We all like white paper. It’s easier to read and easier to print on. But paper isn’t naturally white. To make paper white requires bleaching. White, good; bleaching—using chlorine, bad.

I was initially confused by the alphabet soup of claims for chlorine free paper products.  After some research I discovered the order of preference (environmentally speaking) for the various paper bleaching processes.

Again, this does not take into account other environmental considerations
such as energy usage or carbon footprint.

[Kermit is a trademark of The Muppets
Studio, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary
of The Walt Disney Company.]

Best: Processed Chlorine Free Recycled papers are typically processed chlorine free (PCF), which means that no chlorine or chlorine derivatives were in the recycling process, but that papers which were originally bleached with chlorine or chlorine derivatives may have been used as feedstock.

PCF paper contains recycled content produced without elemental chlorine or chlorine derivatives, although one or more fiber components may have originally been bleached with chlorine or chlorine derivatives.

PCF is preferable to totally chlorine free (TCF) because it includes recycled content. Virgin pulp is TCF.

Most environmental groups, such as the National Resources Defense Council consider Processed Chlorine Free to be the most preferable.

Totally Chlorine Free
Totally chlorine free (TCF) uses no chlorine compounds for the bleaching of wood pulp for paper production. This prevents the formation of dioxins, highly carcinogenic pollutants.

TCF papers are much more environmentally preferable than elemental chlorine free papers because chlorine derivatives—while less harmful to the environment than elemental chlorine—still produce toxic chlorinated organic compounds, including chloroform, another known carcinogen. These compounds are released into waterways as effluent from the bleaching process, where they produce environmental damage.

Virgin paper is produced without chlorine or chlorine derivatives (the bleaching process uses oxygen-based compounds).

Products using the PCF or TCF labels are certified by the Chlorine Free Products Association, an independent not-for-profit accreditation and standard setting organization.

Elemental Chlorine Free
Next down the list comes the family of elemental chlorine free (ECF) processes. Elemental chlorine free means chlorine compounds are used, rather than chlorine gas.

Enhanced elemental chlorine free (EECF) removes more of the lignin from the wood before bleaching, resulting in the need for less bleach. Compared to traditional ECF, EECF saves more energy, improves the quality and reduces the quantity of mill wastewater.

There are some alternatives to using bleach:

Enhanced ECF with ozone or hydrogen peroxide substitutes ozone or hydrogen peroxide for chlorine or chlorine dioxides as a brightening agent in the initial stages of the bleaching process (the final or near-final stage uses chlorine dioxide).

Enhanced ECF with extended or oxygen delignification removes more of the lignin from the wood before bleaching, thus reducing energy and chemical use during bleaching (the final stage uses chlorine dioxide).

Elemental chlorine-free (ECF) replaces elemental chlorine with chlorine dioxide in the bleaching process. This next-to-the-last choice is still preferable to any process that uses pure chlorine.

Worst: Elemental Chlorine
The least preferred bleaching method is pure elemental chlorine, which was phased out in the U.S. in 2001.

So, if you’re concerned about chlorine, look for the PCF or TCF logos.

–BR

Despite our reliance on electronic gadgets, the business card is still the default method of exchanging information. The ritualistic exchanging of cards during sales calls, meetings, and tradeshows is a cornerstone of any work setting.

But what about social settings? Sure, some people troll for customers in almost any situation. Who hasn’t struck up a friendly conversation only to realize their only interest in you is to sell insurance, real estate or Tupperware? But if I meet someone interesting at a neighbor’s backyard barbeque or my wife’s uncle’s stepdaughters’ wedding, I probably don’t want them to contact me at work. That’s when a social card comes in handy.

One of the secrets in life is finding people who are similarly aligned. People who believe what you believe, people who want what you want, and do what they do for the same reason you do.

The process of finding these people takes a lot of guts, a bit of guessing, and plenty of time. Social cards by gapingvoid are a great way to shortcut this process.

You can use a social card for all the contact info you’d probably never put on a formal business card. Your Facebook page … your blog address … your Twitter handle. Your political affiliation and dating preferences (see above about guts).

