Every company, large and small needs to project an image from newsletters to corporate colors to sympathy green America! We've listed a number of general articles for your review. Please click on an article title below and read on!
• Design a Profitable Newsletter
• Discover the Power of Color
• Give your Company an Image Makeover
• Headline that Delivers is your Best Friend, a
• Knowing Vitals Reduces Print Emergencies
• Office Recycling Saves America's Resources
• Printing Etymologies
• Sharpen Your Image
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Design a Profitable Newsletter
| Newsletters provide a great tool to generate more business. Yet, like all other toots,
they only work when used properly. Many companies never determine what it wilt take to
make a successful newsletter, they just start producing one. Consequently, they don't
achieve the results they want. According to Timothy R. Hardin Ph.D., a newsletter consultant, "You can color a page with pigment, but you can also color it with perception." This issue will show you tools and techniques that will affect your readers' perceptions and the sales value of your newsletter. |
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Create a Successful Newsletter
Determine your Purpose
Why are you producing a newsletter? Perhaps you want to attract prospects, inform
existing customers of new developments or improve teamwork with your employees. Your
purpose will depend largely on your audience and what message you wish to convey to them.
Setting measurable, realistic and timely goals will help you use your newsletter as a
tool.
Define or Identify your Audience
How old is your audience? What are your readers' interests? What will help them do
their jobs better? To whom will you send your newsletter (e.g. prospects, current
customers, suppliers)? Suppliers are often over-looked, yet they are one of the best
resources for information and networking.
Maintain a Regular Schedule
Sending your newsletter on a consistent basis tells your customers that you deliver.
\"en possible, determine your production schedule before sending out the first issue.
Having a schedule makes it easier to stick to one. Many newsletters are sent on a monthly
basis. Others are sent quarterly. Determine the production schedule and distribution
method(s), then stick to them.
Write with Integrity
The accuracy and quality of writing gives your readership a picture of the accuracy
and quality of your company. Unfortunately, typos and poor sentence structure or word
usage can adversely affect perceptions about your company.
Use a range of articles that addresses your entire readership. Creating this range sometimes requires the help of guest writers.
How well you proofread your piece also reflects directly on your integrity Make sure you have at least two people proof your articles. Let contributing writers know that their submissions will be proofed and edited.
Involve your Audience
Whether you're writing a simple employee newsletter or an elaborate eight-page
customer newsletter, involving your audience is the key to your success. Readers can be a
valuable source of information.
Find out what topics interest them. Ask them for suggestions. Give customers every opportunity to raise questions or concerns they have about past or future articles. Have employees record the most commonly asked questions and the best answers.
Make it easy for customers to contribute their ideas. You could place a suggestion box in the front of your office. You could also include a short, fax-back questionnaire in each of your newsletters. Make sure your company name, phone number, address, fax and e-mail address (if appropriate) are prominently displayed in your news, letter.
Customer contests or time limited discounts provide an excellent way to draw customers to your location. Contests, coupons and other involvement devices can easily be included in any issue of your newsletter.
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Establish Editorial Boards Hardin suggests establishing an editorial advisory board and a reactionary group. The purpose of these groups is to maintain the focus of your publication and to help ensure that the needs of your entire readership are met. The editorial board should consist of an in-charge person, a production person and a person who assists with production. The board should meet weekly. The reactionary group should consist of a variety of business professionals and recipients of your newsletter. The group should meet every 2-3 months. |
If you don't have the time to set these up, survey your readership at random. At the very least make sure two people read each newsletter: one person who is technically proficient on the topic and one who is a good writer but doesn't know your subject.
Design for Readability
Several factors will dramatically improve readability. Evaluate your typefaces. There
are two main typefaces: serif and sans serif. Serif has little stands on each letter and
sans serif does not. The generally accepted design rule is to use serif for body type and
sans serif for headlines.
Make sure headlines tell your readers the benefits they will receive from reading the corresponding articles. Increase readability by tying your graphics to your headlines. The combination of headlines and graphics grabs your customers' attention and helps them determine whether or not to read the corresponding articles. It also guides your reader through the page. Use articles and photographs that reflect the interests of your entire audience, not just a portion of it.
Designers have discovered that a "Z" pattern is the most effective way to arrange your page. Catch the readers' eyes by starting with a dominant image such as a drop cap on the left, then a graphic on the right, then a subhead on the left, etc.
Many writing and editing books provide formulas to calculate readability. These formulas can help you write for the level of your audience.
Generate Hundreds of Article Ideas
Keep a notebook of article ideas. Periodically brainstorm additional topics to add to the
list. Sometimes you can link a series of article ideas into a topical or thematic issue.
Compare the article ideas to your editorial mission. Do they fit? Are there any types of
articles you need to add? Are you repeating the same subject matter?
