and Quality is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

1. Why Your Business Card is Important

Your business card is often the first impression potential customers and suppliers receive about your business. If you don’t have quality business cards, your business appears cheap and nasty, which is definitely not the impression you want to give to customers. Your business card gives people something they can easily keep and refer to when they need your business. You may actually get new customers months after you give out business card, when the person you gave the card to has forgotten the original conversation. Your printer who does all of your business printing will be able to provide high quality printing for your business cards to leave a lasting impression of quality.

2. Gloss or Matt

Before you get your business card printed, you should discuss the various options with your printer. There are different weights or thickness of business cards available. A gloss finish gives a shiny feel to your business card, which is appropriate for some businesses. However, if you want people to be able to write details, such as appointment times on your business card, a matt finish is more appropriate, as it is difficult to write on a business card printed on a gloss finish card.

3. Logo Printing

Your logo is essential for your business card, as it provides customers with a way to recognize your business at a glance. When you get your business cards printed, you should provide your printer with the highest quality version of your business logo possible. This will ensure your business card does have a quality print.

4. Contact Details

Your contact details are the essential element on your business card. Without your contact details, the customer will not be able to make contact with your business. Make sure your customers will see your contact details by making sure the print stands out. Do not hide your contact details in a way that blends in with your logo. You may want to use different fonts, colours, bold type, or imprints when you print your business cards.

5. Reverse Side Printing

Many businesses forget that a business card has two sides. However, if you neglect to print details on the reverse side of your business card, you are missing a grand opportunity to market your business. Talk to your printer about the options for the reverse side printing. You may want to get the reverse side printed in black and white or one colour only, or on a matt finish to save costs.

6. Getting Your Business Card Exactly Right

It may take some time to get the design and printing of your business card exactly right. You have so much to consider, such as the design, quality of cards, quality of the images. To get the business card exactly right, talk to your professional printer at all points of the process. Your design may change depending on the decisions you make on the quality and finish of the card you want. Your printer can advise you want images and colours to use from your logo and what resolution you need to provide the images in for the best results. Check a sample of the business card before the final print run to make sure you are 100 per cent satisfied with the results.
Your business card is an essential marketing tool and is often the first thing potential customers see about your business. Make sure you get your business card exactly right by talking with your printer as you design your business cards and before the final print run.

The Fine Art of Business Card Printing is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

1. Safety Posters
With OH&S becoming an essential practice for any Australian business, you need to ensure your staff members are fully aware of the current issues. Many businesses find that putting up new posters every month targeting a different aspect of safety can improve safety statistics for the business dramatically. While you may want to focus such posters to the staff, you may find that customers appreciate the message that your business takes care of its staff. If you have customers walking through your business premises for any reason, safety posters giving warning about potentially dangerous situations may be essential. Provide high quality images to your trade printer to ensure your safety posters attract attention.

2. Customer Information
Customers often need to receive information about various aspects of your business. You can promote new products, special prices, or even rules the customer needs to know, such as your credit or return policies. High quality posters in the customer service or reception areas can help your customers to get the information you want to market. Don’t forget you can have promotional posters that lead customers to your business too. If you have a retail store, you may want to put your advertising posters in the special poster holders in the mall or retail plaza.

3. Staff Information
There may be some information you want to display only to staff members, such as monthly targets. You may find a poster in the staff tea or lunch room gives your staff members a simple daily reminder of important information. You will want to change the poster regularly, so that staff do not become inured to its message. A colourful printed poster can give your staff important information in a fun and non-threatening environment.

4. Social or Fundraising Events
Whenever your business supports a charity or holds social or fundraising events, you will need posters to publicise the events to your staff and customers. Even if the event is only for staff to attend, customers will appreciate knowing that your business supports the charity by holding a fundraising event. Social events help your customers and staff to develop long term relationships that build your business. Attractive, well-designed and printed posters will be essential in ensuring great attendance at the event.

5. Trade Show Marketing
Finally, whenever you attend a trade show or have an exhibition stand to promote your business, you will need a variety of high quality posters to display on your stand. The posters will tell potential customers what your business does and encourage the people walking by to pay attention to your business. Always ensure your logo shows on every promotional poster you have printed, as this increases brand awareness of your company.

