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Blow-In Some Creative Direct Mail Ideas: What Catches Your Eye?

blow-in and bind-in insert cards for direct mail

Blow-ins and Bind-ins: ever thought about why those insert cards in your direct mail work? If they didn’t, they would not be showered with so many. “Blow-in” cards (as bindery machines blow the inserts into the printed pieces during manufacture) are most famously successful for magazines and newspapers to advertise their subscription offers. Their size makes them perfect as business reply mail, coupons for in-store and online sales, or to call out special offer from within the larger print piece. “Bind-in” cards stay attached to the piece, usually with a perforation to allow removal.

Normally inserts prove bothersome by falling out inconveniently and making me stoop to pick them up, or as I browse the rest of the magazine or catalog I am trying to keep them from falling out again. Bind-in cards annoyingly cover up part of the page that I want to see. These “aggravations” are in fact part of the reason insert cards work for marketing – they force us to stop and potentially, in those extra precious seconds, notice the name or information on the card.

direct mail advertising insert cards

I recently received a catalog from Pier 1 imports, and while several blow-in cards came falling out, the one above caught my attention above the others – and prompted me to think about why. It is actually a bind-in card, but three things, in retrospect, stood out enough to make me stop and look at it, flip it over and see what it was about:

  • The design: specifically the colors. Like the type, they are loud but pleasing. The designer knew the visual had to stand out in front of a busy page full of advertised merchandise, and this design does.
  • The die cut: that icy pitcher of tart lemonade looks like it could almost be lifted off the page. Maybe I was thirsty at the time, but it made me take notice, and the outlined shape caught my eye over all the other rectangular inserts, which I totally ignored.
  • The anonymity: If the front of this card had the company logo emblazoned on it, I think my initial reaction would have been to assume I already knew what it was pushing and need not look any further. Because it looked more like a big flavorful offer for lemonade, I flipped it over and saw an offer for $50 off a purchase at Pier 1. Good marketing.

When you are planning your print marketing, take a few minutes to think about the ways direct mail or other advertising has influenced you, caught your eye, or directed your behavior. Pick up your stack of mail today and notice which piece attracts your notice the most – then try to state three reasons that particular item got your attention while others were bypassed. Learning to incorporate those sound and creative ideas into your own promotions can make your marketing dollars do a lot more work for you. Creativity will get you noticed.

 

 

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, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. 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.
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Gradient Banding in Wide Format Printing: Can You Prevent It?

 

A quick check online convinces me that a lot of folk – designers, artists and printers – are frustrated with gradients that print with banding, or clearly dileneated “steps” of color visible in both digital and offset printing and which can be even more dramatic in wide format output. The bottom line is that those sweet gradient tools in your design software do not come with warning labels to prepare you for the resulting output in print. Gradients will normally (but not always) look good onscreen, but the technology to print them with similar ease falls short. The current best solution is to apply PhotoShop effects to minimize or hide the banding. The drawback is just like a great medication with a not-so-great side effect, this can produce unwanted results: colors can shift and the image may print “grainier” than originally planned.

A radial gradient should ideally look smooth, like a sunburst. The sample below, however, shows how it generally prints like the Looney Tunes logo.

banding problems in gradient printing

 

 

 

There is no fix for the banding problem when saving your Illustrator files. We’ve often searched for that magic button, with no luck. Below are a few photos from a recent experiment where a stubborn orange-to-yellow gradient in a client’s wide format pop-up display printed with visible, distracting banding regardless of file type, compression or other options used. Saving the file as eps, pdf, opening in PhotoShop, increasing resolution, optimizing with PitStop…. no luck. Each resulted in the same diagonal “steps” in color.

banding in gradient printing

 

The reason these efforts fail lies in mathematics and the physics of print, and I will admit to having only a shady understanding of these technical causes. For the scope of this post, let’s just point out that there are only so many “shades” or steps between one color and the next that are renderable in print. Your goal is to make a smooth transition from one color to the next, and the CS software makes that very easy in the design phase. However, the factors at play when you try to print your creation are the size or amount of space over which that transition occurs on the printed piece, the colors you have chosen to blend, and the resolution of the printer. Mathematically, at some point the printer has to go from one “step” to the next – and often the result to the human eye are bands or lines at which those changes occur. If you have chosen colors that are close together, you have even fewer “steps” between them with which to work. While PhotoShop, Illustrator and InDesign generally render smooth gradients onscreen, the science behind image rasterization and both offset and digital printing is not so forgiving to the viewer.

The fix for our wide format print in this case was to take the gradient portion of the job into Photoshop (it was originally created in Illustrator, we think!) Step one: we applied a Gausian Blur. The amount? Well that completely depends on the image. I just decide visually, bearing in mind whether or not the image I am working on is viewed at full-size onscreen or will be enlarged when printed out. A small grain visible now will be twice as large if printed at 200%. Next we created a layer with the mode set to Overlay and checked the box “Fill with Overlay-neutral color (50% gray).” To this layer we added Noise. Again – I decide visually how much noise to use (that’s an odd statement if you think about it!). Unfortunately, it is a guessing game, but with experience you will know best how much “graininess” or added texture will be acceptable without being enough to distract or compromise the output image.