Apply Creativity
One of the best ways to attract your readers is by adding a little creativity. Some of
the tools and techniques you might use include: clip art, stock photos (generic
photographs you obtain from a company) and cartoons. Keep in mind that most cartoons have
copyrights.
There are also many special techniques including pull quotes (call outs), drop caps, white space, subheads, and arrows. If you need some help spicing up your newsletter, just call us. We'll be glad to help you.
Swipe & Test
Steal from the best. Look at things you like and mimic them. Make sure you get
permission if something you like is copyrighted. Gather designs you think might work well
for your newsletter.
Encourage Sharing and Saving
Print a "route to" box on the newsletter. This will help make sure that
anyone who makes buying decisions will see it. It is also a good way for a company to make
the best use of information.
Another way to encourage sharing and saving is by drilling holes in the sides of the pages so that all the newsletters can be kept in a binder.
Close your eyes and imagine opening a brand new box of crayons. The colors fill your eyes and excite something deep inside you. It's something we all feel. Color has power. No one who can see colors can ignore them.
While there are people and companies who claim that using color in business documents is expensive and unnecessary, history doesn't support this. In the mid-sixties, for example, when the NBC television network made a commitment to broadcasting in color, CBS made a public statement that "color television is just another fad." Of course, NBC had to make this commitment - RCA, their parent company, was a pioneer in the development of color television. But as it turned out, it was the right move. Today, despite their higher cost, more than 90% of all televisions sold are color.
People want color. They respond to it. That's why magazine and television advertisements are almost always in color. In fact, a black and white ad stands out-it's unusual. But even though a black and white ad does stand out under some circumstances, tests show that people are still less likely to remember its content. They only remember that it was black and white.
Color and Light
How can you start using color? We can help you put in a block here and some background there. Even a small splash of color can add enormously to customer response. But to really use color, you need to understand how it works and how you can use it.
With the cost of computing dropping as it has in the last few years, more and more companies are hiring their own people to produce color graphics and layouts. Unfortunately, few people realize that a computer screen image or a paper printout often looks completer different than the final, printed page we produce from their dis files.
No, our press operators are not color blind.
But to some extent, computers are. Okay, maybe they're not color blind, but they do see colors very differently than people do. In fact, if you use a computer to produce color output for printing, you'll be using at least three different ways of producing color: your computer's video display, your computer's printer and our presses. Each produces color in a different way.
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Computer monitors produce colors by lighting tiny, colored dots on the inside of the
front of the computer screen. To produce colors, the video display has red, blue and green
dots. By lighting these in the right combinations, your computer can display from hundreds
to millions of colors. And since the monitor produces its own light, the colors are
generally clear and brilliant. Unlike monitors, printed matter is made from reflective materials. In other words, instead of providing their own light source, printed materials reflect the light around them. So when you look at them, you see the ink as well as the white paper behind the ink. |
Generally speaking, reflected colors are not as intense as transmitted colors. So you'll see a significant difference between the screen and a color printout.
The translucent ink of a printing press is chemically different from the transparent ink, dye, toner or wax of a color printer. As such, each of these substances absorbs light in a different way, so what comes from one printer will not necessarily match what comes from another, or what comes off a press. And none of these will precisely match what you see on a computer screen.
One way to get the colors you want is to use the Pantone Matching System" (PMS), a color reference guide. This book contains printed samples of all the ink colors available.
When creating documents using programs like PageMaker, QuarkXpress, Adobe Illustrator and Freehand, you can specify the Pantone colors you want to use from the Pantone libraries included with the programs. Check your user manual for directions on accessing them. These colors will then be separated in process plates, or spot colors, depending on what you have specified. A spot color is an ink chosen from the PMS book. Process printing, on the other hand, uses only four inks (CMYK) that combine on the page to make potentially hundreds of colors.
Ready to give up? Please don't. All you need are the tools to use color correctly. And that is precisely what we'll cover in the rest of this newsletter. Remember, color is power. Use it correctly, and your message will carry far more impact.
Here's a short list of what you'll need to know:
Color matching:
Making what you see on your screen match what our presses will produce.
Trapping:
A technique that slightly overprints adjacent colors to help camouflage
misregistration. Traps are created by either
choking the background or spreading the foreground object. The lighter color is enlarged
so that it overprints the darker color, preserving the visual edge of the object.
Color proofing:
A simulation of the final color of a four color process job. There are many types of
proofs, Color keys, Matchprints" and Cromalins" to name a few.
