Move Update Update

A recent project clarified a question which comes up from time to time, and since I needed a short post here it is:

The United States Postal Service (USPS), in an eco-friendly endeavor to cut down on undeliverable mail, has enacted a requirement called "Move Update". This requirement must be satisfied to obtain the "automation" rates in First Class Presort or Presorted Standard mail, and that means a lot of money is at stake. If you're a glutton for punishment here's the USPS page on the subject. More simply, there are two ways to be sure your mail complies:

National Change of Address (NCOA) is a database maintained by USPS. Various commercial services, such as printers and mail processors, use specialized software to process your mailing list through the NCOA database to be sure all the addresses are valid. This is a routine step performed by mail shops everywhere, and if they send you an itemized bill you can probably find a line item for NCOA of about $25.

Ancillary Service Endorsement, the alternative to NCOA, is wording you add to your return address to request that undeliverable mail be handled by USPS in various ways (depending on the endorsement you choose). The goal is to get feedback about listings in you mail which are Undeliverable as Addressed, (or "UAA" to prove that USPS has an acronym for everything). This feedback is then used to keep your data up to date. A fairly clear webpage at USPS discussing the endorsements, their timeframes and costs is here.

If you're a do-it-yourself mailer it's important to check this out in some detail as savings may be available. More usually, people use a printshop or mailshop to prepare their stuff, and so this step is almost certainly taking place anyway. I've noticed, however, that information about mailing requirements is disseminated slowly, so this post seeks to answer the few questions that come up. Maybe we also need a friend in the mailing business.

Few will remember 2009 as a great year, but your friend in the printing business has a lot to be grateful for. First, our industry continues to provide a bastion of good paying trade-based employment for Florida's citizens. Second, our technical people, who peer relentlessly into the future, are insuring our customers get the benefit of every innovation that can be found. Finally, our colleagues in the public relations and advertising business still look at printed collateral as a good investment, albeit one which must be made prudently. All of this is reason to look toward 2010 with guarded optimism.

At the risk of repeating a theme from several posts, I must observe that there has never been a better time to buy printed material. The downward pressure on prices and increasing technical firepower are converging in a way which makes higher quality and greater speed available across a wide range of quantities. This is particularly true for shorter runs, and is a unique development in our business...the ability to purchase multi-page high quality color printing in short runs, (50-100), at an affordable price. Don't miss out on this!

On a personal note I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has taken the time to visit this blog, and particularly those PR pro's who gave me so much support and guidance to get it going. I'm also very grateful for the printing and finishing professionals who form the knowledge base that goes far beyond my personal expertise.

Let me close by wishing you a Happy 2010, and a reminder to buy local and support your local printshop!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

The best, simplest question so far...

One of our fine Tallahassee PR firms, The Moore Consulting Group, recently sent their graphics intern over for a tour of our shop, (an invitation we extend to everyone, BTW). She asked several good questions, including: "What do I need to know to keep from running into trouble when I take my jobs to [fill in the name of your favorite print outlet]? I thought it was the best, simplest question I've ever been asked in this context. I hope I provided an equally cogent answer, which follows.

1) What are the physical characteristics of your project? These include overall size, size and configuration when folded (with allowance for shortened panels), and weight and finish of paper.

2) How should my file be set up to be consistent with the printing method? These considerations relate to how many colors will the file will separate into: one, four (CMYK or process color), or multiple spot colors.

If you can't answer these questions you'll depend on someone else to fill in the blanks. This doesn't mean trouble, necessarily, but remember this; the person who is ultimately responsible for the success of your project is...you. Many customers have said, about unpleasant prior experiences, "I can't believe they put it on that paper". "They" did that, most likely, because the customer defaulted on the choice.

I often ask people to characterize the printing business, and, after the silliness that follows, most people say "it's a service business". That description is not really accurate. Although we strive to offer good service, printing is, primarily, custom manufacturing. It's the customer's role to convey, as clearly as possible, what they want to achieve, and it's up to the printer to insure that goal is met in a professional manner. The responsibility for communication goes BOTH ways.

Too often the printer may feel that if the customer doesn't know, they don't care; and their customer may be thinking something else entirely. Worse, at some retail shops, the service person may not be much more knowledgeable than the customer. The devil (or angels) are in the details...be sure they know you care.

The best way to stay happy is to take positive charge of your role in this custom manufacturing process. If you can't answer the two basic questions don't whistle in the dark...seek out the people who can help. If all else fails, send your intern over for the tour, and have them explain it to you when they get back.

Until then, you can always find help here!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

PS My next post will be a brief tour of Florida sales tax rules, so, if this prospect is unpleasant, please feel free to suggest a different topic. Having spent half my career in New Hampshire, where there is no sales tax, I see the whole process as somewhat barbaric, but it's a fact of life. The consequences of getting the rules wrong can be dire, so undertake it we will. Please feel free to help me postpone this topic by suggesting one of your own...we'll all appreciate it.

Happy Thanksgiving

(Click on image to view full size)

Best wishes to my friends and colleagues, and all readers of "Your friend in the printing business". With hope for a world in which everyone has a home to journey toward with a warm heart,

Hugh Butler

Folding Fanatics at foldfactory.com

It's always a pleasure to come across someone who loves what they do. Take a peek at the Folding Basics video at this link and then c'mon back and we'll talk about Trish Witkowski and foldfactory.com.

Beyond pointing to the wealth of information and entertainment at foldfactory.com this post will highlight FOLDRite template master, which is their plug-in for InDesign. This invaluable tool solves the myriad problems we see with customer layouts of folded brochures, and does so through an efficient and easy to use interface. This is a very powerful, time saving tool.

(Before that, however, I am compelled to disclose that, in order to evaluate this software, I was given a copy of FOLDRite which I do not have to give back. No other consideration was given or received. I am still a penniless blogger.)

For those who skipped the video, (bad idea) let's recap:

• Any panel folding inside another panel must be shortened, (a concept FOLDRite refers to as compensation). This is not optional...it's true the same way gravity is true, and on a multi-panel brochure can be wickedly complicated. (For more background see here.)
• Real people hate fractions and long decimal points. No one wants to take a prime number (11" for instance) and divide into three panels (letterfolded) two of which are equal and one which is shortened. Life is too short.
• The consequences of getting the compensated panels wrong are quite dire...either the layout must be adjusted and re-proofed, or the printed job, on the way to the folder, will be chopped short which makes the layout look wrong. The video contains an interview with an actual folder operator who shows you the gruesome result.

This is where FOLDRite comes in. The basic screen shows you pictorial choices of folding styles, and lets you enter either the final folded size (e.g. 4 x 9) or the sheet size you want to begin with (e.g. 9 x 12). Within seconds FOLDRite will build you an InDesign template with guides in place, and designations on each panel such as "outside front", "inside left", etc. You build your design from there, and save it as you would any other .INDD file. No math, no mind-bending mirror image for the inside vs. outside, and, most importantly, no mistakes.

It's FOLDRite's ability to construct the template in either direction, from the final folded size up or the beginning sheet size down, (and do so with no user computations), which makes it unique. The fact that the panel compensation can be adjusted for various weights of paper through a simple, non-numerical choice, (normal, increased, heavy), is the crowning feature I was looking for. This is obviously a product engineered with real world feedback from design, production, and software professionals.