Wherever you want to use posters to promote and market your business, you need to ensure you use high quality printing services. Your business printing is important and posters are part of your trade printing needs, so go for the best quality you can when you order your poster printing.

5 Ways Of Using Poster Printing For Marketing Your Business is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

The first step to achieving high quality brochure printing is to talk with your printer. You should talk to the printer before you finalise the design for your brochures. Most people wait until after the design is ready to talk to the printer and then discover that the printer is unable to complete the product exactly as desired or that the design will cost far more than the budget for the brochure printing has allowed.
Your printer will be able to explain the paper options, the folding options, and other requirements that could have an impact on the design of the brochures, flyers, or posters you want printed. Discuss the options with your printer before you finalise your design and you will have a better quality product at the end.
Work closely with the printer throughout the process, checking the sample prints meet your quality standards, and that the printer will provide the project on time. You do not want to receive the brochures on the day you need to send them, only to discover the quality is not what you expected.

Choose the Correct Paper

There are many different quality papers available to printers. Expert printers can explain the differences between gloss and matt finishes on the paper. If you are getting posters printed, you may want a gloss finish, but a simple flyer will generally use a matt finish. When you are printing brochures, you may even use a combination of gloss finish for the cover and matt finish paper for the inside section.

Besides the options of gloss or matt finish, there are many different weights of paper. Thin paper costs less, but the print quality may not be as high. You do not want customers finding it hard to read your brochure because the writing on the opposite side of the page shows through. A thicker weight of paper feels more luxurious and will tend to hold the ink better. Your printer can discuss the various options of weight of paper with you to suit your needs. You may need to consider what weight of paper the printer can fold. You also need to consider how thick the finished product will appear. Your customers may be reluctant to read a brochure that appears as thick as a bible.

Finally, you can choose between different colours of paper. As well as the whole rainbow of colours to choose from, you can find that even ‘white’ papers are different. Some papers are white, some are bleached white, and some are creamy white. You may want to consider having your brochures printed on a coloured paper, such as a grey for added impact. Your printer will be able to point you in the right direction to choose a paper that suits your printing needs.

Choose the Correct Folding

Do you want a tri-fold or a bi-fold for your brochure? Where will the fold be? Do you need to leave space in the design for the fold, or wider margins for the fold side? Your printer will be able to explain all the folding and binding options and will explain the impact of your decision on your design. You may even want to use the design to attract attention to the fold, such as having a ‘seal’ over the fold like an old fashioned envelope. Discuss the folding options with your printer before you design your final flyer or brochure for printing.

Provide High Quality Images

Finally, you will completely waste all of your hard work in getting a high quality printed product for your business if you can only provide low quality images. Your printer can only print the images at the quality you provide. If you provide a low resolution photo that you took on a mobile phone, as opposed to providing a high resolution digital image by a professional photographer, you will definitely see the difference in the quality of your brochure printing. Even if you want a flyer printed, you should provide the highest quality images for printing you can. If you are getting a poster printed, remember that the image will be enlarged for the poster, so you really do need a high resolution image. Your printer will be able to tell you what he needs in terms of the quality of images, so talk to your printer about how to provide the images. Most printers will prefer to receive a disk of high quality pictures, rather than rely on low resolution images you can email.

Only by working together with your printer will you be able to provide the highest quality of prints for your business advertising materials. If you want brochures printed to sell your business to prospective customers, you need to ensure your brochures present the most professional image of your company, and this means getting the quality right on the printing. There is a wide range of paper options available and your printer will be able to help you to choose the right one for the quality of image you want within your business budget. When you have discussed the type of folding available, make sure your brochure design allows for the folds in the correct space. Finally, provide the printer with high quality images, otherwise you will waste all your hard work when the finished product has low quality pictures.

How To Get Best Quality Prints for Advertising Materials is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

There are over 1100 distinct colours in the Pantone system, which can be used independently or in combination with another Pantone colour or any CMYK combination.

