Online Printing Blog

Actually…Bigger is Better

It’s a fact that for printing, large format is the only way to go. Well, not the only way. Let’s be honest. However, if you want to make a major statement in a major way, then it is indeed the only way to go. We aren’t talking about 3ft by 10ft banners here (nothing against those). Nay, we are talking about a 6ft by 20ft monster that can be seen from a mile or so away…THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is large format and the power of a huge message. The ability to market your prices or specials or grand opening in a bigger and better way than your competition and match that with a high quality product or service is paramount in business. Not to mention the other multitudes of uses for “Big Printing” like Posters, Static Cling window displays, Backlit transparent images and more. All big, all beautiful. Now for the shameless plug Printpapa.com has recently added Large Format Printing services to their wide assortment of quality services. If you own a business and have window graphics, an A-Frame (sandwich board) or a banner, go outside and look at it, keeping in mind that the quality and condition of your marketing materials almost always dictates the quality of your services or products to the consumer. Chances are (if you haven’t replaced them in awhile) you need a new one. Not saying you absolutely have to go through PrintPapa to get it done (even though you should), but it’s good for business and that’s all Papa want’s to do is help you help yourself.

Other Large Format Uses include:

• Sporting Event banners
• Concert Posters
• Club Event Promoter Banners
• Fine Art Reproduction
• Trade Show Banners
• Large Wall Graphics
• Musician Promotional banners
• Point Of Purchase (POP) graphics
• Retail Services
• and more!!

Gumming Up the Works

Here’s something to chew on as you think about your business plans for the coming year:

A young entrepreneur moved from Philadelphia to Chicago in 1891 with $32 in his pocket and the idea of selling his family’s scouring soap to customers. As an incentive, the 29-year-old offered free baking powder with each soap purchase.

Before long, the baking powder became so popular that he began selling it instead. He then came up with a new incentive: two free packages of chewing gum with each can of baking powder sold.

As you might have guessed, the gum proved more popular than the baking powder, so he decided to change his product line once again. And that is how William Wrigley, Jr., started one of the most iconic brands of chewing gum on the market today.

In business (as in life), things don’t always go exactly as we plan. Markets change, technologies evolve, and what worked yesterday won’t always work today, tomorrow, or down the road.

Knowing when — and how — to adapt can mean the difference between success and failure for any enterprise. In Wrigley’s case, that meant understanding his customers’ evolving needs — and adapting his product line to meet those new demands.

What will it mean for you and your company in 2012? Only time will tell, so be prepared to recognize new trends, embrace new attitudes, and adapt your plans accordingly.

Need a spark? Give these four websites a try.

Looking for some inspiration to help carry you through your day? Here are a few websites worth visiting to reignite your creative spark.

GoCreate.com
Humbly calling itself the “creative center of the universe,” GoCreate.com provides tools, ideas, and links to articles and web resources meant to stimulate creative thought. While you’re there, be sure to check out the Creativity Toolbox, filled with all kinds of interesting (and sometimes unusual) features, including a “create your own quote” generator, name prompts (to help with naming products or services), a random word generator, right brain workouts, and more.

Kickstarter.com
Kickstarter bills itself as the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. Stop in and spend a few minutes exploring projects by artists, photographers, filmmakers, writers, musicians, performers, and other creative souls, whose talent and vision are limited only by a lack of capital. Even if you aren’t looking to invest in a project or to list your own project for funding, you’ll walk away feeling inspired, rejuvenated, and ready to tackle your day.

StumbleUpon.com
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Internet had a button you could press that would instantly take you to a website you’ve never visited before, but one that fits your interests to a tee and piques your curiosity? That’s the idea behind StumbleUpon. After registering with the site and providing a list of topics that interest you, the StumbleUpon engine will begin delivering content that matches those interests every time you click the Stumble button. Like a page? Click the thumbs-up button. Not so much? Click thumbs-down. Each click will help to train the system to better match your tastes. Many of the sites featured are hidden gems you might never have otherwise found on your own. You can even “follow” people with similar interests, as well as your Facebook friends, to further personalize and enhance your experience.

War Letters
Ok, this one’s a little different than the others on this list, but it’s no less inspiring. PBS created a documentary (viewable online) of letters written to loved ones from the front lines of various U.S. wars. The website features information about the production, special features, and links to other sites dedicated to preserving these important pieces of our national record. Watch the documentary itself (52 minutes long), read the letters, and grab some inspiration, enlightenment, and encouragement along the way.