Like anything truly great, this product is easy to underestimate. It is a powerful and thoroughly engineered add-on to the de facto standard page layout program, and is easier to use than most of InDesign's standard features. At the current special price of $99 (single user license) it will pay for itself by saving you one set of revised proofs from a bad layout. More important, it will save you five to thirty minutes every time you start a layout from scratch. Most important, the website gives you a wealth of creative ideas, many of which are practical even for a budget minded client.

foldfactory.com and FOLDRite are a one, two punch...the website gets you excited about the design possibilities, and FOLDRite will build a layout which is fail safe. Your printer will be literally amazed when you say, "here's my broadside vertical roll folded brochure", and the layout is right on the money. Like a pool shark, you might even want to sandbag your rep and place a side bet on success...maybe make some extra money. I would probably fall for it. (Once.)

Here's a regular feature from foldfactory.com called the 60 Second Super Cool Fold of the Week. Clearly, these are people who know how to have a good time:


I love these self-proclaimed "folding fanatics" because they've built a bridge from the art of paper folding to the science of cutting edge graphics technology, and had a blast in the process. That's what I want to do when I grow up!

Until then, I look forward to your comments online.

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Note: InDesign is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. FOLDRite Template Master is a registered trademark of the Finishing Experts Group, Inc. Images and videos used with permission.

The Annual "December Surprise"

My customers are caught off guard every year when, seemingly without warning, the Holiday Season jumps out and screams "Ha! You forgot about the greeting cards again!" Consider this post your own personal warning...it's almost November.

We should actually jump ahead to something even more overlooked than the card, which is the envelope it will travel in. This is, without a doubt, the most overlooked object in the world of printing...if I had a nickel for every Holiday card that showed up at the shop sans enveloppe I could immediately retire and buy a yacht. This is unfortunate because, at the very least, it's an inconvenience to throw one together at the last minute.

More problematic is the fact that envelopes are only available certain sizes and paper stocks, and if your card is not designed with an existing envelope in mind you may end up with a misfit. Below is s a link to help keep you out of trouble...I urge you to be sure you know which envelope you plan to use before you lay out the card which'll go in it:

MAC Papers Anatomy of an Envelope Note that the style you will want is either "A-Size" (with a square flap) or "Baronial" (with a pointy flap). Hold your cursor over each style to see the sizes available. The A-Sizes are usually available in a range of paper stocks but the Baronials (which are less expensive) are limited to white and ivory. Thanks to MAC Papers for this great link.

So far as you actual card is concerned there are two options; a stock card can be purchased and sent to the printshop to be imprinted, or something fully customized can be designed and produced for you. Both options are quite affordable, even in small quantities, and can be finished in just a few days. (The printing, that is, not necessarily the design.)

For those who call in a panic during the third week of December the printers will have nothing but cheer, and goodwill. (You can always discuss moving to a New Years greeting.) But just think how proud you'll be if you get started now and have plenty of time for a great design, and mailing well in advance of the Christmas rush.

Bring it up at the next client or staff meeting...see what the budget is...talk to the designer. Why wait to the last minute to put together something fun and maybe even meaningful. It's that kind of season, after all.

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

PS. As "Your friend in the printing business" moves into it's second year I hope to expand readership by offering this non-commercial blog to as many people as possible. If you are a member of an organization whose membership could benefit from our discussion please let me know. Thanks again!

Weird Rules and Good Habits

This is a post with two parts...one which you have no control over, and one which you do. Both have to do with our relationship with the U.S. Postal Service. The first is a rule change effective October 5, 2009:

QSG 201b Commercial Letters and Postcards - Using Tabs, Wafer Seals and Glue Strips

This two page notice is self explanatory, and worth printing out if you do a lot of mailing. It's current information may impact your design decisions and mail processing costs. USPS is serious about automation-compatible mail, so be aware that all regs are being strictly enforced. For those who are picture oriented here's the relevant graphic, which is page two of the notice:

(Click on the image to see full-size)

You can't do anything about the Byzantine USPS rules, but it's important to understand those parts of the mailing process you must participate in directly. If something goes wrong in this regard we all feel bad, but it's you, the customer, who bears responsibility for compliance, and will sacrifice the discounts available for automation-compatible mail. With that in mind, Your Friend in the Printing Business discloses the Mail Service Provider Top Five suggestions:

1) Be familiar with USPS requirements about elements on your mailpiece. Notice 67 from USPS is a plastic template which defines various elements such as min and max sizes, clear area for barcodes, OCR Read Area (optical character cognition of address), and FIM location (facing identification marks for reply mail).

This graphic is a simplified version of the template available at the Bulk Mail Entry Unit of the Post Office. If you print this one out, please be sure it's true to scale before you use it for real! (Click on image to see full size.)

Many requirements have changed recently, and they are important! Phil at Modern Mailers in Tallahassee, (who supplied a lot of information for this post), told me that USPS has rejected about 6 jobs in the last two weeks for problems such as background printing in the barcode clear area.

2) Confirm, in advance, whose permit number will be used, and what type of postage the indicia should specify. This insures that the correct permit language can be incorporated into the original design, and not have to be tacked on as an afterthought. It will also prompt you to tackle some logistical decisions, such as where does the job deliver to for mailing, do they know it's coming, and is there money in the permit (see number 5).

3) Submit your list to the mail service provider before you place your printing order. New regulations require your list be processed through the NCOA database (National Change of Address) to eliminate uncodable entries. We have actually seen jobs drop in quantity by thousands, (even, in one case, tens of thousands) after this step. If the printing order has been placed, and stock cut to size, you may end up owning a lot of extra paper!

4) Watch the thickness minimums Chuck at TCB Marketing (who also provided much insight for this post) told me the #1 problem he sees is material printed on paper which does not come up to the thickness minimums. If your final size is 3.5" x 5" (the minimum) the final thickness must be .007" which is equivalent to #65 uncoated cover. If your final size is larger than 4.25 x 6" all the way up to 11.5 x 6 (the max for letter-size mail) the thickness must be .009" which is where most of the problems come up.

Here's a chart of typical papers relative to the .009" thickness standard, (please bear in mind these are somewhat general):

(Click on image to see full size)

5) Be sure there's money in the permit! If your job gets to USPS and there's no money in the permit the result is obvious...confusion, delay, embarrassment...all the worst parts about working with a tangible product.

The Domestic Mail Manual, the definitive rules and regulations, is well over 1,000 pages long and the USPS website is equally impenetrable. It's difficult even to be conversant in this area, but you have responsibilities as a mailer none the less. The good news is that there are always friendly, competent people available to help at your printer, mail service provider, or the bulk mail unit at USPS.

The secret, as with so much of what we discuss, is to get a hold of these good people while your project is in development so changes can be worked in. The consequences of getting these details wrong can be dire, but some planning, (and a few timely questions), should keep you out of trouble. Neither snow nor sleet, nor dark of night or crazy rules will keep you from looking like a pro!

Thanks for reading! I am proud to observe that this post marks the one year anniversary of this blog! I'm having way to much fun!

Hugh Butler
Your Friend in the Printing Business

Quality speaks for itself, but just in case...

I had a valuable conversation with a printing client the other day. We were discussing funding she had received for a second printing of a brochure her non-profit had developed with the State of Florida. The brochure helps victims of sexual violence obtain local assistance, and is distributed through 31 different organizations statewide.

She said, "They really love the brochures".

I wasn't sure exactly what she meant, so asked who she was referring to...(certainly a crime victim has other things on her mind beside a laudable printing product). I assumed she meant her collaborators at FL DOH (Dept of Health). Her answer surprised me.

She said, "The law enforcement officers".

She went on to explain that the police personnel working with victims were glad to have complete information, localized for their area, in a professional, high quality format. Prior to this they had been giving out third generation photocopies, or, worse yet, saying, 'here, jot down the phone number', or, 'go to this website'. They felt, in a way, this was an additional burden on the victim; to track down the help they were entitled to.

