If you want to move an anchor point on an object, in Illustrator, and have the lines follow without creating curves, here are the steps:

1) Create your object if you have not created one already.

2) Select the Direct Selection Tool, which the white-filled arrow from your tools palette.

3) Choose a space outside the artwork and click once. This will deselect the object.

4) Move arrow over the anchor point you want to move. A tiny square will show up indicating that you have the arrow in the right place.

5) Click and hold, and you should see the tiny square and the tail of the arrow disappear.

6) Drag anchor point where you wish to place it and release the mouse button.

ABOUT PROJECTCENTER:

ProjectCenter is a single-source service company providing marketing and document solutions to small, medium and large-sized businesses in the U.S. area. ProjectCenter is based in Phoenix, Arizona and its services include graphic design, web design, printing, copying, scanning and mailing. For more information, please call (602) 252-6655 or visit  www.makepapereasy.com.

As simple as laminating may sound, there is some information that is definately needed in order to complete a quality project. Are are some general questions that should be answered before a project begins:

1) What thickness does the laminate need to be (i.e., 0.25-2.25 mm)?

2) Edge seal (laminate goes beyond the edge of the document), or flush cut (laminate stops at the edge of the document)?

3) Apply glossy film or matte film?

4) What is the type of paper stock that is being laminated?

5) Was the print work done with an ink printer or a digital printer (if you know, what type of printer was it printed on)?

Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.

The pricing from embroidered apparel and goods is quite simple;

One portion of the price comes from that actual material you are stitching on, meaning there is a cost associated to the goods (i.e. hats, shirts, etc.). To keep costs in control on this matter, it is best to order by the dozen, and of course, the more you buy the lower the unit cost.

The other price comes from the embroidery, and that price changes according to how many stitches are needed to complete the application. To keep costs in control on this matter, keep your design as simple and small as possible. Naturally, the pricing will increase as the artwork becomes larger or more involved.

Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.

A comment was made about the “print feature that allows me to create one business card and print it 12 up wihtout having to make more then one” in Microsoft Publisher.

The commenter is absolutely right, but it is important to understand the appropriate audiences when comparing any Microsoft (i.e. Publisher, PowerPoint, etc.) and Adobe (i.e. PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign) graphic products.

Microsoft products are specifically geared towards the consumer sector of business, allowing people who have little to no experience in graphic design a chance to create materials for themselves. They are incredibly simple to use and output.

Adobe products are geared specifically to the business community, where limitations are few as long as you know and understand how to utilize the program. There is a larger learning curve in understanding these products, and sometimes education or training is needed.

These different sectors don’t necessarily work well together, and that is the reason for the last posting. In other words, it is often that a consumer with an MS creation will expect the same results when delivering that creation to a business with Adobe. Although it can be done, it is a challenge to overcome, because the programs don’t talk to each other well. It is very common to have to completely recreate a graphic project in order to take a job to print.

Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.

Some may have seen television commercials by a large national copy company (rhymes with Plinko’s), offering a .45 per color copy special. Some ProjectCenter clients took their projects over to this copy provider, and the result was not impressive in their opinion. This is what they had to say (paraphrased):

“They use low-quality thin paper that you can literally see through. If you want the normal paper, it costs more.”

“They use a low-quality wax-based copier, and it looks horrible.”

Adage: You get what you pay for.

Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.

ProjectCenter is starting a marketing campaign to increase revenue. The campaign is to last 6 months and is focused on businesses within a 2-mile radius of our main location. Currently, the mediums we already have in place are: face-to-face sales visits, emails, postcard direct mailings, transit shelter advertising and bus bench advertising.

We are accepting comments as to what other mediums, or marketing ideas, might help us with the above mentioned criteria. We welcome your feedback.

Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.

Here is an association that print brokers can take advantage of:

The Printing Brokerage/Buyers Association International

www.pbba.org

Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.

It is amazing, disappointing and quite revealing, when end-users have a negative opinion about print brokering. More specifically, when the end-user has the notion that somehow prices are higher when doing business via a broker, which is testament to how much they truly know about the business. To explain……

How many times has anyone heard someone say ‘I hate my health insurance person. He/She charges too much because he’s/she’s a broker. I order straight from the insurance provider’, or ‘I hate my mortgage person, because he’s/she’s a broker. I go straight to the underwriter for my deals’. Let us even get more ridiculous: ‘I hate my grocery store. I buy my toilet paper straight from the manufacturer’.

The common theme here is that people think that they are somehow being charged more because of that addition layer of service. The fact is that printers offer special pricing to brokers that end-users cannot typically access. Printers would rather that brokers handle the consultation and customer service, so that they can concentrate on what they are good at: printing. This is common practice, an it will never go away.

This structure of business is no different than any other business out there. Looking at the tech industry, there’s always a manufacturer, then a distributor and then a reseller/VAR. Looking at something as simple as soda, there’s the maker and distributor, and then the store and vending machine (do people really get pissed about putting .50 in a vending machine?). Some of the biggest print companies out there (i.e. names that rhyme with Blinko’s and AltaTraffic) are print brokers! Amusingly, graphic design companies like to denounce brokers, simply because they are considered competitors in the print space, but it is very common for them to broker out their design work to freelance designers (it gets incredibly tiring to witness people wasting their energy trying to spread guilt and negativity, when the industry really needs to come together)!

Printing brokering is a legitimate business. It is up to the end-user to decide who they find best to deal with.

Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.

Full bleed refers to printed artwork extending all the way to the edge of a hard copy material (i.e. paper). In other words, no blank border exists on the printed piece.

This effect is usually accomplished by printing artwork larger than the intended size, and then cutting the material down to size. 

Check us out at www.makepapereasy.com.