Postcard Design Center

It has been a week or so since I posted anything on my blog. I feel as though I have been slacking off here so I thought I’d make my article today as colorful as possible. Hopefully we have done a good enough job with our domain name, WePrintColour.com so that folks have gathered what we do. We have been active in this business for 30 years and if there’s one that that there is certainty with in the uncertainty of color and it’s uses in the world and in print. Over the last few weeks I have been very intensely involved with online software for graphic design and print. We have selected our color palette that will be available in our web-based system, but it wasn’t easy. Allot of study on color was necessary in order to make the right colors choices.

History of colour

Sir Isaac Newton (1642—1727) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer and philosopher well-known for the law of gravitation and accomplishments on the physics of coloring. Seven colours are, as a rule, distinguished in a spectrum- yellow, green, blue, red, indigo, orange and violet. In this prism spectrum Newton discovered that sunlight (white light) is separated into colored components when passed through a prism. Newton observed a sequence of colors ranging from violet / indigo, green, yellow, blue, and orange to red. This range of colours is the visible spectrum.

White light can also be separated into colors when it is reflected from thin films and layers. Many transparent natural objects form colors in this method. Oil on water, Soap bubbles and sea spume are prime examples of colours produced by diffraction through thin layers. A corresponding phenomenon of segmented colored light also known as Newton’s Rings can also be visualized in light reflected through a arched glass lens put on a mirror.

Newton’s rings (created using green monochromatic light) (from the Harvard Natural Sciences Lectures site: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~scidemos

Yellows

The Italian ancestors improved the lake making processes of the Egyptians and consummated Naples Yellow. Today, Naples Yellow is one of the oldest synthetic pigments with very strong subtly power.

Blues

Lapis lazuli (stone of azure) was originally used as a pigment by abrasion. The stone from which the color derives is know as The stone of friendship and truth. Even the best stone may contain up to 90 percent impurities. Upon the discovery of this color to the amazement of color makers the way in which the blue was removed that enlightened the Renaissance coloration palette. The bright, deep blue made by Lapis lazuli had awesome light fastness and also was the most expensive pigment known to man. In the year 1104 a German color artist “Diesbach” was manufacturing red lake pigments that required the application of potash as an alkaline. He accidentally used up all of the supply, and was forced to apply some that was contaminated with animal oils. To his discovery instead of manufacturing red he fabricated purple. Then he went forward to make blue, the first chemically synthesized coloring- Prussian Blue. Prussian blue is a prevalent coloring to this day and is also known for its technical mastery to fade in daylight and yet restore its dominance in the darkness!
Early nineteenth century in the Industrial Revolution, at the very beginning of the nineteenth century came new coloration processing potential. Scientists were motivated by the demand for new, increasingly permanent, colors plus were able to recover added minerals, ways and chemical biology to bring forth many of the colors that we see today as conventional.

Quick Facts on Cobalt Pigments:

Cobalt Green

was first made in 1780 but didn’t become visible as a standard after Cobalt Violet was formed in 1860, as well as Cobalt Yellow or Aureolin (fabricated in1862).

Cobalt Blue

was invented in1802 by Thénard.

Cobalt Blue

is also well-known for its fast-drying and watercolor style.

Cobalt Blue

is an attractive transparent, granulating mid-blue of fine, long lasting color. It is vastly used in ceramics and also loved by artists with its subtle tinting technical mastery

Cerulean Blue

This color is cobalt that was made around 1805.

By combining phosphorus in addition to cobalt oxide, aluminum, tin, zinc plus opposing metals, a diversion of colours can be made.
The cobalt pigments have never been cheap and the search persevered for a less expensive dark blue pigments for the color producers.
In the year 1820 a national prize of 6,000 francs was made in France to someone who discovered a method of synthetically forming Ultramarine at a price of less than 300 francs per kg. Both the French and Germans went head to head for the race to make the color Ultramarine. It was J. B. Guimet who was successful in 1828. This was recognized as French Ultramarine since the pigment is chemically the same as Genuine Ultramarine. Ultramarine is physically finer and is without the contamination of lapis rock.

Chrome pigments

The isolation of unique contents in the late eighteenth century also played a role in making untouched colors.
In 1820 the discovery of chrome in USA facilitated a simple making of Chrome Yellow, a largely opaque, low-cost colours available in a variety of hues.
Although chrome colors were prone to darken, they stayed fashionable until the1990s, due to their good covering delegated authority, all at a very economizing price.