Of course, our brochure lists the local phone numbers and websites...that's not the point. The point is that the brochure contains a lot of information, and sets it forth in a credible, coherent, and and compassionate way. There is nothing ad hoc about it because the layout was professionally prepared (with the cost split 31 ways).

These brochures cost about a dime each. The key was to pull together a lot of entities to get the quantity up, and therefore the unit cost down. Ordered individually by the 31 groups, the cost would have been two to three times that amount. We're hoping for another batch to be printed in September...that's how fast they're being distributed.

I have been writing a lot about short run, digital printing, because that's where the growth is. It's also the segment of our market which is relatively unknown to our clients. Don't think for a minute, though, that conventional offset printing is down and out.

Overall printing quantities may be down, but the argument for quality is holding it's own. Particularly in the non-profit sector, where there is always a fine balance between professional presentation and budget, quality can be cost effective, and an imperative part of message credibility. Remember, yours isn't the only item in the mailbox that day.

For printing buyers, this is an absolutely golden age. I've been in this business since "Boogie Oogie, Oogie" was #1 on the Billboard charts, and I can say with certainty there has never been so much quality and so much speed available for such reasonable costs. Be sure to take a look!

Looking forward to your comments online,

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Mass media, Micro media, and a good printing idea

I recently discovered the cornucopia of free, online documentaries from the Frontline television series here, and watching several of them crystallized my thinking about mass media. You shouldn't trust any of it until you know, with certainty, who paid for it. I didn't really need Frontline to tell me this, they just hammered the point home.

In the printing business the functional equivalent of mass media is direct marketing. Financial service companies, for example, spent millions of dollars every year to print and mail solicitations for credit cards, etc. As with other media, no one receives these messages by accident...the recipients are carefully screened to insure high ROI. The banks, who care a lot about results, use printed direct marketing because they know it works well when the audience is sufficiently targeted.

Hold that thought for just a moment, we'll come back to it after what will seem like a non sequitur.

I have enjoyed following a very smart guy in Tallahassee named Michael Calienes. His two endeavors are Transplant here and The Conversation Factory (on facebook) here. Michael has a lot to say about the one-to-one, organic marketing opportunities available via social media. His approach might be summed up as, (if I may be so bold), 'You develop an honest message you can take directly to actual people, and, if they identify with it, they will pass it on to the like-minded'. No one is coerced, no one has the wool pulled over their eyes, and no one is bamboozled into doing anything. It is, in fact, just like a conversation, or series of conversations...let's call it Micro Media so it can be juxtaposed to its' evil big brother, Mass Media.

Why does a social media approach appeal to someone in the printing business?

It's because I believe the successful, (though ethically dubious), model from the credit card companies can be scaled down to a Micro Media level, and work just as effectively for a Micro user. If the contact data is sufficiently targeted, a well designed printed item can reach out and touch people in a way which is uniquely effective. If the quantity is low, the postage cost is, (for once), manageable, as is the design expense for something simple.

In a marketing environment gone mostly online, a high quality printed item is now somewhat unique. The fact that you take this step builds confidence that your product or service is for real...it's tangible and perceived as part of your genuine, honest message. Most important, because of new printing technologies, it doesn't have to cost a lot or take a long time to produce.

Take a look into micro printing...this post just skims the surface of what's possible. How about 200 handouts to serve as take-away from your conference presentation? No sweat, it's done in a few days. As I said, Michael Calienes is a smart guy, and that is exactly what he did two weeks ago.

Looking forward to your comments online,

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

What does your next best friend look like?

Ever notice the excitement when two young dogs meet for the first time? Tails wagging, eager to approach, but maybe a little apprehensive because it's a new situation? Ever feel a little jealous about that feeling? We should.

It would be simple to say that young dogs are excitable because they're not as smart as people who work at print shops, (or ad agencies, whatever). They will soon learn that life isn't that full of possibilities, and you might as well chill out. I beg to differ.

I have been around the small business community long enough to know that it's truly impossible to know who will be your next, best customer or client. Profiling doesn't work, and can rule out a lot of good possibilities; the past is not prologue.

At my previous job I went on a sales appointment to a prestigious law firm in Manchester, New Hampshire. I was crestfallen to discover I'd be giving my suit-and-tie sales pitch to the elderly mailroom attendant in her tiny basement office. I figured "What the heck, I'm here", and discussed all the things I'd planned to tell the firm administrator. A week later the actual firm administrator called to say he planned to switch all their printing to our shop, (they had 12 partners and about 50 associates). He said "anyone OK with Mrs McKenzie", (not her real name), "is OK with me".

Getting back to the dogs, I recommend we adopt their naive, idiotic sense of possibility when we meet new people in business. We'll find out soon enough, as will the dogs, whether they play nicely or not. Until we find out for sure, we give them the benefit of the doubt and wonder "are you my new best friend"?

As my wife, Melinda, is fond of saying: More Wagging, Less Barking.

I hope your summer is going well, and look forward to your comments online.

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

PDF, the Rosetta Stone, and a cute little dog

Is it wrong to love a computer file format? I hope not.

Introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993, and now available as an open standard, the PDF (portable document format) has become the mainstay of document interchange. In our business it fills two key roles: to facilitate the transfer of layouts from the customer to the shop; and to give printing vendors an efficient way to handle large complicated layouts internally. Whether you know it or not these files are everywhere, and it's helpful to know a little about them.

At the simplest level, PDFs allow you to view or print a file created on someone else's computer, and have it render correctly. This amazing feat can be accomplished even if you don't have the same software used to create the file, because all the data needed is contained, (in a very efficient way), in the PDF itself. You don't need to be running the same kind of machine or the same operating system. Windows, MAC, UNIX...don't matter.

Again, at the simplest level, the viewing of the file is done by Acrobat Reader, which is available on countless websites including this one...you can get it for free here. The viewing capability is also embedded in web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, etc. No one should ever have to say "I can't open that file...it's a PDF". If you do, call me and we'll get it fixed.

Creating a PDF is not possible using Acrobat Reader, however, so you'll need the full Acrobat software, or have PDF generating capability built into another application you use. This step is not a "save as" function, where you select PDF as the file type. Rather, PDFs are created by a process called "distilling" which translates the file into postscript language; it's just like what your computer does to process a page for your laser or ink jet, but with a specialized driver which creates the PDF file.

This is why creating a PDF is usually done by "printing" the document, but selecting "Adobe PDF Writer" as the printer. At this point you have access to "Properties" which, like any printer dialogue box, presents you with a bewildering set of choices, and we'll discuss a few of the settings you may need to tweak. The other options are to use an "Export" function or other single-button choice built into the application used to create the document in the first place.

In the print shop, PDFs serve two critical functions: to allow us to take in files from otherwise postscript-unfriendly programs such as Word, Publisher, and even PowerPoint; and to give us a way of processing all page files efficiently. Most modern shops now have a PDF-based workflow, so if you can load the driver specific to their system you may be able to save some money at the pre-flight stage. At some shops this step is mandatory. Be sure to ask your rep.

"The problems we encounter, however, deserve some attention, and usually concern bleeds, fonts, and color."

Allowance for bleeds, may not be automatic. If the trim size of your document is 8.5 x 11 and includes bleeds, the final size of the PDF must be slightly larger. This close-up shows the correct extra allowance for bleeds, with the interior set of tick marks for the final trim from the oversize sheet. This problem is the number one reason files get bounced back for re-work, and shows up almost every day at our shop. Please stick with it until the file is correct, or ask for help if you can't solve the problem yourself.Click image to see full size.