How to Stand Out in a Crowded Field

If you had to choose one or the other, do you think it would be wiser to work on your company’s weak points or to push its strengths?

On the surface, it seems that shoring up the weaknesses makes more logical sense, but in reality doubling down to push your strengths and create a wider gap to stay ahead of your competitors is the smarter tactic.

Why?

To stand apart from your competitors, your firm needs a point of differentiation in the eyes of your target market. In the mind of your audience — your current customers and prospects == the strengths of your company are what draws them to you.

Working to widen the gap further accomplishes two things: It makes it harder for your competitors to catch up and entrenches your company as the leader in your marketplace.

Of course, this is not to say you should ignore the weaknesses, but they shouldn’t be your primary focus. Instead, you should devote the bulk of your resources to developing your strengths. By working primarily on your weaknesses, you may inadvertently make your company seem more similar to your competition, rather than having it stand apart.

So throw aside common wisdom and defy the herd mentality. Blaze a path by continually working on advancing your strengths in order to be the thought leader in your market.

A Lesson from the Stands

Sports and business have long enjoyed a unique connection. Many of the traits shared by top athletes and coaches are as valuable in the boardroom as they are in the locker room. Authors, speakers, and business consultants often use sports-related anecdotes and stories to illustrate points they’re trying to make to a business audience.

Today, I’d like to share a sports-related story with a slightly different twist. This tale doesn’t involve a famous player, team, or coach, and it doesn’t take place in the locker room or on the playing field. Instead, it involves two fans in the stands at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Earlier this summer, the San Francisco Giants were hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the top of the ninth inning, Pittsburgh’s Ryan Doumit hit a foul ball into the stands, and the cameras caught the image of a young fan catching the ball and then handing it to a stranger in front of him. The move was greeted with cheers from the people surrounding the boy. After some speculation, the TV announcers explained that, apparently, the other fan had caught a foul ball earlier in the game and handed it to the boy as a souvenir. He was just returning the favor.

Sometimes, it’s easy to get so caught up in the negativity around us that we start looking for ulterior motives in every seemingly kind act. But cynicism only breeds more cynicism, and every silver lining does not always involve a cloud. Occasionally, it takes a kind act (or two kind acts in this case) to remind us that fair play, generosity, and sportsmanship are still alive and well — in <i>all</i> areas of life.

How Effective is Custom Photo Banner Printing as Family Gift Item

You may have gifted many unique items to your near and dear ones but the custom photo banners are the latest among them all. The normal banners can be found in many homes across the country. Just visit the room of some teenager and you will find many sorts of banners and posters on their walls. Just think how happy the banner lovers will be when they receive a photo banner carrying their own photo. Moreover unlike the general banners the photo banners are not bound to any age group they are liked by all. In the past years there was a tradition to decorate homes with framed photos capturing different phases of life. The custom banners can provide just this. There are many customization choices for the photo banners and you may choose the designs and photos as per your choice.

You may use photos of a single person or a family photo in designing the photo banner. Some people also go for pictures taken on their visits to some place with scenic beauty. One of the important aspects for the landscape pictures is that it has to be clear in terms of the resolutions and the photo should be truly beautiful to capture attention. In the recent past some of the parents also opted to make banners out of the snaps taken of their children. In case there are many good snaps you may make a collage with them and use it in the custom banner. This will also help you to capture the many emotions of the baby.

Reason the photo banners are liked by the recipient is the multiple uses that these items have. They do a great job in beautifying the walls of your home that might otherwise look lacking character. The posters are also used by the recipients for separating one room from the other and creating private areas. The custom banners can not only be used inside the house but outside as well. These posters are made from high quality materials such as vinyl which keeps them safe from water and sunlight.

If you have a friend who is a business owner then the custom photo banner will be of immense help. The gifted banner may be used by the recipient for not only decorating his/her office but also for promoting business. You may gift a banner containing the pictures of the family to your grandparents and they will treasure it forever. Grandparents love to display the pictures of their grandchildren and other family members and if it bears a touching message from you then it will add to the value.

While choosing a custom photo banner be mindful of the size of the photos weighed against the size of the banners. Proper resolutions will let you get the desired results from your gift item. You will also need the services of a professional printing agency such as Print Papa to give you a quality end result. Print Papa is a printing service provider that specializes in various types of photo products such as photo calendars, photobook, posters, greetings cards, etc.

