An associate of mine is an importer/exporter. He has a source in China for LCD books: small marketing booklets with a video screen imbedded in the inside back cover, along with speakers, volume controls, rechargeable batteries, and all the other components needed to play one or more videos (or replace the videos as needed).
Often as designers and print buyers, we're so focused on the page design or the texture of the press sheet that we forget the physical properties of the custom printing paper itself. Here are some thoughts on paper folding and scoring, two elements of your print job that will be essential, but invisible to the reader, if done correctly.
Periodically I get a copy of This Is Ed from the NewPage Corporation, a paper manufacturer. I'm a voracious reader of anything related to printing technology, particularly when it's free. And as a paper manufacturer, NewPage goes to great lengths to showcase its paper products through educational publications.
My fiancee and I installed an animatronic standee tonight for Walking with Dinosaurs. The standee comprised an 8-foot by 10-foot by 3-foot box covered in printed foliage. At the center of the structure, a huge, three-dimensional dinosaur eye peered out of the flora. An internal motor made the eyeball shift back and forth in a natural—and perhaps slightly eerie—manner.
Here are a few things to consider when designing customized pocket folders. Some of these ideas will save you money while providing a quality product. Others will work subconsciously on your clients and prospects to give a sense of luxury and expense to your custom pocket folders.
My fiancee just bought a Kid Connection Animal Songs book for her seventeen-month-old grandson. When I saw the book, which had been printed in 2002, I couldn't help but laugh. It was clearly one of the precursors of the LCD video book I had just reviewed in the PIE Blog.