Tips, tricks and advice for advertising management and print production.
Jennifer | 3:38 pm | January 21, 2008 | budgets, ads, prepress, process, workflow, planning, plan, General
All of your electronic artwork - support files, final ads, standards manuals, etc…. Are digital assets. It can be difficult to keep your files organised and even more difficult to ensure your suppliers and clients have access to them. There are online sites that make this simpler.
If you need to have offsite backup (that is, you need your files to survive your office burning down) you can use simple storage facilities such as X-drive. If you want a more robust solution that allow not just file management, but full search facilities and the ability to have clients work off your files, there are wide-ranging sites such as Corbis’ Media Management service, which supplies the option of fully automatic file storage, archiving and retrieval.
Guess which service is more expensive.
There are a number of solutions available to you. As always, they’re only worth as much as you’re willing to work with them. It’s still up to you to ensure everything is kept up to date and proper search terms (if applicable) are generated for each shot. If your supplier is going to allow clients to customize art based on templates you’ve uploaded, test those applications over and over. Find the least tech-savvy person you know and have them go through the steps. You need to be sure it’ll work for everyone. Otherwise it’ll end up being an exercise in frustration for you and your clients.
Jennifer | 10:00 am | January 7, 2008 | suppliers, budgets, workflow
Over the past year, several newspapers have sent their page layout, copyediting, ad production and in a few cases reporting, to Indian outsourcing companies.
It will be interesting to see how having people who live in a different culture handle the design and production of print media considered a crucial voice in a local market. Will they use starbursts? How will they feel about adding snipes? These Indian workers will be fluent in English, but the question remains of their skills with typography in Western lettering.
The question of whether or not design firms and ad agencies could follow in the newspapers lead is there. Certainly creating a brochure can be more complex, but not necessarily. Many Designers could build tight comps and ship those to India to have Production Artists there create press-ready files to match.
Of course, what gets missed in this is the ability for the Designer and Production Artist to work together to solve problems. Typically the Production department inside creative industries has been one of bridging ideas and realistic expectations. Outsourcing could mean that the generic 4c work goes overseas, leaving more complex pieces for Production staffers here to do.
I don’t think this system will be the death of many jobs. Already we’re seeing fewer applicants for Production artist positions as most head over to the area on New Media. It’ll be interesing to see what happens over the next few years - if this works, or if some work comes back to western copy rooms.
Jennifer | 10:07 am | December 18, 2007 | budgets, terminology, process, workflow, plan, planning
When beginning a job, the best defence against cost overruns is to properly spec the job. To create specifications is to define the limits of what you’ll do for the price you charge. All too often I see vague specifications lead to misunderstandings between creative and client. Properly detailing the job will help prevent this.
Specifications on a job should note the following:
Keeping to the specification is important when developing a job, especially with a new client. Go with the motto that no detail is too small and this should protect you from a client demanding more than what you expected.
Jennifer | 2:56 pm | December 6, 2007 | paper, suppliers, terminology, printing, budgets, planning
Paper comes in a myriad of colours and weights, so it’s important to know the differences when you’re running your job. This will give you a brief primer on selecting your paper stock.
Paper comes in coated and uncoated versions. Coated papers have a slicker feel and can be matte, dull or glossy. These are typically used for collateral pieces such as brochures and rack cards. Photographic images usually print more clearly on a coated sheet, because the coating stops ink from soaking into the sheet. Uncoated papers are used for stationery and fine collateral pieces. If the design is done with an uncoated sheet in mind, you can get a very elegant look at a low price.
Papers come in various weights. The tricky part is that the weight is determined by putting 500 sheets on a scale, but those sheets might be different sizes. As a result an 80lb sheet in one grade won’t be the same thickness as an 80lb sheet in a different grade, but they’ll likely be close. Most paper stocks come in text weight and cover weight. The cover weights are for use as covers, folders and anything requiring a stiffness to the sheet. The text weights are for lighter brochures and inside pages.
If you’re going to do a stationery package, make sure the stock you pick has envelopes available. To create an envelope is a very expensive process, so it’s best to use a sheet where #9 and other common business sizes are available.
There’s a lot more to know about paper. This site will also help you with your choices.
Jennifer | 10:23 pm | September 17, 2007 | magazine, ads, prepress, newspaper, budgets, money, workflow, planning
Yes, running ads in print media is expensive. Your media rep will tell you that repetition is the key in print advertising and that adds up fast. So how do you find the money for producing the ad?
