Photo cards are a great way to share with family and friends.

Are photo cards addictive? I’m just wondering because I see them everywhere anymore. Every Christmas our mailbox is full of photo cards of family and friends. Every time one of her four children takes a new school photo or joins a sport, my cousin sends us a photo card commemorating the event.

Not that I’m complaining. I love photo cards. They’re so much better than off-the-rack greeting cards, especially since I can tack them on the fridge and build my own wall of family and friend portraits with little effort whatsoever.

My grandma loves receiving them, too, and it’s a cheap way to send out new family photos that can be used in frames and on fridges alike. My mother has a curio cabinet that she sticks received photo cards in; my sister-in-law frames them in a large display on her kitchen wall. My son tacks them to his bulletin board.

Ten years ago, photo cards were virtually non-existent. But today it seems as though we receive a photo card every other week. I’m considering sending one of my own every year – Grandma would probably like to get one of the kids – but I’m a little concerned. With the proliferation of photo cards (they’re obviously extremely popular), I don’t want to get hooked into something I can’t get out of.

I mean, I already have hobbies – like aimlessly surfing through television stations when nothing is on – so I’m a little afraid that if I start sending photo cards I won’t be able to stop. I could get hooked, unable to do anything else until I get my photo. It’s already has a hold on nearly everyone in my family!

So, are photo cards addictive? Either that, or… they’re simply fun.

Image use Creative Commons license via Flickr.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Your company, A DAY IN MAY, specializes in unique wedding invitations. In light of the fact that wedding invitation design requests are so numerous, how do you go about creating designs that are special and creatively unique for each client?

Because we are first and foremost a graphic design studio we tend to attract clients looking for highly creative pieces that either tell the couple’s story (e.g. how they met, where they’ve traveled thus far, special interests they share, etc) or that focus on the wedding destination. We love to weave in special pieces that mean something to the client. For instance, we had one couple bring a pillow into our studio and we ended up recreating the pattern on that pillow throughout their wedding invitation booklet. We regularly design custom “logos” for weddings, wine labels as wedding invitations, jam jar labels for favors, etc. Whatever the case may be, we love to weave the couple’s personal story and lifestyle in with our sophisticated designs and lush letterpress printing.

What is the most important thing you need to know about each couple before you start crafting their wedding invitation?

It really depends on the couple. We begin each meeting (whether via phone or in person – we have clients all over the States and beyond) by asking them what they are planning for their special day. We inquire as to why they’ve selected their venue, what colors will be represented on their wedding day and their overall design style (modern vs. traditional). A natural brainstorming dialog ensues from there and normally by the end of that first conversation we have established a loose design architecture for their pieces.

What printing techniques do you employ to enhance your wedding invitation designs on paper?

We focus mostly on letterpress printing, which is our favorite; however, recently we’ve begun digitally printing as well, which is a less expensive option for our clients. Eve and I held off for months on offering digital because we were unhappy with the initial results. We wanted to make sure that if we provided digital printing it would be something that would excite our clients just as much as our letterpress printing does. We were thrilled when we finally solved the problem. We figured out that the digital printing wasn’t the issue, it was the paper. Digital printing is offered by most places on lower-grade paper and we realized that if we replaced the standard digital paper with our lush cotton paper it printed beautifully and was the level of quality that people have come to expect from A DAY IN MAY.

You and your design partner, Eve, live and work nearly 3,000 miles apart. What challenges do you face when coordinating projects long distance, and how do you overcome them?

Eve and I have worked together for nine years now and we spent many of those years working side by side in San Francisco. We only launched A DAY IN MAY NYC in 2009. At this point Eve and I can pretty much finish each other’s sentences, and there is complete trust and creative freedom between us. When a project begins, one of us is assigned as the point person so the client interaction is streamlined; however, behind the scenes Eve and I regularly e-mail designs to each other for creative feedback, we discuss estimates on the phone, we brainstorm design concepts together, etc. I also fly out to San Francisco regularly so we stay in tune with each other. I’m not sure how well this would have worked a few years ago, but today Eve and I are just a text, e-mail, call or iChat away.

What is the best business or design advice you ever received, who gave it, and how has it helped you?

I’m having trouble remembering one specific piece of advice that I received over the years, but I can tell you what’s served Eve and I well throughout our time running A DAY IN MAY. Creative folks tend to be uncomfortable early in their careers discussing budgets with clients, but it’s crucial if you want your business to be a success. Eve and I always clearly define the full scope of each new project and deliver an itemized budget at the onset. Graphic designers should never feel uncomfortable talking about money or getting paid for what they do. Each final piece delivered to the client (whether a website design, logo design, wedding invitation, etc.) is a beautiful work that’s representative of their time, creativity and client management and is therefore valuable.

For more information about A Day in May, you can check out their blog.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Cheap printing doesn’t mean printing cheap materials – it means making smart decisions about how you invest in your campaign and getting a quality product without jeopardizing your budget. The politician who is able to do this demonstrates his or her ability to be an asset to taxpayers, who count on their leaders to make sound financial decisions.