Fonts not embedded is another problem. One of the critical factors of a PDF is that it contains all the information required for faithful reproduction on someone else's machine. For this to be true all the relevant fonts from your system need to be included, but, unfortunately, the default setting sometimes excludes some or all typefaces. The result is that the missing fonts will be scrounged from those available on the other person's computer, with a possible mis-match and unpredictable results. This is bad...REALLY BAD, because resulting errors may not show up at first glance even if they exist throughout the document.

The best generic choice for settings, to embed fonts and for other reasons, is "Press Quality". After creating the PDF, open it in Acrobat and look at the "fonts" tab in File>Properties. Any font properly embedded will be listed with "embedded subset" following the name. If that term is missing, the situation needs to be resolved.

Black which isn't really black. This is the last area of concern, and is mentioned because you can use a neat tool in Acrobat to check for it. Files born in an RGB color space often end up with black which is not a single, solid color, but a blend of CMYK when distilled. If you're trying to use the PDF as a bridge from Word, for instance, that CMYK black won't print properly since the black value in the mix is a percentage, not solid. It'll look gray.

Acrobat will allow you to check the output colors with one of the Print Production tools called "Output Preview" which is very informative. You can click "off" the colors in the file one by one and see the result onscreen. If you uncheck the black ink box, you will hope to see all the black copy disappear. If it doesn't, that's a red flag. There is another tool to fix this, but that's for my printing geeks only. Otherwise, it's probably sufficient to mention the potential problem to the printer, who may have other ways to cope with it.

The PDF is the closest thing we have to a "Rosetta Stone" in print production. Although it isn't foolproof, and can be frustrated particularly by those applications which need its' help the most, it solves an immense number of problems. From a customer point of view, this means the ability to get your job into the print shop quickly and accurately, whether your running Creative Suite 4 or Word '95.

I know a designer who named her dog "Adobe". With the constant flow of good ideas from this company, and their real world usefulness, all I can say is... "Good Dog"!!!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and a 30 page booklet...

Question: What do Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and a 30 page booklet have in common?

Answer: We don't deal with them in the same way we do normal reality; we can talk about them and have a mental image, but we can't hold them. I hate to be blunt...they don't exist. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are too metaphysical for this blog, but the booklet is fair game.

Simply, a booklet like this is printed four pages at a time (or in multiples of four). The total number of pages must be divisible by four. That rules out three, five, six, seven, nine, ten, etc. Including 30.

Here's a short list of other things with dubious existence:

20 pound gloss paper. Bond paper comes in 20, 24, 28, and 32 pound weights. Gloss paper comes in 60, 70, 80, and 100. Plain old book paper, equivalent to bond, comes in 50, 60, and 70. The best way to keep all this straight is to refer to swatchbooks. If you need some let me know...I'll fix you up.

Proof copies that are marked "OK to print as is" with a list of changes which are required. Like pregnancy, you either is or you ain't ready to print "as is". If changes are required be sure to know who will approve them, bearing in mind that if you decline to see another proof YOU are still responsible if anything goes wrong.

Blueline proofs. This terminology is obsolete. The modern proof comes from a computer driven plotter, and is much easier to understand. These new proofs, and the platemaking technology that follows, require no film or chemistry and are more environmentally friendly than the bluelines they replace.

Ads for which print quality doesn't matter. At proof stage people tend to be dismissive about whether ads look OK when quality issues arise. "It's all they have" or "I'm sure it'll be fine" are easy to say when looking at the proof, but remember whose signature is on the approval slip. Friendly advertisers can become very fickle when disappointed, and may see you as a convenient scapegoat for their poor quality artwork.

The fun-to-use onscreen color picker! For projects going to print, a color defined in an image or layout by means of the onscreen color picker is about as dependable as books which help pick lottery numbers. It might be a winner...or it might not. You have no way to know. Buy, beg, borrow, or steal a Pantone (or similar) guide.

Camera-ready copy. Another antiquated term. It's modern equivalent is the print-ready computer file you submit on disk or via FTP. Although old school art boards were prepared with great care, a properly compiled print-ready InDesign folder is just as awe-inspiring, and a big step forward in terms of quality.

So, now that we've exposed these myths, what's left for you to count on with absolute certainty?

Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time. It's always a factor in our business. You can hedge your bets, though, by learning as much as possible about the print process and staying engaged with your vendor.

High quality makes up for a bumpy road to the product. Low quality does not, and neither does a low price. You shouldn't have to suffer in order to save money.

Difficult discussions are always harder after the fact. Speak up if you think something doesn't look or sound right. You have a right to expect straight talk from your vendor.

Having your project printed should be fun and exciting! Maybe not as fun as a visit from Santa or the Easter Bunny, but rewarding at the very least. That's been my philosophy for twenty five years, and I'm sticking to it!

Since my last post a few people expressed interest in a plant tour, and I'd like to see if we can get a group together for next Thursday, the 16th. Send me an email if you would like to participate.

Thanks for your visit, I hope the summer is going well for you all!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Sweet home, Graphateria

I think it's appropriate, after eight months since my first post, to introduce you to where I spend my days: Graphateria.

As you know, my blog is aimed at improving the experience of print buying. Because much of the information I post has been gained during the last 15 years while working at Graphateria, I am devoting this installment to what I feel is Tallahassee’s premier customer-centered print shop.

If you have never worked with us, I hope this will be one of the most useful posts yet. If you have worked with us before, I hope to reveal some new capabilities that you will find valuable.

With the addition of a 100% digital printing system, we are fully equipped to handle the full range of printing needs typical of a Tallahassee business, association, or non-profit organization. From as few as 50 copies, as the job quantity increases, we are able to transition from one machine to another to provide seamless capability. If your project is very large or technically complex, we also have access to regional and national vendors whose track record we're familiar with. In short, if we can't do it here, we'll help you find someone who can.

Our interactions are based on a one-to-one relationship between a contact person from the shop and each customer. We feel strongly that you should only have to call one person to get your order under way, or get your questions answered. We are happy to come to your office, (we make house calls!), or, if you appreciate the chance to get out of the office once in a while, we're always happy to see you here. (If you have kids, bring them along, they can play with Molly and Otis.) We also offer plant tours for those interested in seeing first hand how their job is produced.

We have very high quality standards. In any business the human element makes all the difference to the quality of your experience. Our production people have been with the company an average of ten years, and understand the value of longstanding customer relationships. From proofing to production and final packaging, we are always paying attention to the details in order to keep your job looking its best.

We archive everything we print, and have done so since at least 1996. For a nominal fee, we can pull back your project from its last printing and work with you from there. Customers who have experienced widespread system failures can tell you how important this feature can be, as our archive files may be the only ones in existence.

We support both MAC and PC files in their native environments, and are experts at helping people move their projects from their own systems to the shop without errors. From programs which are less printer-friendly (e.g. Microsoft Word or Publisher) we can work around the inherent problems by helping you create production grade PDFs. For any layout, we offer help creating templates, and have some standard templates for download at our website, here.

We work with a large network of graphic designers, and also offer in-house services for simple layouts. Using this approach we help keep your costs as low as possible and match your project with the appropriate design capabilities. If your job is not ready to come to the shop, we can set you up with a design pro who will make you look great!

The cost of local delivery is included in our basic pricing, and many other distribution options are available. We are online with FedEx, UPS and Benton Express (LTL), and regularly drop-ship jobs to multiple locations for a nominal fee, (plus the actual cost of freight).

