Economical fonts

Searching for a way to cut costs next year? How about switching the default font for your company? By choosing an "economical" font, a company could end up saving money on the amount of ink or toner used by business printing needs or by those business associates who just have to print out their emails.

Which fonts are economical? Glad you asked.

Printer.com has compared fonts with ink or toner use. By switching only the font, Printer.com asserts you could save money. The standard font measured against was the ubiquitous Arial, and it was compared to nine other fonts. Century Gothic came in as the winner with a 31% savings of ink. Here is Printer.com's results chart:

The private cost is based on 25 printed pages a week, and business cost is based on 250 printed pages per week on specific printers. For more information on the study, go to Printer.com's blog post.

For a more visual approach on how much ink a font uses, check out Matthew Robinson's Measuring Type project. Here are the results of his measurements with Garamond using the least amount of ink:

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay switched its default email font from Arial to Century Gothic as part of their plan to go "green." According to the university spokesperson, ink accounts for about 60% of the cost of a printed page, and the university can accumulate savings each time an email is printed. News story source

However, if Century Gothic doesn't appeal to your aesthetic sensibilities, another approach is available. Ecofont has created software that can put holes in any font's letters at 11 point or below. By doing this, less ink is used when printing. Ecofont claims a 25% savings overall, no matter what font you choose. There is even a free sample font, Eco Vera Sans. (Click here for the free download of the sample Ecofont.) Here is an 11 point sample scanned in and enlarged to show texture:

Whichever fonts you end up using in your project, just remember to include them with your file or embed them in your pdf when submitting the project to a print shop! Doing these two things correctly will definitely help save money and time.

Keeping Your Message Out of the Trash

Right next to my neighborhood's mailboxes stands a trash can. It never stands empty for long. I see neighbors pull out the mail from their box, sort through it right then, and then toss most of it into the trash can. That's understandable if their mail is like mine: mostly ads from car dealerships, cable companies, and financial services such as credit card companies. (Although a big difference between those neighbors and me is that I tend to take my mail home, and shred it before tossing it.)

This behavior raised a question in my mind: What will entice people to open an envelope to see the creative and inspiring message you've spent weeks creating, and then spent money on printing and mailing?

In answer to that question, I found a recent study published in the Journal of Marketing Communications, which looks at what factors increase the recipient's intent to open a direct mail envelope. The study looked at what the direct mail envelope message communicated and if it influenced the recipient's intention of opening the envelope.

Out of six types of messages, only three had any significant impact on increasing the intention to open the envelope. These were messages that created a feeling of importance, gratitude (we appreciate your business, thank you), or an anticipation of a non-price incentive.

The other three messages: creating a feeling of urgency (offer expires soon), exclusiveness (special offer), or anticipation of a price incentive (don't pay too much), did not significantly affect the consumers' intent.

The study showed that direct marketers should design marketing pieces as tools "for building relationships with the recipients" instead of transactional oriented factors. Piquing the curiosity of what is inside by using a non-price incentive also increases the chances.

So, when designing a direct mail piece, pay attention not just to the piece, but also to what the envelope is saying to your intended audience. With the right type of envelope message, your piece could make it past the neighborhood mailbox trash can and into my neighbors' homes.

Source: For the report of this study, click here

Saving on Postage

Did you know that over the course of one month an average of 20% of your mailing list becomes outdated? People are moving all the time, and if you want your mailer to reach them, your mailing list will need to be updated and double checked frequently.

Lorraine Press can help! We can run your list through software that compares your addresses with the U.S. Postal Service's master list of mailing addresses, new forwarding addresses, and Zip+4 information. This software can update and correct addresses and add on the ZIP+4 to your list. It also can format the addresses to conform with USPS standards, fix most spelling errors, and find duplicates on your list.

A clean mailing list, organized by U.S. Postal standards will control your returned mail costs, and in most instances, depending on the list itself, will result in substantial postage savings.

This is only one part of the full-service mailing abilities we have here at Lorraine Press. If you have a question about your mailing list, how it should be formatted, or how you can have it updated, email us at info@lorrainepress.com, and we'll be glad to help you save on your next mailing project.

A Favorite Photoshop Trick - Straightening Things Out

When I discovered this Photoshop trick, I was in the middle of scanning in a variety of odd-sized photographs. I was placing them loose on a flatbed scanner, and discovered that getting them exactly straight was a challenge. I didn't want to crop out the crooked edges and lose some of the image, or straighten the photos manually with the Rotate tool. And no, being extra careful when closing the scanner lid wasn't going to solve my problem either.