So how can you leverage cheap printing and run a political campaign for less than $2,000? It’s easy if you’re in a district with fewer than 10,000 voters. Here’s how I would spend it:

Free website: Take out a page on Blogspot.com or a similar service…………………. $0
Vinyl banners: Two strategically-placed 2-foot by 6-foot banners will do… $160
Brochures: Start by printing 1,000 and go from there………………………………… $340
Door hangers: Distribute your message to 10,000 voters sans postage….. $750
Stickers: Start with 1,000 and order more when you run out…………………….. $100
Postcards: Get 10,000 postcards to mail to every voter…………………………….. $550
Business cards: Start with 1,000 business cards and get more as needed… $80

Total………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… $1,980

If $2,000 is still outside of your budget, no worries. You could cut out door hangers and save nearly half the investment – with cheap printing you could conceivably run a well-rounded political campaign for less than $1,000. Or ask friends, family and other supporters for donations. If you have a great platform and prove yourself to be an asset to citizens, cheap printing can definitely help you quickly get the word out to the masses – and fast!

Image use Creative Commons license via Flickr.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

In my humble opinion, the following are the top five graphic design and printing jobs for today’s market.

Video game director – The Nintendo/Sega generation is all grown up, and video games have finally started to enjoy legitimacy as valuable entertainment for children and adults alike. Television, the web, the worldwide competition circuit and even health enthusiasts have all embraced video games. And what better job for a gamer than to be a video game director, especially with an annual salary between $60,000 and $200,000?

Print broker – Today’s online accessibility has made it possible for you to set up a one-man shop in your mom’s basement and call yourself a print broker. All you have to do is acquire a reseller’s permit from a top printing company and sell their work. You simply pass on artwork to the printing company, and they take care of the rest. Many will even blind ship the finished materials so it looks like it’s coming from your company! Salaries for print brokers can be anywhere from $50,000 to unlimited, depending on volume.

Digital print operator – Digital printing has changed the printing landscape in a revolutionary way; it has made it more affordable than ever for small businesses to compete against large corporations because they can print high-quality marketing materials at low volumes. And since small business is the most numerous – and fastest-growing – sector in the United States, digital print marketing is poised to grow exponentially. Possessing the skills to run digital printing presses is an asset in a digital world. The entry-level salary comes in at around $30,000, but this job also presents many opportunities for growth.

Web designer – Web design is one of the hottest gigs in town and shows no signs of slowing down, especially in the midst of social media, mobile media and online/mobile advertising. Whether it’s an e-commerce website or an iPhone application, graphic designers are needed to make it look great. The best part? Even finished projects are never complete, since the best websites and applications are always adding new features and even get facelifts every few years. Salaries can land anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000, depending on experience, workload and fees.

Art director – Art directors at design firms often work in tandem with copywriters. The stress level can be high, depending on the firm, environment and clientèle; but it certainly doesn’t have to be, especially if you set up shop in an area with little competition and plenty of potential. And with a median U.S. salary of $108,000, you can deal with a little stress anyway, right?

Image use Creative Commons license via Flickr.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I’m not sure why some businesses believe they can slap up a yellow page listing and rake in millions. Maybe this works if you’re the only plumber in town, but if there is more than one competitor in a given area you’ll need the edge only direct marketing can provide. But it’s so expensive, right? Not with cheap printing! In fact, marketing should be considered an investment that brings a return – a profit – and not an expense at all.

Let’s say you have 1,000 customers on your mailing list. For less than $350 each, you can leverage the power of today’s cheap printing (yet high quality) technologies to:

• Print 1,000 postcards to drive traffic to your website ($118)
• Print 1,000 newsletters to brand your company and promote special offers ($350)
• Print 1,000 invitation cards to get attendees to your sales event ($125)
• Print 1,000 brochures to brand your business and deliver introductory discounts ($335)
• Print 1,000 flyers to do all of these things at once ($164 for 2,500)

Even if it costs you $200 to $300 to mail your materials, a total $650 investment is a dirt-cheap way to reach 1,000 well-targeted customers: assuming a 1 percent sales rate (10 sales) and a profit-per-sale of $100, you would yield at least a $350 profit. For a postcard campaign, your profit would be even higher at around $580.

I’m not opposed to the yellow pages – not at all – but you have to be aggressive when it comes to establishing your business as the No. 1 choice for your target audience. Passive marketing might get a few sales, but aggressive marketing creates captains of industry.

Think: What if you printed 10,000 instead of 1,000?

Image use Creative Commons license via Flickr.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

An invitation printing disaster occurs when someone says…

… “I sent the file over in 72 dpi.”

… “Why doesn’t my RGB color look good on paper?”

… “Safe area? What’s a safe area?”

… “No, we don’t need a proof.”

… “I figured you could convert it for me”

… “I need 25,000 of them tomorrow”

… “Just go ahead and draw up whatever you think.”

… “What date is printed on those?”

… “It doesn’t matter what kind of paper you use.”

… “Do it the cheapest way possible.”

… “Is hors d’oeuvre spelled right?”

… “Hey, it’s 2010 now…”

Do you have any good stories about invitation printing gone wrong? Share them here!

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.