2 FREE (24×36) POSTERS with any order over $50

You provide the artwork, we print the posters!

Small print: you supply a high resolution (600dpi) print-ready pdf. Customer pick-up only

Fall Special

We are celebrating our new wearables and promo items website by offering you this amazing fall special.

 Place ANY order over $100 with Dunn & Semington, now until November 30th,
2011 and Receive 100 FREE Pens with YOUR LOGO

Fall Special runs from 9/19/2011- 11/30/11

1 color imprint only. Choose from Blue; Green; Purple; Red; Smoke pen
colors. Imprint area is 1-5/16″ x 3/4″. Imprint colors are Gold; Silver;
White. Please include print-ready pdf of your company logo. No
substitutions

In response to those of you who have said my blogs are pedestrian and uninspired, I am compiling a list of useful tips I have accumulated over the 20 or so years in the printing industry. Heed this advice, learn these facts and hand them down through generations of artsy designer-types.

I offer these tips in one sentence, snippet-style, for quick reference likers and those with short attention spans.

Photo from Flickr: iboy_daniel (Doug Wilson)

1.  Buy your Pantone books on eBay. You’ll save HUGE and look cool to you clients. A little printing ink smudge looks like you’ve been to plenty of press checks!

2.  Buy a micrometer. It’s a quick way to tell paper thickness. And another way to look cool.

3.  When selecting a paper, DON’T RELY ON YOUR PAPER SWATCHBOOKS! Most times if a paper doesn’t sell, it’s discontinued. These swatchbooks rapidly become outdated. Most designers pick a really cool paper, only to find out it’s no longer available. Ask your Printer to recommend something. They usually have a good idea as to what’s readily available.

4.  Google Image Search. Looking for inspiration? Just Google it. Want to design a poster in the style of a French Bistro? Just Google “French Bistro Poster” and Voila!

5.  Looking for a client’s logo and can’t use the crappy, 72 dpi image from their website? Try searching their site for any pdf’s. Most often their vectorized logo will be a part of the pdf and easily extracted via Adobe illustrator.

6.  Need to know how to do something in any of the Adobe design programs? Google your question! Somebody’s similarly stumped somewhere and has a simple solution

7.  Flickr.com is a great resource for photography.

8.  Most every online print provider will have downloadable templates on their sites. Find brochure, envelope, postcard, door hanger templates and more

Check “Helpful Tips for Graphic Designers, Part 2” next week for more!!

Time for another question from the email bag.

“Dear PrinterPete,
Why is online printing so damn cheap?”

–Susan Thomas, age 7

Well Susan, there are many reasons. First off, let me introduce you to the wonderful concept of..

GANG-RUN PRINTING!

Sounds nasty, right? It’s actually the secret behind all of those online printers’ great pricing. (folks like VistaPrint, OvernightPrints, etc)

Here’s how it works. Bob’s Printing in Los Angeles, CA is trying to think of ways to exploit the HUGE potential for online print orders. They dump a whole buttload of money into a fancy interactive website and market the bejeezus out of it through Google ad words, banner ads on porn sites, etc. They sit back and watch the other orders roll in, one after another.

They wait until they have about 50 orders for business cards. Bob then takes each order, places it on a giant press sheet (about 2 feet wide by 3 feet long) and starts the press. The next day they’re cut up and shipped out.

The beauty of this concept is the PROFIT. Bob can sell cards at $15 for 500 and still make some money. Think of it this way, $15 x 50 orders for cards = $750. That MORE than covers the cost for one measly press run. Bob’s loves this new concept. That’s why Bob now has Phil, Jeff, Tony and Phyllis taking their Print Shops online.

This is a good concept. PrinterPete offers the same thing. It’s really great for people who don’t mind a little color variance in their business cards and can wait 5-6 days to get their stuff.

Here’s the downside…

First of all, Bob’s concept is counting on the fact that you know what a bleed is, what crop marks are and how to set-up your files in CMYK. If you don’t have your sh*t together, Bob will charge you another $20 to set up your file correctly. Did I mention shipping? Gas ain’t cheap these days. Getting your business cards sent out is going to cost you somewhere in the $10-15 range. Many times Bob will add a little something to the shipping cost. It also takes time to accumulate orders for 50 business cards. That’s why you may have to wait 5,6, or 7 days. Sometimes longer if you’re ordering a special stock.

Yes, there’s digital cards. You’ll get them the next day. The quality’s still not quite as good as running them on press. It really depends on your artwork, and ultimately your preference.

So, Susan, the gang-run concept is good for some folks. Just keep an eye on the “extras” (file set-up, shipping, wait time, etc)

PrinterPete

April Printing Special

18×24 Outdoor Signs

4 – 18×24 outdoor signs
Full color, both sides
Includes H-Stakes
Just $55 for ALL 4 SIGNS! (regular price $98)

That’s just $13.75 per sign. Minimum order is 4 signs

7-10 day turnaround

So…you now Tweet your business’s specials. You post them on Facebook. You put a coupon on Foursquare. You’re paying $2/click for Google Ad Words. Groupon offered you a sweet deal to advertise your special. You’re all set up for your business’ marketing.

