Online Printing Blog

Rack Card Designing Ideas

A rack card is a document or a promotional material used for commercial advertising, frequently in convenience stores, hotels, landmarks, restaurants, rest areas and other locations that enjoy significant foot traffic. Unlike the brochure or the booklet which is personally handed over to the customer a rack card is picked up by the customer from the rack himself. So a well designed rack card has to immediately command attention from the visitors in these busy places. A poorly designed rack card does little more than gather dust.

• Appeal Visually: A well designed rack card printed from a renowned printing agency has to be visually appealing. The choice of image varies with your business but it should reflect the core of your business. For example the rack card of a hotel can ideally have the full sized image of the hotel on the first page. If you are advertising for your restaurant, than the rack card should depict the experience that the customer can expect from your restaurant.
• Simplicity Rules: Keeping the  rack card simple is a must. A rack card is the first introduction and needs to talk about your product and service in brief. A rack card doesn’t need to have a lot of text and pictures. A short paragraph with a few bulleted points serves ideal for a rack card.

• Study the Customer: It is very essential to know who your target audience is. If this is known than you will be able to hit the hammer where it matters. Knowing your target audience well also allows you to design the rack card keeping in the mind the taste of your customers. You can be playful with colors and text when you target the youth but be a bit more sober while targeting the aged crowd.
• Use Templates and Print well: Templates can be a good way to designing rack cards. Templates are easily available and includes bleed lines, cut lines and safety area lines which eases designing of a template. Printing also is an important aspect in the designing of the templates. Printing complements good designing and thus it is very important for us to print a well designed template.
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PrintPapa is a company that has added value to the print promotions of their clients over the years designing and have expertise in designing and printing of rack cards for our esteemed clientèle. We provide one stop solution to the all the printing needs of our customers.

4 Winning Business Card Shapes

Business cards are the first thing that a client or customer sees and it is very important that it makes an instant positive impression. Most often people go for the classical shapes, designs and colors but unlike other promotional materials such as brochures and pamphlets there are lots of avenues for experimentation. Sometimes some business person tries to imitate particular designs because successful companies use them and sometimes they just design their promotional business cards in a particular way because they have seen such a design somewhere.

If you want the money you paid for making the cards to come back to you multiplied hundred times then make them appear unique. One of the things that attract people is the shapes that are not generally seen. So the regular 2×3.5 rectangle is out unless you innovate in terms of material or added gimmicks.

A very attractive as well as very popular shape is the folded business card. It is also called the hinged business card. Here the card is folded either down the middle or in some other way to convey the main message. Sometimes such business cards can be displayed on the table with some social or humorous message and that helps in reminding the person that you were there. It does not need a second opinion that humor attracts people.

Tag like cards with two pieces chained together can be another innovative idea. People are using it and quite successfully. It not only gives you some extra space to add details but also makes it look different from the typical card like appearance. The materials and card printing type also add to the specialty. Sometimes the material does matter and the plain old card paper is giving way to plastic and even metal. The words are often embossed on such business cards.

Business cards in envelopes is a good way to make people see what is inside the envelope and that makes a point. Often the extra surface you get can be used in conveying little details about your business. The envelopes also prevent your card from getting defaced in case your client retains it for long.

Finally you get the customized shapes to reflect the business you are in. So the chocolate seller designs the card in the shape of a bitten bar of chocolate and a management firm designs its card like a folio. You can have your card designed and cut in a shape matching your company profile.

But whichever design you choose it is important to get it executed in the perfect manner and thus choosing the right printing agency is of utmost importance.

Creating A Custom Notepad For Promotional Use

Whatever be the type of business everyone is looking to print promotional notepads. But the question is what is the reason behind this craze? Notepads are one thing that is needed by all sorts of professionals in their normal working schedule. They make planning and work allocation a simplified act. It is the dream of every businessman that their promotional material be in front of the eyes of the recipients. This purpose can be very effectively met with the help of custom notepad printing. Printing services are one of the vital factors that determines whether a custom notepad catches the niche audience or not. There are a huge number of online printing service providers and it often becomes difficult to make a decision. So why not read on and learn the tips and tricks about the things that are important for a custom notepad:

