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

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.

Corporate brochure with inserts

One of the most flexible styles of brochure is the folder plus inserts style. The folder is an oversize A4 'wallet' with an integrated pocket to hold a single sheet or set of A4 sheets. There is very little text on the folder. You normally get fairly generic company-wide information such as contact details, mission statement, goals and perhaps an outline of the product ranges. The folder is big on imagery to set the 'mood' of the company as a high velocity go-getter or a reliable home town supplier who understands and won't let you down. You can get a large number of them printed at a time as you know the information is not going to change much over time.

The inserts - what you put into the folder - can change from day to day and job to job. It can be as simple as a single sheet of A4 done up on your desktop printer e.g. use the folder/insert combination to add something to your quotations. They can also be used to hold a selection of product brochures so you only send the product information that was requested.

As well as the straight forward A4 sheets and booklets, you can use some other sizes and shapes. You can put tabs along the side or top of your sheets (see picture below) with the different titles printed on the tabs. Also these can be colour coded so they stand out from eachother. These shapes are cut using special dies which add a little to the cost.

If cost is an issue, an alternative is to cut your inserts to different heights so you can read the title of each sheet before you remove them from the folder. Each sheet has the same width (210mm if it's A4). The height of the last sheet in the folder is cut to a full A4 height 297mm. The next is cut to 287mm, the next to 277mm, etc. Try it. It works really well.

If you need samples of any of these, send me an email and (if I have any left) I'll send them on to you.

Brochures

Brochures come in a variety of shapes and sizes, the most common being A4 portrait (portrait meaning it is taller than it is wide as opposed to landscape where it is wider than it is tall e.g. the Moresoft brochure above).

They tend to fall into 2 categories. There are corporate brochures which promote your company and product brochures that promote individual products that you supply. From the printing point of view there is no difference; from a design stand point, they are completely different animals.

A corporate brochure should be rich on imagery and feature short, susinct sentences. The vast majority of people who pick up your brochure will scan it quickly and flick through it. If nothing catches their eye with 10 to 20 seconds, they will probably throw it away. Pictures, colour schemes, and short sentences or bullet points are the key. Use luxurious textures such as special materials or varnishes (see other articles) to convey the feeling of a quality company.

A product brochure tends to have more text as you describe the features and benefits of you products. It can often be a stage 2 after the corporate brochure has attracted the reader.

Sometimes the two brochure types are combined in 1 publication. This takes clever design and planning to carry off successfully. One style to consider is the folder and inserts style (see seperate article) as it gives the flexibility to expand you product range without reprinting the whole brochure.

Need more information? Click here to send an email or fill in the form on our Contacts page, and we'll answer your queries.