Give Your Company An Image Makeover
| Whether it's on a business card, your stationery, an advertisement or even an invoice,
the symbol that most clearly represents your company is your logo. Most successful
companies have logos that immediately tell people who they are and what they do. Take a
look at figure I - 1. Each image is clear, bold, and leaves no doubt about the nature of
the company behind it. What makes these symbols so effective? How can you create a logo that will work as well for your company? |
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The first thing that you need to do is decide how you want people to see your company. Take a look at the logo for At's Auto Repair (figure 1-2). In designing this logo, Al decided that he wanted to be very conservative. He wanted his customers to think of his company as steady and reliable so he chose a logo that was really nothing more than his company name and address, printed in a small, clear font. |
You can check to see if a logo works by squinting your eyes when you look at it. The idea is that you want to be able to see the shape of the image but not read the words. Can you tell that this is the logo of an auto repair shop? Does the image convey "solid and reliable?"
In a word, no. It conveys almost nothing.
Al was so concerned about being conservative that he neglected to make any statement at all. What he has is an address label.
| Now take a look at the logo for Sparkle Records (figure 1-3). The owners of Sparkle
wanted their customers to think of them as being very hip. And since they started the
company in 1966, the tie-dyed background for their logo seemed perfect. The trouble is,
this made their logo so busy it actually obscured the company name. Sparkle Records and Al's Garage each want to improve their image. In the rest of this article, we'll be looking at what they did. |
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But before you read on, stop and think about the image you want for your company. Then take a look at your own logo-squint. Does your logo give the right message? If you're not sure, don't worry. Most people can't tell right away. Really ((seeing" your logo takes a lot of practice, but it's worth it. The right logo can make a huge difference in the way people think about you and your work.
Repairing Al's Auto Repair
Take another look at the logo for Al's Auto Repair. What images come to mind when you think of auto repair? Most people think of inconvenience and large bills. To draw customers, Al wanted to counter these thoughts. And since Al prides himself in providing fast, lowcost service, that's the message he decided to put into his company logo.
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Before we go any further, you should know that in general, it's a bad idea to try to
say more than one thing graphically. Putting two elements into a graphic will almost
always reduce the impact of both. So Al decided to use just one graphic element in his
logo. Since he wanted everyone to think of his service first, he decided to concentrate on
the image of quick, reliable service. These logos both show customers what Al does: auto repair. To choose the best one, Al needed to think about what each says. Although Al liked the simplicity of the first logo, he was concerned about the image of being "broken down. |
| Since he had gotten into auto repair because he liked working with tools, Al was really drawn to the second logo the most-at first. But then he decided that people looking at it might think that he ran a tool store. In the end, Al decided to use the firs logo, adding only one thing: a line a the bottom stating, "Fast, Low Cost Service. |  |
Putting the Sparkle back into Sparkle Records
Sparkle Records had a number of problems. First of all, unless they wanted to attract only people looking for "oldies," the tie-dyed/ bubble, text look had to be updated. Also, they needed to make a small change to the name of the company. Sparkle hadn't sold a record in nearly two years. Everything new was released on CDS.
So the first thing the owners did was change the company name. They decided to call it Sparkle Music. Not a big change. Their customers will still know who they are, but this small change brought them into the nineties.
The next thing they did was reexamine their company. Why did they name it Sparkle in the first place? What did they want their customers to thin of when they thought of Sparkle Music?
Melissa, the senior partner remembered thinking that "sparkling" was the way her favorite music made her feel. That's why she liked the name. And both partners agreed that when their customers think of Sparkle Music, they want them to think about how their music makes them feel. Sparkle is not a discount store. Instead, they offer EVERYTHING musical. They have classical, rock and oldies as well as all of the current hits. And at least once a month, they invite musicians to come into the store for autographs and music. Melissa says that they want to give their customers the feeling that they are "inside" the music scene. They've decorated the store a lot like Planet Hollywood" and they wanted their logo to have a similar feel.
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 In the end, the owners narrowed their choices to two logos (See Figure 1-6). |
In this case, the owners chose logo #2 (See Figure 1-7). And like Al's Auto Repair, Sparkle added a line to the bottom of their logo. Theirs says: "All Your Music, All the Time."
A Headline That Delivers Is Your Best Friend
| What kind of product or service information do you usually read? Like your customers,
you probably look for information that benefits you. The selling of your products or
services hinges on benefits. It relies on materials that hook your readers immediately. Remember, the first thing your readers see is a headline. Choose headlines that will intrigue, entice or raise interest. Surprise potential buyers. Ask a question. Tell them how to do something. Provide an update. Most important, deliver what your headlines promise. |
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Headlines and subheads lead readers through your piece and entice them to continue reading. They function like direction signs on a freeway. People often ignore signs that are small, poorly printed or dimly lit. However, signs that are bright and clear draw attention immediately. In the same way, strong headlines attract readers while weak headlines repel them.
