Print Market Direct

Custom Pinback Buttons ROCK!

jason — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:47:36 +0000

Our favorite Rochester rockers, FMGreen are coming releasing their third album, Victory!, this month and we've been helping them get ready with a batch of custom pinback buttons.

We're sure a few of these buttons will be floating around at their upcoming release party!

Keep up with their busy schedule on the FMGreen Facebook page and ask us about how to get your own batch of fun buttons today!

A (wait for it) BANNER Month

jason — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:07:33 +0000

Seems like it was just last week (it totally was last week) that we were talking about some banners we printed. Here we are again - talking about some more beautiful banners that we've produced!

After a logo design, website header design and a batch of glossy stickers, we thought the First Unitarian Church of Omaha was all set for a while. But then they came to us with a BIG request. When you work with business cards everyday, big 6 foot vinyl banners tend to get us really excited.

They were off the presses and in the mail before I got a chance to see them so it was awesome to see a link from the FirstUUOmaha Twitter account to a few great pictures.

Have any fun pictures of stuff we've printed for you? Send 'em in!

Using Banners in Unique Ways

jason — Fri, 27 May 2011 16:39:29 +0000

Last week we delivered the biggest full color vinyl banners we've ever printed - one as big as 8 x 8 feet!

The best part being that they weren't going to be used like a typical banner would be. We worked with the Metropolitan Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights, IL to produce 3 giant banners that would look and function like stained glass for their production of Nunsense.

The three banners hung over the set, stretched over wooden frames with back-lighting to make them appear to glow. The results were fantastic and no one would have guessed that the stained glass windows looming over the stage were really just some affordable banners.

We work closely with all our customers to ensure the end product meets and usually exceeds expectations. Head over to our Order Custom Items page to start your banner order!

Business Card and Button Bundle

jason — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:31:12 +0000

Handing out pin-back buttons as a promotional tool has been making a huge comeback!

A small button with your logo can be a great way to increase exposure for your brand because...

People will display buttons more than they would ever display a business card or brochure.
Buttons have a "collectible feel." Even if someone doesn't know or even like your company, they're likely to pin your button somewhere simply because it's a nifty little button.
It's one of the cheapest wearables you can buy.

We at Print Market Direct LOVE buttons so this week we're offering a business card and button bundle!

What you'll get:

1000 full color business cards. One or two sided with a super glossy UV coating. Send us your layout or we'll create one for you!
100 full color 1" custom pin-back buttons.

All for the super low price of $79! Tax and shipping to the continental US included! That's more than 15% off our normal price! Exclamation points!

Start the process off by going through our Custom Items page or simply contact us with your ideas.

We sell business cards and buttons all year 'round but this discount ends May 27, 2011.

Print Market Direct on Tumblr

jason — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:02:02 +0000

Q: What is Tumblr?

A: Millions of people sharing the things they do, find, love, think, or create.

If you don't already know, Tumblr is the popular blogging platform that allows people to quickly and easily share text, pictures, movies, audio and more.

Q: Why does Print Market Direct have one?

A: We like interacting with our customers and friends. Our Tumblr mostly consists of art we love. Paintings, digital art, photography, design, architecture, layout and more. Occasionally we'll throw in some of our own work or news about PMD but we're not going to be spammy about it.

So, if you're a Tumblr user, come check us out!

Outdoorsy - A Temperate Logo

jason — Tue, 17 May 2011 17:30:40 +0000

Outdoorsy just launched and we're really excited to see they way they've integrated the logo we designed for them into their new website!

Outdoorsy's mission is simple: to get people excited about spending time in nature. From the site...

"It doesn’t take a scientist to see that our society is overworked, overweight, and over-scheduled, and we’re spending more time working and playing indoors in front of screens than we are playing outside our screen doors. Adults and kids alike are losing touch with the simple pleasures of spending unstructured time outside and the many physical, emotional and even spiritual benefits that come with it."

We designed the logo you see on the site but there's a creative twist - there's an Outdoorsy logo for each of the four seasons!

Our favorite is the spring version with the pink flower and happy little bird.

These seasonal logos are a great way to keep the look of the Outdoorsy website fresh and interesting without diluting the look and feel of their brand.

Like our work? Need an affordable logo? Check out our portfolio page or head straight to the logo ordering page!