Let’s Rock and Roll with A Colour Concept

I can recall the first rock album I bought was “The Dark Side of the Moon”, 1973- a well-known Pink Floyd album. On the cover, the artist uses a descriptive characterization of the prism with the color spectrum used as a compelling optic changeling with desire, anticipation and apprehension.
Within the physics of color, our perception is explained as a part of an entity or quantity that results from the reflected light.
Coloring light is conducted in defined wavelengths, which are imaged by a looker as anomalous colors. The easiest clarification of color physics is to assign a small beam of white light (sunlight) through a prism and visualize how the white light is refracted and separated into deviant frequencies. Very similar to the graphic concept on the “Dark side of the Moon” album cover. The frequencies are transmitted through the opposing view of the prism as a spectrum or band of colors, from red, the lengthiest wavelength, to violet, the shortest.
A rainbow is an elemental example of sunlight graduating through millions of prisms-raindrops-to bring forth a naturally formed spectrum.
A spectrum of colors shimmer because the diversified light is known as iridescence. This optical phenomenon happens when we change the angle in which we view the surface of certain objects such as butterfly wings, bubbles or ocean mist. “Iridescence” is comes from the Greek word iris which means rainbow.

Colored light is of vital importance for film, theater, video, television and photography. Knowledge base of additive color mixture is important for people employed in this communication.
Additive primary colorations are red, green and blue, frequently are referred to as RGB. When white light is communicated through filters of these colors and 2 of the light rays are combined, they create the secondary colorations cyan, yellow and magenta.
In RGB you blend the three primaries Red Green Blue, the consequences white light.
Subtractive color pattern mixture is about the intermixture of pigments. This is where knowledge base of the color wheel assists in
Subtractive colour mixture to the applicability of the artist. Starting from subtractive mixing, the primaries are red, yellow and blue.
When two primary colors are mixed, they make the secondary colours like orange, green and violet.
When the 3 primary colors are compounded, the result is black.
There are 7 definite colorations of the spectrum accessible in diverse artistic media types, yellow, red, orange, green, blue, Indigo as well as violet.

Additive color patterns blending refer to the mixture of light. When you form colourized light, it acts greatly different compared to when you mix paint.

Ink Colors

The are basically 2 different types of ink processes that are applied in commercial offset printing. Spot color and CMYK Color.

CMYK Color

This is explained in great detail on the internet in a million places because it is the most commonly used and accepted form of printing professional offset printing. There is no limitation with color using this method. However you should know that this entire process in an optical illusion. Cmyk (4 color process) color uses the same 4 primary colors always. Cyan, Magenta, yellow and Black.

When CMY Colours are printed on the press printers use a color bar system at the tail end of every sheet so they can keep an eye on color and alignment of color (registration). It varies from company to company, but generally it will look something like this:

CMYK printing is actually quite simple in principle. For example this is a finished product that has gone through the complete generation of pre-press to press and finishing. In this example I have scanned the finished printed product instead of using the digital file itself. I have scanned it at a high resolution to illustrate the simplicity of CMYK printing.

Viewed at 100%

Zoomed in on the lion’s face 200%

Zoomed in on the lion’s nose at 400%

Zoomed in on the lion’s nose at 600%

We begin to see the way the colors are mixed, by tiny little dots that are in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black overlaying each other. When you zoom in really close you begin to see a honeycomb pattern. You can see when the dots meet or overlap each other how the illusion of millions of colors is created.

How does any of this information help when I want to order printing? CMYK is the most cost efficient, colorful and portable way to reproduce any photograph amazingly. But there are some limitations;

• Color constancy- When reordering CMYK printing you may notice slight fluctuations in coloring, particularly with royal blues and deep oranges. This is because these colors utilize high percentage values of each one on the four colours. Even with the most complicated on press, digital colour management this continues to be a silent secret in the CMYK printing trade.
• In ability to produce metallic or fluorescent inks- Because CMYK is principally based on printing inks on white paper, the paper servers as a color that ties it all together. To reproduce metallic, fluorescent or repetitive company colors the best method is Spot Color.

Spot Color

Instead of the above method spot color is first determined by using a pantone matching guide. This color system works very similar to the system used in choosing paint colors for your walls at home. You simply view a Pantone swatch book and choose your color by a number. That number is then mixed precisely on scales to make the same color every time. Pantone is a color management system that is VERY strict with the use of its trade reference. So I am reluctant to spend much time on it, as many of my associates have been legally threatened by Pantone and were requested to remove ALL mention of Pantone from their websites. That said, it is the international color system that printing companies use to keep their spot colors in sync day in and day out.

General Color Knowledge

Blue	Within the chiropractic industry blue means oxygen, which can signify life and death? Blue shows adolescent, spirituality, truth combined with accord. Designers use blue to show perspective. Blue flowers are pacifying and may help lower blood pressure.

