Custom brochure printing: Things to note

There is a need of office stationary by the organizations. This includes the official letterheads, envelops, notepads and even the rough pads. Besides, for providing the information about the products and services, organizations might also require brochures to be printed. If these are used for providing information, then these are called information brochures, and, if these are used to provide photos of products to customers for ordering purposes, then these are called the trade brochures. Organizations get the brochure printing done on good quality paper stock and these are used in situations where there is considerable time gap between the introduction of newer models and the existing ones. Since every organization is unique, custom brochures are made by them as per their needs.

When ordering for custom brochures, some of the things worth noting are:

1. Logical organization of the data: The brochure might be containing data in the text or the photos format. A logical arrangement of the same is easy to read and follow by the people. This makes them gloss over the content fast and they do not encounter problem in searching for the relevant sections.
2. Clarity of pictures or photos: If you want to get orders on the basis of these stickers, then these need to be printed with extremely clear pictures of the product models. Full description and details of the main features, likely uses of the same and the prices need to be mentioned next to the picture of the product.
3. Attractiveness: The use of graphic design shall be done in such a way that these look attractive. The more attractive these are the more likely are these to be the first choice for customer to order the products mentioned therein. A beautifully designed brochure can speak volumes about the way you are organized and tell on the extent of your professionalism.
4. Credibility: Information provided in these gives a very authoritative account. The laws in many countries require that the information brochures shall provide correct and factual information and there shall not be any concealing of material things or information. Whatever is written therein shall have the approval and sanction of the heads of organization. Therefore, the information provided therein is credible and authoritative.
5. Time of printing: If you are an organization which churns out newer product models quite fast, then you have no option but to order for the prints of new brochures frequently. But, it is true that you will order for the prints once you have sizeable products to make brochure printing a worthwhile proposition. You do not have to rush for making a new one once you have a new product made.

Companies make use of the internet medium to order for office stationary products as well as for brochure printing. This permits them to have a check on the arrangement of the photos and other elements of content, decide the layout of the brochure and then order for the prints. 

Some point to ponder for Business card printing

When it comes to delivering artistic touch to anything, there are a number of methods as well as articles on which the same can be given. This could even be the business card, the letterhead or even the items to be given away as gifts to others. Though these are called are ‘business cards’, these can be used for non-business purposes as well. These cards are made for different categories of employees. These employees could be the salesperson who has to introduce himself to the prospective client and provides them the business card. Similar is the case with the top level management and the owners of the company, who need these cards to be given to others. Even while deciding on the business card printing, there are quite a good number of considerations which have to be taken into account.

These considerations could be related to the following:

1. General cards or employee specific cards: Normally, organizations print business cards with the specific names of the employees on these. This is done for most of the employees. But, at the same time, the cards without bearing the name of any person can also be printed. These cards serve many purposes. At first, these can be given to any employee to represent the organization. If there has been a new person who has joined and there is some time before which he gets the business card printing done in his own name, he can use the general purpose cards. The second important use which these can be put to is being used as coupons or tools of reference.

2. Graphic, design and style elements of the cards: What is the type of text and font formatting style which you want to get developed on the cards? What are the colours to be used in the background? Do you need to incorporate some graphic art or leave the card plain and simple? Where shall the different elements, like the logo, name or contact details, etc. be placed on the card? Would you like to go in for a normal rectangular card or the folded business cards? All these things need to be decided for getting the business cards made.

3. Printing methods: There are different printing methods which can be used on paper based products. These can be offset, digital, screen, embossed or de-bossed printing methods which are normally used for printing purposes. Each has its own feel and quality. Which one of these will go well with your brand name and will provide a distinctive and memorable look to the others needs to be decided?

While deciding on what type of business card you would like to go for, it shall be kept in mind that this would be a reflection of your organization image. One way to judge what would be the right card for you is to be in the shoes of the third person who is going to see the card. What feeling do you get after seeing the card? Is it in accordance with the image that you want it to project?