• Logo: The main purpose behind printing and distributing notepads is to enhance the brand popularity of business. So it is vital that the printing agency provides full color logo printing option. Logo is the most vital part and this should appear prominently in the notepad. Some companies use it on the cover while some others get the logo and company name printed in the inner pages of the notepads.
• Sizes: It is important to choose the sizes before printing a notepad. There are various types of notepads available with the printing agencies. The small notepads are usually used for taking instant notes and can be carried in the pockets. While the medium sized ones are used widely in offices and other work places to make long lists. Large sized notepads are usually used in work places where there is a lot of writing needed.
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• Artwork: Use statements that instantly attract the users and make them thinks about the company and its services. Pictures should be related to your niche business and if possible to the company itself. Artwork can be made more lively if the printing service provider uses updated picture printing techniques.

It is very important to choose only the reputed printing agencies in the printing industry while going for custom notepad printing. PrintPapa is one such reputed company with years of experience in notepads printing and designs. We offer 3 different sizes of notepads as listed below:

1. Small Size (Qtr. Page) - 4.25″ x 5.5″.
2. Medium Size (Half Page) -  5.5″ x 8.5″
3. Large Size (Letter Size) - 8.5″ x 11″.

All the above notepads are 50 Pages/Pad with a chip board backing, and printed in full color. And you can order as low as 10 pads.

Advantages of using Postcards for Advertising

Marketing is one of the age old techniques to entice the people to buy a product. But nowadays there are so many tools at disposal of the marketeers that it often becomes difficult to choose the best. With the evolution of the Internet there are more and more online marketing tools available. But ask the enterprise owners and they will tell you that mailing is one of the essential components of any marketing campaign. People still like to receive advertising postcards then a direct mail from a company. Postcards have been popular marketing tool ever since the fall of the last century only the content and designing of the cards have changed.

The postcards can either be sent in the form of greeting cards or in order to inform or keep in touch with the clients. But all the content in these cards are advertising based and are accompanied with other marketing tools such as letters, flyers, catalogs and brochures. The heavy marketing content in the postcards differentiates them from other types of normal greeting cards and thus they are called advertising postcards.

These postcards are either sent to the existing client base or they are sent randomly to everyone. But it is always desirable to sent the postcards to the clients that belong to your niche business. The content of such postcards is primarily based on promoting or introducing a new product or service or to update the customers about some new event in the company. Most importantly there is enough of information about the company and its various other products or services present in the postcard. Like direct mails there are no issues of privacy or security. You can expect that the person receiving the mail will cast a glance through your promotional material.

Results for the postcard promotional campaign will only bear fruit if you get the postcards designed from a professional printing agency and one such agency of repute is PrintPapa. The advertising postcard should be catchy and handy as is the case with brochures. Only thing here is that all the information has to be given in compressed form. The card quality has to be good to catch the eyes of the customers and the design has to be unique from the rest of the crowd.

So if you have not used the advertising postcards then it is high time you go to a printing service provider and order for some!

Tips for Postcard Marketing

Marketing the products and services through postcards is a widely used tool in today’s business world. There are so many things that you can put into a printed postcard. But only the worth while information will lead to the success of your marketing campaign. This makes it important for you to choose the right approach and design before you go to a printer. Though there are many tricks of this marketing trade but these are the five main aspects:

• Lifestyle – Marketing a lifestyle related to the product is the best way to go about your postcard marketing campaign. Using a lifestyle image at the top of a postcard is the best way to catch the attention of your clients. You can select a picture portraying a carefree attitude towards life, or a model with gorgeous dress or even a dude with some of the latest gadgets. If the postcards are printed in the proper manner then the visual appeal of these images makes the readers want to purchase the products instantly, and thus, gives your company a good launchpad.
• Informative – Today’s age is an age of information. There are so many businesses around the globe that are marketing their products effectively by giving some vital information and statistics. Find out the relevant information about the benefits and dangers of the products and print them on your postcards. People take quite a notice to such type of postcards as they can learn a lot from them and use them in their personal or professional life. If the approach to the postcard is right then they can also make people buy your products. Though the approach is very simple it proves to be very effective.