Yellow

Yellow stands for all apathies but is is also associated to decay and sickness. Hospitable and ravishing like the sun, a nice yellow to provide comfort to dreariest of rooms. For happiness yellow is your color, on the other hand gray is thought of as dismal. Yellow interprets as wisdom, cheeriness combined with brainy compulsion. Yellow roses show ecstasy together with affinity. A Yellow flower: empowers and provides relief from the blues

Red

In the doctoring field red is supportive to arthritis and green signifies bitterness. Red shows activeness, impudence, backbone together with cheerful readiness - Red is the colour most elected by men. Red roses are deciphered as romantic love. Red flowers actuate the brain wave behavior pattern and speed up rate of the heart beating.

Black

A room in the house colored in black may instigate distress. Black signals demise, terrain combined with endurance. Black is analyzed as self-confidence, power together with strength

White

White space in your composition can be used as an element for colors, it allows the conception to open up and can make big a project design seem smaller. White will signify Lucidity and Stainlessness. White roses are deciphered as significance of obeisance and humility.

Fact: Colour is one of the most controlling, but poorly understood subjects of present day web design.

White Space

When you create the large designs, an initial choice you need to make is colors of choice. White space in your composition can be used as an element for colors, it allows the conception to open up and can make big a project design seem smaller. White aren’t clearly without color.

Colour and business tip- assortments in various tints can make it so you are able to acquire the perfect setting made to attract your perfect customer.

Orange-Red

Hospitality businesses employ orange and reddish colors continually since they are well-known to entice appetite. Coral and orange roses mean expressed desire.

Dark Gray

Dark gray helps with an appreciativeness of dependability plus reliability.

Pink

Pink shows feelings of a lover, beauty together with tranquility. Brown signals soil, order together with observance- The red in brown delivers to this colour an anthropological feel. Pink roses render our gratitude together with valuing. Light pink roses interpret as respect and soul of kindness. Enjoy relaxation from pink flowers, relieves tension combined with is soothing

Orange

Orange translates to anxiousness together with hardiness. An Orange flower empowers and arouses

Gold	Gold expresses capital gains, economic growth together with foreknowledge. People who favor gold are usually prospering in life.

Green

Green symbolizes exuberance, environment, ferocity combined with well being. A green flower is stilling and relaxing mentally. Green provides assistance for those suffering from emotionalism and anxiousness.

Purple

Purple interprets as sovereignty, bewitchment combined with perplexity. Purple is the coloring for people that seek attention. Purple Roses interprets as the person that gives has fallen in love with the addressee immediately. Violet flowers provide a warm setting

Indigo

Indigo translates to clairvoyance; grace and deep discretion- Indigo can have negative impact when used during exercise

Grey	Gray is for Heartache, dependability combined with full development.

Peach

A Peach Rose is more inexplicit, as it can characterize similar sympathy or appreciativeness.

Tags: paint color, about coloring, all about coloring, rgb color, color brown

Are you Happy with your Direct Mail Response?

Are your direct mail response rates on target, exceeding expectations or dismal? Incentives and Premiums are an excellent way to increase your direct mail responses. When analyzing your direct mail response rates this is a small part of a bigger picture. Some other important aspects include:
How many responses converted into sales?
How much follow-up-persuasive powers or sales messaging was required to convert responses?
Did they opt in on email subscriptions?

A fact with response rates is that they will differ from industry to industry. The more research you conduct prior to lauching your direct mail campaign the more reply the campaign with net you. Knowledgeable direct mail marketers create postcards to optimize results at a minimal cost to test market a variety of industry sectors. The response data is used to fine tune each subsequent mailer to the same industry type. Three of the biggest advantages with a direct mail postcard are cost, quality and ability to experiment with b2b mailings. By capitalizing on these postcard mailing features you can dial in and boost response rates as a direct result.

Response Support Options

For guidance and help with response rates a direct marketing consultant maybe something worth perusing initially to get you off on the right foot. Yu can utilize a copywriter and lead-generation specialist to further enhance a Positive Response. WePRintcolour.com is a marketing firm specializing in B-to-B marketing those results in effective mailing responses and lead-generation. By using a specialist that helps businesses and marketing managers to generate leads your bottom line can be greater than you ever dreamed of. Close more sales and obtain a huge list of customers using business-to-business direct mail marketing postcards. With quite a few successful campaigns under my belt here’s how you can increase your direct mail results:
Tips to Improve Your Response Rates
1) Use real stamps boost response rates.
2) Track your response rates by creating a landing page on your site.
3) Easily create eye catching, beautiful postcards by searching Google for “Beautiful Postcard Templates” and read a few articles.
4) Get education from all postcard mailings you conduct to improve your next one.