Following the "What's In It for Me" formula, create attention-getting headlines that offer specific benefits. "On average, five times as many people read headlines as read body copy," says David Ogilvy, a leading advertising executive and author of Ogilvy on Advertising.
10 Secrets for Great Headlines
Most newsletter recipients immediately scan the headlines to see what's in the issue and which stories interest them. Since you have only a few seconds to help readers form an opinion of your piece, it is very important to use headlines that grab their attention. The Newsletter Editor's Desk Book offers the following tips for developing stronger headlines.
1. Use Active Voice. The dynamic active voice saves words. "Man Bites Dog" is livelier than "Dog is Bitten By Man." Use the passive voice, however, if the active voice will delay the essential news. "Pay Hike OK'd By Board" puts the real subject, the core news, first, while "Board OKs Pay Hike" does not.
2. Use Present Tense. To convey a feeling of immediacy, write headlines in the present tense, even if the story reports something that happened in the recent past. Write "Robber Flees" rather than "Robber Fled."
3. Be Concise. Use short words. Avoid "to be" verbs and omit articles (a, an, the), when possible. Avoid abbreviations. In the headline, "Salesman Wins Trip To LV," readers may not realize that LV stands for Las Vegas.
4. Make Positive Statements. State negative information in a positive way. "No Action Taken On Ruling By Pacifists" would be better written "Pacifists Decline To Act On Ruling."
5. Be Specific. Use precise words. "Editor Names Employee-of-the-Month" communicates a more concrete idea than does "Woman Named Employee-of-the-Month." If readers know the editor, replace editor with a name.
6. Avoid Confusing Line Divisions. Don't divide hyphenated words or words that go together from one line to the next. Keep your line lengths similar-don't have one line with ten words and the next line with one word.
7. Use Important Numbers Only. Except for one, numbers in headlines should be written as numerals.
8. Avoid Overuse of Contrived Headlines. While puns, rhymes and alliteration catch attention, overuse can rob your news of its seriousness.
9. Be Impartial. Watch words that color a headline's meaning or reflect the writer's opinion. Words like "denies" or "claims" have connotations that may misrepresent the facts.
10. Be Accurate. A headline that sums up a speech must include attribution. Part of the news is the name of the newsmaker.
10 More Ways to Improve Readability
1. Use Names. Since names make the news, when appropriate, make the names the first
part of the headline. Readers are interested when people, organizations or companies they
know accomplish something.
2. Tie Headlines to Graphics. Graphics are used to help your readers focus on the topic of the article. Headlines and graphics guide readers through your piece. When headlines and graphics aren't related, readers get an unclear picture about the piece and may not read it.
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3. Use Screaming Headlines Sparingly. Sometimes you need a startling headline.
However, if this technique is used too much, headlines lose impact. For example, if you
use the headline "Scientist Makes Life Changing Discovery" every time you do a
medical story related to discoveries, the words life and changing lose their meanings. 4. Avoid Unconnected Headlines. The effectiveness of headlines is largely judged by how well they guide readers into articles. Always connect headlines with lead sentences. |
5. Avoid Headlines in All Caps. Headlines printed in all caps are hard to read. It takes the readers' eyes longer to adjust.
6. Spell Carefully. Keep your readers from stumbling over typographical errors. These errors often prevent them from reading further.
7. Headlines That Don't Deliver. Give your readers what you promise. A headline that promises 62 ways to save on your grocery bill, but delivers only 20 is disappointing and misleading.
8. Use Sans Serif Type for Headlines. There are two main kinds of type. Serif type has short lines that appear at the tops and bottoms of letters. This helps move the readers' eyes from one place to another. Most designers recommend this type for body copy. Sans serif, popular for headlines, contains no lines on the tops or bottoms of letters.
9. Use Trigger Words or Hot Buttons. Stir your readers to action through selective word choice. According to David Ogilvy, "tried and true words like amazing, introducing, now and suddenly still work." Ogilvy on Advertising (Random House, $15.95).
Timothy R. Hardin, Ph.D., a newsletter consultant and Pagett Thomas workshop presenter, suggests these words as hot buttons: save, new, results, quality, service, health, love, safety, proven, guarantee, free, easy and discover.
If you have a very specific target audience, you may want to get their attention by the words you use in your headline. For example, the words cancer, stamp collectors and doctors all attract specific audiences. Specifics could also include the name of a city or a number.
Ogilvy says, "When you put your headline in quotes, you increase recall by an average of 28%."