As always, a little preparation goes a long way. There is nothing more expensive than last minute ad creation. You’ll end up with lousy creative, which wastes all those advertising dollars. If you know you’ll be running in magazines and newspapers, you should be planning your media and production months in advance (for newsprint, get going on the production 4-6 weeks ahead of the first ad insertion).
One of the best ways to save money on the production end is by purchasing ads of similar sizes across your publications. Not only does this help solidify your brand look, it means less ad sizes need to be designed and produced. This can save you a lot of money.
Another money saver relates to ad sizes. If you get ad sizes that are similar you can “float” the ad. If your first ad size is 5″ x 7″ and your next size is 4.75″ x 6.5″, you simply build the smaller size ad, and let the ad “float” in the larger area. This is commonly done in newspaper advertising, where no bleeds are involved.
If you have an image you want to use in your ads, make sure you plan how and where you will use it, then send mechanicals for all publications along with the image to your service bureau or designer. This way any scanning is done once and the prepress supplier can build multiple files all at once, bringing down your prepress costs.
Jennifer | 10:16 pm | | budgets, money, planning, General
Learning to watch your marketing budgets and allocating money to your advertising is extremely important. Agencies and designers bill based on their time, and they will charge you for their time even if you can’t afford to print the result of their design. Supply a budget right off the start.
Good suppliers will give you realistic estimates. If you haven’t budgeted enough money you will know before work gets started and you can alter your project or campaign accordingly.
If money is tight, your suppliers can be your biggest allies. Sit down with them and you will be surprised at the number of suggestions they have. Sometimes you can save money simply by taking ¼” off the size of a brochure or getting creative with your colour options.
When putting your costs together, always ensure you get detailed estimates or quotes from your suppliers, not just a cost. You need to be able to compare quotes from competing suppliers, and you need the details in order to do that. It can also be an important tool to use if costs begin to climb during the job.
I’ll go into more details on print costing later. Remember that when dealing with designers and agencies, their cost is only one factor. The non-comparable feature is their design sensibility and the personalities within the company. You’ll spend a lot of time with your design team, make sure you all speak the same language when it comes to your advertising needs.
Jennifer | 10:11 pm | | printers, printing, budgets, workflow, money, planning
The best way to make sure your job goes according to plan is to pick the right suppliers - people who will work with you to ensure a good product. There are several ways to make sure you get a good supplier:
* Check with other businesses that have had good printing done. Ask them who the printer was on a piece you liked and for the salesperson’s name as well. A good printer rep is the best insurance against a bad job.
* Check all references provided by the printer. Remember to ask questions about what is was like to work with the printer both during and after the piece was printed, not just about the quality or price of the job.
One supplier does not fit all
Suppliers specialize not only in the types of printing they do (offset, screenprinting, etc.), but also in the markets they seek out. Some printers specialize in large pieces like annual reports and high-end art printing. Others concentrate on business cards and stationery packages. If you use a printer who isn’t suited to the type of job you need done, you could pay more.
When you are getting references and meeting with suppliers, make sure to get their equipment lists and ask what they specialize in. Good reps will let you know where they fit in the local market.
Press size and colour determine your ideal printer. If you are doing 30,000 annual reports that are 4 colours throughout, a big press is a good choice. If you are doing 5,000 postcards, a smaller, cheaper press will do the job.
Dealing with suppliers
Once you have a good list of suppliers for your projects, you need to start working on good relationships with the salespeople assigned to you. A good client-supplier relationship will save you money and time.
At the start of the bidding on a job, let suppliers know that they are in a competitive bid situation. Most suppliers know where they stand price-wise and knowing they’re in competition will get them to sharpen their pencils. Don’t send one printer’s quote to another printer and tell them to try to beat the price, they’ll just take $50 off the price and it prevents you from getting honest prices.
One red flag to look for when working with a new supplier is the low-ball quote. These quotes are designed as loss leaders and usually have the objective of getting you in the door. Remember these printers have to make their money somewhere. You will find that the low price you get once is never seen again. Even worse, you could find yourself watching charges rack up once they have the job, due to changes that weren’t specified in the final price. If you think you have a low-ball quote, talk to the supplier a bit more. Sometimes they’re trying to get rid of an overstock of paper or their presses are quiet - the low quote may be genuine.