That's where this cool Photoshop trick came in handy. Behind the Eyedropper tool, in Photoshop CS 3, 4, or 5 (on a Mac or PC), there is a Ruler tool. (Click on the Eyedropper tool and hold down the mouse button, a list of other tools comes up, select the Ruler tool.) Previously, I had disdained this tool, because I could see no use for such an imprecise measuring method. But no longer! And besides, in this trick we are not measuring with it anyway.

Click on the Ruler tool (which lives behind the Eyedropper tool), and your mouse will turn into a crosshair. Position your crosshairs over the start of an edge of the photo, or a horizon in the photo, or any line or edge in the photo you want to be exactly horizontal. Click and hold down the mouse button and drag the mouse along the part of the photo you want to be horizontal. This creates a line. Let go of the mouse button when you reach the end of the photo's line or edge.

Then click on Image (next to File, and Edit), go down to Image Rotation, and then over and down to Arbitrary. A window pops up with a number already filled into the box. Just click "Okay," and in an blink of an eye, your photo has been straightened more quickly and accurately than any manual tweaking could have done it.

Photoshop rotates the photo according to the number in the Arbitrary Rotation box. Photoshop got that number from the ruler tool's measuring the angle between the start and finish points on the line. (This also works for tweaking photos vertically, just drag the Ruler tool down a vertical edge or line.)

See, it's easy and quick, my favorite type of Photoshop trick.

Finding That Special Character

Ever spent time looking for an É, ©, ❏, or ™symbol? Well, here's a short list of where you can find these special characters, and others just like them.

If you are using InDesign (CS 3, 4, or 5, either Mac or PC), you are in luck. The Glyphs palette can save you from fruitlessly searching for an operating system character map. Click Type, then go down to Glyphs. A palette will pop up that shows you all the special characters for your font. It can even sort the characters by category to narrow your search so you can find what you need quickly and easily.

Of course, on a Mac, if you can remember your keyboard shortcuts, (Option +g = ©) you don't have to use a palette at all. But there are a lot of special characters out there, and I know that I don't want to spend my time memorizing all available keystrokes. However, a quick Internet search has always revealed a needed keystroke of a character that is going to be used multiple times in a document. The PC has keyboard strokes for characters. I don't think that they can be called shortcuts, but they are available. (see the PC info below)

Both Mac and PC operating systems also have solutions to finding that esoteric character.

On a Mac, in Finder, click on Edit then go down to Special Characters. A window will open that has characters by categories, and a search feature. Plus, by double clicking the desired character, it will appear where ever you left your cursor.

On a PC, click Start, go to Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, then Character Map. (If you plan on using the Character Map frequently, you should think about putting a shortcut on your desktop!) A window comes up with your characters ready to be copied and pasted into your text. At the bottom of the window, there's a line of type that shows what the keyboard strokes are for a highlighted character, but I prefer the copy-and-paste option.

Options abound! (Especially in the Mac keyboard shortcuts!) So now you can wow all your friends and acquaintances with how quickly you can type even the most tricky or foreign characters no matter which operating system you are on.

Print: A Trusted Source for Information

Recently, several polls have shown that 66% of the coveted 18–34 demographic trust offline print media more than online information, especially in areas such as financial information, catalogs, and household or health products. In contrast, only 8% found Facebook a trustworthy source for general product information. The only category where online information was preferred was travel, and then only by a 42% to 35% margin.

Direct mail and other offline options still need to be included in marketing plans. Mail as a trusted source of information has been growing in all age brackets. In 2010, 36% of US respondents, up from 29% in 2008, said information is more private sent through the mail. And 20% said they trust information received by mail more than online, up from 12% in 2008.

So, when wondering how to engage your customers, even those in the 18–34 age bracket, don't exclude direct mail and print advertising methods. Trust is a major factor in driving consumers to these relevant and powerful marketing channels.

By all means diversify your marketing efforts, but don't forget to include offline and direct mail printed pieces.

Sources:
http://www.epsilon.com/News%20&%20Events/Press%20Releases%202010/Young_Adults_Strongly_Prefer_Offline_to_Online_Sources_for_Marketing_Offers_Research_Reveals/p893-l3
http://marketingpowersactivate.com/2010/08/young-consumers-like-offline-channels-for-marketing-offers/

Free Planning Calendar for 2011

From now until December 31, 2010, Lorraine Press is offering to send you our annual 2011 wall calendar for free!

