Project Planning

What to consider when looking for a print professional…

3 January 2021 Stuart Nimmo

Print when correctly done is a very powerful tool in any business/organisations marketing arsenal. Having the right printer on board is essential, when they understand you, your needs and objectives they can help you achieve more.

Supporting you to get the best from graphic design, production requirements, and your distribution and usage methods. Finding the right print partner can make this easier for you.

Building a great relationship with a printer, you might want to consider the following points

Competence and Quality

Competence and quality are often the most critical factors in weighing commercial print options. Although it can be challenging to evaluate skill levels before you’ve worked with someone, there are several indicators to look for. Look at online reviews, who is talking about the work a printer has done. Look up key staff on Linkedin, this will speak volumes, how much experience have they got? What are they verified for on Linkedin? Request to see samples of jobs done for other customers. Inquire about areas of specialization and if bundled pricing or services are included. Also, ask your printer what work steps they see as critical for obtaining good results. If you know in advance how they prefer to manage projects, it helps ensure good workflow and communication along the way.

Production Capacity

This might seem an odd statement, “real or fake?” be aware of print brokers, professing to print themselves. (A good print broker will have a raft of trade suppliers to help achieve great pricing and performance for you) Does a printer’s social media /website show an actual print studio/press hall? Does their website have a Plant List on it? This will then dictate their specialities and show their potential capacity to perform.

Collaborative power

In this day and age, print companies fall into 2 categories, small artisan boutique or big internet sheds. This will show how they do customer service. The smaller sized firms you will find that the person you are dealing with is hands-on. Equally the bigger the business, you are more likely to have dedicated account handlers. This will affect the style of communication you will be engaged with. Ultimately if you want a relationship which will flex with you, the smaller establishment, once you’ve built up a rapport will reap more results for you.

Service and performance

When dealing with any printer, they know they are a service industry. Their production capacity will be geared up to meet customer needs (providing they are realistic). However, a valid point to note, if you do require express service, expect to pay a premium, if a business is re-scheduling their work to accommodate you this is a reasonable request. A well-established print house will be able to facilitate a lot more than just print, their connections with logistics and postage services will be advantageous too.

Environmental Responsibility

A good print house will be committed to environmentally friendly standards and procedures. A wealth of products are available to meet your expectations when it comes to eco-standards, from the specification of paper and ink, and carbon capture. A good print partner will be able to tell you a lot about their processes and their impact. We are signed up to “Printers against plastic” and offer alternatives where possible to plastic in products.

Locality and national reach

For some clients, having a print house in easy reach is essential, it helps them to perform and deliver the right solutions at the right time for their businesses. Equally, some clients do use us from a distance, distance is nothing now with video conferencing. Coupled with efficient courier networks, how you chose to work is down to you. We assist our clients from all over the UK.

The remit of a good printer isn’t just getting the image on the paper. Helping you to achieve more with your marketing or communications is at the heart of what we do. Understanding your organisations brand is key to us. We will ask questions to understand more, make suggestions to further your offering, above all ensuring you get the right results.

Getting the partnership between you and your printer can drive results which last for years.

Genuine, Real and Accredited

29 November 2020 Stuart Nimmo

Over several weeks, it’s become very apparent that smoke and mirrors can rule the roost. In a period where a client working with a third party has been challenged with poor digital materials, knowing what you are working with becomes hard, especially if you want consistency.

A mish-mash of artwork, poor quality PDF’s, differing standards and lack of the right stuff, just leaves a sour taste with all involved.

Anyone can create artwork – Wrong!

It might seem that way, but a seasoned experienced professional, will create artwork which is fit for purpose, ensure reproduction, and be robust. The construction of the elements on a page is critical to sharp good clear reproduction. A good graphic designer or print professional will use Indesign or Quark for page layout. Why? Both these software packages work with the right file formats for important, they have built-in colour management.

My logo is a PNG file – Ouch!

A good print professional/graphic designer will look for a logo to be a vector-based file, which means it will be sharp and reproduce at whatever size. It also allows for a multitude of reproduction methods to be used, from print, garments to signage. Don’t be fooled by the file size. A good quality one can be small when it’s a vector-based file like and .eps .ai .svg .pdf. Equally when we see a .jpg or .png in kb (yes very small size) we know it won’t reproduce with any clarity.