Creating a Direct Mail Campaign

As a professional graphic developer of mailing campaigns I am often asked to create a direct mail lead generation printed project. I don’t matter if you have one store with local customers or multiple chains with thousands of customers, many of the successful response tactics are the same. Apply techniques and you’ll quickly see how to generate a response that is difficult to handle the influx of response and new leads. I hope that is a problem!! If it is perceived as one it is good to have, so grab a-hold and enjoy the ride.
Every business can use these mailers to assist it bringing is new leads and clients. Your recipients will respond in 3 basic ways, I’ll keep it, I’ll discard it or I’ll consider it. As a graphic designer and marketing consultant part of my planning is to study the way mail arrives as it is part of the bigger picture of first impressions. If the mailer is arriving via post as an independent piece, I have found this to be the best method to create good initial impact. On the other hand there are less expensive distribution methods such as and insert into your local newspaper. This is a cheaper alternative but generally speaking the response is much lower. SO what money you saved in distribution actually ended up costing you dearly in lack of response. Time and time again I have discovered direct mail is best delivered to your audience as a stand alone piece by your postal service to selected walk zones combined with a targeted mailing list.

Personalized or Unaddressed

I have also spent significant time in the study of personalization versus unaddressed ad mail. The results I found were quite interesting. Roughly 66% of consumers preferred highly personalized direct mail offers over unaddressed ad mail offers. With that in mind smart direct mail marketers personalize their mailings as they know what works.
Dimensional (3d) mail is effective because it stands out from other mailers. By creating and distributing a mailer that has depth, look and feel you are increasing the chances of a response. Although costs are usually far greater to add effects such as die-cutting, holographic or engraving it seems to ALWAYS be outweighed by response volume. In the research we conducted dimensional mailers are most effective method to reach an audience with your message. For example, real-estate agents could create a mailer that looks like a door that opens, when it is opened people pop-up that appear willing to help list or sell their home. On the reverse side a free property evaluation can be printed to further encourage response. Try die cutting a window in the front of a folder over postcard that shows the mainline for an incredibly good offer. 9 times out of ten this mailer is opened by its recipient bring you 1 step closer to response and acknowledgement.
So how do you improve your offer? Some very pertinent proven information complied above holds key points to ensure optimal response.

Tags: bulk mail, postcard marketing, mailing list, postcard template, marketing direct mail

Postcard Design From the Ground up

One of the most interesting steps of creating your postcard is choosing the right background image. Once you find that image with the prefect look and feel what to do so it is printable and easily read? I am going to share a secret that I have been using for years to quickly make any high resolution photograph ready to get professionally printed in 5 minutes from start to finish.

For demonstration purposes I we’ll use one of our most valuable products that is included free in our printing, Aqueous coating. The idea is, we want to let our clients and prospects know that every printing order is covered with a protective coating that is 100% environmentally friendly.

In three easy steps here we go…

Select your image- Go to any of your image of clip art collection that allow for you to print in their license agreement. Clear your mind of any graphic effects that are going to be applied and make your image selection based on what is most suitable. This is my image of choice.

Prepare your layout to print- There are 2 basic elements that matter to me now, the background and the graphic element such as text, logos or any other graphic objects used to deliver my message. This is going to be used for the backside of my postcard and I want to my artwork on it tastefully. Here is my layout for the back side of my postcard.

Unite The graphics to the Photograph- Now I am going to simply lay the graphic elements over the background of choice with absolutely no modifications.

As you can see the effect is not a desired one

Adjust the background transparency- In Adobe Illustrator change the background transparency to suit.

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The result

In 4 easy steps we have completed a professionally postcard design that will be easily understood. Use cmyk and the Pantone Matching System when extra colors are required. For example if you want to print a postcard with the 4 process colors plus a special color all you need to do is set up an additional spot color in your software program. To do this you must use publishing programs that allow you to properly execute it. Some of the more popular programs includeAdobe Illustrator, Quark Express, In Design and PhotoShop. Simply set your file up in CMYK mode and use it to get your own digital file professionally printed. Employ it colors, do not use Pantone colours unless we are printing a special colour. Employ it files when printing. Use cmyk to print colors like warm skin tones. Employ it for going to a commercial printing press.

What Else I Like to Use Adobe Illustrator For

We like above illustrator due to its easy in making print ready sheets. In our business, the faster and more accurately we can put it together the happier our clients are. We strive to actually deliver your product early, to do this we need to count on our people and software we use. Illustrator has many Customizable templates for brochures, newsletters and stationery that help you get off on the right foot and allows you to adapt you them quickly and accurately, day in and day out. You can use Photoshop when I you an optimized web version or just export a vector file right from Illustrator.