It's poster-sized at 38 inches by 24 inches, and shows the year at a glance. The calendar's background photo, a summer sunrise, was taken from right outside our back door by Kent Brinker. To receive your 2011 calendar, please send an email to info@lorrainepress.com which includes "Calendar Offer" in the subject line, and has your name and mailing address in the body of the email. One calendar per email address will be sent.

Need to find a logo?

There is a fun website called Brands of the World that has "the largest library of freely downloadable vector logos." If you are looking for a vector version of a company's logo, this website just might have it. The larger and more well-known a company is, the more likely its logo is there. To download a logo, you just have to sign up, and the best part is that it's free. It even lets you search for a logo to see if it's there before you have to log in.

Also, being a large repository of logos, this website is great for just browsing and seeing what logo designs are out there.

So replace all those low-resolution, fuzzy logos people supply you with and get the proper vector art at Brands of the World.

It's easy, just click to upload your files.

Are your files too large to email, and you are out of writable CDs and DVDs, and you just don't have the time to get out of your comfy chair to get them to Lorraine Press? Never fear, we've taken care of it for you.

Without moving from in front of your computer, you can send your large files to us. Just go to our website, and on the far right of the logo is a green button that says "file upload." Click there.

It brings up a three-step form where you put in your name and who at Lorraine Press you've been working with, then you browse to select your files from your computer, and then click the "Upload" button. That's it. Once your files are done uploading, we are alerted that your files are waiting.

That's all for sending the files to us, but here are some hints to help your files sail smoothly through the murky waters of the Internet.

When sending your files, it's easiest for us to find all your pieces if you put them into one folder. (InDesign makes that easy with their "Package" feature.) Even better, compress that folder so you are sure that nothing gets lost. Here's how: On a Mac, right click on your file or folder and go down the menu to "Compress...". On a PC, right click on your file or folder and go down to "Send to...", and then choose "compressed (zipped) file." You end up with one neat and tidy package all ready for uploading.

Another reason for compressing your files, particularly if you are using a Mac is your fonts. Many Mac fonts won't survive the voyage unless they are safely inside a water-tight container. (Meaning, they don't reach us in a usable format unless they are compressed first.) That's why a pdf with embedded fonts works so well. You don't have to send us the fonts if they are already included!

One more tip is having the latest version of Flash. Your computer will interact with our file upload site much better with newer versions of Flash. Also, when compressing your files, keeping "illegal" characters (for example: *, &, ?, /, ') out of your file names helps ensure that we, on the other end, will be able to decompress your files without trouble.

And there you have it. "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night" will stay your files from reaching us. It's that easy.

Don't forget about your holiday printing needs!

Lorraine Press can save you time this busy holiday season. It may seem early to be thinking about holiday greeting cards, but if you order now, you can check this off your list.

Not only can we print your holiday cards, but we can personalize the inside message and then mail them out for you, too. You can order them now, and then choose which day in December you would like them mailed out. The more on your list, the merrier we'll be to help you out! And you can relax, knowing that your holiday greeting cards will look fantastic and will be done on time.

Contact us today to fulfill your holiday card needs!

Two Unspoken Marketing Messages

This time of year, a certain kitchenwares store sends me a catalog in the mail. This is interesting only because it sends me two catalogs a year, even though it produces more than that. I am sent a catalog right before the holiday season and right before my birthday. I don't think the store knows my birthday (but it might), but I do think it has gathered enough data about my husband's shopping habits to know that those are the two times of year that we are most likely to be a receptive audience, and it knows that it is worth the money and time to send out the printed catalog.

Also, I am sent daily emails from this company. Mostly I delete them after a quick 2 second glance. However, if I ever click through to the website, it tracks how long I look at items. Then, the next day's email is geared towards the item, or category of items, I spent the most time looking at. Also, I receive emails when there is a special event at the store location closest to where I live. A third type of email I receive is a reminder of consumables I have purchased before. Awhile after purchasing these items, I receive a message of "Remember this? Have you run out yet? Do you want more?" This company is gearing its marketing towards when I shop (actually, mostly when my husband shops for me!) and what I usually shop for.