We're flexible. Our way of doing business is whatever works best for you. In these uncertain times there is no longer a "right way" or "wrong way" to do things. We understand the pressures of budgets and deadlines, and work with clients everyday to help them move forward by utilizing the unique advantages of printed material, while acknowledging the necessity of keeping costs under control.

I feel strongly that Graphateria has a lot to offer. We welcome inquiries about our services and pricing, and are always excited about a new challenge.

What's yours?

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

How to use cheap paper and not save money

Answer: Make that choice on a short run. The fact is that cheaper paper will always save some money, but it's often an insignificant amount, and the choice may do more harm that good. The main factor to consider is run length, and therefore how much paper you're buying. Let's talk about an average brochure by way of example: a letter size brochure, full color on both sides and folded.

At a quantity of 1,000 printed on 100# gloss text, this job will cost about $360 at our shop. It's a great sheet of paper for a self mailer or rack brochure...substantial, but not quite card stock. If you tinker a little, and change to 80# gloss text, you'll save a whopping $8, and the paper will be a little floppy. That's a savings of about 2%.

Go to the illogical extreme of the paper spectrum; run the same job the same way on 20# copier paper, and you will absolutely sacrifice the quality of the printing to save $19, or about 5%. In return you'll get a job which looks, for want of a better term, "homemade". Translation: death at the mailbox when it shows up next to that mailer from the Gap, or Pottery Barn.

At a small quantity of 500 or 1,000 you should always pay for the good stuff, maybe even upgrade the stock...the effectiveness of the brochure will be a good return on the investment of less than $20.

The same comparison doesn't yield the same result at a higher quantity. At 10,000 brochures the cost savings from switching paper is $115, or 12%. The more paper involved in the job, the more potential savings can be found and balanced against the detrimental effect on quality. (I'm not saying it's a good idea to run anything on copier paper...just to point out that, as the quantity increases the percentage of the total cost devoted to paper increase as well.) As always, this is best investigated in a discussion with your print vendor.

A significant, and often hidden, cost regarding paper is a customer specification of "Recycled". Particularly in the coated grades, these papers come at a steep price premium and limited availability. My recommendation if you seek a quote specifying "Recycled Paper" is that you also ask for an optional proposal for "Non-Recycled" and compare the two. That way you can balance your agencies "green" aspirations against it's budget. We quoted a job recently where the cost difference amounted to almost $2,000.

Further, if you decide on the "Recycled" option, ask for a written statement of exactly what paper was used:

Among less scrupulous vendors it will sometimes happen that a job is priced one way and run another, and it may be impossible to tell the difference afterwards. It's a good idea to take concrete steps to remove this temptation, and allow all your vendors to compete on a level playing field.

One final note on the subject of paper...it's heavy! If you are mailing, the weight per piece will jack up your postage every time you go to the next ounce, and if you're shipping the total weight can turn out to be quite impressive. An awareness of this physical aspect of your job can help you control these costs, and prevent surprises at a point, where I always hate to point out, it's too late to do anything about it.

One side effect of new printing technologies, and the lowered cost of full color printing, is that paper has become a truly secondary concern. Just as the choice you make about which kind of cone to get with your ice cream, the paper is not the main attraction. Paper companies, adjusting to new economic realities, are keeping fewer items in inventory and at lower levels. You can't print without it, however, and an active, informed choice about paper is always preferable to going with a default.

The right choices about weight, finish, color and texture can all enhance the effectiveness of your project, and sometimes at a cost which makes you wonder why you didn't switch a long time ago.

Thank you for continuing to visit "Your friend in the printing business", and for supporting this all-original content. Please take a moment to rate this post in the poll at the upper right corner, and let me know what you think. Until then,

See you online!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Welcome to a new world of professional printing

It's faster, less expensive, and the quality has never been better!

From a technological standpoint this is the golden age of professional printing, and your printing dollar has never gone farther. The only part of the business people may be nostalgic for is simplicity;  as with most features of modern life technology blurs all the boundaries making your choices harder to see. It has a lot to do with terminology...let's see if we can sort it out.

"Up until the past few years, most of the advances in printshop technology concerned the steps required to make a set of offset plates. Further advances are giving us the ability to print without conventional metal plates, or without plates at all. Let's call the range of options conventional offset, hybrid digital/offset, and 100% digital."

Conventional offset has been covered in past posts (click  here for background).  Hybrid digital/offset simply means that plates are laser-imaged inside the press.  By eliminating laser-imaging of the plates as a separate step, the "getaway" time for hybrid is shorter and the cost of getting to the first good sheet is low. This is a critical step in getting the unit cost of short run offset printing to an affordable level.

100% digital is a horse of another color, and is extending the capability of a modern printshop to shorter runs:

A modern, production grade, digital printer is really an outstanding piece of equipment. Although the fundamental technology is the same as a digital copier, it makes about as much sense to call them "copiers" as it does to call an IPhone a "telephone".  Digital printers produce high quality images at an affordable rate, and the product can be trimmed and folded the same day it's printed.  Here are some things you need to know in order to take advantage of this technology.

Make sure your digital printing is done by a responsible professional.  Digital printing systems vary A LOT in terms of the color they produce, and the quality of their images. This is partly a machine issue (is it a good one?) but mostly a professional service issue. The people who set up the workflows must have a high level of graphics knowledge, and the operators must take care meticulous care of these fragile machines. The machines should be dedicated to the proper kind of work and not used outside their parameters, where the quality could be degraded.

Insist on a proof copy.  It's generally good news that digital printers are calibrated for "pleasing color".  However, keep in mind that this is not a hard and fast standard, compared, for instance, with Pantone inks. If you have corporate colors, or you think it's important to maintain consistency across your printed products, this may be a chance to go astray. The only way to know, and decide if color tweaking is called for, is to see a proof copy before you proceed. Be sure to see a proof copy of a digital printing job just as you would for a longer run to be printed offset.  This leads us to the next critical point.

"So far, what I'm saying is that you should look for a high quality machine being run by serious printing professionals. The concept is that there is a full-fledged shop there, which uses digital printing in its overall production scheme. This insures that the quality standards are high, and that your job will get the support it deserves."

Give careful consideration as to whether your project belongs on a digital printer.  First, nnot every job will fit on a digital printer, so be sure you know the capabilities of the print shop you're looking at. (If your job exceeds 18 inches in width or 12 inches in height you may run out of room.)  For example, if your job has a flat size of 22 inches, and you only need 150 copies,you may have to run offset and be prepared to pay many hundreds of dollars for those 150 copies. If you know this beforehand you can decide whether the design or the budget needs to be adjusted.  Second, not every paper stock is digital compatible.  This is yet another fact you don't want to learn when your job is on deadline.

Finally, don't go digital merely for the sake of new technology.  Although digital printing is particularly cost effective in short runs compared with offset, it's not universally less expensive. The lower cost of getting the job up and running (don't need to make plates, remember?) will eventually be overcome by the higher cost per sheet run through. Also, the sheet size is small, limiting the number-up that can be run. Generally, offset will beat digital, price wise, at about 1,000 copies, depending on the particulars.

"As with everything we discuss here, the best approach is to talk to your vendor before you invest a lot of work in your project. Conversations about paper, color, price, and layout can be fun when you're at a preliminary stage. If you're on deadline, and the job is not turning out the way you hoped, the same topics can be painful. They don't need to be."

The past two posts have had record setting readership at "Your friend in the printing business" and I'm grateful to everyone who has subscribed, or forwarded the link to friends and colleagues. Please remember that this can be a forum to get your questions answered, and that I will attempt a post on any topic you request.