How Pantone works

The Pantone system was developed in relation to a real commercial need for a full spectrum capable colour mix system. The original Pantone system was created in the pre digital days, when the need for complex colours, particularly compound colours, was putting a strain on the printing capacities of the times.

As anyone who’s ever needed to get a print job done knows, colours are always an issue, and so is colour quality. The Pantone approach, which is a holistic grading of colours and tones, was the logical answer, and became extremely popular.

When digital printing began, Pantone was perfectly placed to meet the needs of the new printing technology. It provided a series of known colour values, which was a blessing for printers and clients alike. The standardization of colour mixes is a fundamental need in digital printing, where print colours simply can’t be mixed by rule of thumb because of the constraints of printing capabilities. The colour mix must translate into a working digital formula for printing.

The Pantone approach allows for calculated mixes of ratios to get accurate colour reproduction. It’s a particularly practical approach to the demands of commercial colour schemes, where professional design is becoming the benchmark standard for print work. However exotic the colour scheme, Pantone is always able to make the right mix of colours.

Pantone colours allow people to create company and personal identities through colour.

The extremely high demand for technical and print quality in reproduction has been no real problem for the Pantone system. Professional printing services have been quick to opt for an all-purpose full spectrum printing capability.

The range of print jobs is a good indicator of Pantone’s high range of abilities:

• Reports
• Advertising Materials
• Poster Printing
• Business Card Printing
• Brochure Printing
• Letterheads
• Calendars
• Booklets
• Vouchers
• Bookmarks
• Greeting cards

As you can see, this is practically anything, in any format, any type of paper cut or size. The huge advantage in Pantone’s range is its ability to adapt directly to client requirements. The days of a choice of a few colours are well and truly gone. The very high quality prints you see now are a reflection of the market demand.

Pantone really is the professional printer’s choice. If you’re looking for a complete visual business identity, you’ve got it. The corporate logo can be reproduced to the pixel, exactly as you want it. The personalized stationery will be perfect. Compare Pantone with anything, you’ll see why the industry has voted with its business to use Pantone.

How the Pantone Colour System Works is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

Size – flat, folded and page numbers?

If you’re working with a particular format, you need to equate your presentation with the product type and the look you want. Think about the presentation as a
whole product. Your software will give you the basic specifications direct off the files.

Quantity – quite simply, how many?

Print runs work on a volume basis. More will be cheaper per unit, but how many do you need? What sort of circulation will the print copy have? Do you need file copies? Is there a mailing list to consider?

Colour – spot colour or CMYK? Both sides coloured or just one?

Colour specifications are worth spending some time on with your printer. The spot colour is a general purpose colour scheme. CMYK colours are a digital mix of colours with preset values. Either may be appropriate, but you need to consider the options available on merit. This can be an issue in business card printing and brochure printing where colour is a major design element.

Paper – weight, brand and colour?

Paper quality directly affects print quality. Low grade paper and high quality printing simply don’t work. The paper must be able to proved print quality. Paper is basically measured as gsm, (grams per square metre), fine, photo paper, etc. If you have a requirement for high quality print, go with the best quality. Brands of paper and colour should also be factored in as quote elements when making your inquiry with the printer.

Binding – perfect, staple, sewn?

Binding quality has a lot to do with the look of your print. Some binds are ultra-durable, like sewn binding. “Perfect” binding is the common adhesive binding. Look at your options, particularly in terms of the size of the print document.

For commercial documents, it’s also advisable to check with the printer about relative strengths of binding. You particularly need to ensure a strong bind which is appropriate for larger documents like reports or documents over 5cm in depth.

Any special cuts or folds to be included?

Commercial and other types of print job often include folds, cuts, or other forms of presentation. This is an area where you’re strongly advised to consult your printer to ensure these complex structures are properly done. These elements are itemized on the printing quotes, so you’ll have your costs factored in up front.

Proofs – what is the proofing method?

Print proofing is an important quality control on the print specifications. The proofing process is designed to ensure accurate resolution of print materials on the finished product. The printer will also provide information which explains the print proofing method, as well as the required formats for documents.

7 Essential Pieces of Information for Getting Accurate Printing Quotes is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

Here’s 10 things you should always ask your printer:

What equipment are they using to print?