One other kitchenwares store I shop at pursues a different route. It seems to blanket its market with a generic weekly mailer and ubiquitous discount coupons. It doesn't tempt me personally to go to its big box store, but instead hopes to catch my eye with something on sale, but it doesn't know what in particular got me there. I go there, coupon in hand, when a friend is registered there or I need a certain item right away. I don't receive emails from this company, and it doesn't respond to my purchases by recommending similar products or coordinating items. But this store keeps its name in the forefront by constant generic reminders of "Hey, I am here!"

There is a big difference between the unspoken messages these two marketing strategies are sending me.

One company knows how to capitalize on the data I've given it through my purchase and web browsing histories. It is saying, "We know your interests, and we have what you like," and this encourages loyalty to this company even though it isn't always the least expensive option. It lures me into purchases through showing me attractive products I am most likely to buy when I am most likely to buy them.

And all it took was a little time to set up data collection, connecting my name and address or email address with dates of purchases, and what was purchased. Then, that data was used to craft an individualized message. It took a little extra effort, but its reward is my continuing purchases at the times I am most susceptible to its messages.

The other store's strategy says, "We want everyone to come to us and shop our low sale prices." Not a bad message in these economic times, but definitely not personalized. There's no loyalty and there's no emotional response to this. It works because of the low prices and discounts. There is probably no better way to introduce a company to a wide area and diverse populations. But once the population knows this company is there, what more is there?

How does it retain my business? Personally, I only go there with a coupon. The low price is the draw. If this company ever stopped printing the coupons, I would probably rarely, if ever, darken their door. I am ambivalent to its existence, and would just go to another low-price leader if the coupons stopped coming. Either I don't shop there enough to make it past the generalized coupon marketing to the upper tier of individualized marketing messages, or there isn't an upper tier.

Especially now in this consumer holiday season, companies should be aware of what their marketing says beyond the advertisement's phrasing. Even small companies can collect data. It's as simple as asking a question to every customer who purchases something from you. An easy place to start is "What brought you in today?" or "How do you know about us?" And with a large enough sampling over a period of time, patterns emerge, and you will be able to craft more personalized and more effective marketing messages.

Recycling and Paper — Choices Abound

Many of our customers ask us about the percent of recycled fiber in their paper. Paper choices range from 100% recycled post-consumer fiber to 100% virgin fiber. And there are many combinations of recycled and virgin fiber. Some people may think that they are being the most environmentally responsible by choosing the 100% recycled fiber paper all the time, but there's more to environmentally friendly paper than the amount of recycled fiber in it.

First, the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) announced this year that a record-high 63.4 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling in 2009. The number keeps rising, but if everyone demanded 100% recycled paper for all uses, we would run out of recycled fiber very soon. Plus, paper fibers can be reused only 4-6 times before they become too brittle and break down too far to be reusable, compromising the paper's strength and performance. There isn't enough recycled paper to rely on it alone.

Also, the energy used to make recycled paper is less if the paper is "downcycled." That means that high-end or office paper is more easily recycled into newspaper or cardboard. Creating a bright white sheet of paper entirely from recycled fibers uses more energy and far more chemicals and resources than downcycling that same fiber. Because of this, virgin fiber can be more environmentally sensible for bright white high-end paper.

Knowing all this about recycled paper will make your choices easier when you have a print project in mind. In some cases a 100% recycled fiber paper will work great for your project. But keep in mind 100% recycled paper is not as strong, and probably won't last as long as a combination recycled-virgin fiber paper. It also may not fold as well, and those folds won't hold up as long as a folded virgin-fiber sheet would. But Lorraine Press has printed on 100% recycled fiber paper successfully many times, and we can advise you if we think your project would work on 100% recycled fiber paper.

There are many other choices out there that are very environmentally friendly. Some papers combine post-consumer recycled fiber with alternative fibers like bamboo, which is fast growing and very renewable. Other papers are created using 100% renewable energy, such as solar and wind power. And any paper, including 100% virgin fiber paper, certified by a third-party certification process, such as FSC, is being manufactured and distributed in a sustainable way. And if you recycle all your paper after you use it, you know that it will be used again and again.

You don't have to trade off quality to protect the environment. There are many environmentally friendly papers out there, and we at Lorraine Press can help you find the perfect paper to fit your project, your budget, and your conscience.

Know your Choices and "Print Responsibly"

Have you seen the Print Responsibly Guide put out by Lorraine Press? If not, you can order one from us for free on our website! (Or click here to go to the link.) And for each guide ordered, we will plant a tree through the Nature Conservancy Organization.