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Using the resurrection of customer service to your advantage...your printing vendor's desire to provide value-added services

Bad customer service is so prevalent it's almost taken for granted, and would be if it wasn't so aggravating. Websites and phone systems are in place to thwart you from actually reaching a representative who is both a human being and easy to communicate with.  Can it get any worse? Probably not.

This is why I have been surprised recently by the amount of attention I've been getting from customer service people. My theory is that corporate business focus is shifting from stock price (emphasis on absolute lowest cost of service) to recognition that shareholders will cease to exist if people cease purchasing. On the local level, this shift can be used to your advantage!

As you cope with the current economic pressures, consider that your printing vendor, whether he has told you or not, is pacing the floor thinking of ways to reinforce his relationship with you. It can be mutually beneficial to enlist his help to make your life easier...here are some concrete examples:

• A completed print job must often be distributed to multiple locations. It's very easy for your vendor to package the job accordingly...in whatever quantities are necessary. It's most efficient to do this as the job is packing up, as opposed to devoting your staff time to unpacking and repacking for shipment in the future. For a modest fee, plus actual cost of freight, it may even make sense for your vendor to handle the whole packing and shipping task.
• If your layout is complicated, ask your vendor if he will help make a template.  His assistance may save an hour or two of work, (or rework). In addition, there may be particulars about the actual printed piece which make vendor input desirable, (see my post about folding here).  Our shop even has stock templates here, and will add others you if you need them.
• If your cash sponsorships are drying up, ask your vendor about in-kind support.  The key here is to keep in mind that printers get asked for services gratis all the time, and it's difficult to say "yes" over and over.  What may make it possible is to do the work at wholesale cost, which is about a 50% discount.  This allows them to lend support to a greater number of worthy causes in a way which doesn't break the bank.  (Bear in mind, of course, that this is best done as part of an ongoing relationship.)
• If your project is in the preliminary stage, ask your vendor for a dummy to be made of the paper stock you're considering.  This is probably the most overlooked service printers can provide.  It's also an invaluable bridge as your project makes the inevitable transformation from the digital/virtual world of its birth, to the physical/actual world it'll live in when printed.  Everyone hates surprises...see the paper first if you're not already familiar with it. It's fo' free!
• If you're doing some of your printing in house it's possible you're spending more time trimming it to size than it took to print.  It may be possible to work out an arrangement where your vendor will handle the trimming at a nominal (or no) charge.  What may take you 45 minutes with a hand trimmer may take them less than 10.
• When developing specifications for a quote, have them reviewed in a preliminary way by a single, trusted vendor before you release to your entire list.  This step may save several "update" emails later, as the information evolves by way of vendor feedback.  (My personal favorite, the mistake I make most often, is to omit the quantity!)   Also, always include in the specs an opportunity for suggestions from your vendors, and do this early in the process.  (Vendor input coming too late is of lesser value because it's more difficult to implement.)  

The problem we are all confronting has two sides.  On one side are smart, qualified people spending too much time on the sidelines; and on the other are people stretched to the breaking point because of under staffing.  It makes sense to reach across this gap and capitalize on an existing relationship. Your printing vendor is more receptive than you think to the idea of pitching in to solve your problems.  Give him a call;  maybe have lunch, exchange some good ideas, and work out something new. Let me know how it turns out!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

How to use, (not abuse), a designer

One of the best facets of my job is the chance to work with graphic designers. I have a tremendous respect for creative people, not being one myself, but a lot of what they tell me is painful to hear. Consider this post a collective "open letter" from the graphic design community to their clients, via your friend in the printing business. (Please note that I use the word "client" to denote the person in overall charge of any project which requires design services.)

"If you begin to think this is just a lot of whining, try not to pass up a chance to improve a relationship which is crucial to the success of your project. Keep an open mind and read on".

I have been around long enough to appreciate the liberation afforded by design software and the personal computer. Inside the print shop we have also been liberated from scores of tasks which once incurred large costs. No one misses the old days...but a look into the past can be instructive.

Once upon a time a city the size of Tallahassee might have had only a few "type houses". These were small businesses who took in copy from ad agencies or publications, marked up with typographical formatting, and created "galley type". These "gallies" were then, literally, "cut and pasted" into layout form by graphic designers armed with X-acto knives and adhesive waxers. The galley type cost about $1 PER LINEAR INCH, plus the expense of paste-up. This brings us to the important point.

Gone are the days of painful and laborious type and paste-up, gone are the constraints of film and darkroom technology, but, unfortunately, also gone is the careful attention which used to be paid to copy on its way to the designer. Because the costs were prohibitive, back in the day it was inconceivable that copy editing would be done via trial and error. I don't think I'm out of line to observe that, twenty years ago, if you submitted unedited and/or unproofread copy to the typographer once, you would be warned. Twice might get you fired. Therefore, the following sentiment on the part of designers begins to make sense:

70% of the responses I got to a survey of my designer friends relate to the haphazard way in which the design jobs come to them. The other 30% relate to a feeling that they are being micromanaged. The overwhelming sentiment is "PLEASE do YOUR job and let ME do mine".

With that in mind, I've developed the Ten Commandments of a Client/Designer relationship. If you are sensitive to these issues you will be amazed at the quality of creative work you receive in return. You will free up your designer's creative talents instead of burning them out. Removing unnecessary obstacles from their path is just good management practice, and will save you time and money.

1. The Designer shall be the lead creative person on the project, and it shall be their responsibility to apply their talents and efforts fully to the task at hand.


2. The Client shall remember that criticism is ineffective unless it is expressed in terms of the project goals. Therefore, "I don't like that color" might become "Our target audience is men, do you think pink is really appropriate". (I jest, but you get the idea.)


3. The client shall not shirk from their duties to provide complete, edited, proofread copy to the designer.


4. The Client shall establish a project schedule which reflects the fact that design is a creative process, and takes time. Often a design, like a new good idea, takes reflection, and everyone loses if the timeline is too compressed. (The Designer shall also be realistic about what is actually possible.)


5. The Client shall not withhold any important details about the project from the team, or release them piecemeal.


6. Production schedules shall reflect some semblance of actual reality, with input from outside vendors as necessary.


7. Proofs, especially just prior to release of the project to outside production, shall be given the full attention they deserve to avoid costly rework. All team members shall review and physically sign the proof to avoid passing the buck. In return, the Designer shall be diligent in their attention to corrections which have been noted.


8. The Internet shall not be seen as a grab bag of free goodies, and copyrighted images shall not be used without purchase and/or release...it's called stealing. Likewise, low quality images shall not be used in place of a genuine effort to obtain good ones.


9. The Client shall buy the design/vendor team chocolate and/or fine coffee when the project succeeds! (Someone insisted on this one.)


10. The Designer shall not exhibit passive/aggressive behavior.  The project shall remain a team effort, and success or failure seen as in terms of the group, not any individual. To that end, all team members shall be up front about their roles in the project, and not allow events to just take over the process.

There are few experiences as exciting as participation in a creative endeavor. The process of bringing a new project to life, and watching it realize the goals you have established is enormously satisfying. However, the interface between the creative and practical aspects, (where I live professionally), can be an unhappy place. The person who is in overall control of the project can take positive steps to make a change! Design pros have amazing talents, but it's not as simple as flipping a switch...give them an environment where their talents can flourish and it will pay you back many times over.

As always, I look forward to your comments.  Until then I hope you're enjoying this wonderful spring weather.