Office Recycling Saves America's Resources
| Do you enjoy a worthwhile challenge? If so, we encourage you to join The Walt Disney Company and several other Fortune 500 companies in "The Challenge," a national office paper recycling program organized by The National Office Paper Recycling Project (The Project). The Project asks participants to do three things: collect office waste paper, purchase recycled paper products and begin an educational program for employees. |  |
All across the Magic Kingdom, employees and visitors experience the effects of the "Jiminy Cricket's I've Got Environmentality" campaign. Disney's office paper is magically recycled into paper towels and tissues used throughout the park. Toon Town acorns and Disneyland Hotel room keys get recycled too.
Recognizing The Walt Disney Company's commitment to the buying and reusing of recycled paper, The Project awarded The Walt Disney Company, "The 1995 Grand Challenge Award." This award is the highest honor an organization can win for exemplifying successful workplace recycling.
According to CYCLER, Waste Management's walking, talking robot made from recycled materials, "At least 75% of what we throw away at work can be recycled. That's enough paper to fill twenty-two Empire State buildings in one year!"
Paper Industry Sets New Goal
During the last few years paper manufacturers, environmentalists, business people and the government have worked together to improve recycling in America. Cooperation between these groups led to the early achievement of the paper industry's 40% paper recovery goal that was achieved in late 1993, two years ahead of schedule.
A new goal calls for 50% recovery of all paper Americans use in the year 2,000. According to the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), when this goal is achieved, about twice as much paper will be recovered in America as will be sent to landfills. Achieving the 50% goal will require teamwork from all Americans. It will involve millions of citizens recycling at home and at work.
We must follow several steps to assure the success of our country's recycling efforts. In its brochure titled 50% Paper Recovery: A New Goal for a New Century, the AF&PA presents a list of things that must happen for this goal to be realized:
1) Paper recovery programs must continue to grow.
2) U.S. paper manufacturers must increase their capacity to recycle paper.
3) Our government must continue to allow a market driven, recovery-based approach to recycling.
4) Consumers must continue to demand recycled and recycled-content paper an paperboard products.
Discover New Resources
During the Depression, Americans learned how to use their imaginations to maximize the resources they had. Now we must do the same with paper. One innovator provides three alternatives to papers created with wood fibers: sea-weed paper, tree-free paper and corn paper. All three provide suitable colors and patterns for designing. Sea-weed and corn paper are also acid-free, biodegradable and completely recyclable.
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Soybean Oil Ink alternatives are also gaining popularity. The most common alternative is soy-based ink. It offers several benefits including brighter color, without all the harmful volatile organic compounds (VOC's) contained in traditional oil-based ink. |
The Environmental Protection Agency's growing requirements on volatile organic compounds (VOC's) contained in traditional oil-based ink are resulting in more resourceful ink manufacturers.
Consider the following benefits of soy ink listed in the March issue of Gans Inklink Telesales Newsletter:
• Super low VOC's
• Ozone friendly
• Yields crops for U.S. farmers
• Beans, a renewable resource
• Environmentally friendly
• American made
• No extra charge
According to the Iowa Soybean Promotion Board, one of the most unusual and environmentally beneficial aspects of soybean oil is that it's edible. You can find soybean oil sold as Wesson Oil, Crisco Oil and other vegetable and cooking oils. It is also used as a base for margarine, mayonnaise and salad dressings.
When you print with soy ink, you can use the soy seal on your printing. In addition, using a product grown and manufactured in the U.S. shows your support of America's farming community.
Unbleached Paper
Have you ever wondered what gives white papers their brightness? The answer is bleach. While bleach may make paper look nice, the bleaching process produces chemicals called organochlorines. One of these, dioxin, is very toxic.
According to "Reach For Unbleached," a brochure distributed by The Campaign for Environmentally Sound Paper compiled by Washingto Citizens for Recycling, "Using paper whitened in a non-chlorine process-or not bleached at all, can protect our health, and local environment, benefit our state economy and protect water quality and the health of marin life."
Aquarius, made by Cross Pointe, is the first U.S. made writing, text and cover paper created without adding chlorine of any kind. It is also recycled. Aquarius offers the advantages of processed chlorine free and recycled paper while saving landfill space and reducing harmful dioxins in our air, waterways, wildlife and in our own bodies. Aquarius papers are lasercompatible and recyclable. They are available in a variety of colors.
How many who sit down to do desktop publishing ever consider the origin of the terms and expressions they use? How many terms with a solid heritage in printing have been misused and have lost the connection to their ancestry?
Here are a few terms with roots deep in the craft of type and typesetting:
The Boldface Lie - Presumably the lie knowingly told in print because it was printed for emphasis in a bold type.
Dumping type - To move type from one place to another
Font - Old French, To found or pour as in metal casting
Hot Off the Press - The cry of newsboys on the street corner as the latest papers still retained the warmth of the heat from the ink dryer. (Have you ever wondered why the cry, "Hot off the copy machine," hasn't caught on?)