Lending authenticity and authority with the brochures and the widely prevalent rubber stamp

Brochures are printed materials used for the purpose of providing detailed and authentic information about the company, products or services to the others. These are crucial links between the organization and the other people who want to know more about it. From the legal standpoint, the companies are required to provide accurate, authentic and truthful information in their brochures so as to enable the others to know about the offerings and arrive at a decision. Relying on the information provided therein, the people take their decisions.

Brochure printing is done on different types of paper stock. Most often, it is the hard paper stock which is used for this purpose since these are retained for the sake of information by the people. Whether it is your trade buyer who orders from the brochure, or the students taking admissions into the course, the information brochures are a key resource for the purpose of giving the information and therefore these shall be printed using the best quality paper stock. Sometimes, lighter varieties of the paper are also used, especially for the purpose of general distribution among the public, like in the trade shows or exhibitions.

It is important for the organization to lend authenticity to its deeds, actions and even the statements. While information brochure is one of the mediums to do the same, even the letterhead and rubber stamp is used for this purpose. The use of rubber stamp on office stationary or even on the ordinary piece of paper signifies that whatever is stated on the paper carries the authority of signatory and that the undersigned will be responsible for stating whatever is written on it. The use of stamps is mostly done on paper based products. It is done not necessarily for assigning signatures. There could be stamps carrying general information or imprints and are used in situations where there is a need to do work repeatedly. These are used quite commonly by the post offices, on the letters and by common people, for printing the contact details.

Organizations make use of different ways and means to establish their brand identity. These invest quite heavily in the marketing and advertisement expenses. One of the means to get the brand name of the company across to the others is by way of giving out promotional products. These products provide some use to the people and the organization either print or embroidery their insignia or some message on these products for long term remembrance.  Stickers are also used, not as promotional products, but for putting on the articles or packaging, again to convey the brand name or addresses of the organizations. These are used where the printing has not been done, or when there is an ad hoc or seasonal discounts offerings or new arrivals of the stock which needs to be announced. Stickers can be put on packaging, on magazines, newspapers and on any other article to meet these varied purposes. 

How I went about choosing the online printing company?

I had been wondering which printing company to make use of when my friend suggested me to have a look at the online companies providing these services. Being in a business where I have to give away gifts to the stakeholders, I require the printing services for a range of different commodities. So, if I could get the online companies which provided me this facility of t shirt printing, business card printing as well as brochure printing, there is nothing more that I could have aspired for. I was quite amazed to find a huge variety of different printable products and service providers on the internet. But, there was then the problem of finding which one is the good company, which can provide the quality services, since I am quite fussy about quality. This did require digging deeper, looking for various providers, their samples, checking out their client testimonials, hunting for adverse comments in the complaints board and doing some other activities to ascertain whether the printing company is credible or not.

Some of the parameters which I used to judge the printing company were: excellent quality raw material being used for the printing operations, quality promotional products being on offer, competitive prices, excellent print quality and finishes of the products, timely delivery of the products, returns policy favorable to the customers, flexibility of designing for t shirt printing, extent of customization allowed and the ease of the payment terms and methods. Using these criteria, I was able to sort out different companies as per my requirements, rejected many of them and short listed quite a few of them. Then, I went about finding the company, from the short listed ones, which provided most of the products which I wanted quite often. My chief aim was to find one which provided promotional products and office stationery.

The benefits of using the online medium for these works were quite obvious. Previously, whenever the office stationery got exhausted, I had to make special efforts to remember that I have to call the printer for ordering the prints. But, with the online companies, ordering was only a few clicks away. Designs which I had desired to get printed on the t shirts but did not pursue due to lack of interest shown by the printers could now be easily printed using the internet medium. Even my family could participate in the selection of the designs for the t shirt printing purpose which was hitherto decided by me alone since it was not possible to take everyone to different printers for seeing the designs. My children were especially elated to have got their way this time in the selection of the designs.

I could not find any losing point by taking the services of the online printing company. It was gain all the way, from range of products, quality services to the unlimited flexibility of operation and choice  and the ease and convenience that it provided. 

