A Little More About Colour...

CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

These are the primary colours for print.

Where we all grew up knowing Yellow and blue make green and Yellow and red make orange, the printing industry grew up knowing that varying the quantities of cyan, magenta, yellow and black creates an endless array of colours to print.

PMS stands for Pantone Matching System colours. There can be so much variation in colour using CMYK that Pantone set out to create a system that allowed for consistent colour. This way a designer can create a logo that will print consistently from job to job an printer to printer.

PMS colours can streamline the process of printing and cut down on cost. CMYK colour always requires four plates to be made for a print to be made, while a carefully crafted one or two colour logo using PMS colours only needs two to print.

Thanks to our friends at www.the-printer.net for use of their information.

How to make a good idea, a better one!

We're working on a project at the moment, and it's been fascinating to watch how its developed over the last few weeks. This particular client is always open to suggestions and willing to listen to proposals.

So when they approached us with a great idea, we helped make it an even better one. In fact the end product bears very little resemblance to the initial idea. However everyone is of the opinion that it will do the job much better too.

We'll hopefully manage to show some photos of how the project has developed in the near future, subject to client approval of course, however for the time being, everything has to remain under wraps.

Everyone has to start somewhere...

It's been said that most deals are agreed on the golf course. Well, given that I spent most of my time trying to retrieve mis-hit balls out of the rough, I'm not entirely sure how that happens!

It's always nice to spend time with clients out of the office in a more relaxed atmosphere. However as a beginner to the great game, I've had a fair bit of apprehension when playing with more experienced players. But without fail, each one has accepted me as a newby, understanding the "everyone has to start somewhere" mantra and been falling over themselves to offer me valuable advice as a result of their years of experience. Without it, I'd as well not bother.

A bit like us when it comes to design, print and marketing services :-)

To tell or not to tell...That is the question!

To tell or not to tell.

That's the question.

This morning, I got dressed and got ready for work.

I took my daughter to nursery and spoke casually with her carers about the improved weather and the busy car park amongst other things.

I drove to work.

Wished every a one good morning and settled about undertaking the tasks for the day.

I got up and down a few times to participate in conversation, make coffee, stretch the legs, and take time out away from the PC monitor.

And then at 11am. It happened.

A discovery that filled me with dread.

I discovered my trouser zip was still down.

Noooo. When did that happen? Had I forgotten to pull it up when I got dressed? Has it been down all morning? Maybe my daughter caught it as I dropped her at nursery.

Somebody must have noticed.

But nobody said anything.

Which begs the question...to tell or not to tell!

Litho -v- Digital

One of the questions that I'm often asked is "why choose litho over digital" and vice versa. In order to answer that, it is important to understand a few differences between the two similar, yet very different, processes.

In the red corner we have Litho, short for Lithography, is the more traditional process, and involves ink being applied to paper as it makes a journey through a system of rollers. Ink can either be applied as individual spot colours (more on that later) or CMYK colours (more commonly known as full colour). It takes a little while to make ready the press, which involves mixing and testing ink, making and setting plates and then running test sheets. All of this takes place before the job has even started on the press. As a result of the time involved in making ready, it really only works out economical to run larger quantities, as the same set up time and cost is involved no matter what the final quantity that is run. So smaller quantities can sometimes seem artificially expensive.

In the blue corner Digital, is perfect for short run work and in particular variable data.  Variable data is the process involved in making each sheet different, for example different contact names, which means it's ideal for short run, targeted marketing pieces. Unlike litho, you can run 500 sheets and each one can be different from the last one. It's also generally much quicker as there are no make readies in between each order, which means customer orders can be completed in order to meet that "needs to be ready yesterday" deadline!

So really, there's a case for both processes, depending on your final application. We've got extensive litho and digital facilities in house at Hillview Road so have the best of both worlds.

1473? A fine year, or the number of golf products...

With the start of the 2012 Open Championships at Royal Lytham & St Annes only a few hours away, we have 1473 promotional items related to golf currently available on our website for personalisation.

That's correct: 1473!

Check them all out here or click on the photo above.

Sometimes, even Mount Everest seems easy...

"Lack of planning on your part, does not constitute a crisis on mine!"

I love this quote.

I read it on a recent Tweet and thought it was hilarious.

Of course in reality, any service provide will do whatever they can to assist in a time of crisis.

No-one ever likes to see a customer in trouble. There are always circumstances that see the last letterhead in the box used before anyone notices. Or a new employee has an exhibition to attend and discovers they're a bit short on marketing collateral.

At Printagraph, we'll always do what we can to help out. We'll always tell it straight. If you've given us a mountain to climb, we'll tell you.

And then we'll fit our crampons and get climbing.

It reminds me of another famous quote: "The customer isn't always right, but they're always the customer"