Leading - Spacing between lines actually consisted of thin strips of lead. Lines without the additional "leading" were set solid.
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"Mind your "p's and q's" - The expression comes from the mixing
of the wrong reading of metal types such as lower case p, q, b, and d. In other words a p
would look like a d and a b like a q if placed upside down in type trays. These types were
called "demon letters." Out of Sorts - Odd or irregular type cuts or spaces. Supposedly a typesetter "out of sorts" had a bad attitude as well. |
Pi Type - Unusual types, not of a regular font. Pi Sheng invented printing in
China, centuries before Gutenberg. It is supposed that in an off-hand attempt to honor Pi
any unfamiliar or unique character was given the status of a Chinese character or Pi type.
Any spilled or jumbled type was also called a
49 printer's Pi".
Putting the Paper to Bed - Newspaper term for the completion of typesetting and page makeup. When the pressman got the locked up type forms or plates he secured them to the bed of the press.
Quad - Metal blank spaces used to fill out a line of type, thus we can quad a line to the left which means the same as flush left or neat left.
Standing Type - Type that was preset and ready to be printed. Metal foundry type had a two part base called the feet of the type. Type, set and stored in a metal galley tray, was "Standing" and ready to be printed.
Type - From the Latin, "Typus" meaning image, Greek "Typos" meaning blow or impression, French "Typtetin" meaning strike or beat.
Upper Case and Lower Case - The original type cases were divided into one compartment for the capitals and one for the minuscule letters. The capital case was raised above the case for the smaller letters. Hence "upper case and lower case".
"Type is one of the most eloquent means of expression in every epoch of style. Next to architecture, it gives the most characteristic portrait of a period and the most severe testimony of a nation's intellectual status."
- Peter Behrens
Archaic Printing Terms
Slang terms, acronyms, abbreviations and technical terms make up the printer's vocabulary. To the layman "shooting, stripping, and burning" bring up entirely different mental images than to the printer. Sometimes the confusion can be humorous. This was true 100 years ago as much as it is today.
The words and abridged definitions below were taken from the American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking printed in 1894. They were selected at random for their present obscurity, poetic ring, or in this writer's opinion, the humorous mental image they conjure.
Alligator Press - A job press used between 1845 and 1860. "It closed the tympan and platen very rapidly and often seriously injured the feeder." (Ouch!)
Beating - To apply ink to a form by means of inking balls.
Old Pelt - An old pressman.
Out of Truth - A book that is not cut square.
Out of His Time - An apprentice who has completed his apprenticeship.
Mackle - An accidental double impression or image on a press sheet.
Mutton Fist - The pointing hand used to draw attention. It is similar to the "return to sender" stamp used by the post office.
Mutton Thumper - A bad workman.
Naked Form - A form of type waiting for or stripped of the wooden furniture that held it in place on the press.
Note of Admiration - An old name for an exclamation mark.
Polling Backwards - A typesetter who intentionally works slowly.
Polyautography - Printing one's own handwriting from a lithographic stone.
Scabby - Uneven or rotten color in printing.
Short Sort - Type that is about to run out.
Twicer - A term of contempt for a person who professes to work both as a typesetter and press operator. This term applied when there was severe competition between the pressroom and composing room.
Unfair Fonts - Foundry type that is very thin. It took more letters to fill a page so the compositor had to work harder for his wages.
Wetting Down - The process of wetting paper in water prior to printing. Printing papers sometimes had a rough surface and the process of wetting allowed the metal type to make a better impression.
Working in Pocket - Typesetters who worked on a job together and split the pay equally.
Wayzgoose - A holiday or party for the benefit of the printers. Another name for a printer's party was "beanfest".
Keeping your organization on the leading edge of your industry directly affects your success. It attracts employees and customers to your organization. When your company maintains a sharp looking image it communicates a commitment to meeting customer needs and to leadership in your industry.
| Look Inside Listening to employees provides great insight. When employees are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas without intimidation, it enhances brainstorming sessions and often triggers successful ideas. Understanding the concerns of fellow employees and what it takes for them to solve your customers' problems is important also. It helps ensure that you can offer all the benefits listed on your printed materials. When those in management understand how each job functions in the company and how that may affect them, they can manage more efficiently. |
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Look Outside
Listen to your customers. What do they value most? What do they like and dislike about your business or organization? How can you make their jobs easier? What problems or worries keep them awake at night? The answers to these questions will tell you what benefits to highlight in your printed materials and on your sales calls.
Listen to your vendors. As you know, what happens with your vendors can have a significant effect on your business. For example, upcoming changes in the postal service will dramatically affect the way many companies handle their mailings. Keeping current on what's happening in related industries will keep your customers informed.