Overlay mode in PhotoShop to prevent banding of gradients

gradient banding, Illustrator Photoshop InDesign

The result here was a minor shift in colors and a slight visible texture or graininess that wasn’t there before. But both served to hide the banding problem! Both were acceptable results as the overall appearance of the gradient was smooth and pleasing.

Tips to prevent or minimize banding in gradients are easy to find online, but often your individual design is built in such a way that many of the tips seem unworkable. Like ours, the most common banding-buster tips require you create (or recreate) your gradient in PhotoShop as we did above, and then add noise to the image. However, you might have other elements in your design such as type, vectors or other effects applied in either Illustrator or InDesign which prevent you from moving the entire file into PhotoShop. If the file has been received from another person or client, then you might not have access to the individual pieces of the file and would be stuck trying to put the entire document into PhotoShop as an image in order to play around with possible filters. Apparently there is no “one size fits all” fix for this frustrating problem. Designers should be aware that gradients present difficulties and often require cooperation with your printer ahead of time to avoid unpleasing results.

 

 

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, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. They should also be able to work with you to solve any difficult prepress issues with your files. 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.
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“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)

Gill Sans Italic, original pencil and ink drawings

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.
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Boston Magazine Cover Design: Moving Tribute, Powerful Print

 

Boston Magazine Cover

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 [email protected] 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)Tablet only verison of TIme Cover

 

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

 

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

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.
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Die cutting: Creative Finishing Ideas Add Power to Print

folded die cut self-mailer

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.

die cut printed pieces

 

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.

Paper manufacture samples of die cutting

 

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.
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WARNING: When spot colors are used with transparency…

spot color warning from Illustrator

The above warning is an important one! If you have used a spot or PMS color in your InDesign, Quark or Illustrator layout and then applied some type of transparency effect — drop shadows, blending modes, feathering, etc — then this warning is telling you that your file will NOT print correctly. Ignoring it can derail your print project bound for offset or digital output. You can avoid this complication with a little understanding of color definitions and conversion.

With the release of InDesign 2.0 back in 2001, Adobe integrated transparency effects directly into its layout program. New tools allowed us to apply editable transparency effects to text, graphics, and images, the result being a greatly enhanced set of design tools. PDF 1.4 debuted in Acrobat 5 at this time as the first version of PDF that supported transparency. The only catch was that most printer’s RIPs at the time were not ready to handle the transparency effects. Havoc ensued. Times have changed since then and Postscript level 3 processors and pdf workflows effectively manage the flattening of transparent files at the correct time to produce accurate output. But the conflict between spot or PMS colors and transparency lives on.

When spot colors are used with transparency

If your InDesign or Illustrator color palette is using nothing but CMYK colors, you can use transparency with no problems. If you bring in, for example, your logo or a piece of art with a predefined PMS or spot color into your layout, then you have imported that color into your palette. In turn, if you apply that to color text or graphics and use a transparency effect on them, a high resolution output from offset or digital printing will result in the object printing as a blank or with an unintended color. To further confuse the matter, the job may print fine off a desktop printer or create a pdf file that appears fine on screen. However, if you ignore the warning (seen above) that Adobe gives you when you try to save the file, your print provider will most likely NOT be able to convert the spot color to process and retain the correct transparency effect. You must convert the spot color to process in your native file and re-export to pdf.

Before being “flattened”, transparency is considered “live” and exists as an optical effect onscreen and in video. It must be flattened in order to print. At this stage, the tranparent region is broken up into smaller non-transparent sections that can then be translated by the RIP (raster image processor) into a printable image. It is, however, a complex process and trouble spots arise from the use of spot colors as discussed above, where text or vector objects overlap pixel-based objects, and possibly with the overlapping of RGB and CMYK images. You can read Adobe’s Designers Guide for Transparency and Print at this link for further reference.

So How Do I Fix My Files?

We’ve updated this blogpost with some tips on best practices and how to avoid the cost, delay and disappointment of files that print in an unacceptable way. Read it here!

 

Rely on your printer for advice and direction with any questions you have when designing files that use transparency. They should be able to provide you with the time and money saving technical advice, and work with you on file preparation and submission. 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.
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Creative Print Idea: Spot UV Coating

 

Coatings applied either in or off line to a finished print piece provide some very practical benefits – protection from scratches, water or moisture damage, abrasion, fading and yellowing, and handling damage. Aesthetically, they offer varying degrees of gloss and shine, improved readability, and more. But from a design perscpective, coatings can be used creatively to enhance the actual design. Check out the spot UV coating project below for one idea, then read on for further information about all the coatings available for print.

spot UV coating adds gloss to print

UV coating adds a high degree of gloss and shine to your printed piece, but using it only on certain elements can make your piece stand out even more. On the example above, we used spot UV on the zebras stripes, select parts of the organic design element, the logo – but left the background uncoated. When the paper catches the light, these elements shine and give the illusion of depth and dimension to the card. Notice how the swirls in the green design element stand out where some are coated and some have the dull finish of the paper.