• Art – Art is one of the popular themes for marketing a product. Everyone likes a beautiful postcard and then there are some that collect such postcards. Beautiful designs and images along with a provocative marketing message and the logo of the company goes well for most marketing campaigns. But in such marketing techniques the skills of the printing agency play an important role.
• Forms – Sending forms along with postcards is a great way to get instant clients. Sending the form will make the customers directly order for the products after reading through your benefits and exclusive offers.
• Souvenir – Souvenir advertising containing facts and images of some important places in the city or some other facts along with your company’s message go well with the clients. This is very useful for people, and thus, they are referred to regularly.

Getting clients to read postcards would mark the success of your postcard marketing campaign. With the choice of the right printing agency like PrintPapa, you can maximize the potential of your marketing campaign.

Best File Formats for Sending Artwork to a Printer

With the evolution of  computers there are various types of file formats in which a picture or an artwork can be saved. There are a number of file formats available today such as gif, jpg, png, pdf, eps, tif. With so many formats available it is difficult to decide the type of format that will best suit the work of the printer you have hired. Each time you save a specific file there is a file format you have to select. While some are high resolution others are for low resolution while some others are only for native purposes. As the different software help users in different tasks, there are different formats for different purposes.

If you are a non-expert in handling file formats then it can be disastrous for you. If you send a file in the wrong format to the printing agency then it might not be compatible with the computer and give awful prints. These will cost you a lot with regards to both time and effort. So, it is desirable to know some important aspects of the proper file formats for your artwork reproduction:

• .jpg – This is a popular format for both emails and web sites. It compresses the toned images into a desirable size (72 dpi for web and 300 dpi for printing) that can be downloaded over the Internet by the printing agency. But if you compress the image too much then the prints will be degraded.

• .gif – It is a very good format for mailing and for posting on the Internet. They also work perfectly in compressing a file. One of the differences between the .jpg and .gif is that this format is more suitable for solid color images and not for the non-continuous color images.
• .png – It is a hybrid of the above mentioned formats. It can be used by you to remove the sharp and unattractive borders from any artwork before sending it to the printers. The format also allows users to compress continuous or non-continuous tone color images. The files that are saved in this format are generally larger in size, and therefore, ideal to send larger images to your printing agency.
• .tif – This is a ‘versatile color space file format’ which can act as a cross platform between your Mac and PC. There is no compression hence this is a good format for printing, but the file sizes can be huge.
• .pdf – It is the native file format developed by Adobe and can be accessed by a program named Adobe Acrobat. .pdf format has many uses including the creation of interactive forms and a lot of print ready materials. This is the most popular format used by printers today.

Sending the print-ready files makes the task of printers easy and saves a lot of time and effort on your behalf. This will also ensure that there are no delays in your marketing campaigns. See below for our File Preperation checklist:

• use our templates to setup artwork.
• outline all fonts.
• embed all images
• check all images to be 300 dpi
• setup bleeds & safe area properly.
• convert colors to CMYK
• flatten transparency?
• perform a spell check
• send us PDFs. We Prefer PDFs
• MS Office Files? Use Primo PDF
• Publisher file use pack & go.

Better Files - 7 Common Mistakes!

Every designer is taught to make their artwork press ready but hardly do they abide by this rule. As a result, a lot of time and effort is wasted and the deadline for your printing project often gets delayed. Only the printing service providers know how much hard work goes into providing high quality prints. On top of that, if there are serious mistakes in the formatting of the print-ready copies then the work just gets increased manifold. So, why not give the printers a break and send them files that will be easy to print. Here are 7 things to do while sending a work for printing:

1. Giving Detailed Specifications - While placing your order at a printing agency you know what the final work should look like. Why not enlighten the printing agency with all the detailed specifications? There are many small things that help a printing agency to give you the desired prints quickly such as trim size, number of colors, whether there is need for special printing methods such as die-cut or varnishing as well as special folding instructions. Calling up the printer and providing the information that will help him print quickly and efficiently. The more information you provide to the printing service provider the better quality of output you will get.

2. Avoiding Excessive Use of Spot Colors – Using many spot colors without knowing which ones are spot and which can be run as process can be a nightmare for the printing agency. Designers use as many spot colors as possible (sometimes even 23 of them together). Not knowing that every spot color requires a new plate increases your printing bills. Printing presses cannot handle more than 6-8 colors and there are high risks of getting unsatisfactory prints. So, the final document should be devoid of all the unwanted spot colors. Spot colors should only be used when there is the utmost need for color consistency as is the case with logos.