As a human you stand for certain things. There are ideas that are dear to you and that define who you are. Are you a romantic?

A sports nut? Do you have a wacky sense of humor?

You can use a social card to do all that. And at the cheap prices for digital printing, you can have multiple cards—one for that backyard BBQ and another for your Monday meeting of Area 51 conspiracy bloggers.

So when you meet someone outside of work you’d like to see again, try giving them your social card. Do in an instant what normally takes weeks or months; that is, define who you are and what you represent. And engage them in such a way that you discover the same about them.

Do you design or use social cards?  If so, I’d like to hear from you!

As the cartoon says:

–BR

As I was getting ready to write this post I scrolled through a couple of orders from last February. I figured I’d get some inspiration from the Valentine’s Day cards I saw.

But you know what? There were precious few. And I’m stunned. Where are all the romantics?

But seriously, I realize that unless you’re a polygamist or a Lothario you probably aren’t going to design and order 25 Greeting Cards saying “You’re the Only One.” Unless, of course, you’re a designer planning to resell them, one at a time.

I was actually looking for Valentine’s Day cards for business. Although time is running out, it’s still not too late to put together a themed mailing to market your business.

Here are ten ideas to use in a Valentine’s Day direct mail program to promote your business. To illustrate some of these ideas I’ve used postcard templates from our design library.

1. Use a Postcard to advertise a Valentine’s Day (or week) sale.

2. Partner with a local photographer to come to your business and set up a background or use a photogenic garden area. Invite your customers—couples or individuals—to come and have their picture taken.

3. If you sell flowers, candy or jewelry a Valentine’s Day promotion is a no-brainer. But even if not, you can probably think of a tie-in with your product or service.

4. Show “We love our customers” by throwing an appreciation party. Decorate your offices with balloons, candy and flowers, or rent an outside facility. Either way, you’ll build customer loyalty.

5. Hold a drawing for a romantic dinner for two. Drive traffic to your business by requiring the customer to return the Announcement in person.

6. If you sell a product that goes along with the day, offer free gift-wrapping with a purchase. If your product isn’t related, offer a gift-wrapping service to get people to come in. This can be particularly effective if you target men, who aren’t known for their preparedness.

7. Grade school children need valentines to hand out to their classmates and teacher. Create bundles of creative, colorful cards that they can fill out and sign, and add a handful of candies so busy parents can just grab and go. Place your logo or store name unobtrusively on the back of the cards.

8. If your business involves food create a valentine-themed version. Take a picture of your culinary delight, put the picture on a Rack Card (which is really just a long postcard), and send it to your customer list. There’s nothing like a heart-shaped meatloaf to inspire romantic urges!

9. Let your customers submit love poems, songs, decorated cakes—whatever—and award a prize, which can be a gift certificate for your product or service. If you decide to run a contest be sure to check the rules for your state.

10. Don’t forget the lonely hearts. If your business caters to the unattached an Invitation to a mixer will be remembered and appreciated.

With only a few days to go you’ll have to work fast. To save time, use Mailing Services to send postcards directly to your customers so you can focus on the Valentine’s Day details.

One more thing; a personal picky proofreader’s pet peeve. A valentine is a card or message, and is not capitalized (unless for effect or part of a Title Case headline). Multiple cards are valentines–no apostrophe. Valentine’s Day is capitalized and spelled with an apostrophe.

Have a great Valentine’s Day!

–BR

A paperless society is one in which communication via paper—newspapers, letters, business messaging, books—is replaced by electronic communication and storage.

I think I first heard the phrase “a paperless society” when I got my first computer, an Apple IIe. With it came the implied promise that I could digitally store so many documents and files I would be able to save trees and eliminate entire filing cabinets.

Poll Position, in a national scientific telephone survey, found that 56 percent of Americans said they don’t think the country would ever be a paperless society, while 20 percent said, “Yes, one day we’ll all go paperless.” Twenty-four percent of Americans were undecided or had no opinion.