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Many thanks to the fifteen graphic design pros who responded to my survey, and, as always, to my wonderful wife (and editor) Melinda. ~HB

Spot Color, Process Color, and the Color Bridge

Let's tackle the single most misunderstood area in all of printing terminology. Let's see if we can get our minds around the different ways color is handled in a printshop. After this, let's go have a cup of coffee, because I am BEAT from making all these graphics. (Speaking of the graphics, click on any of them for a full size version.)

Here is the important part. I realize it will be impossible to learn from this post everything you need to know about color issues. What you can do, however, is understand enough to have an intelligent conversation with your print vendor(s) before you begin detailed work on your layout. The situation we must avoid is that your file goes through the entire layout process in CMYK, (or RGB, God forbid) and then it turns out that spot color printing is the compelling choice. It is often a huge amount of work to "retrofit" a CMYK file into spot colors. (The reverse, on the other hand, is easy.) This is a common trap that designers fall into if their primary focus is web based graphics, and their program of choice is Photoshop.

"SPOT" Colors: The most simple color model is the spot color, where we make one plate to print one color. Each plate we make incurs a cost, so the lowest price job is one "spot" color. There is no "wash-up" charge to print black, so it's the cheapest of the cheap.


Spot colors are mixed according to guides published by Pantone, Inc., and have designations such as "Pantone 186 C," (where the "C" refers to a color shown on a coated stock, see here for more). These colors are mixed much like paint at Benjamin Moore...component mixing colors are weighed out in precise amounts and the whole mass is blended into a single color. You can think of the plate which applies the ink in a similar way because, like a paintbrush, it can be "dunked" into any color you want to put into the ink tray on the press.

By this reasoning, the exact same plate image above could be mounted on the same press with blue ink in the tray and the result is below (Good Dog, Sammie!):


The addition of a second color seems like it would be simple, but, often, it's not. You must be sure your file and all linked graphics are capable of separating into the colors you have defined, and only those colors. Raster based graphics (ie. from Photoshop) are most often incapable of performing this seemingly simple trick, unless you know a lot about channels. Regular, run of the mill JPEGs just won't do it. Beware.


If you want to verify your file will behave in this fashion, "print" it to Adobe PDF writer and specify "separations" as the output mode. For a two color job, the resulting PDF will have image on only two pages, etc. (You may get CMYK pages as well, but they should be blank.)

I will make you a bet right here...the first time you try this, you will end up with image on extra pages because something in your file will have a CMYK piece or part. No joke, I'll actually buy you lunch if I'm wrong. We fix files ALL DAY LONG that have extra colors, and it costs time and money.

Process Colors: are defined from multiple sources but are all encoded the same way...as percent values of the four "process" colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK). They can be stored as the color values within a digital image, defined (again by Pantone, Inc.) as CMYK equivalents of the Pantone Solid (Spot) colors, or translated on the fly from the native RGB colors which drive many digital devices. (The latter is the instance which often causes problems which I referred to as "Lost in translation".) Regardless of how they get in the file, however, they always come the same way...four distinct images, one for each of the four process colors:


Why spot colors? The chief advantage of process color, the ability to reproduce photographs or other full color graphics, is so easy to understand let's look instead at the unique ability of spot colors. The main advantage is a question of Gamut, or the range of colors which may be achieved with a certain color system. Look at the following graphic and imagine getting this selection in a box of crayons:


Now imagine your box of crayons contains the Spot Color palette below, and the effect it would have on your ability to precisely blend colors...the "Gamut" is obviously much larger:


The Color Bridge is the intersection of these two color models, and is the one indispensable product you must own from Pantone. Each page shows a column of Pantone Solid (spot) colors on the left, and the best CMYK blend that can be achieved to replicate the same color on the right.


This guide (available here) is where you MUST look when you are choosing colors to build into your layout because it shows the colors as they will actually be printed. It allows you to know with certainty how the colors will print regardless of how they appear on your monitor or inkjet prints. Most important, if you have established a Pantone Solid (spot) color as part of your identity or layout, and consider switching to CMYK, this guide will alert you to a possible problem if the color doesn't render well in the new color model. Remember, the CMYK gamut is much smaller...not every spot color has a good CMYK match, and some are actually terrible. Beware.

Digital printing mixes it up. It used to be simple to determine the choice of spot vs process because, in a conventional offset environment, the cost of four process plates vs., say, two for a two color job, was decidedly higher. In today's mixed offset/digital print shop the distinction isn't so clear and the Color Bridge question is especially important. It may be that a CMYK digital device can render a small quantity of a two color job, converted to Process Color, less expensively than actually making two plates. The decision will depend on the quantity, (digital machines favor short runs) and the resulting quality of the Process Color that results from your file on that particular device. (All digital printers are CMYK and the colors vary a LOT from machine to machine. Insist on a proof copy.) In a longer run, (over 1,000) offset production with conventional plates, in either color model (offset presses can run either, or even both at once!) will start to look attractive.

The important part, again. Use this information to have an informed discussion with your print vendor as you begin serious work on your layout. In addition to cost, be sure to discuss consistency between this project and other collateral material which may have already been printed with specific colors. Be sure you understand, in detail, what colors you've chosen and how they will appear when printed via the most economical and quality-appropriate method. Then be sure your file is capable of rendering those colors and only those colors. It's both as simple and as complicated as that.

As always, I look forward to any questions or comments you have. Until then, see you online!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Do you mail "Flats"? New rules effective March 29

The USPS, in an effort to streamline the automated processing of "Flat" mail, has released new rules about the placement of addresses on this class, which is any mail with a dimension that exceeds the "letter Size" maximums of 6.125 inches x 11.5 inches. To make this long story short, if it's 8.5 x 11 when it's mailed, it's a "Flat".

As of March 29 the mailing information must be contained in the "upper portion" of the mailpiece with the binding (or final folded) edge to the right. To avoid any chance that this blog will give you incomplete or incorrect information please refer to this brief two page Fact Sheet from the USPS here.

Here is a relevent graphic from this Fact_Sheet.

Here is an alternate view from the Final Rule (p. 12). If this change has a potential impact on your publication please be sure to contact the USPS or your mailing services provider to verify your layout is in compliance. The last thing any of us want is for your project to run into trouble at the Post Office after it's printed. Let's all try to catch up with this situation and help each other maintain eligibility for the lowest possible postal rates.

There are more changes on the way from USPS which this blog will attempt to decipher. Until then, see you online!

Hugh Butler

Your friend in the printing business

How to become an expert, and why

To practice law you have to sit for a two day comprehensive bar exam. To practice medicine you have to complete a grueling residency. To purchase printing you only need to answer ten questions. Spend a little time to become familiar with the following, which I refer to in the poll question as Print Quote Components, and qualify as an expert!

Who is the customer? What is needed is the name of the entity who will receive the proposal and eventually pay the printer for the job. It may be your agency/organization, or a client/end-user. Pay special attention if the entity paying for the job is exempt from FL sales tax to be sure the paperwork for that exemption is current and available.

What is the projects name? This helps keep it separate from the dozens of "brochure" quotes that may be on file for you.

How many do you need a price for? Remember that the final quantity includes the mailing list, spoilage for the mailing step, plus copies for your office. Be sure to get additional pricing for a quantity slightly higher than you anticipate a need for, as the increase may be minimal. 2008 and 2009 could be called "the years of buying short". Budget fears are driving down the quantities ordered, but strong demand often exhausts the supply. Going back to press for a small additional quantity is quite expensive by comparison.

Where does it go when it's done, and when does it have to be there? Please do not leave this question until later...it can have a dramatic effect on the final cost if the job is of any size.