3. Add Bleeds – Leave a space of 1/8 inches (or larger space for die-cuts) in order to accommodate for the white border that will be used around the printed piece. If this is not done then some of the vital parts of the print might be lost and then again, the end result might look unfurnished.

4. Low Resolution or RGB Images – So many people think that web is the best way to get quality images. But there are originality as a well as screen resolution issues. While choosing the web images choose those that have a DPI of at least 300 to get good print quality. Always remember that if the images look good on screen, it doesn’t mean they will look good after printing too!

5. Proper Document Size – Many designers do not know about the proper document size. There are various things that should be accommodated for in the document such as wraps, grooves, scores and hardware. A lot of time is taken if a document has to be re-sized and re-formatted.

6. Using Similar Fonts – Most of the printers use font management systems that are unable to use TrueType and PostScript fonts together. To make the task easier, convert all the fonts to outlines before the final work is sent to the printing agency.

7. Make Decisions in Advance – There are so many times when the situation will force you to keep the vital printing decisions till the last minute. For other occasions, it is wise to have a plan made well in advance. Taking some extra time for designing and production allows you to get enough time for making the files print ready.

Checking on these vital aspects will be a blessing in disguise so that you can get the desired results that you wished for! For more learning visit our FAQ section at PrintPapa.com

Booklet Printing is the Right Thing to Do!

Booklet printing is a soft marketing method the use of which has increased phenomenally as companies and marketing professionals have set out to experiment with both marketing campaign strategies as well as with marketing channels. However, booklets have evolved as core marketing collateral only recently, as companies have realized that they have much more consumer retention potential than a stand alone banner advertisement or poster ad.

Booklets, however, have always been one of the most popular forms of print material available in the industry. But their use as a marketing tool has actually become the primary purpose they serve now. In spite of being smaller than most print advertisements or marketing campaign documents, the power of booklets lies in improving consumer interest and retaining consumer loyalty for the product, service or for the firm itself.

Booklets come in different shapes and sizes, along with a difference in print and cover finishes. Choosing the exact and most relevant size for your booklet to be used in a marketing campaign is crucial to the actual effect it has within the campaign as well as the range of impact it has on the target consumer base. This is why, like all other marketing campaign strategies, booklet printing and marketing also needs thorough homework (read research) before implementation. From shopping around for different professional printing agencies to consulting the experienced professionals (preferably insiders) for the contemporary design and content ideas, only a thorough market research and detailed profiling of the target consumer base is necessary for any booklet printing and marketing idea to succeed.

However, the most important this to keep in mind regarding a booklet printing strategy is the choice of the printing agency. The only thing that readers will be concerned with while your booklet is presented to them is the quality of the print and the content. Now, allowing an amateur venture to take care of your booklet printing needs, in order to balance your cost concerns will leave your booklet printing and marketing crusade seriously compromised.

Why? Well, the most significant reason to choose a professional printing agency is to provide a professional touch to the look and feel of the booklet. You must keep in mind that a booklet, no matter how small or how thin it maybe, when once used in a marketing campaign, turns into literally the face of your company to the niche consumer base you promote it to. Therefore, there is no margin for even the minutest of errors as well as the reflection of an amateurish feel. From the colors being vibrant to the alignment of the textual content, from the actual difference between highlighted text and the normal text to the finish of the paper the booklets are printed on, each and every aspect of your booklet printing can affect the result that you desire from your marketing campaign.

So, as much as the design or development of the booklets, the printing also has a huge role in helping your booklet marketing campaign to take shape. With all of the nuances in place, booklet printing and assisting your marketing campaign with the same is the right thing to pursue today!

PrintPapa offers the following as part of the Booklet Printing

• Saddle Stitched Booklets - 8 to 60 Pages in 2 sizes - 8.5×11 and 8.5×5.5
• Spiral Binded Books
• Newsletters or Short Run Booklets - 3 sizes. Order any quantity. Fast and cheap.