The Lorraine Press Print Responsibly guide shows how you can cost-effectively print green. The guide was created because many of our customers have questions about the effect that printing has on the environment. We wanted all of our customers to know what Lorraine Press is doing to print responsibly. And we wanted people to know that it is possible to print green and still stay on budget.

Inside our guide you will find our philosophy of printing responsibly, some environmentally friendly choices available in ink, coatings, and paper, and all about our recycling programs. We've also included tips that will help you make informed decisions about how you, too, can print responsibly. For even more information, go to our website and click on the link to our environmental policy.

Lorraine Press can help you craft your next piece to be more environmentally friendly, just call us, or send an email to info@lorrainepress.com, and we can get you started on the road to printing responsibly, too.

Save a Tree — Buy Some Paper

When companies send statements or bills in the mail, it is practically guaranteed to say on the envelope "Save a tree, sign up for online statements now!"

However, plain and simple, using less paper does not save trees.

The wood fiber used in U.S. paper production comes from monitored and carefully cultivated forests, (a renewable resource!). U.S. paper companies know that the future of their business depends solely on the health and sustainability of these forests.

From 1952 to 2001 total timber growth in the United States increased by about 72 percent. And in 2001 alone, net growth of forests exceeded removals by 33 percent. Every day 1.7 million new trees are planted by the forest products industries in the U.S. Simply put, paper companies plant more trees than they cut down.

But if no one uses paper, what will happen to this tree-planting industry?

As long as the demand for paper remains strong, these managed forests are safe from real estate developers, and strip malls. "When people use more paper, suppliers plant more trees. If we want bigger commercial forests, then we should use more paper not less. Our policies should directly protect important wildlife habitats, not try to reduce our demand for paper," Edward L. Glaeser, professor of Economics, Harvard University.

So when you buy and use paper products, you are helping to save forests and trees. So the next time you have a choice to electronically send something or mail it, save a tree and use the paper!

Sources for the Statistics and Facts used in this post:
Down to Earth Part 6, http://www.internationalpaper.com/Apps/D2E/Down2EarthOnline/pdfs/D2E_6_PaperLeadsMoreTrees.pdf
Forest Resources of the U.S., 2002, http://ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc241.pdf
NAPL Business Review Vol. 5, No. 2, Summer 2010, pg. 50 The Green Medium

Typeface Identification 101

We in the Prepress department have a love/hate relationship with fonts, but we tend to love them more than hate them. We've been known to clamor rather excitedly over a newly discovered font. And we can't help sharing our excitement with others.

But there are millions of fonts out there. (by the way, do not load them all onto your computer at once, you will be sad!) And it's impossible to identify even a small portion of them at a glance. Have you ever had someone ask you to make them a business card with type that looks exactly like their favorite movie title, or hand you a sample of something and ask you to make their letterhead look like that sample? And they have no idea what that font is called. What can you do?

When a customer asks us to match a font, one of the first resources we turn to is the website Identifont.

This website has come up with the correct font for us time and time again. It's not perfect, but it makes our lives much easier. All you need is just a portion of the font, although the more letters you have for an example, the easier it is for Identifont to help you find the correct font.

Just enter in the letters you have, capital and lowercase, and Identifont will then ask you questions about how those letters look. They ask about serifs, strokes, slants, and curves, and how the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. And after you answer, they give you a list of fonts they think match your sample the best. It's that easy.

Identifont is not the only resource out there, but it has proven to be the most reliable in our experience, plus it's free, you don't have to log in and remember a password, and you get an immediate response.

For those of you who need more tools to try out and play with, you can also try the website What The Font?!, which seems to be pretty popular, the message board Typophile, a website similar to Identifont Type Navigator, or try just browsing through lists of fonts on any of the font websites that come up with a web search of "fonts." (But that sounds like the slow way of getting an answer. We'd rather have the answer handed to us on a silver platter!)

There may be millions of fonts and only one of you, but don't worry! There are myriad tools out there to help you identify the exact one you are looking for. If you need any help getting started in the search for that elusive font, email us at info@lorrainepress.com, and we'll try our hand at helping you identify your font.

Don't Forget to Vote Today

If you don't make your voice heard now, how can you complain later when the elected officials don't do what you want them to?

Make your opinions known and vote in your local elections!