Seven Don'ts of Web Design

jason — Fri, 13 May 2011 23:01:17 +0000

There are a lot of web design "Dos and Don'ts" lists out there but they are usually intended for web designers and not their customers. We at Print market Direct always listen to our customers but there are a few requests we repeatedly get that are generally bad ideas.

Here are a list of a few "Don'ts" and why they're things to avoid.

Page Counters - An older concept that was more useful when the internet was still in its infancy and overall traffic was low. Nowadays, advertising your total number of viewers usually works against you and makes your site look like it's less popular than it really could look. The best way to make your site look well visited is with clean, professional and eye catching design that's easy to navigate. Unpopular sites are rarely nice to look at or navigate.

Flash Intros - Another outdated trend. A few years ago, these were all the rage but it turns out they have a negative impact on traffic to your site. Internet traffic can be viewed in a very statistical way and asking someone to click just once to get past an intro and into the heart of your site increases the chances that they won't give you that one click and will browse away. Even more importantly, devices like iphones and ipads are making up a larger and larger percentage of traffic and they can't even view Flash intros!

Being "Too Unique" - Jakob's Law of the Web User Experience states that "users spend most of their time on other websites". Just as you have certain expectations from street signs on unfamiliar roads, people have certain expectations when viewing your site. Deviating too far from the norms of presentation and navigation can make your site appear "broken" or confusing.

Auto Playing Music - Never do it. Ever. If someone is at work, in a library or in any other setting where unexpected music playing would be embarrassing, they won't take the time to figure out how to turn it off. They will leave and probably never return. Even if someone is in the comfort of their own home, auto playing music feels intrusive - like their speakers are being hijacked.

Pop-Ups and New Windows/Tabs - Internet users have been conditioned to view pop-ups, pop-unders, new windows opening and new tabs opening as advertising and/or spam. They will be blocked or closed immediately and whatever information you're trying to convey will be ignored. As with music playing, users don't want to feel like they're not in control.

Frames - Another outdated practice, frames or "framesets" allowed users to click links and only certain parts of your website would load new content. It cut down on load time (important back when dial-up was the main way people connected) and it often was the only way to achieve certain layouts. All good reasons for frames have since disappeared and their lasting effect is giving you lousy search engine results.

Under Construction Pages - If the page isn't done, it doesn't belong on your site. What would you think of a restaurant that had a few walls without drywall? A grocery store that had a few empty aisles?

LEGO Business Cards

jason — Fri, 06 May 2011 23:32:51 +0000

As if working for LEGO isn't a fun enough idea, executives at the toy company get mini-fig business cards that are made to closely resemble themselves!

Their names are printed on the front and their contact info is printed on the back.

They're obviously not as easy to carry around as normal cardstock cards but I'm sure they make a huge impression. Plus, when's the last time you got a business card that was fun to play with and made a great addition to your collection of desk toys?

We at Print Market Direct don't offer these business cards but we do offer a huge selection of options including waterproof, rounded corners, silk laminated, UV coated, spot UV coated, magnetic, metallic inks, plastic cards, stickers and more! The point is your business cards should reflect the unique nature of you or your business. Through the inks, stock, shape, fonts, logo and design you can create a custom card that catches eyes and tells a lot more about you than just your name and phone number.

Re-Relaunched!

jason — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:30:29 +0000

Today we're wrapping up the new PrintMarketDirect.com! Rather than trying to list all of our products, you can now simply go to the Order page and place your order for whatever printed items you'd like. If it's printed, we can do it AND with FREE layout!

Our new site design also improves on our Logo Order page and Portfolio.

Other things in the works - more updates, new sales and an offer through Groupon. Stay tuned!

Mallard Press

jason — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:51:48 +0000

It's always unfortunate to see a fellow printing company close their doors and Mallard Press in Lombard, IL is no exception.

The independently owned and operated company located near Chicago has been in business for more than 30 years but closed it's doors last month. Another victim of the combination of a sharp economic downturn and the aggressive structural changes our industry is undergoing.

I only recently found out about their closing as their former customers have begun to seek out new print vendors and have been contacting us. Fortunately, we offer all of the same services such as offset printing, digital printing, large format digital printing, full color printing and much, much more.

Are you a former Mallard Press customer? Contact us today to see what Print Market Direct can do for you! We've already saved former Mallard Press customers up to 60% on their print needs.