All PDF files are the same – Wrong!

PDF files can be created for different purposes, and to a technical eye, there are 100s of different specifications, which they can be created to. This varies with how they handle fonts, manage colour, the level they compress images to and many other items. So not all PDF files are artwork. If you need to ask, PDF x1a and PDF x4 are the standards we use.

So, in the same way, you won’t approach a fishmonger to do the conveyancing on your house sale. A good print professional, when handling your project fully, will give you consistent results, artwork which will reproduce sharply and consistently, logos which have clarity, along with PDF’s which print with accuracy. Please note if you require a print specification – ask whoever is doing your artwork, we use a separate setting for proofing oppose to printing.

Point worth noting, printers are not web designers, and likewise, web designers are not printers. Just they both design and make pretty pages doesn’t mean they have the same skill sets.

So commissioning a piece of print, check that whoever is doing your artwork is experienced and knows what they are doing. Check their Linkedin profile, see what clients say about them. As the phrase goes compare Apple with Apples and not Pears.

Project Planning for your next print project

16 February 2020 Stuart Nimmo Project management No Comments

Nerves might be everything when you’re taking a big step to progressing your business forward. Getting your print marketing right can be a big challenge – but with the right planning, you can minimise any potential hiccups.

Sometimes things go wrong, and your expenses can spiral out of control quickly, however, start right and the chances of things going wrong are significantly less.

Here are some top tips to keep your next project on track and on budget:

1. Ask Questions Upfront

When partnering with a print and design professional, be sure to clarify the remit upfront.

Design work – Will you be paying a project fee or an hourly rate?
What services are included in this fee? (some printers do charge for additional services like scanning or extra proofing)
Clarify how long the project will take, how often you’ll get to review the work, and how many revisions are allowed in this agreement, scheduling is essential, a good printer will outline a schedule for your project for you.

2. Early planning

Getting a design professional in your idea development as early as possible, this can help keep thing smartly planned, as things can be designed to suit the brief. Equally, if you have a limited budget, define what you are producing first, and ensure the design meets this specification.

Designing a single piece can have a quick turnaround, but re-branding or crafting large-scale exhibit pieces can take months. Being precise is a major benefit, using the acronym SMART (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely) can be a benefit from the start. Getting the parameters of a project, to an audience, method, outcomes at the commissioning stage design presets for a particular project.

Many people who commission design and print projects who raise issues about increasing costs, usually results from changes mid-way through the design or production process. Start conversations early with all involved in your project take a complete view of your project to manage it in the most efficient, cost-effective way.

3. Assemble All the Elements

Attend to the precise details of copy, timeline, illustration, photography and branding at the start. Ensuring these elements have been approved by all relevant stakeholders before the project commences.

Coordinating a project with many elements, when they are coordinated from the start it will allow your design budget to be maximised with few delays. No one will ever have all have precise details outlined from the start, however clarifying project parameters is essential to finishing on time and on budget!

4. Milestone monitoring

All stakeholders and professionals involved in the project must be fully aware of key milestones. Tracking key milestones will ensure the timeline is carefully monitored as any project progresses.

Agreeing on how you communicate on a project, is critical, how many face to face meetings, do you use Slack or Yammer based group discussions, who is responsible for key actions?

5. Allow for a margin

To keep a project on budget, it’s essential to create margin so deadlines don’t get tight.

Every project has potential curveballs, so you build your timeline allow for realistic scheduling. For example, if the printer needs eight days to deliver a piece, schedule at least 11 days so you’re guaranteed a smooth outcome.

Budgeting

Ready to get started on your next marketing project? Creating a plan with these basic steps will make your budgeting easier:

Estimate or know your monthly income
Define your upper and lower limit design expenses
Ascertain your market reach, and cost implications
Look at your production and distribution costs
Create the budget
Online budget planners can also be helpful in estimating your costs.

How you work is down to you. Engaging individual service providers for separate project elements or taking a one-stop-shop approach. We know that using connected providers or utilising a multi-disciplined provider can result in significant savings on time, labour and unnecessary stress.

Whether its exceptional-value graphic design or full-service printing, our capable team is dedicated to providing you with prompt, knowledgeable, one-on-one service, and carefully printed materials you can be proud of. With decades of experience, we’re here to make your print project run as smoothly as possible!