We use this program for a composition made of many non-objective shapes. Many of our projects are 2 fold, for the web and print. By using the web export filter as shown above you can also make flash files (swf) by choosing the option and your files are flawlessly output in flash format. To optimize the result make sure your file is 100% vector based as flash is also vector based and will understand this language completely. You can use Illustrator when you want to deal with color for your designs properly for your website and print media. Don’t be afraid to use this great program for working with other programs such as Corel Draw together by using the various export filters.

A Couple Effects included

Reversals

3D animations

What are Process Colors

Four color process is a common method used today in many print shops . But you can take it a step further by using Six-color process printing> it is often used by artists when printing numbered prints of their works. By adding the extra colors they are main used as primary an secondary tint plates that further highlight and enhance the printed image. This process is usually carried on acid free paper to avoid “yellowing” over time. CMYK is also referred to as four-color process printing by many printers, but it is important to clarify if it’s digital or litho CMYK. The printed result is much different between the 2. Four-colour print is a cost efficient, high quality print and litho method that can turn your boring single color leaflet into an elegant eye-grabbing, memorable printed piece. When you make your own files for print, color quality and color resolution are everything. You are the author of your own destiny, so make sure you get it right!

Top it up with Aqueous Coating

This is a covering that is 100% environmentally friendly since it is cured with light and not heat and no solvents enter the atmosphere. This protective print coating is a low-pollution coating made under environmental-protective standards. AQ seems to be an attractive option to any other coating because of its low cost, quick drying times and environmental friendliness. It is a coating that is much more effective than varnish and can tolerate books shifting around or water damage without scuffing. The coating makes it possible for printers to produce finish jobs faster, which generally results in your order being produced much quicker with ANY sacrifice in quality.

Postcard Affiliated Templates
Music Musician Florists Sunflower Beauty and Fashion Sun Abstract Blue-Landscaping Bar Tavern Thirst International Business International Computers Orange Button High Quality Business Racing car Racing Holiday Bus Fish Business Pen Art Photographer Sports Horse Riding Marketing Gears Entertainment Coaster Crafts Envelope Rose Matched	Pets Basset Futuristic Biotic Boating Sailing Abstract Warp Cir See all Business Cards Internet Global Net Corporate Grid Vertical Home services Painte Real Estate Window Humor Just Married Children products Carousel Auto Tires on Blue Technology Engineering Money Dough Money Boy Florists Flower Daisy Construction Bridg

Tags: printable postcard, offset printing, paper, graphic design advertising

This first draft has been submitted for review:

Original Version

Generally speaking the look and feel are much nicer. But not much has really changed in terms of placement. I have submitted design to the programmer and he has made the following comments:

“1. Buttons “Start Over”, “Email a Friend” etc. are removed … I did not even find hyperlinks to them. This functionality is not necessary any more ?

2. Tabs at the top “Home”, “Pricing” etc. look logical.

3. “Change Layout” hyperlink is removed … How to change layouts ?

4. Buttons for dark and light color look much better than hyperlinks.

5. I do no like the new rulers. Writing numbers vertically like that from my point of view is not a good idea. I think the present rulers are better.

6. A lot of space is taken for the new Search box. Though it is good to have a search box.

7. Bottom navigation is logical.

Honestly speaking the design could give different look and feel to the user. But I do not think it is really much more user-friendly than the previous one. All the main text editing elements are at the same places.

Generally page looks better than before. But not final. I think it still could be improved.

All this is my personal opinion only, of course.”

I agree with all points made and have composed a modified version of the same concept that I think better utilizes available space in top fold. The logic with this new version is to allow for a better user experience.

Revised Version

Summary of what I am proposing:

1. Adding functions to the top 4 graphics, change layout, email a friend, add stock logo and start over.
2. Remove stock logo link from current location
3. Advertising and searchbox now at the bottom
4. Stock Backgrounds will need a scrollbar or frame
5. Although there is no graphic present we will need a graphic prompt for user to “Update Proof” when required. The current sytem uses a red arrow that in on a trigger. If there is a better idea on how to prompt user I am opened for suggestions.

That’s about it for now my overall opinion is good and I like the design tallent of the graphic developer, thanks

Rob

Tags: colours, send postcard, graphic design marketing, postcard marketing, graphic design advertising

In the world of postcard marketing there are many options available when it comes time to choose the type of paper you want to print on. As a standard most printing companies print on a semi gloss paper known as Cornwall Cover. It is probably the most commonly used brand of semi gloss coated covers used by printing companies in Canada. Here is some information on the characteristics of this grade of paper:Color: Superior white shade
Finish: Gloss (65) and seven embossed finishes
Weight: 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 and 14 pt.
Size: Available in most popular formats, along with three
Job-oriented sizes for digital
Brightness: 92 GE
Archival: Elemental chlorine-free and acid-free (alkaline)
Recycled: 10% post-consumer fiber
FSC HP Indigo-certified

This is also the type of material that we use when asked to produce a standard postcard for our clients. We purchase multiple tons of this at one time so we can pass along a huge savings to the client on paper costs alone. When you take that into account, coupled with our ability to combine and manage many clients on 1 press sheet our end product is a supreme value for the dollar. For those of you that are not familiar with combination printing (AKA gang printing) it is when a printing company compiles multiple clients on one sheet of paper that all have the same printing specifications. Here is an example of one of our typical press sheets that we produce.