Printing Tip of the Week - Font Color and Size

Election day is tomorrow, and there doesn't seem to be a fence post or curb empty of campaign signs. When I pass any new signs, I like to evaluate them based on their design more than for their actual message. Anyone else out there do that, too?

Some campaign signs are clear and legible from yards away, while certain others can only be read if you are within 20 feet and are at a complete stop. I've decided that the main difference comes down to the fonts used: the choice of font, the font color, and the font size.

We see a lot of design work come through Lorraine Press. Some projects are simpler than others, but all benefit from a sensible use of font sizes and colors. When choosing what font to use and at what size, first determine where your project is going to be viewed. Will it be outside, by passing cars, or held in a hand indoors? Knowing this will help you choose which fonts at what size to use. (And then before the design is finalized, view it in that environment, you might be surprised.)

Something else to take into consideration is the color of the type and the color of the background the type is on. Black type on a white background is easiest to read on paper with the highest possible contrast, and it is easy to print. We see this combination used everywhere.

However, if you are printing on a black background with white, reversed-out type, there are a few more considerations. If you are using a serif font, or thin sans serif font reversed out of a black background, we at Lorraine Press advise that they be set at 9 points or larger, especially if you are using a supported black. This is purely for legibility reasons. What looks readable on your laser printer, may not turn out the same on a printing press. Small white type makes the job more difficult for your printer to produce and your serifs or thin strokes of letters may not appear due to trapping and ink considerations. If your black background is supported (using all four colors to make a richer looking black), consider using a thicker font, or a point size of 11 or larger.

Black type that is 4 points or below is hard enough to read already for some people, but add in the lower contrast of colors other than black and you will have an even harder time getting your message across. As for the printing aspects of tiny colored type, you may see misregistration between the ink colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), or a pattern of dots may become visible with conventional screening techniques (One of the problems solved by Lorraine Press using stochastic screening!). This can leave your tiny type looking unfocused or shadowed.

Also, this is common sense but we want to say it anyway: use fonts designed for superior legibility for your body of text, and leave the display and fancy fonts for titles and attention grabbing headlines. The font that makes words in English look like Klingon from Star Trek can be fun for you, but your reader will give up long before reading your entire message if your type is set entirely in a crazy, hard-to-read font.

Looking to design large signs or billboards? Take a look around you as you drive. Instead of noticing the advertising message, notice which signs are visible and legible from farthest away, and figure out why. Then incorporate that knowledge into your design.

This is pretty basic advice, nothing earth-shatteringly new. But sometimes a little reminder of the basics can be helpful. There's just one more thing. Unless you are giving your printer a pdf with embedded fonts or an eps with outlined fonts (and you have double checked that they are all outlined), please include your fonts in the files you give to your printer. Your printer will be grateful, we promise.

Cool Video on How Ink is Made

I hope you find this as interesting as I did! This is a video of The Printing Ink Company making ink.

Oooh, Shiny! And Writeable, Too!

Lorraine Press is pleased to announce a new glossy coating we've developed in partnership with our trusted manufacturer of coatings.

A customer came to us with a pressing need. They wanted a glossy finish on their products, but they also needed to be able to write on it later or even send it through a water-based ink jet printer to add type or a barcode. Normal glossy coatings don't accept ink. The ink on top of the regular glossy coating smears and spreads, never drying, making the ink unreadable and the product unusable.

We turned to our partner in coatings for help. After a few trials and tests, we had a winner. They had developed a coating just as glossy that also fulfilled our customer's desires. This glossy coating has been created especially for accepting after-product water-based ink imprinting. This includes mailing machines adding addresses, ink jet printers adding type, or even a person using pencil, pen, or markers on it later.

Before this new and exciting development, if a customer wanted to imprint or address a glossy-coated printed piece, no coating could be put on the area to be imprinted or addressed of the postcard or magazine. So the finished product would be shiny, except for a rectangle left alone for the imprinting. It unappealingly stuck out like a sore thumb. Plus, to avoid coating that area, a dedicated coating blanket would have to be specially cut for that specific job, ratcheting up the cost of producing the job.

However, that's all in the past now.

If you have a project that could use a shiny coating and still be writable, let us know, and we can help. If you have any questions, you can contact your LP salesperson, or email your questions to info@lorrainepress.com.

Some Mailing Basics - Postcards

I have been receiving a lot of political mail as Election Day draws near. These mainly come in the form of what most people would probably call a postcard. They are printed on cover stock, usually in full color on both sides with an address area on the back and most are larger than a half-sheet of letter-sized paper.