Last month my household, like millions of others, acquired a Kindle. The iPhone has dozens of vCard apps. And E-writers like the Boogie Board writing tablet that debuted last week at CES theoretically could put an end to notebooks, legal pads, sketchbooks, memo pads, sticky notes, and scratch paper. The proliferation of electronic devices and cloud computing may make it seem like paper is on the way out.

But I doubt it.

It’s unlikely that we will ever fully rid ourselves of our dependence on paper. If you need convincing, when was the last time you lost files due to a system failure?

Certainly information can be easier to access electronically. But the tactile feel of a piece of paper in your (or my mom’s) hand, the consistency of colors from one unit to the next (as opposed to what you see on poorly adjusted monitors) and the ability to access information without reliance on batteries, cables or wireless connectivity still makes paper a compelling choice, both for business and personal applications.

A paperless society would mean no more paper to buy, transport and store, or the people to sell, ship and warehouse it. And certainly no presses and the people to run them. You don’t have to be a printer or a paper salesperson to be affected by a paperless society. Graphic designers, even—ahem—web-to-print bloggers have a vested interest in paper.

Paper comes with environmental concerns, but so does the manufacturing of electronic devices and e-waste. Those so inclined can minimalize the environmental impact in a variety of ways, choosing paper with recycled content, or paper harvested from sustainable forests, or paper produced with fewer harmful chemicals.

So forget about that mythical paperless society where everything is digital. Until the day comes when you can hold in your hands a sheet of 15pt thick, high-res, four-color interactive e-paper, there’s something about paper that “just feels right.”

Maybe mom has a point.

There’s nothing like kicking back with some friends, some brews, and a wide screen TV.  Who’s playing? Does it matter?  It’s a party, and, yeah, if my team makes it to the championships and beyond I’ll be psyched, but if not I’ll still enjoy the day.

So since I’m already in the mood for a party, it’s a great time to work on my Big Game invitations.  I’ve got a few options.

Design an Invitation

I can upload my own design on the Overnight Prints Invitation page, with a choice between three sizes.  Because I have a lot of text information to convey I want my invite design to be simple and uncomplicated.  Some of the motifs I’ve been considering include:

1. Event Ticket
2. Green football field with white yard lines
3. Funny cartoon of a Referee
4. Football stadium
5. Silhouette of a football player

Use a Postcard Template

If I want to save myself the hassle of creating a design I’ll go straight to Postcards.  There are several templates suitable for this 46^th annual event.  I kind of like the one with two opposing football helmets.

Use a Postcard template.

Go Rogue

Who says I have to use a traditional invitation layout?  The 4” x 9” Rack Card format is great for a gridiron theme, and I can forget about ordering and addressing separate envelopes.

A rack card format makes a great invitation.

Your designs for the Big Game invitation can be as creative or as corny as you can muster.  But it’s important to remember the basics of an invitation: the who, what, why, where and when.

Who: If your friends all know you as “Cap and Maggie” don’t go all formal and list yourselves as Bob and Margaret Hendrix.  Conversely, if you’re inviting the entire office or some distant relatives, don’t just put “Bob’s house.”

What: It’s worth mentioning that the NFL has trademarked Super Bowl® and Super Bowl Sunday®.  Seriously.  It’s unlikely they’re going to come after you unless you’re holding a for-profit event, but if you’re squeamish about such legalities just avoid the terms.  A commercial for Planters nuts once parodied this, saying “it would be super…to have a bowl…of Planters nuts while watching the big game!”

Be wary of using NFL trademarks in your invitation.-

Why: This is probably the least of your worries, since your intent should be evident from your headline, image and theme.

Where: Where are your friends coming from—down the street or two states away?  Do they already know where you live, or have they never been to your house before?  Do you need to include your city, or maybe even a map?  Be sure to include all of the details if you’re holding the event somewhere other than at home.

When: The most important info.  Don’t take it for granted that everyone knows the date.  Your nerdy nephew may not know, but you still want him there (or do you?).  And unless you want frenzied fans showing up while you’re still mixing the dip, include a start time.

Cover the Who, What, Where and When in your invitation copy.

