Arrow Print Management

Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

The 2013 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (JDIFF) has kept us busy for the last few weeks. Along with the usual T-shirts and sundries, there were 2 main print jobs - a high spec 132 page programme for the visitors to the festival and a 32 page newspaper insert to publicise it. Despite some last minute challenges with snow and ice, both were delivered on time and went down well with all concerned.

"DesignTactics partnered Arrow Print Management to provide a complete design and print solution for the 2013 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. This project included a number highly time-sensitive items, such as the festival programme, which is launched just a few short days after the content is completed. Dan Mulcahy from Arrow Print Management provided a superb service, meeting crucial deadlines with efficiency and calm amidst a storm of challenging circumstances - from snow-storms to late-breaking changes.

I can confidently recommend Arrow Print Management as print manager; for their service, value - and for their consistency in meeting their promises." Brendan Donlon MD DesignTactics

Ever have problems printing from a PDF?

 

 

Creating a top quality PDF for print is not as straight forward as you might think. It is easy to make a mistake that causes quality problems further down the line.

Fortunately, the Production & Technology committee of the PPA, the Professional Publishers Association, has done a lot of work in this area.

They have issued guidelines for creating PDF’s that are specifically for print.

The single most important tip recommended is to output your PDF as a PDF/X-1a.

This is one of the formats offered in the drop down menu and is ideal as it has been designed specifically for print i.e. it checks for the presence or otherwise of bleed, crop marks, flash, etc.

Have a look at this link. There is a lot of information to get through but I think it is worth it. While most of the information is given in respect to designing for magazines, it has a relevance no matter what sphere you are working in.

http://www.ppa.co.uk/all-about-magazines/production/pass4press/

 

The wow factor with Foil

 
Coloured foils can be used to great effect to give your prints the wow factor. They work really well on packaging, stationery and folders. They're glossy and shiney and add a touch of luxury to your designs.

And remember you are not restricted to gold and silver. There are foils available in a wide range of colours.  

If you are working to a budget, you need to consider how widely you use the foil on your print. For example, if you are using it on a letterhead, use it on the top or bottom of the sheet, but not both. If you use it for both, it will require 2 passes on the stamper - or a very wide roll of foil.

Email me if you need more detail on this.

PUR binding

There was a time when all good books would be thread sewn and perfect bound. However, the cost of thread sewing led many publishers to opt for perfect binding only for many of their everyday publications, such as computer manuals. This glue-only process was fine in many ways but, if the book was handled roughly, pages could fall out.

PUR binding is a superior type of perfect binding. It uses a more flexible glue giving greater adhesion, a more robust book, and even the ability for the book to lie flat when open. This type of binding is becoming more and more widely available.

For the anoraks among us, PUR stands for Polyeurethane Reactive.

Store Points make a great impression

 

Here is a shot of a recent pizza campaign in Tesco. As you can see, these store points are a very effective way of grabbing the shoppers' attention just as they are entering the store.

And as you can see below, the more store points you have the more striking the message can be!

The smaller ones (below) are made from a single piece of boxboard which is printed, cut and glued into shape. The larger one (above) is made from gluing 2 sheets of boxboard together. Email me if you need any more information.

 
 

POP advertising on baskets

Time and again research shows the power of advertising at the point of purchase. The latest medium from Irish company Visualise allows you to advertise on shopping baskets. We supply full colour self adhesive labels that are stuck to panels fixed to the sides of shopping baskets. The labels are made from a waterproof durable material and so last a long time - even when the baskets are stored outside.

Short Run text books

 

This book had to look great - lithographic quality. It has just over 100 pages and, as a text book, wire binding was deemed to be ideal. 

Unfortunately, books written in and about the language of Old English are rarely best sellers and the print run was set at 125 copies.

Nevertheless, we were able to give the client a top quality book using the latest digital processes.

Short Run Annual Reports

 

The quality of digital printing presses is now such that you can run very small quantities of annual reports without compromising on quality. The annual report in the picture was printed in 2 languages. We printed 100 copies in one language and 10 - yes ten! - in another.

We also produced a batch of 500 DVD's and supplied them in a 6 page A5 size die-cut sleeve with a glued pocket for the DVD. Everything - the books, the DVD label, and the sleeves - was colour matched despite the fact that we were using 3 different print technologies.

Adding information to an existing brochure

Product and corporate brochures are an essential tool for many a marketing department. They provide easy to access information about your products and services helping prospective customers to buy well.

One drawback to the traditional brochure is that once it's printed, well, it's printed. There is no easy way to add extra pages or neatly include a new price list.

However, that was before the advent of these handy self adhesive pockets. You can buy them in various sizes and quantities and they are not expensive. Then you simply stick them to the inside back cover (see picture above) and put in the extra pages. Easy!

Hint: if you are getting extra pages printed to fit the pockets, remember to make them a little smaller than the existing pages so they don't stick out.

Canadian binding

   

Spiral binding and wire binding are often used when you need the book or manual to lie flat when open. For this reason they are commonly used for text books.

However, one drawback in these binding methods is that there is no spine to the book and so the book is not readily displayed (or located) on a bookshelf. If you want to incorporate a spine into the design of your spiral or wire bound book, the option to choose is Canadian binding. This is a way of binding in which pages are wiro-bound, but a wrap-around cover is also bound to the document, giving it a spine that can be printed on. The cover can be either soft or hard and you can choose half-Canadian or full-Canadian. Drop me an email if you want to find out more.