Stay Current
Share what you team with other employees. Keep them current on the latest and best products and services available to your customers.
Frequently and seriously ask the questions: "What are we doing?" and "Why are we doing it?"
Stay Sharp Mentally
Staying sharp also requires mental sharpness on the part of all employees. In our busy lives, it is easy to grow dull mentally. Take time to read the latest business books. Find books that will help you design and write better. Though these take time to read, the techniques will save you time and money. Try to read at least one new business book every three months. Read to expand your understanding. If you're not sure where to start, we can recommend some helpful books.
Work As A Team
Train employees about the importance of working as a team. Sometimes the sales and marketing departments of companies don't work together and neither department ends up being as successful as it could be. In many companies brochures and other direct mail pieces are treated as givens that a company needs, yet they are underutilized as sales tools. All employees need to understand how promotional materials tie into the overall sales of your product or service and how they can use the literature to their advantage when talking to customers.
Don't be afraid to change policies, procedures, precedents or your printed materials. According to Peter Drucker, 'Every organization has to prepare for the abandonment of everything it does. Without this flexibility, companies get stuck in ruts and leave themselves vulnerable to fast-moving start ups and innovative competition.'
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Another Perspective Staying sharp takes vision. You must constantly evaluate where things are at and where they're going. Printed materials provide a powerful tool to communicate a company's vision. Look at printed materials through the eyes of the receivers. Do they clearly communicate the benefits of your product or service? Do they introduce a unique selling proposition |
Find out what pressing problems your customers have and offer them solutions. Customers should read your materials saying," I want that "(e.g. an increase in sales or a better appearance).
10 Ways To Sharpen Your Image
1. Review and redesign often.
The postal business center is a great resource for fresh perspectives on design tips,
printing and postage. Reviewing and redesigning pieces with the help of their consultants
and ours will ensure that you produce effective pieces.
2. Create a "swipe" file.
Keep any direct mail or other promotional materials that grab your attention. Notice which
pieces compel you to act. Take sharp ideas and make them even sharper.
3. Evaluate your typestyles.
Are there too many typestyles? Too few? Does the piece have the right look (e.g. modem,
traditional)? Does it give the impression of a company which is on the leading edge? Why
or why not? Is your logo current? Does it represent today's culture or does it give the
impression that your organization is behind the times?
4. Apply special design techniques.
Use design techniques that help reader's eyes flow across each page. Underlining draws the
reader's attention to the most important points only and helps simplify your message. Make
sure if you are underlining that the reader can jump from one underlined phrase to another
without getting lost. Other design elements you can use are bullet points, white space,
bleeds and reverses. There are also special processes you can apply to your printing
including: die cutting, thermography and embossing.
5. Highlight benefits.
Determine which benefits your customers most need or want. Then, highlight these benefits
1 and let your customers know how these benefits will help solve their hardest problems.
6. Interact with your customers.
Whether it's a creatively cropped photo that gets them to take a second glance, an offer
that gets them to call you or a contest that persuades them to fill out a survey or write
to your company, an interactive device will give your pieces more mileage. Such devices
persuade customers and prospects to respond.
7. Instill a sense of urgency with envelopes.
When using envelopes, spur the receivers to open them. Print a message on the outside that
will sway receivers to open the envelopes immediately. Some attention getting messages
include: " Respond by (date),,, "Limited Time Offer," "You could be
saving 500 per day." You can use any message that communicates the urgent need to
open the envelope.
8. Persuade through testimonials.
Testimonials provide one of the best methods to attract new customers. When possible, use
names that are familiar to a wide group of people. If this is not possible, explain the
similarity between the person you have a testimonial from and the audience to whom the
piece is being sent.
9. Write with crisp, action-packed words.
Action verbs add energy to a piece. They make it exciting to read. Choose powerful verbs.
Readers should be abl to get the whole story by quickly glancing through underlined
sections.
10. Customize, Customize, Customize.
The more personal you can make things the better. Write for your specific audience. If you
use a canned publication or one where you're dropping in your logo, make sure something
about that piece reflects your company even if its just printed in the company's colors.
Knowing Vitals Reduces Print Emergencies
| When EMT's rush to an accident, the first thing they check on a patient is vital
signs. Similarly, when we receive an order, the first thing we check is the job's vitals.
These include your deadlines, quantities, colors, photographs, graphics, paper stock and
any other important details about your job. Giving us your vitals in advance helps avoid unnecessary rushes. When you call us and tell us all the details of your job in advance, we can make sure we have the correct stock to run the job, and we can schedule production time and give you more accurate cost estimates. |
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We want to be there for you when you need us most. However, rushes on both of our parts can lead to careless mistakes and unnecessary stress that can usually be avoided by better planning.
