Normally I can get coffee table book printing costs for my print brokering clients rather quickly and easily. I work with printing companies of every sort (printing services that specialize in books, large-format banners, marketing collateral, etc.). But a unique project came to me recently that posed challenges, a small book of photographs. The photographer had solicited pricing from various on demand book printing suppliers she had found on the Internet and had opted instead for higher quality and a lower unit price.
Digital printing is making inroads everywhere, and custom label printing is no exception. Not long ago, if you wanted to print custom labels, your best option was to look for printing companies offering flexography (printing with inked, rubber relief plates). Issues to consider included ink rub resistance, and how to imprint individual barcodes or sequential numbering on the labels. Digital printing is an ideal solution, given these requirements, although not all printing companies have this technology yet.
Think of your next brochure printing run as an advertisement. Everything you design and print is really an ad because it presents your company, or your client's company, in a certain positive light. The paper choice, typeface, choice of colors, even the way you fold the brochure, all say something about the values and goals of the company. When potential clients pick up the brochure, they either like it or they don't. If they like it, they read further and ask themselves, “What's in it for me.”
So you have been asked to design a binder and find a three ring binder printing company to manufacture the job. What are your options? Where do you even start? First, separate the job into two components, the binder boards and the rings or posts.
A dramatic poster can take your breath away. Think of the building wraps you have seen covering entire exterior walls of high rises. Even smaller posters, such as those in movie theaters, can touch you deeply. At their simplest level, posters are advertisements for any number of products, services, or lifestyles.
Selecting a custom printing service and approving a contract involve much more than choosing the vendor with the lowest price. Of course, price (as reflected by the total cost of the estimate), and quality (as determined by a review of the book printing vendor's samples and phone interviews with his references) are highly important, but here are a few other considerations. If you look closely, you'll see them in the custom printing estimates or hear them in discussions with printer's representatives. If not, be sure to ask.