April 2013 – ImageBlog

April 30, 2013

“Pencil to Pixel”: Exploring the Physical History of Typography

UPDATE: While the exhibit only ran during the first week of May 2013, you can still enjoy scenes from the show. The amazing installation has been preserved in photographs by Esto, an architectural photography firm. You can access the pristine images of the Pencil to Pixel exhibit in their searchable, purchasable stock-image library, which includes over 100,000 photos in their archive.

UPDATE 2: Check out this blog post from printmag.com with some photographs showing close-ups of several of the exhibition’s artifacts and participants.

Entering the world of print and graphics in the mid-90s, type for me has always been a digital experience. I often forget how typefaces, then and now, begin on someone’s sketchpad. The rich history and craftsmanship behind well-known typefaces of today is on exhibit in New York right now thanks to the British firm Monotype‘s “Pencil to Pixel” exhibition. This show features the tools, artifacts and artworks of typographic innovation. The website explains that the exhibit “…brings together the past, present and future of a unique typographic institution. Spanning over a hundred years, the expertise and craftsmanship of Monotype has shaped the way in which we see and read the everyday world around us.”

It looks like an intriguingly rich show for anyone who enjoys the craftsmanship and design of great typography. My personal favorite: Eric Gill’s 1928 pen and ink drawings for Gill Sans Italic. (photo source: Wallpaper.com)

The exhibit runs May 3 – 9, 2013, after it’s original installment in London during November of 2012.

Printers understand communication and design. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

April 26, 2013

Boston Magazine Cover Design: Moving Tribute, Powerful Print

Boston Magazine: www.bostonmagazine.com, Cover image by Mitch Feinberg

Sometimes an image captures the heart and emotions of a nation. Even in a world of film, video, 3D imaging and iMax movie experiences, a single still frame frozen in time can speak in a unique, powerful way for people with a power that other media cannot duplicate. Boston Magazine has created such an image that is both a moving tribute to the tragic bombings in Boston and a telling demonstration of the enduring power of design and the printed image.

Boston Magazine produced a cover image in response to the Marathon bombings in that city which seems to be an overnight sensation, currently making the rounds on social media. The heart shaped design composed of shoes from actual Boston Marathon runners visually tells the story of hope and endurance behind the experience of the bombings. All the major networks have reported on the image and its creation as a top news story. The powerful design will be printed not only as a magazine cover, but also as a poster with proceeds going to The One Fund – Boston. If you are interested in obtaining a poster of your own and thereby contributing, Boston Magazine says, “Please send us an email at bmagdigital@gmail.com if you would like more information about the posters once they’re available.”

Yes, many of us will experience the image digitally as it permeates the culture through social media. But the printed magazine cover and the subsequent demand for a poster bring the image into the tactile world as a keepsake. Great design in a cover image can produce a print edition that becomes a lasting keepsake for many. Even in an increasingly digital world, print retains the power to influence and communicate in a unique way.

Below are a couple of other memborable cover images memorializing the events.

Time published a special “tablet-only” edition with the cover image below. You can download it here. (photo: Bill Hoenk)

The New Yorker’s “Shadow Over Boston” issue features the artwork of Eric Drooker:

Donate to The One Fund – Boston here to help those affected by the Boston bombings.

Printers understand communication and design. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design, signage, apparel and integrated marketing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Shop our full ImageSmith catalog online here. We can work with you to find the best option to suit your needs. Please note, prices in online catalog do not include decoration, but call us for a quote at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

April 22, 2013

Die cutting: Creative Finishing Ideas Add Power to Print

Even a simple die cut can transform a bland self-mailer into a powerful marketing piece. Creative die cutting highlights the 3D nature of print – its tactile and functional nature. It also grabs attention and makes a marketing piece stand out from a stack of generic mail pieces.

The finished shape of a die cut print piece can serve an aesthetic purpose, such as making an image pop off the page or highlighting either text or a specific object. It can also provide functionality; for example, the slots in some folders which hold business cards or the curved and angled flaps on a folder which fit together as a means of closure for the piece. Another practical function for die cutting is a “pre-punched” card that is still affixed into the sheet of paper by a few, small uncut areas but can easily be popped out by the recipient to use the piece as a coupon, membership card, etc.

die cut rounded corner print pieces — Even the simplicity of a die cut rounded corner makes a print piece unique.

As a general rule, offset and digital printing (other than web-fed presses) is done on precut, rectangular pieces of paper. A special die cut press is used to trim or shape the pieces further. Think of this as similar to a cookie cutter. A die is made of metal and adjusted onto the die press at the right amount of pressure. Printed sheets are then fed into the machine and the die will both cut and/or score each sheet, leaving small attachment areas so that the finished pieces do not separate and fall down into the press. The unused portion is then scraped or weeded out and recycled, leaving the finished shaped piece.

All “shaped” pieces of printed paper have been die cut by this or a similar method: envelopes with a curved flap, folders with slots for holding a buisness card or insert, and anything with rounded edges are all examples of die cut print pieces. You can creatively design your die cut to work in most any shape. Of course, the extra process adds cost to your print project, and a very complex die will cost more than one as simple as a rounded corner or curved shape.

