An attache at the Embassy of Chile, who had just taken delivery of several thousand perfect-bound books for the ambassador, called me and said that the entire book printing run had “wavy” text. The covers were flat, but the text blocks were consistently rippled. I hopped in a cab and went right over.
I recently emailed a client to follow up on a book printing project. I hoped, and expected, to hear good things. Unfortunately, there were three problems with the books:
Not that long ago, when your custom printing supplier delivered your job, you received 500, 1,000, or 10,000 copies that were all the same. This is called “static printing,” since the output is fixed, rather than variable. It has served us well since Gutenberg invented movable type. However, direct mail companies that have sent the same brochure to all prospects have historically received about a three percent return. Only a few prospects have turned into clients. Part of this has been due to the generic nature of the printed direct mail. There was nothing personal to distinguish the printed pieces recipients found in their mailboxes.
A custom printing service I work with stepped up today and put quality above profit. Although I was not surprised, I was pleased. I had received samples of a single-page brochure printing job that would be a companion piece for a pocket-folder and step-down card package for a client.
I found about 75 beautifully printed fold-over cards on good quality cover stock at a discount store this weekend. Unfortunately all the flaps of the custom envelopes had stuck to the envelopes. So I had perfectly good cards and no way to send them to clients.
I met a potential new client at an art opening this weekend. We discussed an upcoming book printing run. She wants to produce a 5” x 5” case-bound book of her photographs. I started thinking about how to approach this new job prior to our upcoming meeting to determine how I might be most helpful. First off, I asked her to start collecting book printing samples that she likes, with formats, sizes, and materials she thinks most closely reflect the nature of her photography. Nothing communicates a client's goals for a new project like a physical printed sample. Printing companies can understand and reproduce what they can see. If you're designing a book and are faced with a similar situation, consider these sources for sample books.