However, these campaign mailers I've been receiving are not technically postcards. They are much too big. The United States Postal Service has strict definitions about what exactly can go through the mail as a postcard. The height of a postcard can be between 3.5 inches and 4.25 inches. The width of the postcard is a minimum of 5 inches and a maximum of 6 inches.

Do we really expect a politician running for office to fit a message in such a small space?

What is it then if it looks like a postcard but is bigger than 4.25 inches by 6 inches? The Post Office calls these letters. That's right. They are sent out at a letter rate. So if you want to send out an advertisement, using a postcard rate, you have to keep the final size of your design to 4.25 x 6 inches.

Don't worry if you, too, can't fit all you want to say on a small area; other sizes can mail just fine, they just are sent at the slightly more expensive letter rate. It's just a cost you need to take into consideration as you are designing your mailer.

Also, a common design move is to fill up a mailer with information on both sides, and leave a tiny corner on the back for the addressing. However, to qualify for the least expensive mailing rate, the area for the address on a postcard needs to fit certain specifications. Just about anything can mail, but if you are looking to save money, we highly recommend showing your design to the Post Office before it is finalized. Or email us a copy to info@lorrainepress.com and we'll take a look for you and let you know if and how the piece will go through the mail.

There are multitudes of variables when designing a piece for mailing. And we hope that if you run into any questions you'll email us or call. We'd love to help you produce a mailer or postcard that fits all postal requirements.

Printing Tip of the Week

Here's a quick tip for InDesign users out there. We think that everyone should know what their InDesign preferences are set to when it comes to the "Appearance of Black." We recommend the following three settings: On Screen should be set to "Display All Blacks Accurately," Printing / Exporting should be set to "Output All Blacks Accurately," and the Overprinting of Black at 100% should in most cases be clicked on.

In CS 5, 4, and 3, on the Mac, these settings can be found by launching InDesign and before opening any document, click on the word "InDesign" (to the left of "File"), go down the menu to "Preferences" and then go down that menu to "Appearance of Black." A pop-up menu with the three options on it should appear.

In CS 5, 4, and 3 on the PC, these settings can be found by launching InDesign and before opening any document, click on "Edit" (to the right of "File"), go down the menu to "Preferences" and then go down that menu to "Appearance of Black." A pop-up menu with the three options on it should appear.

Our preferred settings are recommendations only. The most important thing is to know how these preferences are set, so when they need to be customized for that special project, you'll know how to manipulate your appearance of black in InDesign.

If you have any questions, please email us, info@lorrainepress.com

Showing Off Our Skills By Blending In

We love projects that allow us to show off a little. Unfortunately, if we do our jobs right, most of the time no one usually notices how skillful we really are.

Recently, Lorraine Press had the opportunity to print a beautiful catalog – well designed and full of colorful photography. Our customer chose an uncoated sheet for the cover, and a coated sheet for the inside text. This is normally not anything special, people choose that combination all the time, right?

But this catalog had an image crossover from the inside front cover to the first page of text. Part of the image would be printing on coated stock, the other part on uncoated stock. Anyone with printing experience right now is thinking, "That's never going to look the same!"

Well, instead of saying, "You really can't do that and expect similar results. You should change your design." to our customer, we said, "We haven't tried this before, let's see what we can do!"

We decided to adjust one side of the photo to match what the other side would look like on press. Our ability to do this depended largely on having calibrated proofs that are printed to look like what comes off our presses. If you choose on an uncoated stock, we have an uncoated paper profile on your proof so you will see what your project will look like on press. If you choose a coated paper, we have a coated profile. If you have a combination of papers, like in this example, your proofs will reflect that as well. We want no surprises for our customers when they come to the press check.

Due to some prepress skills and our excellent pressmen, the catalog printed beautifully. In the finished product, no one is going to ever notice the image transition from uncoated to coated. And that's the way we like it.

"How Much More Black Can It Be?"

When it comes to Lorraine Press's new Rich Black Ink, the answer is, as Nigel Tufnel would say, "None, none more black."

We are pleased to present an augmented-pigment black ink with no dry back. What your black areas look like when they are fresh off the press is how they will look when they are dry. Our newly available rich black ink is best for larger solid areas, especially those areas that would require a double hit of regular black ink, or a 4-color supported black, to achieve the same result. Its density is greater than a regular black ink or even a 4-color supported black.