This is important, because it defines the printer’s capabilities. Advanced systems can work with a huge colour spectrum and are fully digital, able to work with any form of software.

Will anything be outsourced or is it all done in-house?

Subcontracting can result in extra costs to clients. In-house printing is a far more cost effective, fully integrated process.

Ask for an equipment list. Most printers will give this up readily.

From the printer’s perspective an equipment list is really a list of services. This will tell you what sort of binding they can do, for example.

What file formats will they accept?

If you’re using high quality graphics you’ll need to be absolutely sure the printer can handle things like Adobe Illustrator files, PDF, and basic Windows or Apple related software.

What is the minimum resolution required?

Resolution will translate into a dpi (dots per inch), which is an indicator of print quality. Check your software so you can make an exact comparison between the printer’s resolution and what you want.

What is the total ink limit? Ask before you convert from RGB (red, green, blue) to CYMK! (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black)

The ink limit is a colour mix ratio. A CMYK mix is 40C 40M 40Y 100K = 220. That would be fine for a print setup with a limit of 360. If the required CMYK mix is above capacity, the print won’t be an exact mix, but a reduced equivalent.

How much will it cost to mix a spot colour?

Spot mixes are formulas, and this is one of the best possible reasons for working with printer with the ability to work across a full spectrum, where mixing spots is pretty easy.

What is the general turnaround time?

This isn’t a “maybe” question. This is a business issue, and it’s critical. Turnaround time should be factored in with your quote.

What are the proofing guidelines?

Proofing guidelines are specifications. Good printers will provide a complete built in set of guidelines for print jobs, specifying file types, resolution issues, and in some cases swatch references for colours, which make the proofing process very accurate.

How much bleed is required?

This issue is particularly important in graphics business card printing and poster printing. “Bleed” refers to excess elements which extend off the margins. This may be decorative elements, text, photos, clip art, etc, which creates a need for larger sizes of medium for the printer.

Ten Questions You Should Ask Your Printer is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

If you’ve had your logo professionally designed, your contractor may have used Pantone colours for the logo. These are very specific color combinations, and are sometimes known as spot colours. Some people feel that they add to the uniqueness of a logo or design … but every single company having printing done knows that they add to the cost of a trade printing job! Simply convert your spot colours to process for an instant cost reduction and a difference so miniscule, I defy anyone to pick it.

- Use two colour printing for part of a job

If you have a large document like a booklet, can you use two-colour printing for part of it? Two-colour printing (for example, black and red on white paper) is much cheaper than four-colour or full colour printing. It may be possible for you to have a single contrast colour for headings and breakout boxes and black text, without detracting from the professionalism of the piece at all.

- Stock choice

Again, this is an area where larger trade printing jobs such as books, booklets and manuals can really save. Don’t use the same stock throughout – but create the same impression of quality in your reader’s mind by using high-weight coated stock for covers, and much lighter, uncoated stock for inner pages. The savings here are proportional to the number of pages in your print job.

- Type size

Unless your audience is invariably visually impaired or elderly, it is usually acceptable to take the type size for your brochure printing or booklet printing down to 10pt or so. If doing this means that you can save on the number of pages that you need printed, you could make substantial savings overall.

- Shop around, look for extras

There are plenty of printing services online … plenty of well-priced ones too! Ask for sample prints from the well-priced services, to assure yourself of the quality of their output. Look for extras that come with the service, like free delivery, free proofs etc. Anything you get for free is essentially a saving – revel in it!

5 Tricks for Minimizing Your Printing Cost While Maintaining Quality is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

• A3 size is A4 doubled widthways
• A2 size is A3 doubled widthways
• A5 size is A4 folded in half widthways
• A6 size is A5 folded in half widthways
• DL size is A4 folded into three widthways

Paper types

• Coated paper: Has a thin coating of china clay to make it glossy
• Uncoated paper: Has a rougher matte feel
• Matte, Silk and Gloss: These are levels of coating, smoothness or shininess in order from roughest to least rough.
• Carbonless paper: If you are getting letterhead printing or invoice book printing, you may want to get it on carbonless paper to make copies of handwritten documents easily.

