Design

You are currently browsing articles tagged Design.

Free Vector Image Websites

December 8, 2008 in Design, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Twitter Posts, Website Design by projectcenter | 1 comment

I had to write the blog just so that I could keep track of the information, and good information it is. Another blogger does the research for us. Check out http://loremipsumblvd.com/blog/2008/12/23-quality-free-stock-photography-sites/.

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.

Tags: , , , ,

Printing: What is PMS?

December 2, 2008 in Design, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Print, Printing by projectcenter | No comments

Slow down Cowboy! I am not talking about what you think I am. Get yer mind out of the gutter.

When I refer to PMS, I am talking about the Pantone Matching System. Pantone, Inc. (www.pantone.com) is a company that creates color, so to speak. In technology, as an example, there are many standards such as IEEE, USB, 802.11 and so on. In the marketing and design industry, Pantone acts as the standard language for color across the world. They create the colors, code them with numbers, manufacturer to color tools like color wheels, etc. Some industries that use color in a critical sense are digital technology, fashion, home, plastics, architecture, contract interiors and paint.

Obviously, this is used in printing as well. Especially amongst larger companies, color for branding purposes becomes important. When these companies deliver a graphic design that needs to be printed, it is common for them to supply PMS color numbers. When these number are supplied, the printer needs to match these colors in the print process. If not, the work becomes garbage.

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.

Tags: , , , ,

Classic Story: Quality vs. Price vs. Quantity

November 6, 2008 in Design, Print, Printing by projectcenter | No comments

This is really a classic issue that happens in any sales environment, so I felt the need to share it:

A client made a request for 1000 flyers, specifically sighting quality as their main motive. They wanted sales slicks that would represent them at a well-known trade show, so they wanted magazine quality work. The price quoted was around $200, to which they replied they wanted to see the price of a job quoted on a copier, which immediately contradicted their quality motive. 

The price for the copier job turned out to be around $300. What??? The client couldn’t understand why the something of lower quality would be higher in price. We explained that while copier prices remain the same price per unit, the offset printing price per unit goes down as the quantity goes up. Not believing us, the client then bid us out on the job, only to find out that we were right on target.

Two weeks later, due to them waiting for their “cheap” graphic designer to complete the artwork, they came back asking for 100 units of the flyers. The price for printing was around $100, and the price for copy work was around $50. Again, the client was dismayed. “Why is the copy price lower than the print price this time?”. We had to reiterate that the price per unit for printing goes down as the quantity goes up, which would suggest that the price per unit goes up when the quantity goes down.

So the client wanted to see a sample of the copy work, but they were not satisfied with the quality. At the same time, they did not want to pay $40 more for the offset printing quality. 

We asked them, out of curiousity, what they paid their graphic designer for the artwork, and they said $150. We told them we could have gotten that artwork done for them in one hour, and we charge around $70-$80 per hour. The math: $150 - $80 = $70 saved. That savings would have nearly paid for their print job.

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.

Tags: , , , ,

What’s the Deal with all the Color Modes?

October 2, 2008 in Design, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Print, Printing by projectcenter01 | No comments

RGB is for viewing and CMYK is for printing.

Color Modes and When to Use Them:

Bitmap: 1-bit color. Pixels are either black or white. Good for simple line art with no shades of gray, no fuzzy edges. If you are saving to EPS format, remember to check for “Transparent Whites” if you want the black areas to be solid but the background to be “clear.” Be VERY careful messing with the Halftone Screens. If you want a cool T-shirt, silk screen effect, go for it, otherwise be prepared to see you work mangled beyond belief. To make this format more workable, you can convert it to Grayscale (then to duotone, or CMYK or RGB, etc.). If you have something in another format you have to convert it to Grayscale first, then Bitmap will become an option. Bitmaps are good for line art, doesn’t always need trapping, and can be colorized in programs like PageMaker into solid inks.

Grayscale: 8-bit color. Pixels can be black, white, or any one of 256 shades of gray. Good for black and white photos and illustrations. Full color images can easily be converted to grayscale for publication. (But if you want to see a full color–CMYK or RGB image as a grayscale, without actually converting it.

 

Check out ProjectCenter at www.makepapereasy.com, or call us at 602-252-6655.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

What is Four Color Process and Why Does That Mean Full Color?

September 25, 2008 in Design, Print, Printing by projectcenter01 | No comments

In the printing world “Four Color” is FULL color. The four colors are the primary colors used to “mix” thousands of other colors in the spectrum. Imagine your old box of crayons: Red, Yellow, Blue, Black and White. With the first three you could mix Orange, Green and Purple. By adding Black you could darken any shade. By adding White you could lighten any tint. By mixing a primary (like Red) with its complimentary secondary (Green) you could get a Brown.

In printing, instead of crayons, we have Cyan (a light blue) Magenta (a cool red) Yellow, and Black inks. Where’s White? It’s the paper color. So we use these four colors (plus the paper) to visually “mix” all the colors in a full color photo or graphic. CMYK is the shorthand for these four “process colors.” If we mix all the inks together you head darker and darker. Less ink coverage allows the “white” to show through from the paper. This is where we get light pastel tints.

Go back to your box of crayons; all the special colors–including silver, bronze, and that cool gold one–can be considered “spot colors.” These colors we create by premixing a particular supply of ink; green, pink, tan, brown, teal, adobe, maize, metallic, pastels, etc. If you absolutely positively have to have a certain color, you pick one of these “spot” colors from the Pantone color chips.

If you need certain chartreuse we can direct you to a Pantone color chip. These are good for printing one, two or even three colors. Once you get to four specific Pantone colors you want, you might want to get a quote on going with the cheaper, process equivalents (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). If you have to have a particular color, not easily recreated with the process inks, and you need a full color photograph too, you might be heading into 5- and 6-color land. Be prepared for higher costs.

Check out ProjectCenter at www.makepapereasy.com or call us at 602-252-6655.

 

Tags: , , , , ,

« Older entries