Normally on projects with large black areas, we would recommend a double hit of black to the solid areas, or if it was a 4-color job, a support black of 60% cyan, 50% magenta, 50% yellow, and 100% black. This would help the black areas look truly black with regular black ink. However, with our new rich black ink, the extra hit and extra support colors are unnecessary.

Our rich black ink prints grayscale images with an added visual depth to them compared with regular black ink. Another great time to use our rich black ink is when a project with large black areas is printing on an uncoated sheet. And most one-color black projects would benefit from being printed with this rich black ink. However, we would recommend caution when using it with 4-color images, it may muddy them up.

Would you like to know more about Lorraine Press's new rich black ink? Just call us (801-972-5626) or email any questions to info@lorrainepress.com.

A New Website Launched!

Our fantastic Web Development Team has launched a new website. This website is for a set of condos on the San Diego beachfront.

In particular, our web team is pleased with the automated reservation feature that immediately updates the calendar showing all availability of the condos. Here's the link:

http://www.sandiegoonthebeach.com/

Check it out! Please let us know what you think by leaving comments below.

Stochastic Printing for 17 years and counting

A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend in the book publishing business. He had just secured an awesome printer for a book he was working on. He waxed poetic on the fabulous quality that this printer can produce on the illustrations of his book. Naturally, I was interested.

He showed me samples and told me to look closely and I wouldn't see a dot pattern. He said, "It's this great new technology called stochastic printing!"

In his excitement, he then gave me a primer on stochastic printing. I was reluctant to burst his bubble even just a little bit, but I had to tell him that stochastic printing had been around a long time. And I was in a position to know. Lorraine Press has been printing in "awesome" stochastic for almost twenty years!

But he was right to be excited about stochastic printing. We still are! Illustrations and photographs reproduced in stochastic printing can show far more detail than when printed with the conventional screening technique. Below we have two examples of photographs with really small type. The left hand one was printed in stochastic printing here at Lorraine Press, and the right hand one was printed elsewhere in conventional.



They may look similar here (above), but when we put them under our microscope, we saw a huge difference in the tiny type. Below, the left hand photo is the stochastic sample under our microscope, and the right hand photo the conventional sample. The grey box in the stochastic sample (above) is what is enlarged below left.



There is a clear difference! If you would like to know more, you can visit our website, or you can schedule a tour. We would be glad to show you around and explain more about our printing processes. We have worked hard to become known for producing high quality, customized, or difficult pieces, and we’d love to share our experiences with you.

Lorraine Press in September's Printing Impressions

We've been making some big changes here at Lorraine Press, and one of them caught the eye of Printing Impressions. When we changed inks, our scientific approach to print quality helped us keep up our consistent results. We have a passion for measuring every variable possible and collecting data on our processes. And this in turn allows us to match our end product to our proof. You can read more about us in the September issue of Printing Impressions, or you can Click here for the on-line article. Happy reading!

Expert Advice Available Here!

With Labor Day weekend upon us, I was thinking about the labor we at Lorraine Press put into each job we complete. That led to pondering on how long I've been working here. It has been over a decade, and I am still the baby (in terms of seniority) of the Prepress department!

In adding up all the years of experience customers have available to them in each of our departments, Lorraine Press has over 70 years in Prepress, 80 years in the Pressroom, and over 100 years of experience in Bindery. Lorraine Press is teeming with erudite employees who have the expertise to produce quality work. And that expertise is available to you!

We love to give advice! Our sales team (over 120 years experience!) is always at the ready to answer questions, but so too are the Prepress, Press and Bindery departments. Just call us 801-972-5626, or email your print-related knotty problems to info(at)lorrainepress.com and a highly qualified Lorraine Press employee will apply their experience to your questions.

YMCA Sports Night to Benefit Kids

Lorraine Press helped out with the YMCA charity event by donating printing resources and services.

Lorraine Press & Utah Clean Energy

Lorraine Press is a proud sponsor of Utah Clean Energy

To see our Environmental policy, go to our website www.lorrainepress.com and click on 'Environmental Policy'.

Welcome to the Lorraine Press Blog

Lorraine Press is now blogging!

For those of you who don't know, Lorraine Press offers Web, Marketing and Print all under one roof.

We have award winning web media services, and marketing development services. Plus, we still deliver our top quality stochastic offset and digital printing.

Check out our website at http://www.lorrainepress.com