The designing process

• Bleed: To put a bleed on a document means to let pictures and coloured boxes that will run right up to the edge of the document after printing, actually go over the edge. If you have graphics up to the edge, but don’t put a bleed on, you may end up with a thin white line along the edge of some printouts.
• CMYK: Stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Most printers need your images to be in CMYK format to print. CMYK is a color space – it tells the machine how much of each color to mix to create the images in your layout.
• DPI – Dots per inch: The number of dots per inch determines how large a photo can be blown up without losing detail. Should be at least 150 for most printing services.
• EPS: Preferred file type for images that need to be enlarged significantly
• Grayscale: To ordinary people, black and white … although we know that ‘black and white’ photos aren’t really only black and white.
• Gutter: If you are having book printing done, this is the area between the text and the bound edge
• Pixel: Stands for picture element – a single dot of the many different coloured dots created by a digital camera or scanner to make up an electronic image.
• PMS: Stands for the Pantone Matching System, or a set of’ trademarked’ colours
• RGB: Another color space, usually used on screen. Stands for red, green and blue. Many printing services can’t use images in RGB color space.
• Spot colours: ‘Trademarked’ colours, very specific colors blends. They make printing more expensive.

Printing process

• Die cut: To us a die to cut paper into shapes other than the size it comes in.
• Embossing: To press an image into paper so that part of it lies above the usual surface
• Ghosting: When a faint printed image appears where it isn’t supposed to
• Imposition: When you arrange the pages for a printer, two or more per sheet of paper, so that when they ar cut and folded they appear as they are supposed to, in order.
• Imprint: To print new info onto something that was printed already, such as putting a new employee’s name on a previously printed business card
• Page proof: A single printout of a job, usually for purposes of checking that everything is correct

General terms

• Body: The main part of a textual area, not including headlines
• Laminate: A thin plastic sheet or coating applied to paper for protection from water and dirt.
• Mockup: To create a suggested design or dummy print

Glossary of Specialist Printing Terms is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles

Yes, this does give the printing service the opportunity to change things around. However, there’s no reason to be concerned over this capability – they have no interest in changing your work! However, providing the native application file (like an Indesign package or CorelDraw file) does allow the printer to export it using their preferred settings, without back-and-forthing too much.

- Include fonts with native application files

Many people don’t know that unless a font is installed on a computer, it won’t display within a document. You’ll need to email your font files (located in Control Panel> Fonts in Windows) along with your pdf or your native application file.

- Include linked images with native application files

It is also easy to forget that although a picture displays properly in InDesign or Illustrator, that display is only good because it references a place on your hard drive. You’ll need to include any additional images that are linked to your application file as well, for the printing service – otherwise the picture will come out horribly pixelated!

- Include written instructions detailing file names, etc

It is always good practice not to assume that your trade printer knows which files are supposed to go where. Send a list (either in hard copy or via email) detailing how many copies you need of each document, including the file name, and the stock you were expecting to be used. Include your contact numbers in case there are any problems with the files, or clarification is needed.

- Confirm arrival by email

Ask your printing service to drop you a quick line to let you know they’ve received the files. If you don’t have this confirmation by a particular time, give them a ring to make sure your files haven’t been lost in the ether!

- Use Senduit or other file sharing site for large files

Email client timeouts often mean that it isn’t possible for printing services to receive large files (above 10 megs) via email. A great alternative are file sharing services such as Senduit, where you upload the file to a web server, and your printer downloads it.

- Compress your file if possible with Zip or Stuffit

You can make the entire sending process much easier by compressing the file with a program like Zip for Windows, or StuffIt for Mac.

- Do your own printout before sending

Do your own printout before you send the file to the printer. It is a quirk of the human eye that we often simply don’t see mistakes on the screen which are glaringly obvious on the printed page. If you don’t want to be making last minute frantic phone calls to the printer asking them to pull the plates because you’ve discovered you misspelt a word … print first!

8 Tips You Didn’t Know for Sending Your Design to the Printer is a post from: Australian Trade Printing Articles