Mistakes to Avoid While Designing Postcards

Postcards are one of the best tools to enhance the popularity of your business along with building good customer relationships. Though this tool of marketing has often been overlooked, postcards have become an easy, fast and reliable way to increase the sale of your products and services without having to spend a fortune. The unique designs and content of this tool make it much more efficient than other methods of marketing. But it is necessary to take wise decisions to maximize the gains from postcards. There are thousands and thousands of printers providing postcards in today’s date, therefore, it is essential to be aware of some of the common mistakes that are committed while choosing a printer. Printers play an important role in transforming a mind-blowing concept for a business card into reality. Good postcards will be kept by the clients and not thrown away. So, here are some of the things that should be done while choosing a printer:

• Don’t look for cheap services – As it is always said, cheaper does not mean the better. You can get a postcard for free or for a nominal cost from some printing services. In fact, there are so many free postcard templates available on the Internet that it would be difficult for you to find an original idea. Using these types of free templates and cheap printing services can send a wrong message across to your target audience. Unique designs and content, and customized templates can definitely work as distinctions between serious service providers and those that are run-of-the-mill type.

• Avoid Flashy Designs – Using blazing colors and designs does not help in business marketing. All the important information should be written in easy to read fonts, carrying a slogan of your company and of course its logo. Such type of design features help to create a great impression on your clients.
• Adjust the Font Size – The font size should be such that it can be read easily by readers belonging to any age group.
• Highlight the Important Information – Business postcards should be used as a call to action, therefore, the important information should be made distinct using bold and large fonts.

• Never Use Postcards Carrying Outdated Information – Outdated information, when read by would-be clients, send a wrong message to them. You definitely have the option to strike out the wrong printed information with a pen and write down the correct information. But think of the impression you’ll make in this process. So, why not take the help of printing agencies to print postcards carrying the latest information to boost your image in front of your clients.

When you have an idea about the do’s and dont’s of postcard printing and designing, then choosing the right printing agency becomes a walk in the park.

At PrintPapa we can offer 7 different sizes of postcards. Our Postcards are printed on heavy 14 pt. Card Stock with UV for extra protection. Provide us with the design and the mailing list and we take care of the rest. That is Printing and Mailing.

Why CD Printing Helps Improve Your Professional Image

Why do you think firms and companies use printed CD/DVD jackets while shelling them out for sale? Protection from damage did you say? Wrong! The exclusively single reason that CD jacket printing is in existence (and popularly so) is because of the fact that they can be a great way to market your product (CDs, DVDs or Blu-Ray discs) literally to the potential consumer base.

With the mercury-like rise in the popularity of CDs or DVDs as a medium for storing information and data, they have also become the ideal weaponry for new-age marketers to convey their marketing message or USP of their firm to the consumer base. How? Simple, by printing an elaborate and attractive CD jacket, which not only has useful information about the contents of the CD or DVD, but also has an embedded marketing message and company marketing punchline on it.

So what are the advantages of using CD Printing services as your new marketing strategy:

• An affordable yet powerful marketing collateral.

• Direct contact with the target consumer group results in a better potential for sales.

• Improved lead generation statistics due to heightened interest in the CD as well as the company/firm itself.

• Helps build a real brand image and a stable brand value without investing a huge amount of effort or money into the same.

• Also provides a much higher level of consumer retention within the niche consumer base.

• A CD or DVD jacket also allows you to put forward your skills of creativity and innovative edge with the help of basic graphic design or artwork, setting a benchmark for identifying the level of quality within the content of the CD/DVD or of the firm itself.

However, employing an amateur company or following a DIY (do-it-yourself) manual to complete your CD or DVD printing assignment may look attractive from the perspective of keeping a control on your budget, but is not a wise path to follow if you wish to save in the long run.

Professional CD duplication/printing ventures are much more deft at putting forth your brand image to the target consumers, with professionally crafted designs for the CD/DVD jackets as well as a much better representation of the company too. The placement of the logo, the textual content, punchlines, etc. are much better delivered with a professional agency than with an amateur venture.

With a professional printing agency, the colors are also several notches more vibrant and appealing than with an amateur counterpart of the same. Because of the small size of the CD or the DVD, having clear and crisply printed textual matter along with the graphics is crucial to send out a powerful marketing message. Only a professional printing agency can hope to achieve the same.

Therefore, if you have been thinking about using the CD or DVD jacket printing as your new marketing strategy, especially, to net the tech-savvy niche consumer base, make sure that the printing agency you opt for is professional to the core. Otherwise, the purpose you had set out to achieve would be lost, along with the financial investments you make into the campaign!