Many people ask PrinterPete, “What are you going to do?” With all of the marketing avenues opening up in the online world, what happens to traditional printing? Are you afraid of the future?

I’m thinking there’s an opportunity to be had here, folks. With more and more people diverting their marketing efforts online, that means less traffic elsewhere.

Fewer postcards being mailed

Fewer flyers handed out.

Fewer doorhangers on your door.

We are not yet a completely paperless society. There’s still a couple of daily papers. There’s still mail delivery. People still like to pass a coupon to their local merchant. It’s just that now the printed marketing field isn’t as crowded. So…what does this all mean?

More attention for those who choose to PRINT!

This month Dunn & Semington is offering 1000 doorhangers for $150. Full color, both sides. Very shiny. Seize this opportunity to stand out! While others are paying for people to click on their ad, your doorhanger is commanding attention, dangling from your potential client’s door handle (or eaten by their dog) People pay huge money to get this kind of one-on-one attention online. You just pay $150, hang a few doorhangers and wait for the calls.

Print and BE DIFFERENT!

March Special

1000, Door Hangers Full Color (both sides) Very shiny!!!!

$150 (WHOA…that’s 15 cents per hanger!!)

*fine print*

Artwork must be camera ready pdf file . 7-9 day turnaround. Artwork set-up available at $25/hr

A long time debate in economics is one over consumer sovereignty.  It is the chicken or egg debate.  The question being, does demand create goods and services or vice versa?  We here at Dunn & Semington believe in capitalist’s sovereignty.  Whereas, the consumer has no idea of his/her underlying need for stuff until it is put in front of their big fat face, hence the need for marketing.  QR codes, which are totally cutting edge (and who doesn’t want to be cutting edge) are a great marketing tool.  I highly doubt you were sitting in your comfy, little office chair and became overwhelmed with the epiphany “You know what I could really use right now is a QR code and a Coke”.  However, your business should be desperate for the use of QR codes. Whether on your business card, packaging, or promotional material, one scan of a QR code by a potential customer’s smart phone will allow them to have the epiphany, ” I need this product”.

Here is Dunn and Seminton's QR code guaranteed to bring you monthly printing specials with one scan!

QR Codes are rapidly becoming a great source to encode complex information in one quick icon-sized graphic. Bar Codes are so 80’s. QR codes enable you to embed a website address, product information or ransom note in a small area. Some astute marketing-types are even using QR codes to embed entire advertising campaigns, accessible instantly via your Smart Phone.  Eventually QR codes may even be used in a form of high tech dating whereby one quick scan by the smart phone leads you to all the wonderful assets of your new perspective mate (Of course, there will always be the underground web site unlocking all the potential baggage that goes along with your new love)
Either way, have a HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!  Make your Valentine feel really special, buy her some printing.  Check out all of our great deals.

And, remember!  Point your smart phone at the next QR code you see and unlock an entirely new universe. Call Dunn & Semington to help you be a part of and explore the QR code revolution!

February Special

500, full-color flyers (printed BOTH sides)

100# gloss text paper

$75 (WHOA…that’s 15 cents per copy….PRINTED—not copies!!)

*fine print*

Artwork must be camera ready pdf file. Folding not included . 7-9 day turnaround. Artwork set-up available at $25/hr

You may have encountered the term “bleed” at some point if you’ve ever dealt with printing.

Sounds scary.

It is scary.

Especially when you don’t have a bleed and your Bindery person is coming off a hard night of drinkin’

A bleed is defined as “printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet after trimming” (thanks Wikipedia) It’s usually a good idea to have a bleed on your document. Sometimes the printng press will shift ever so slightly when laying down an image on paper (we’re talking thousandths of an inch here) If you have an amazing design that takes up the entire page of your document, make sure it runs off the edge of your document by 1/8th of an inch or so. That way any shift won’t matter when we go to cut your job.

Most Printers will express their annoyance with you if you don’t have a bleed (not Dunn & Semington—we’ll gently ask for your original file so we can fix it while mocking you quietly)

See the pics I farmed off of the Internet. The large silvery metal thing is the blade of our cutter. It is cutting some sheets that have a proper bleed on them. The orange portion extends beyond the area we’re cutting. If there was no orange extending beyond, you could have a nice, unexpected white stripe running down the edge of your sheet. I’ve seen it happen.

Now check out the other pic of the fake business card. We would cut this one on the pink lines. See how the image extends beyond the pink line. This is good. This is a proper bleed.

So, there you have it. Bleeds are good. Although if you turn in a job without bleed, we would still love to mock you.

PrinterPete