Finally, decide if you want to require an RSVP.  If you’re ordering pizza you’ll probably want to know how big a crowd to expect.  If you are comfortable with people just dropping in I applaud your laid-back style.  Nevertheless, you should include your phone number in case folks get lost and need directions.

Have a great party, and enjoy the game!

–BR

Early to bed and early to rise makes a
man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

We all know this aphorism.  And every schoolchild knows about Benjamin Franklin’s experiment with a kite and a key.  He signed the Declaration of Independence.  His inventions—from bifocals to swim fins to the lightning rod—are legendary.   Ben Franklin created the Post Office and the circulating library.  He was a politician and the first American diplomat.

But despite all these accomplishments, he always thought of himself as a printer. Benjamin Franklin didn’t invent the printing press. He didn’t even create the Franklin Font.  But he was considered the most accomplished printer in Colonial America, and his contributions to the publishing industry are celebrated to this day.  That’s why today’s post is dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, printer, whose birthday is January 17.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Ben founded America’s first circulating library so that people could borrow books to read even though they might not have been able to afford to buy books to read.  Ben wanted to use his printing press to help people understand the world around them.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Ben Franklin appears on the $100 bill.  He printed money for Philadelphia and some of the other colonies.  He devised the use of mica in the paper and leaf imprints as ways to thwart counterfeiters.

His most famous publications were a newspaper called The Pennsylvania Gazette and his annual Poor Richard’s Almanack. He had many new ideas for publishing and he is known for printing cartoons, illustrated news stories, and letters to the editor. He believed in the power of the press, using his printing press as a way to bring the news to all people.  He used cartoons and pictures so that everyone could understand the news, even people who had not learned to read. Ben also used Poor Richard’s Almanack to express his sense of humor.

We must, indeed, all hang together or,
most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

This political cartoon (attributed to Benjamin Franklin) originally appeared during the French and indian War, but was recycled to encourage the American colonies to unite against British rule.  From The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 9, 1754.

If all printers were determined not to print anything
till they were sure it would offend nobody,
there would be very little printed.

Benjamin Franklin allegedly used this English common press, now known as the Franklin Press, when he worked as an English printer’s apprentice in 1725-26.  It is on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1747 Ben Franklin retired from printing and went into other businesses.  But for the rest of his life, regardless of his other accomplishments, Benjamin always considered himself a printer.  He wrote his own epitaph, which illustrates both his sense of humor and his love of printing:

The Body of B. Franklin, Printer; like the Cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost;
or it will, as he believ’d, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended By the Author.

It is interesting to speculate how Franklin would have viewed the Internet, web-to-print, digital printing and waterless presses.  I think he would have embraced them, for he said,

Without continual growth and progress, such words as
improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

–BR

Hi Everybody,

With everyone’s attention fixated on the Internet we tend to forget that most business is still face-to-face.  If you fail at the moment you shake someone’s hand for the first time, the consequences can be dire.

This was more obvious when that’s all there was, but in many industries not much has changed.  Face to face sales calls, conventions, trade shows, are still big drivers, the fact is that for many businesses, the Internet just leads to more face-to-face.

As a businessperson, as a human, you stand for certain things.  There are ideas that are dear to you and that define who you are.

One of the secrets in business is finding people who are similarly aligned.  People who believe what you believe, people who want what you want, and do what they do for the same reason you do.  Once aligned, doing business becomes frictionless.

The process of finding these people takes a lot of guts, a bit of guessing, and plenty of time.  What would happen if you could shortcut this process?  Do in an instant, the moment you meet someone, what normally takes weeks or months. That is, define who you are for them, and what you represent—and engage them in a way that you discover the same about them?

We’ve devised a simple way of making this happen: gapingvoid business cards.

You select a cartoon for the back of your card that tells the world what matters to you, what you stand for, and how YOU make a difference.

Business.  Purpose.  An Elegant Way to Transmit Your Ideas.  Exactly.

Thanks, Jason Korman

CEO gapingvoid

Editor’s note: I’ve posted a few gapingvoid business card designs below.  If you like what you see check out our gallery and our Special Introductory Offer. –BR

A Restaurant.com Gift Certificate lets you choose from over 18,000 participating restaurants and online retail partners. Order just one of the products in the promotion and receive a $25 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate in January as our holiday gift to you.

