Tips for dealing with professional print shops

According to Marco Tabini, from Macworld.com, the printing industry is a curious mix of old and new—a world rich with history that harks back hundreds of years, but relies on technology that changes and improves all the time.


The bad part is that dealing with the challenges presented by a print job—from business cards to posters—can be difficult, particularly if you have never worked with a print shop before and don’t have the budget to contract a professional to handle the process for you. Read More


Marco has some great tips. I have found that there are a decent amount of online printers you can work with. Most of them even offer design services; but beware you are using template designs and nothing is really custom. It is really easy to upload your artwork and each site provides production guidelines specific to the service you are utilizing. Make sure to request samples if you are printing large quantities so you can judge the print quality. Some of my favorite online vendors include Vista Print, Zoo Printing, Overnight , 48 Hour, and Uprinting. All of these sites offer discounts so keep an eye out for their sales and you can really strike a bargain on your printing. I have purchased 500 Business cards for $25 in the past and the quality is beautiful; double sided and gloss coated! 

Awesome Product Design

Who says a usb flash drive has to be a standard design and in a variety of color choices? There are several out-of-the-box options out there for those of you who love product design. Check out Brando, a company who specializes in electronic gadgets. They offer fun food memory usbs like chicken wings, icecream, and sushi! Another awesome company specializing in usb memory gadgets is Solid Alliance. Don't you just love their paperclip memory usb?
 

The Professional Communicator

I am terrible at spelling and grammar. The other day I had my sister edit my resume and she found several errors. She said I should consider the Chicago Manual Style. I did a little research and came up with a great resource for designers like me – the online Chicago Manual of Style.

TIP from HOW's Doug Bartow: 

You are a professional communicator; act like one. Carefully edit everything you publish: résumés, social media, e-mail, blog posts, letters, text messages, everything. Get a copy of “The Chicago Manual of Style” and keep it handy. Most potential employers and clients don’t appreciate text shorthand, so don’t use it. They won’t be ROTFL, and you will end up SOL.

Personalized Vintage Wedding Posters

Alexander & Company is a creative collaboration between Chicago-based artist, Alexander Doll, and you. Your choice of text, along with multiple design and color options give you the ability to create your own custom piece of art. Be sure to check out the 2010 online catalog for all of the current poster options.

Gifts for Graphic Designers

We are really not that hard to shop for. The next time someone asks you what you want for your birthday have them consider one of these cool gifts for graphic designers.

Wire and Twine's  Hell-Fucking-Vetica Tshirt

 Pantone Plus® Series Formula Guide Solid & Solid Uncoated at MyDesignShop

Tom Gabor's I shot the serif poster

 

Oh Crop Mug from Cafepress

istockphoto photography credits

 Type Coasters from Veer

The future of printed publications

With the birth of the Kindle and the iPad the printing industry is starting to recede. Designers have adapted to technology and their viewers by creating sleek online publications that one can actually skim through as if they were looking at a printed piece. Nonpareil, one of my favorite blogs, hosts a fantastic e-magazine about crafty weddings. Style me pretty, another blog I follow just recently followed suit and created an e-glossy. I see publications really moving toward electronic media, and with technology quickly advancing there is little hope for the print industry.

The NounProject

 

You're designing a package for a product that is very fragile, you have to illustrate a fragile symbol for the box... save a little time and get that symbol to use as you please. Matter-of-fact you can find just about any symbol you might need with The Noun Project. This wonderful project collects and organizes symbols that form the world’s visual language. Developed by design collective Simple.Honest.Work, the symbols from The Noun Project can be freely used in your design work.