With the proper pre-press equipment, presses and staff we can do this with out sacrificing the quality of any project included on this press run. Once the press runs each order, the big sheet you see above is gillotine cutt down to finished size, packaged indivually and shiped to each customer’s doorstep. We can produce full colour postcards for as little as $135/ 500 4 X 6 postcards.

What Other Finishes are available?

There are thousands of other choices that are available to consumers that are looking for a different feel to their postcard. For example some folks like to create a vintage or antique look to their postcard. The option available for this includes materials that have a parchment finish. Here is an example of the material we use for this type of postcard application.

For softer coloured papers the CMYK printing process will be just fine. However, if a choice of paper that has a darker tone is made one must be aware of the possible influence that this may have on the CMYK printing Process. CMYK printing utilizes four primary colours of Inks Cyan, Magenta and Black.

When these colours are printed on paper the truest-to-life reproduction will always be on white paper. The reason for this is white (color of the paper) serves as a color. When the CMYK inks are printed they are printed in many different tones and screen values that overlay each other and the paper to create the illusion of the original photograph. If you decide to change the background color by selecting a paper choice other than white expect it to impact the finished look. Many graphic designers are familiar with this and apply some very interesting graphic effects, taking into account the background colour of paper to be used. Here I am going to show you the same project printed on white a madium coloured background and a dark background paper choice.

Image as accurate as possible in digital format

As you can see the backgrounds used play a role in determining the overall hue of colour printed. In these cases the exact same printing plates and settings were used. In the example marked “White Background” the image appears in its original state. In the second example marked “Medium Coloured Background” the background has influenced the image in a positive way. You will notice that the skin tones of staff members have actually improved. In the example marked “Dark Coloured Background” the effect is negative in terms of readability. In this case the effect is not a desired one. However, if you are a graphic designer and are familiar with the influence paper has on printing you can create very unique concepts by employing this graphic design technique. Often, when we use a really dark background paper for book cover or special effect printing technique we combine lithography with embossing and/or foil stamping.

If you are trying to reproduce original images via lithography and want to maintain the integrity of each image, printing on white paper is your best bet. If you look at Digital photo printing it is the process of developing digital photos into prints and is always printed on white. To create interesting appearances printing digital photos offers choices such as matte, glossy, linen or textured photo prints, but always in white.

When you are seeking the advice and professionalism of designers in the graphic design industry it is a smart plan to make sure that they will be able to meet your needs in both worlds, digital and print. There are many variables in both design fields that play a part in the finished concept and its possible applications for you. Good graphic designers will always take the steps of thinking, conceptualizing, designing and providing a real prototype of the polished look. In order to do this the designer must, first, contain the knowledge.

Tags: printing in color, graphic design, graphic designer, offset printing, postcard marketing

I am a pretty easy going person and always find time to chuckle everyday. I have had my nose to the grindstone most of my life. I just love to push the limits…it keeps me motivated. In 1989 when I started this printing and graphics related business the world was allot smaller. Today, everyone is in my backyard and lives in my neighborhood. So I wanted to share with my neighbors some of my experiences that I have ventured through.
1. In 1985- Was one of the first companies to get a fax machine in our neighborhood. The printing company I worked for at time was an industry leader and (if you could imagine) a fax machine was unheard of and unaffordable for most.
2. In 1989- I was no longer satisfied with my job, put in my notice and started this business Reprotech Printing and Digital media Services.
3. In 1999- WePrintColour joined the online business world

Over the next decade we worked diligently developing software that that helps people create their own designs online for printing purposes. We supply free graphic design tools for users to freely use. They can design from our existing postcard  templates, complete their project and get it printed or get a professional digital file (vector based). The digital file is typically used for there own purposes, such as a local printer, magazine ads or stationery, etc.

One day, I got to thinking!! I want my work to be better, more accurate and easy to do. One of the areas that we develop constantly is what can really be achieved online!!
I mean achieved by anyone. If you’re not a graphic designer, no need to worried we’ll help you with intuitive design tools and tasteful business backgrounds. That brings me to what I started talking about…I got to thinking what if I could make an administrators tool that gave administrators the ability to set up there own templates and assign appropriate layouts to them for their visitors? It came to me that we can build websites with this tool. The website quality I am talking about is not your average, run of the mill website; I am talking about a real website that is uniquely created for you. Wait a minute that doesn’t sound like anything new!