Would you like fries with this deal? (Sorry, I can’t help myself.)

What’s a qualifying order? Well, stuff that you probably already want to get for the holidays. For instance, order 3 or more Calendars to get the $25 gift certificate, or 30 or more Greeting Cards. Or order any quantity of Notepads. Notecards, Invitations and Announcements are also included.

I can’t decide whether to call this “Deals on Meals” or “Meals with Deals.” But whichever way you look at it, it’s smokin’ hot (there I go again).
To see the full list of what qualifies go to overnightprints.com/holiday or click one of the banners on the home page. We’ll also serve up a couple of special email additions, so keep a rib-eye on your inbox.

This promotion expires at the end of December, so there’s no time to lose. The Restaurant.com Gift Certificate will be emailed to you by January 12, 2012.

Let me know if you think this is an appetizing offer–or not–and I’ll let the gurus in Marketing know! For some reason I’m hungry; I’m off to lunch.

–BR

Back to School Ideas
Summer is almost over and it’s back-to-school time all across the USA! No need to be sad though, back-to-school is an exciting time, full of fresh beginnings and brilliant new things to be learned and discovered!

Whether you’re a parent packing your kids off to school, a returning college student, or a teacher with a whole new brood to take care of, you will need to refresh your school supplies. Here are a few of our favorite back-to-school products:

Address Labels
Let your little ones choose their favorite address labels from our template library and use them to label school supplies, books, lunch bags and more.

Here are our top five back-to-school picks:

Mommy Cards
Mommy cards are basically “business cards for kids”. It’s a way for you, as a parent, to share your contact numbers and your child’s medical information with teachers, team coaches, babysitters and other people who look after your child.

Here are our top five picks:

See all our awesome child contact card designs on our mommy card page

Other Great Print Products

Calendars
Trying to juggle play-dates, soccer practice, and after school activities can get complicated.

Here are some neat ideas for calendar uses:

•    The best way for mom’s to organize their family activities this school year is with a custom calendar. Personalize it with your favorite photographs and make it a focal point of your home.

•    College students can ensure that they get to their tutorials on-time by customizing a calendar – you can make it project or lesson study specific.

•    As a teacher, you can effectively organize your time with custom calendars. Put them up in all areas of the classroom and include pictures of your kids having fun! It’s not only a great way to stay focused on important school dates, but it’s also an opportunity to get your kids interested in the months and the days of the week! Create a “birthdays this month“ calendar or a “student’s of the month” calendar to peak their interest!

Bookmarks for Teachers
For just $3.96 for 25, you can create a unique bookmark for all your kids this year to get them excited about reading! Customize it with your class pictures and include your class name and other personal messaging from teacher.

Log onto Overnight Prints.com for all your Back-to-School prints

It’s a new phenomenon that’s sweeping the marketing world! The fastest way to get someone from a piece of printed material to your website (or even better, to a specific sales page).

For those who aren’t sure what a QR code is; A QR code is a small rectangular barcode that can be printed on any of your print products. It contains a link to your LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, web page, portfolio site or any other piece of cyberspace that you’d like to send people too. It utilizes smart phone scanning technology to navigate to a specific website; as long as the viewer has a QR reader application on their phone, they can take a picture of a QR barcode and the application will navigate them straight to that piece of cyberspace via their phone!

Use a smart phone QR reader app to read QR codes

Many of our customers in creative design and marketing communities have known about this secret for quite some time now. If you haven’t already, here’s how to create your own QR code:

1. To start your QR code by clicking on this link: http://createqrcode.appspot.com/

2. Type in your webpage that you want to send contacts and customers too

3. Your link will be generated as a black and white coded image

4. Right click your QR code and save it to your desktop

5. Add this image on all your business cards and marketing materials (see image of business card below for suggested size of QR code)

Try your QR code out today at Overnight Prints. Add it to your business cards and start using this great new technology to maximize your business cards for a brave new digital world!