How will it print, or, more exactly, will it be spot colors or process color? This is the most often neglected question of the bunch, but, ironically, is fundamental to an accurate quote. If you can't answer this question you can't expect to get an accurate price without harsh interrogation by your vendor. If you don't understand the difference between spot and process color you should either spend some time with your designer or your print vendor until you do. This is a concept you must grasp or you will literally be guessing about the price. (I may need to devote a future post to this topic.)

Are there any additional features? This is a catch all question which calls attention to any steps beyond routine printing which may, in fact, take place outside of the local shop. These steps may require extra lead time, and have their own particular cost structures. These would include die cutting, leaf stamping, embossing, specialized bookbinding, among others.

Now the path splits into three directions which we'll call Brochures (a single piece if paper, either folded or not), Booklets (multiple pages bound together in some fashion) and Business papers (letterhead, envelopes, business cards).

Brochures, we need to know:

• Trim size, that is the final size unfolded and flat. Do not worry about how many print at once.
• Type of paper see "I think I want, you know, the shiny paper?" http://tinyurl.com/be6aay
• Number of inks printed. Is it single color, full color, or spot color.
• Folded size, if applicable, see "Know when to fold 'em" http://tinyurl.com/cb4qyk

Booklets, we need to know:

• Trim size, final dimension of the pages, not the spreads.
• Number of pages in document, either including the cover or plus the cover.
• Type of paper for outside cover and interior pages, (if the same say "self cover".
• Number of inks printed.
• Binding style, (e.g. saddlestitch, perfect bind, coil bind, etc)

Business papers, we need to know:

• Trim sizes, and whether the images "bleed" off the edge
• Type of paper
• Number of inks printed

This amounts to about ten questions you need to answer to get an accurate quote for almost all reasonably standard print projects. For each question you can't answer, or leave the answer to the printer, expect the accuracy of you quote to drop about 10% to 20% depending on which questions you're booting. It won't take long for your "quote" to become a "guess". Unfortunately, it may be a "guess" that becomes the basis of your client's expectations. Beware.

Think about it from your client's point of view. Everyone is aware that the cost of errors in a print job can range from embarrassment to a complete rerun. If you will learn the terminology, and maintain good two way communication with your print vendor, you will be able to convey the feeling that the project is under control and headed for success. This feeling will contribute to the client confidence you need to keep the relationship solid.

This is a set of skills you can develope with very little effort: read through this blog, schedule a visit to your printshop, call your vendors to brainstorm. Why not use this opportunity to become an expert, and increase your value to your company and your clients?

As always, if I can help please call or email. Until then, see you online!

Hugh Butler

Your friend in the printing business

Welcome TSAE visitors!

Thanks for following the link from the TSAE E-Zine, and welcome to "Your friend in the printing business". I've been an associate member of TSAE for the last fifteen years, and have always been impressed with the society's role in professional development and the exchange of information. In that spirit, I'm happy to offer the information on this site.

Every two weeks I provide a short post such as the one below, and have been updating regularly since October, 2008. On the right side of the page you can look through the archive to see if there is information particularly of interest. There is a poll for future topics, and I always welcome your feedback whether it's a suggestion, a follow-on comment, or just a quick note.

If you would like to receive updates there are many options: email me at hughbutler@graphateria.com and I'll add you to my list; use an RSS subscription available on the right; add me as a friend on facebook and this blog will show up as a note; or just check back every other Friday at this address. (On facebook, every other Friday the blog does not post, I add a printing related website.) I'll be happy to see you no matter how you show up!

Thanks again for visiting...I hope you become a regular reader!

Hugh Butler

Your friend in the printing business

Searching beyond silver and gold

The objects in the plain box delivered to Dr. Indiana Jones shimmered with an indescribable color. "What is it, Indie" the woman asked, the light reflecting up to her face. "Simple", he said, "it's a mixed metallic ink, one of the great secrets of the ancient printing arts". A crooked smile crossed his face. "We've searched for years for a new graphic look, and it was right in front of us all along".

Metallic inks are formulated with a high concentration of tiny flakes which are, basically, colored gold or silver. They're like metallic paint for automobiles, only the flakes are so small they're invisible rendering a uniform color. When printed on a coated paper (glossy or dull coated, see the post http://tinyurl.com/be6aay) they sit in a thin film on the surface and live up to their metallic name. The basic colors can be found in any Pantone Solid Color book in the numbers 871-877.

So far, so good...nothing new. Everyone has seen gold or silver ink, they've been around for years, are almost a graphic cliche. What's the fuss?

Pantone also publishes a group of colors which are blends of either silver or gold metallic with regular Pantone mixing colors. The guide for these colors can be found at http://tinyurl.com/cm5j46. This is a unique range of metallic blues, greys, reds, etc which are, (until now, of course) an underutilized resource for designers...a well kept secret. Using one of these colors will give your multi color job a look which is truly remarkable.

Here's a quick primer on the technical considerations:

These are SPOT colors. If you don't know exactly what that means in terms of preparing your file, please be careful. They are not reproducible by CMYK. They need their own separate plate, and your layout file and ALL linked graphics need to have the spot color defined consistently as such. You will not (unless you know a lot about channels) be able to use Photoshop graphics to separate properly unless the file is a monotone. For most practical purposes any linked graphic which is more than a single color needs to be vector based (e.g. Illustrator .ai or .eps, Freehand, Corel Draw EPS) with the spot colors defined in the files genetic code.

You must refer to a printed guide when selecting the color, because, even more than regular colors, it's the ONLY way to know what the color tone will look like. These colors do NOT proof well on digital systems because of their unique physical properties. If you do not have the guide to refer to you are flying blind.

Metallic inks are opaque, unlike regular inks, which means they will not blend. If you print a conventional yellow ink over a conventional blue ink the result is green. If you try the same trick, or anything similar, with metallics you may get a mess. Some blending effects DO work, but the problem I referred to (lack of accurate proofing) makes it difficult to predict what will happen.

The good news about their opacity is that they can, within limits, be printed on dark colored stock and still show up! We print silver ink on dark blue color stock all the time with good results...impossible with conventional, transparent inks where the stock color would transmit through.

These inks are NOT foil stamping. I need to be clear that foil stamping, where a thin layer of metallic leaf is transferred to the paper by means of a heated die, is a different process. It's a good effect, too, but different.

The metallic effect does not work on uncoated stock. The uniform surface of a coated stock is required for the inks to perform well. Metallic silver on uncoated, for instance, just looks gray.

Let's end on a positive note, now that the technical mumbo-jumbo is over...these colors are really eye-catching! Some of the unique benefits that can be achieved are:

• These colors have a distinct look all their own. When used comprehensively throughtout a project they provide a three dimensional feel remarkable for simple two color printing.
• Silver, or tints of silver, can render a "holographic" quality to halftones. Turn the piece one way, there it is...turn it the other, there it goes. This works especially well on gloss stock.
• Duotones can take on a unique color cast. I know I said that the metallics don't blend well, but in most duotones the shadow color is only 10-15% value of the primary color, and the skew in the halftone screens will let you get away with it.
• The metallics, when printed on a dull coated stock, give an additional level of visual contrast because the ink layer is so shiny compared with the paper.
• These inks are not expensive to employ because it's just ink...no special processes are involved. The fact that most of these projects work well in just two color printing (e.g. black plus one metallic) means that the overall cost is low compared with full color CMYK.
• They don't get used much, so the effect catches people by surprise.

Keep your eyes open for a project where a new effect will make a difference, and this may do the trick for a cost which is no higher than simple multi-color printing. I have some samples which I'm happy to share, because the only way to appreciate these colors is to see them in person. Email me back or give me a call and we'll set something up. Until then, see you online!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business