Digital Asset Management
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.
Spec’ing the project
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:
- What pieces you’ll do
- What the client will supply
- What rights the client is purchasing
- How large each piece will be (number of pages, size)
- How many versions there will be of each piece (i.e. names on business cards)
- What type of final art will be supplied
- Who is responsible for purchasing fonts, illustrations and photos used in the pieces
- Delivery dates
- Budgets
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.
Help from Stora Enso’s “Ed” Series
Jennifer | 11:20 am | December 14, 2007 | paper, suppliers, prepress, printing, planning, General
Several paper companies offer promotional materials to qualified designers to help sway your choices in paper stocks. One great series that I’d recommend you look at is the Ed series from Stora Enso. It’s printed to promote Productolith, an FSC certified coated sheet. I use Productolith quite frequently; I like it.The series is up to issue #11 and covers everything from metallic inks to Prepress to finishing options. Very good for both process and project information, as well as inspiration to designers when choosing projects.
You can order the series at the Stora Enso site, or check with your local paper merchant to see if you can get copies delivered. I think it’s well worth it.
Learning to say “No.”….or at least, “I don’t know.”
Jennifer | 9:46 am | December 13, 2007 | process, suppliers, workflow, plan, planning, General
One of the hardest parts of managing any ad campaign is managing expectations. Unrealistic ideas of how long a job takes are a common reason for jobs going wrong. It is really important to have a realistic view of the length of time needed for a job.
The best defense against broken promises is to not make any before checking in with your team. Don’t make promises on behalf of suppliers or other departments; you don’t know their workload or capabilities. This goes double if you don’t have the technical background needed to truly understand the job.
A good example is in photo retouching. Many assume that this is a quick and simple process, when it’s one of the most time-consuming parts of a job. If you’re working with a large file (ie, outdoor signage) the size of the file ensures that even the simplest changes will take a long time. Complex changes, such as retouching portraits, will take a very long time to ensure that they’re realistic.
Another big area of confusing is finishing. Once a job is printing there can be special folds, die-cuts, foil stamping, etc…. This might be done by a machine or it could be an assembly line, but until you get your timing from your supplier do not assume it’ll be a quick turnaround.
Don’t promise your client a delivery date before you check your timing. Clients would much rather you get back to them with a well thought out plan, rather than quickly agree to their delivery date, only to have to change it on them later. The former gives the impression that you’re putting in thought and effort, the latter looks amateurish and disorganised.
Protect yourself and your client; put in the time to generate a proper, realistic plan.
How to specify paper.
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.
Project management with Google calendar
Jennifer | 6:22 pm | September 18, 2007 | process, workflow, plan, planning, General
Using Google Calendar is a great way to keep track of projects if you’re just managing a small amount, and need to share information with your team. All you need to do is create an iGoogle account and you can generate calendars to track all of your projects. You invite people to view and comment on calendars, send emails to remind them of deadlines and you can access it from any computer with internet access. Multiple calendars can be created, and you control who sees which calendars. It’s a good free planning tool for anyone working on a team! To see it in action, go to Google and look at the calendars that people have made public.
Fun substrates!
Jennifer | 11:24 am | | printing, printers, planning
I like to look at alternatives when producing for events like tradeshows and in-store materials. Using a non-traditional surface can create something really eye-catching. For example, for a trade booth a custom carpet can be made with a special digital printer.
Other options:
- Mesh
- Nylon
- Fabric
- PVC
- Canvas
There are machines that can also handle special substrates like translucent and reflective films, corrugated cardboard, carpet, tile, wood, glass, foam core and fine fabrics. To find these machines, check with large digital printers.
Large format - signage
Jennifer | 11:19 am | | prepress, printing, planning
Large format printing is often used for billboards and outdoor advertising, signage and trade show booths. Often your piece is printed on a large inkjet or bubble jet printer that can print material up to 6′ wide by an indefinite length, allowing for a lot of flexibility.
These printers have specifications that are quite different from standard printers, so make sure you check with them before sending files. For example, many will want added bleed on top of the usual .125″.
The biggest challenge with large outdoor projects comes from images. When an image is scanned for outdoor use, the files are huge and shouldn’t be used unless your machine is built to take it. If you are building the piece on a home or office computer, it’s best to let the signage supplier work with the hi res image and supply you with a low res version you can drop in your file for placement. Retouching these large files is a very slow, expensive process.
If you are working on a large project, it is often requested that you ship a file that is one twelfth, eighth or quarter of the final file size. This is easier for everyone, as trying to work with an area that is 20′ long on your 15″ monitor will get very frustrating very quickly. As long as your file matches the final proportions, you’ll be fine.
When choosing outdoor printing materials, keep theses questions in mind:
- How long will it be up?
- Will it face the sun?
- Will it get wet?
- Is it at street level, open for vandals?
- Will it be exposed to the winter elements?
- Does it need to be portable?
Make sure your supplier has this information, as different protective coatings and substrates can be selected to make sure your banner or billboard holds up well.
If you are doing outdoor advertising, be aware that most media companies require an extra 10% of your posters to replace any media that gets vandalized or ruined. If you have booked 10 bus shelters, be sure to send 11 posters to your media supplier.
Newspaper & Magazine advertising - spending the big bucks
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.
Budgets and estimates: how much can you spend?
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.