Often customers call frantically because they are down to their last sheet of letterhead; they have an important out of town business meeting in two days and they're all out of business cards or they need to release an announcement to the press, but they'll need more press releases to do it. Everyone who has experienced this type of stress can understand the importance of planning.
If a plan exists, there is a direction for people to follow. Much like a road map, a printing plan takes into account all possible detours, warning signs, delays, etc.
Start with an inventory of your current printed materials. Make sure one person is in charge of keeping the inventory. When someone needs an item, they should let the person keeping inventory know. This way your company always has an accurate count of all printed materials. Mark your second to last box of letterhead, envelopes and business cards with a reminder slip. If you call us when you reach the slip, we can print more of the item before you run out completely.
When creating a new promotion or printed item, start with a plan. Determine what you want to create and all the steps that will be involved in creating it. The checklist below will help you. Please ask our customer service representatives if you have any questions.
Any time you want something printed, review the checklist below. You'll save yourself time and in many cases, money. When we know exactly what you want and all the steps involved, we can give you an accurate projection of how long it will take and how much it will cost. Ask yourself the following questions:
Initial Review
1. If this job is a reorder, have I carefully reviewed my artwork to make sure there are no changes? Have I gotten rid of any obsolete printing so I cannot hand you an old piece of artwork by mistake? Have I also let you know about any artwork that should be removed or destroyed (e.g. an old address, old name)?
2. If this is a new order, have I discussed the project with you before designing it? I understand that discussing it first may save me time and money in the long run. Some designers create beautiful pieces that have to be scrapped because they are too expensive to mail or they end up being over budget. Our customer service representative can help you find a design that will fit your budget.
Pre-press
1. Have I submitted camera-ready copy or a disk? If I have not, I understand that I will incur extra time and charges for typesetting.
2. Do I know what fonts I want to use for my project?
3. Have I included all fonts and graphics for my project on my disk?
4. I understand that photographs will require halftones and that if I'm going from color pictures to black and white ones, certain images may not turn out. I also understand that I will incur extra charges for halftones for each of the pictures.
Printing
1. Do I know what the finished piece should look like?
2. Do I know what paper color and type I want to use?
3. Have I brought in an example of what I want?
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Factoring in Extra Time When planning any printing project, keep in mind the factors that require extra time. The main factors include: drying time, bindery, mailing and specialty processes. |
Drying Time
Sometimes customers make a rough estimate of how long a job should take to print, but they forget drying time. Any time a job is printed on two sides, has bleeds (ink running off the edge of a page) or is run on slow drying paper, it will take us extra time to get it to you. If we were to rush and put such a job into a box, the pages could offset. This means that the image from one page could transfer to the page above it.
Most jobs should sit for a minimum of four hours. Drying time can increase or decrease depending on weather changes.
Bindery
Each bindery process adds another step to the job's production. So, when a job needs to be collated, folded, scored, perforated, stapled or bound it requires extra time.
Mailing
Make sure you've taken into account the mailing time and requirements involved. Do you plan to send your piece at bulk rate or first class? Certain size and shape requirements must be followed to receive mailing discounts.
Specialty Processes
Thermography, foil stamping, die cutting and embossing add beautiful, eye-catching effects to printing, but they require extra time. It is also important to know that thermography, foil stamping, die cutting and embossing are much slower processes than plain offset printing.
It's always a good idea to include a few extra days when planning a print project. We cannot foresee things like paper mill time lines, back orders, and delivery scheduling. Just as in every other business, planning ahead and allowing a few extra days can make print planning profitable and easier. Make sure your time frame allows for proofreading of the job and corrections if you have any.
Meeting Your Expectations
We understand that emergencies will still come up from time to time, but hopefully you'll now be better prepared to deal with them. We want to give you what you want, but unless we know what that is, it's sometimes hard to do. Letting us know exactly what you want eliminates ambiguity.
Your expectations need to be known and the best way to convey them is to fax, mail or hand deliver samples you have seen in the past that reflect the image you want to express. If you have ever had someone send you something you admired (e.g. an invitation, a brochure or an advertisement that is inspirational), keeping it on file can be useful.
A sample provides everyone involved in your printing order with the essential link in the equation of "what+what=customer satisfaction." When in doubt make an appointment. Call us. We'd be glad to consult you on your order.
Remember when planning a printing job you can never be too specific or ask too many questions. If you think you sound like a 911 operator checking for vitals, you're on the right track.
When you understand the processes involved in making your job a reality, you can plan your printing with confidence. A little advance planning will help you get great results in a timely manner.
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3031 West Burbank Boulevard, Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 840-8013 • (818) 842-5167 • Fax (818) 840-8014
E-mail: info@burbankprint.com