Remember Past Years with Photobooks

“The years teach much which the days never know”- definitely each year is like a chapter in the book of life. As soon as a year is over there are so many retrospectives released mostly based on the life of sports and entertainment stars. But what about reviewing your own year! You can do the same with the help of the pictures that you have taken all round the year. The photobooks lets you select some of the best pictures and create a memorabilia of sorts for yourself. Often there are so many remarkable events in a year and these memories get lost with time. But if you have preserved the pictures in your photobook then you can relish the memories later on.

One of the obstacles faced by the people while creating their yearly photobook is how to select the pictures? So below are some of the tips that will help you in your quest:

• Noteworthy Events: Try and remember the noteworthy things that happened in the bygone year. Life changing events are a good way to start the selection of pictures. There are events that you have been witness to such as – showers, weddings, moves, deaths, graduations, birthdays and holidays.
• Create Archive Folder: Create an archive folder in your PC by the year and dump all the pictures in it. You can randomly put all the pictures taken all through the year in this folder.
• 
• Rethink The Ideas: Once you review the folder many new ideas will come into your mind. You might come across a musical event that you had attended and would want to dedicate a page in the photobook for that. Your home might have undergone major renovations to your home in the last year and you would want to give photos of the new looking house in the photobook. You might also want to include some of the short trips that you took during the year.
• Collage of Pictures: At times there might be some pictures you would like to include, but these do not require an entire page. A few pictures from a baby showers celebration, some others from of the family gatherings or may be some other old friends’ meeting can be included in the photobook. You can create a collage of all these special pictures and use them in a page of your photobook.
• Get Photos From Others: At times you might have been at a special event but could not capture the frames as you were not carrying a camera. In such situations you may find some of your friends or family members have taken the snaps. Nowadays people share the photos on the Internet. So get those photos from them and use in photobook.

After you are done with these steps you will have all the photos in hand to create the yearly photobook of your own. You will need a trusted printing agency to give a great output to your photobook. Print Papa is one of the most renowned printing service providers around and they deal with various types of photo products. There are products such as photo greetings cards, posters and banners, calendar, etc.

Photo Albums are Now PhotoBooks. What do you have on your Shelve?

If you are one of those people who wants to enjoy the pictures of the happy yester years and relish the several memories attached with each of them then you might be using either a photo album or a photobook. There are many people who are still unaware of the benefits of a photobook and they prefer photo albums instead. Photo albums are books which give you the choice of arranging the photos in the order you want to. But this privilege and many others can be enjoyed by using a well designed do it yourself photobook. For those in dilemma let’s have a look at the benefits of the Photobooks over their senior partners i.e. the photo albums:

• Personalizing: This is one of the biggest benefits of buying a photobook. In case of the photo albums they are sold in bulk and that is why there are general designs from where you have to make a choice. But in case of a photobook you can personally design it. You may select the sizes of the pictures, their arrangement on the pages of the photobook and the general styles and colors. It is your choice whether you want to use a bigger photo taking the whole page of the book or hundred smaller photos in the same page.
• High Quality Printing: In the photo albums the photos have to be stuck on the pages and there are often instances of finger smudges in the photos of your choice. In case of the photobooks the photos are personally designed and then they are printed on the pages. This is why you do not require buying acid proof papers and do not have to worry about the pictures fading.
• Light on Weight: As there are many pictures stuck on a photo album thus they become heavy and bulky but on the photobooks the pictures are printed so they are slim and light weighted. When a heavy album falls it generally tears the binding while the lightweight of the photobooks ensure that they last for a lifetime.

• Merge Images: You have the options in a photobook of cut or paste, straight or angles, overlaying of photos, black and white or sepia however you want to display the pictures. Such combination are not possible in a photo album. Thus the memories are preserved in the best possible way. There is also option to write texts beside or above the photos. You can write some quotes or any messages beside all of the pictures that will help you in identifying them later.
• Cost Effective: In order to buy a unique, well designed photo album you have to spend a hefty sum of money when you compare the price with photobooks they are much less priced. You also have the fun of designing your memories without actually destroying them. The software used in designing photobook is very user friendly and anyone can try their hands at it.

There are many reputed printing agencies offering photobooks at cost effective rates. PrintPapa is one such printing service provider. They also have other photo products such as Calenders, Greeting Cards, Banners and Posters.

