Print FAQs

How do you handle printing?
Is printing something we can handle ourselves?
Do you write newsletters in addition to designing and producing them?
How much does a new logo cost? What’s involved?
Do you handle advertising for newspapers and magazines?
Can we use photos and artwork from our website for other marketing materials?

How do you handle printing?

We are flexible when it comes to handling and working with printers. If you have a printer you like to work with, that’s fine with us. We can work with the printer on your behalf to coordinate the project.

If you have no preference and need a job printed, we can arrange for that as well. We work with a number of printing sources that can print anything you need — from typical printing jobs (brochures, newsletters, sales materials, reports, etc.) to labels, point of purchase pieces, display graphics, specialty, and novelty items.

Unlike advertising agencies and print brokers, we do not receive a commission or percentage of the printing cost, which usually means the printing costs are marked up in the first place. Instead, we only charge for the actual time it takes us to coordinate the job for you, which can vary depending on the type and complexity of the print job you need. Our handling and coordination fees, as well as design and production fees, are itemized in a written estimate, which we provide before the job begins.

In addition, we arrange for you to pay the printer directly. We obtain printing estimates early in the project, once your printing needs have been determined. That way you know exactly who will be billing you for what. We do not “hide” the printing costs in our invoice to you, a common practice that is subject to abuse.

Is printing something we can handle ourselves?

Of course you can handle the print job yourself, but we recommend caution. Besides, there’s no real cost benefit to handling printing yourself.

Thanks to new technology, getting a job printed is more technically sophisticated and complex than it used to be. Today, most printers work in an all-digital environment, which means that the artwork must be prepared to the specifications the printer wants or needs to properly output the print job.

While most printers work similarly, each has its own production requirements and ways of doing things. To effectively work with a printer you should understand the printing business, have basic production know-how, know the vocabulary, and be aware of options and issues that can impact the decision making related to your project.

Even if you wanted to select a printer and coordinate the job yourself, we would have to prepare the print job according to your printer’s specifications. That means we will have to communicate with the printer’s customer service or pre-press production department.

Our role in designing and producing your print media project is to ensure that you get the printed piece you want. Based on our own experience working in a printing and publishing operation and with many different printers over the years, we are well-qualified to handle the print job for you.

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Do you write and edit newsletters
in addition to designing and producing them?

Yes, we can, depending on subject matter. While we have considerable writing and editorial experience in a number of fields, we do not presume to be knowledgeable enough about many things.

In areas where we lack necessary depth to do the writing for you, we can, however, assist you in developing your newsletter content and give input that will enable you to meet your editorial goals and readership’s expectations. Of course, if you decide to write your own material, we are able to edit it and offer comment, should you want us to.

Furthermore, with considerable writing, editing, and publishing experience, we can help you develop meaningful text content for not just newsletters, but for brochures, sales support materials, presentations, workbooks, manuals, and the like.

How much does a new logo cost? What’s involved?

Like most everything, cost varies depending on what you want and the scope of the project. We provide a written cost estimate after meeting with the client to determine needs, interests, objectives, scope, and related marketing and marketing communications issues.

Once a new logo has been selected, its implementation usually creates a ripple effect that gets applied to the entire range of an organization’s communication, identity tools, and business collateral — business cards, letterhead, varied print media, sales support materials, promotional materials, give-aways, fleet graphics, uniforms, signage, etc. Depending on the ultimate application of your logo, we can also produce a style and usage manual that ensures its proper and systematic presentation.

Developing a company logo is more than a creative design exercise. A new logo is an investment in your business identity. A logo distinguishes your business, reflects your business personality and stature, creates impressions, and elicits emotional responses. Naturally, businesses hope to generate favorable reactions to their logo and other visual identity elements. Viewed in this light, developing a new logo can be a serious undertaking.

Do you handle advertising for newspapers and magazines?

Yes, we not only create display advertising, but also arrange for your ads to be placed in newspapers and magazines. Ad placement is typically a function of advertising agencies, but in actuality anyone can arrange to place an ad. The benefit of having an advertising agency, graphic arts, or media professional arrange for the ad is that these people are familiar with the trade, terminology, and production requirements for creating the ad.

We handle advertising placement much like we handle printing; that is, we bill for our creative services and coordination time. We do no receive a commission. In fact, we have occasionally arranged for our client to receive the “commission” in the form of a discount upon advanced payment handled directly by the client to the publication.

In summary, we can handle advertising directly for you — creative, coordination, and placement — and sometimes arrange discounts.

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Can we use photos and artwork from our website for other marketing support materials such as brochures?

You could, but we don’t recommend it. Photos and artwork that appear on Websites are low-resolution (72 dpi) graphics. Printed materials typically require medium to high-resolution graphics (180 to 300 dpi). The simple explanation for this difference is due to the inherent nature of images displayed on a computer screen versus images printed onto paper. You cannot “convert” a low-resolution image into a high-resolution image.

We prefer to start with high-resolution photos and artwork. In fact, some printers are quite insistent about using high-resolution graphics and will not take responsibility for lack of customer satisfaction due to poor image quality.

If you have the original photo or graphic and a scanner, you can scan and save the image as a high-resolution graphic. Better yet, you can provide us with the original material and we can scan it ourselves and optimize the image for best results. Sometimes it may be necessary to recreate a new image based on the older, poor quality low-resolution image, which we can do also.

The main point to remember is that when you have something printed, you want to make sure that photos and artwork are crisp, clear, and of good quality. High-resolution (300 dpi minimum) graphics are the industry standard when it comes to most commercial printing.

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