What is so special about that?

Good question! Here’s my long winded answer. Have you ever really looked at websites with the critical eye of functionality combined with aesthetics? Moreover, if you are an experienced webmaster it is always a strategic process to maintain as much visitor interest as possible, have great functionality while keeping a clean looking webpage. It is indeed a challenge that requires an acquired learning for. This concept is not for everyone, it is targeted for graphics related companies. What is unique about this is that you actually build your website from the back to the front.

What do you need to get started?

1) Read about the features
2) Try it out
Once you understand how it works it may offer some insights to you. The system works differently than other systems because of its intended use; outputting quality. Another project that is currently in the works is dashboard design. We basically worked to get the code fully functional first now we are introducing multiple dashboards for those that want to purchase a turn-key graphic design studio for their website. The system can be purchased and downloaded or we will provide installation on your server.

The real power to this tool is not what it does for the visitor but what it does for administrators that will guide the visitor through a delightful, personalized process.

For more info feel free to comment on this post or get in touch with us

Tags: postcard templates, software development, graphic graphic design software, graphic design job, ecard software, application software

We need a New Dashboard (Skin) for our Online Postcard Design Studio

Please leave a comment if you would like to bid on this project

Objective: To create a more user friendly interface from existing functions as outlined below. Shown below is an overview of how the current system is working. I have a programmer that I am currently working with.

We are looking for ideas and a concept for a new dashboard look to increase user friendliness. Our intention is to find comfort with a company that can simply make dashboard or skin concepts for this and other similar projects. Once approvals are in place all we require is the graphic design for use on the web. The concept we are looking for should simply be as clean and crisp as possible keeping in mind fast load time. The information below has been collected to help designers become familiar with funtionality
www Access Page
Click Here to Enter

Development Access Page - (used for developing applications)
Click Here to Enter

Click done and continue at the bottom and you enter advanced tools

Note: Your Name: Your Title: Telephone: Fax: Address Line 1: Address Line 2: Address Line 3: Email: are disabled when users enters panel initially.

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1) Start Over-If users want to reset layout but retain data user can click. When user clicks “Your card design has been restored to system defaults but we have kept your data. Click here if you want data reset.” If user wants to reset data user can apply “click here” link2) Email a Friend- If user wants to email to a friend it can be done by clicking this button. Email address text field (24) must be filled in with email address

3) Help- This will link (html) to a help page which we will create one panel is completed

4) Contact Ushtml link to contact us page

5) Add Custom Background- User can upload their own background from their computer by using this feature by following these instructions

·The image must be a “png” image.· The image dimensions for a horizontal card design should be 550 X 393.

· The image dimensions for a vertical card design should be 393 X 550.

· The total upload size of the image must be less than 10Mb

NO .MPEGS, .MP3 OR .EXE Files accepted.

6) Apply transparency- User can apply a percentage transparency to any background by selecting a color then selecting percentage darker or lighter

7) Add a Stock Logo- User makes selection of logo by clicking link, a new window opens, logo category choice is mage, logo choice is made then user clicks update Proof . If logo is not desired user can reset and update to remove. Stock logo choices from these categories include:

• Education Schools
• Electronics
• Energy
• Fantasy
• Fitness
• Flags
• Gardening
• Government
• Health Medical
• Holiday
• Household
• Interior
• International
• Kids Stuff
• Landscape
• Logo Elements
• Maps
• Meteor
• Military
• Money
• Music Motivate
• Music
• Neighborhood
• Occupations
• Outdoor
• People
• Plants
• Police
• Public
• Real Estate
• Religion
• Road Signs
• Seasons Weather
• Space Science
• Special Occasions
• Sports
• Symbols
• Technology
• Time
• Tools
• Transportation
• Travel
• Trees
• Western
• Zodiac

8) Add a Custom Logo- User can add their own logo by clicking link, a new window opens then user can upload a logo from their computer by following these instructions

· The image must be a “gif” image.

· The image dimensions cannot be larger than 200 x 200

· The total upload size of the image must be less than 10Mb.

9) Align Logo- User can align logo in 9 different grid positions by clicking desired position in graphic then clicks update proof.

10) Set transparent- Adds a transparent filter to the logo. This often helps with undesirable white space surrounding logos with curves. Checkbox above executes this.