Thanksgiving Potluck Party at Printpapa

Thanksgiving Pot luck was a great hit. There was food from the following nations:

-Chinese
-Mexican
-Indian
-Philipino

BUT NO TURKEY WAS THERE. I guess everyone will have it tommorow. Overall it was very fun..See some pictures below.

PrintPapa Inklings – Dec 09

Happy Holidays! From all of us at PrintPapa, we send our best wishes to you and yours for the holiday season. However you celebrate, we wish you peace, joy and prosperity! Let us help you put some extra sparkle in your next print job: Bring it to us by Dec 31st, and get 10% OFF (upto $100 max) on any ONLINE order. See details below! Best regards, PrintPapa 1920 Lafayette Street, Unit K Santa Clara, CA 95050

Place your order by [12/31/09], SAVE 10%!* On Any Order. Code: 10poffHoliday *Limit one offer per business. Max Discount $100. New online orders only. Does not apply to custom quoted jobs, jobs in progress, wholesale jobs. CLICK to get started. . .

Bah, humbug A group of chess enthusiasts had checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After a while, the hotel manager came out and asked them to disperse, explaining, “I can’t stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.” A guy goes into a restaurant for breakfast while visiting his hometown for the holidays. After looking over the menu, he tells the waiter, “I’ll have the Eggs Benedict.” When his order comes, it’s served on a large, shiny hubcap. The customer asks, “What’s with the hubcap?” The waiter replies, “Oh, there’s no plate like chrome for the hollandaise!” Quick Tips Hints for working with fonts for trouble free print jobs Difficulties with fonts account for more delays, mistakes and extra costs than any other file preparation issues. Avoid problems with your jobs by following this checklist: Include all the fonts used in your file, and any used in eps graphics files placed in your layout. Check against the font usage report in your layout document. OpenType and TruType fonts have only one file, but Type 1 (Postscript) fonts have two: a screen and a printer font. Be sure to include both with your job. Avoid MultipleMaster, or MM fonts. This technology did not become popular enough to be consistently implemented in high end systems. Results can be unpredictable. If your layout software includes a collection utility, or you have access to one separately, do use it, but please double check that all the correct fonts were included, particularly if you have different versions of fonts installed on your system. When formatting type in your layout, make sure to use the bold or italic versions of each font you wish to appear as bold or italic – for example, Times Bold Italic. Even though your software may allow you to apply bolding and other styles to Times Roman, for example, you should avoid doing this. The results may print well on your laser printer, but on our high resolution equipment the system cannot “fake it”, and may substitute a default font with unexpected results. It is good practice to go through the fonts installed on your machine periodically, and remove duplicates or different versions of the same font from different manufacturers. Business as usual? The Americans and the Japanese decided to engage in a competitive boat race. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach peak performance. On the big day they felt ready. The Japanese won by a mile. Afterward, the American team was discouraged by the loss. Morale sagged. Corporate management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found, so a consulting firm was hired to investigate the problem and recommend corrective action. The consultant’s finding: The Japanese team had eight people rowing and one person steering; the American team had one person rowing and eight people steering. After a year of study and millions spent analyzing the problem, the consultant firm concluded that too many people were steering and not enough were rowing on the American team. So as race day neared again the following year, the American team’s management structure was completely reorganized. The new structure: four steering managers, three area steering managers, and a new performance review system for the person rowing the boat to provide work incentive. The next year, the Japanese won by TWO miles. Humiliated, the American corporation laid off the rower for poor performance and gave the mangers a bonus for discovering the problem. Consult – v.t. To seek another’s approval of a course already decided on. Ambrose Bierce The Devil’s Dictionary COMMITTEE: A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours. anon We are here to help. Let us help you get better results for your business with beautiful printing and dependable service. Whether you are working on large, complex projects, or simply need something small turned around quickly, we can help you make every dime count. You can depend on our friendly, professional service to deliver the results you need, when you need. 800-657-7181 Send an email. People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is car or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. Mary Kay Ash, founder, Mary Kay Cosmetics Choose a job you like and you will never have to work a day of your life. Confucius Many an optimist has become rich by buying out a pessimist. Robert G. Allen, real estate author Why are builders afraid to have a 13th floor, but book publishers aren’t afraid to have a Chapter 11? Brochures Menus Newsletters Posters Business Cards Booklets Postcards Labels Stationery Flyers Rack Cards Forms Whatever you need, we make you look great!

When you entrust your printing to us you can relax, and expect a beautifully crafted job delivered on time. Our team of professionals is dedicated to producing the highest quality, along with friendly, efficient service.

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