InDesign layout for spot UV coating

To prepare for print, you will need to create a separate file to designate which elements you want UV coated. (In other words, you will need to provide a four page pdf for a two page job.) Any element to receive coating needs to be shown in its exact same position on the page but as 100% black. For linked artwork, this can take a little manipulation of the vector and image files in either Illustrator or PhotoShop, but it is a fairly simple process. Just be certain that when you link your new 100% black art files for the spot UV page that they remain in the EXACT same position as on the original CMYK layout. If you allow InDesign to update a file from the Links palette to your new black element but you selected only part of that element to be 100% black (which can potentially change the overall shape of the item) then your placement can shift slightly and the UV coating will not align exactly to the printed object.

Below are the four main print coatings used in commercial printing. Each of these can be done in matte, dull or satin, and gloss finishes.

Overprint Varnish

Whether spot or full coverage, varnish adds a more subtle gloss or shine to printed paper, as well as offering some protection from smearing, water and wear. Dull varnish is often used to reduce the glare and improve readability of a piece.

Aqueous Coating

Aqueous coating is a protective, water-based sealant that offers more protection than a varnish. It is fast-drying, environmentally friendly and the glossy version has a higher shine than standard varnishes.

UV Coating

UV coating is a liquid protectant applied to a printed piece and then cured with ultraviolet radiation. It can be formulated to a variety of high gloss finishes that enhance the clarity of print. These coatings can be applied with full or spot coverage, and even with special raised effects for more dimension. Liquid UV coatings are solvent free and emit no volatile organic compounds or VOCs.

Laminate

Laminates offer the most protection, providing a strong, water-resistant, non-scratching surface. Plastic film encapsulates the paper to protect it, and can be applied either as a clear sheet or as a liquid that is cured and dried.

 

Rely on your printer for advice and direction with any questions you have in fashioning your brand or designing your marketing materials. They should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for print, 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.
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2012: Our 10 Most Popular Blog Posts

information on print, design, technology, etc.

 

This morning on a random internet search I noticed Wonderwall’s Hottest Couples of 2012 listing, and MSN’s Sports Deaths of 2012. Tis’ the season. If it’s the end of the year, it’s time for the barrage of Top 10 Lists recounting the high or low points of everything from news events to recipes, viral videos to Supreme Court decisions.

A year’s end is a good time to reflect and take stock of events before planning begins in the new year. So in that vein, here are our Top 10 blog posts from the past year, according to our monitoring of traffic at Imageblog:

  1. The Power of Print: 11 Songs about Paper & Ink
  2. 15 Years of Rapid Change for the World of Print
  3. If You Have the Right Printer, You Have Your Marketing Consultant
  4. Printing 101: What is Spot or Two-Color Printing?
  5. Now THAT is Integrated Marketing – Taco Bell Shows How its Done
  6. Think Big, Print Big: Wide Format Banners, Posters & More
  7. Print Green: A Glossary of Green Acronyms & Terminology
  8. Print Power: Six Tips for Creating Custom Rack Cards
  9. 10 Tips for Designing Vehicle Wraps with Adobe Illustrator
  10. Our Logo Evolution: Graphic Updagtes from the 1980s to Today

Imageblog is our online newstand of conjecture, knowledge, experience and opinion about the world of print, design, marketing, technology and sustainability. Here’s hoping you will find some interesting topics in our list, or some useful information about print, design and marketing for the year ahead. Thank you for stopping by!

 

Rely on your printer for advice and direction with all your marketing needs. They should be able to provide you with everything from encouragement all the way to the 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.
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Explore Emerald in 2013 – Pantone’s New Color of the Year

Emerald 17-5641

The Color of the Year for 2013: Emerald.

Each December, Pantone® makes their selection. As the Pantone Matching System is used across all creative industries as a color standard, the annual selection has come to be influential for many designers and is chosen with careful consideration to the marketplace and overall consumer culture of the day.

Pantone says their choice for the new year is “a vivid verdant green” that “enchances our sense of well-being further by inspiring insight as well as promoting balance and harmony.” That’s a big job for one color! They note that green is “the most abundant hue in nature, the human eye sees more green than any other color in the sprectrum.”

Emerald is Pantone's color of the year

I’m beginning to notice that all the Pantone Color of the Year choices seem to fit together nicely in a single palette of colors. While it is a very pleasant, organic palette I just might use on a project soon, I’d really like to see a choice from way out of left field for 2014….. something dark or unexpected to inspire some variety.

We’ve written in this blog before about “color psychology” which interprets perceptions of green as balanced, organic, rejuvenating and renewing. The association of the color with the gemstone adds an element of luxury and sophistication to the hue, but also a feeling of hardness or durability. Does PMS 3278C do it for you? Visit the Pantone website to download the color palettes for Adobe applications and begin to make emerald. the star of your next marketing campaign.

Rely on your printer for advice and direction in creating and distributing your newsletters, by mail or online. They should be able to provide you with everything from encouragement all the way to the complete design, layout, copywriting, production, multi-purposing and distribution of your periodic 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.