Happy Thanksgiving

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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:

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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