One hint: paper manufacuturers often provide printers with sample books of their materials, showing off their products through creative, eye-catching print. These sample books and other marketing pieces often include examples of die cutting. Ask your printer to share some of these with you, or for samples of their own die cut projects. You can get a lot of inspiration from holding and inspecting the paper yourself, and perhaps it will get you excited about new options for your next print project.

Rely on your printer for advice, inspiration and direction on your integrated marketing options. They should be able to answer all your questions – if they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

April 10, 2013

Your Integrated Marketing Plan Needs Direct Mail

Over at PrintisBig.com, you will find some eye-opening statistics about the print industry, and specifically about the power of direct mail – yes, good old-fashined direct mail, even in a digital age. While I would attribute part of the continued effectiveness of direct mail campaigns for marketing to their integration with other online and offline marketing methods, it looks like the preference of consumers for the physical nature of printed matter still pays off in increased conversion rates and marketing ROI. Also, small companies and non-profits are reaping the benefits of VDP personalization in increasingly targeted campaigns that drive up response rates as their database management matures. A couple of the stats from PrintisBig:

Since 2004, direct mail marketing response rates are UP 14%, while email marketing response rates are DOWN 57%.
In 2010, US companies increased sales through direct marketing to the tune of $702 billion.
Advertisers in the US spend $167 per person on direct mail, earning $2,095 worth of goods sold. That’s a 1,300% return on investment.
Non-profits gain 78% of their donations from direct mail.

Source: PrintisBig.com

Rather than seeing an EITHER/OR situation between direct mail and new digital alternatives, embrace the opportunities of mobile marketing, qr codes, email, social media and website e-commerce as a whole new box of tools to get our your message and/or drive sales. To abandon print and it’s proven effectiveness in that transition will prove costly!

Rely on your printer for advice and direction with integrated marketing. They should be able to provide you with everything from encouragement along the way to complete design, layout, copywriting, production, multi-purposing, online implmentation and distribution of your marketing outreach. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

April 3, 2013

Print or Web: 6 Reasons You Need a Vector Version of Your Logo

Both of these images are .EPS files, but the one on the left is pixellated. The one on the right is a true vector logo.

Want to make a change to your logo without totally rebranding yourself? Want to print in wide format at a large size for your new signage? Want to use spot color printing to standardize all your stationary? Then in each case, you should be using a vector version of your logo! While you may not be able to place or use it in a Word document, for any high quality printing or output (or for spot or “2-color” printing) your vector logo is the gold standard and you should insist on it from your graphic designer beforehand. Preferably, it will be the way your logo was originally created, and you will not have to pay or struggle to convert it from a pixel-based image after it has already become an integral part of your brand. Here are the reasons why:

You can easily switch a vector logo to any type of pixel-based file needed (.TIF, .JPG, .PNG, etc.) for manipulation, web use or other purposes… yet it is difficult and sometimes impossible to travel from pixel to vector in a satisfactory manner, especially once type has been rasterized. Use this logo as the basis for any and all marketing – all other necessary file types for any other printing, web development, further creative design or marketing can be easily made from this original, keeping all colors and appearance clearly defined. You will consistently maintain your brand across all your marketing efforts, holding all vendors accountable to true reproduction of the original!
Vector artwork can be scaled to any size needed and maintain its perfect clarity. They have crisp edges at any size as they are based on mathematical formulas rather than a bed of pixels.
They maintain a clear, transparent background when placed over other artwork or elements in your design. PNG files also have this ability but are pixel based so… (see reason #1)
When you inevitably want to “tweak” your logo or add something in the future, you can easily do that in a vector-based program such as Adobe® Illustrator, but might find yourself limited if your logo is pixel-based. We often have customers need to make additions to a logo after the fact, such as adding an “Inc.” on the end, changing a tag line as their buisiness focus evolves, update their brand with a new color without totally reinventing the wheel. Also, you do not have to return to the original artist who created your logo to get the files necessary to make the change, as is often the case if the original was created in PhotoShop.
They can function either in RGB or CMYK color modes as well as carry spot color definitions. You can select exact PMS color matches so that your brand is always reproduced consistently. While there are methods to include spot color information in a pixel-based file (DCS files from PhotoShop with spot color channels) they are, again, not resizeable and do not include easy trap information for printing.
This last reason can be debatable, and I am sure there are exceptions to the rule, but: as most logos need to be clean, vivid and memorable, vector shapes readily lend themselves to these qualities. The logos you know and remember are almost always designed as vector shapes rather with fuzzy, artistic brushstrokes or photographic effects.

WARNING: pixel-based files can be saved from photo-editing software as EPS files, so remember that just because a file has an EPS suffix, it has not been magically converted to a vector file. Also, pixel images can be placed into vector draw programs like Illustrator and saved as .AI or .EPS files. Again, not vector!
Rely on your printer for advice and direction when creating your files. They should be able to provide you with everything from encouragement along the way to complete design, layout, copywriting, production, multi-purposing and distribution of your marketing outreach. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

Boston Magazine: www.bostonmagazine.com, Cover image by Mitch Feinberg

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

Since 2004, direct mail marketing response rates are UP 14%, while email marketing response rates are DOWN 57%.

In 2010, US companies increased sales through direct marketing to the tune of $702 billion.

Advertisers in the US spend $167 per person on direct mail, earning $2,095 worth of goods sold. That’s a 1,300% return on investment.

Non-profits gain 78% of their donations from direct mail.

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.