Online Printing Blog

Instant Superstars!

Growing up (in the 80’s), there were many simple pleasures that one could count on. Fast food, MTV, comic books and a fresh pack of your favorite brand of Trading Cards. Opening  a new pack was like playing the lottery in the sense that you never knew what you were going to get. These days, the game has changed just a bit. Now, you can open a pack of Trading Cards featuring yourself, your children, co-workers or your favorite pro Athlete! No more hoping for the card you REALLY want, just create it yourself. I know that’s sort of cheating, but who cares…really.

One of the most precious experiences is watching a child react in awe at his very own Trading Card. The pride of giving it out to family members and friends. What better way to document the career of a young budding superstar than with a fully customized trading card complete with stats.

Not only would the kiddies enjoy this versatile product, but adults too. Your employees or co-workers can feel like celebs with a trading card rather than a regular business card. Maybe a nice way to stand out a job fair. Your picture on the front and your resume on the back. Something creative and unique to ensure you stand out from the crowd.

There are truly a ton of ways that you can utilize a custom Trading Card. The only limit is your imagination. Happy Printing!

Halloween needs greetings too

We are all used to the usual around this time of year. Thanksgiving and Christmas Cards fill mailboxes across America and steal the show. There is a holiday that seems forgotten though. A holiday that truly begins the “Holiday Season” and should be treated as an equal to it’s counter parts. That holiday, of course, is Halloween. Now some of you currently send Greeting Cards or Party Invitations to commemorate Halloween already, but far too many people are selfish with their Halloween cheer…or fear, whichever you choose.

An ideal holiday to celebrate for an entire month, Halloween only ends when October does, giving you 31 full days to throw parties, events or scare the pants off of your loved ones.

Why stop at Greeting Cards and Invitations though. Why not Banners, Wall Stickers or Halloween themed Business Cards (seasonal of course). There are so many ways you can take full advantage of your Holiday season so don’t allow yourself to be limited.

Reminder: This time of the year is also an excellent time to print your Thanksgiving, Christmas and NYE cards.

Designer info Vol.2 “CMYK vs. RGB”

It’s the age old tale. Designer designs artwork. Designer sends artwork to print. Print shop sends the print job back to designer and the colors are all wrong. It happens way more often than it should and the worst part is, it can be avoided. The reason the colors on your print job are wrong can be one of a few, but the most common reason is the color mode.

Before we get into what needs to be done, lets first explore the two types of Color Modes or CM’s.

RGB or Red Green Blue. You are experiencing it right now. RGB is an additive type of CM that combines the primary colors in variation, to create other colors. It is the CM used for all digital display. Computer screens, Cell phones, Tablets and so on. RGB offers a very wide range of colors and is best suited for digital imaging.

CMYK or Cyan Magenta Blue Black. Every printer uses this four color process to generate full color images. CMYK is a subtractive process meaning each color added means more light is removed or absorbed to create other colors. The first three colors combined don’t create black, more like a dark brown, however when the K is added it removes all of the light from the picture and the eye perceives it as black.

“Now, what does this mean to me when I design?” Great question. The best practice when creating a design for print is to do so in CMYK. There’s nothing worse than getting your business card back and the colors are nowhere near what you wanted. If you design it in the correct CM, the printer won’t have to convert the files, thus destroying your intended color scheme. For every RGB color, there is a comparable CMYK color. They don’t always match perfectly, but the differences are rarely easy to detect by the average person. Keep in mind, the hardest color to match is going to be Blue.

Another note to keep in mind is the fact that CMYK will always look more muted than RGB, especially when you look at them on screen. A good way to make sure you get similar colors or as vivid an output as possible, is to place a photograph side by side (one RGB and one CMYK) and play with the color values and contrasts on the CMYK version until it looks close to the RGB. Most times, this is not necessary, but if you are really particular about a picture it’s a trick you can use.

That’s a pretty brief overview of the two different CM’s. Remember, RGB is for screens and CMYK is for print. If your colors don’t look right on a print job, there is a good chance you sent the printer an RGB file. Happy printing!