Printed articles for business: name card and brochure.

People have always found ways of making things more interesting, beautiful and richer in terms of the designs and styles. Whether it is the stationery items to be used in offices or at homes or it is the decorative items or even the gift able products, there is always a need to make them beautiful and more memorable, even as these are used for various purposes that these are meant for. So, whether it is t shirt printing or embroidery or the development of the information brochures or the name cards, there is always a tendency among the organizations to make the things that they use or gift to others more beautiful, informative and reflective of their brand. Most of the times, it is the printing methods which are used by the organizations.

Printing methods are effective on most of the articles, made of different materials like the paper, metals, fabrics, composites and many others. Therefore, these are also the most widely used methods as well Embroidery is also used but its usage is limited to only fabric or leather based products. Although the embroidery on fabric as a base can also be used to make the non-fabric products as well, the use in this way is very limited.

The printing can be done of the design and text. The name card is an example of the “only text” printing wherein you just have to write the name of your own self but without the contact details. This is just to send it as a reminder to the other person that a person of this name is waiting or is scheduled to meet. The name card might also carry the name of organization. Name cards are, in this way, different from business cards where full contact details of the organization is also provided.

Business and non-business entities often make use of the brochures which are used to provide the information about the organization as well as its products and services. These are the most authentic pieces of information that can be had from the organization. Anything contained therein is considered to be genuine, accurate and truthful. The brochures can be information brochures or the sales or trade brochures. Whereas the former provide information, the latter provide detailed product specifications. These are used by the salesperson for presentation of the different product models along with their description and prices. The same can be kept by the traders for future reference so that these can be used to order for the products later on.

Another printed item that is very commonly used by the organizations is the stickers. These are used to label the different commodities for their easy identifications. The stickers can be printed with the required information, be it your brand name or the product information.

So, from brochure printing to t shirt printing, the printing techniques can be used to make items that are required by organization for meeting their varied objectives. Online companies can also be used for this purpose as these provide a convenient and hassles free approach to meeting printing requirements.

When shall the different business card printing techniques be used?

It is imperative to have the business cards created using the right printing technique. There are a number of different methods which can be used for printing the business card like screen printing, offset printing, digital printing, foil embossing and some others. The choice of the method depends on its relative merits and demerits as compared to the others, the printing effects that are desired to be created, the order quantity that can be given and also the price considerations.

Offset Vs Digital

Two of the most common methods used are the offset and the digital printing methods. The offset method makes use of the offset presses and the way these transfer the inks to the paper make it deliver good quality of print. All the print that is to be desired to be on the business card is first transferred from the plate to the rubber sheet which is directly pressed to the paper. This method gives a better quality print than the digital method since the print lines and contours are clean and sharp. However, this method is expensive if it is used for the less order quantities.

Digital Printing method of the business cards is best used when you have the low order quantities. The latest technologies has enabled the development of print of the nearly the same quality as that of the offset one. Common persons may not be able to point out the differences between the two. Ultimately the deciding factor between the two methods is not the technology to be used but the number of order quantity pieces which will be ordered.

Other business card printing considerations and precautions

1. Orientation: The personalised cards can be created in the horizontal or the vertical format. Though most of the cards are printed in the horizontal format, many people also opt for the vertical printing.
2. All the things to be printed on the business card, whether text or the graphic design, has to be incorporated within the borders of the card itself.
3. Legibility of what is written is very important aspect. The content shall not be hard on eyes to read. This means that the right size of the font shall be used. It shall not be small in size. At the same time, the nature of colours used shall not mix up with the font colour rendering it unreadable.
4.  Choice of paper: Some of the high end clients might be using the good quality paper. Some of the other companies might prefer the slightly lower grade ones. It does not mean that there is any direct relation between the size of organization and the choice of its paper quality. Too heavy a paper may look highly absurd and unprofessional.
5. Shape and Style: While designs are to be borne on the surface of the business cards, the shape and style are related more to its physical appearance. These can be folded, cut shapely or even made into 3-D styles.