11) Stock Backgrounds- User makes selection by choosing a category:

Abstract

Art

Auto

Bar Tavern

Beauty Fashion

Boating

Business

Children

Computers

Construction

Corporate

Crafts/Hobbies

Disaster Relief

Doctor

Entertainment

Florist

Food

Futuristic

High Quality

Holiday

Home Service

Humor

International Bus

Internet

Justice

Marketing

Medical

Money

Music

Nature

Racing

Real Estate

Restaurants

Shopping

Sports

Technology

Telecom

Video

Web Resources

Stock Backgrounds and images
Once user sees a background template that is desired user clicks image, window closes and clicks update proof. Note: user can now play with background transparency effects to create further uniqueness by applying color and percentage lighter or darker.12) Update Proof- This is a function that is used the execute changes. It must be clicked after changes have been selected. When the function is required by the user a blinking arrow appears to prompt

13) Select Text Line to Edit- To begin moving text around you must first select the line you want to edit. By default “Company Name” loads. User selects the line they want to edit then they can use any of the tools shown. Tools available include numbers 13 to 23 shown on this page.14) Change Layout User can choose from stock text layouts provided by clicking the link, a new windows opens, selection is made, window closes and “update proof”. Currently there are 5 horizontal and 6 vertical layouts.

15) Choose Text Effects- Pull down menu allows user to select any line they want to edit. Options available are:

• Company Name- Select to edit
• Slogan- Select to edit
• Name- Select to edit
• Title- Select to edit
• Address- Select to edit
• Phone- Select to edit
• Fax- Select to edit
• Web- Select to edit
• Email- Select to edit
• All- Selects all text on page allowing for a font size change to be applied to all text
• All Color- Selects all text on page allowing for a single color to be applied to all text
• All Font- Selects all text on page allowing for a single font to be applied to all text
  

16) Custom Line Placement- When custom text placement is needed this allows for movement side-to-side (X position)

17) Select from light text colors- A new window will open displaying available light colors. User makes a choice, window closes and updates proof. These colors are given names e.g. “Dk. Blue. Color Chip 2623”. The number assigned is logically named after the true pantone color. This is a great option to use when attempting to color match backgrounds *to find out more about the pantone color matching system just search the internet.

18) Select from dark text colors- A new window will open displaying available dark colors. User makes a choice, window closes and updates proof. These colors are given names e.g. “Dk. Blue. Color Chip 2623”. The number assigned is logically named after the true pantone color. This is a great option to use when attempting to color match backgrounds *to find out more about the pantone color matching system just search the internet.

19) Visible Color choice- Once color of choice is made user can see a color visual chip here.

20) Manual Color selector- If user wants to apply colors to text by using pull down menus instead of windows

21) Select Font Size- User can choose what size they want.
0

• 2
• 4
• 6
• 8
• 20
• 22
• 24
• 26

22) Select font- User can choose what font style they want by clicking link, a new window opens, user selects from visual font choice, window closes and update proof.

23) Custom Y text position Tool- If user wants custom positioning of any on the text fields up and down or horizontally by choosing what line. The desired placement is determined by the visible rulers present.

24) Text fields for user to make changes- If user want to make any typographical changes it is done here by entering data and updating proof.

25) Text field disable boxes- By default the postcard design system disables the following fields when entering advanced mode:

• Name- Select to edit
• Title- Select to edit
• Address- Select to edit
• Phone- Select to edit
• Fax- Select to edit
• Email- Select to edit
  To enable any of these fields user unchecks the box and updates proof

26) Start Over- IF users want to reset layout but retain data user can click. When user clicks “Your card design has been restored to system defaults but we have kept your data. Click here if you want data reset.” If user wants to reset data user can apply “click here” link

27) Update proof- 2^nd location (first location #12) of same button for added user convenience.

28) Save Card and Continue- When you are satisfied with front design of postcard this will take you to a preview page providing options
STEP 2- Choose one of the following options:

1. Go back and modify this card- Make changes you may have missed.

2. Design another business card. - Create more cards in the same session.

3. Design the BACK SIDE of this Postcard- User can design the back of postcard using the same tools with slightly modified functions. Modifications include allowing user to choose from stock templates. For an outline of what is being done on the back side module (currently in progress) sees this page http://www.weprintcolour.com/postcard-talk/?p=6.

4. I am done; I wish to get postcards printed. - User can preview finish product, select printing options as shown - 1, 2, and 3. Once completed user clicks “Go to next step”. Final checkout page allows user to review order specifications and make payment. Payment options include:

· CLICK HERE For Secure order form

· 2 Call us directly at 905 452-3504, we accept:

· 3 PayPal- ADD TO CART NOW

5. I am done, I wish download the professional file only- User can order a professional, vector based digital file to be used by a local printer of their choice. The choices available for digital files are:

Our Basic Professional Design- Package Includes Design of:

Custom personalization of postcard front and/ or backside template in your choice of vector format.

Silver Design Package- Our Silver Professional Design Package Includes Design of:

Custom personalization of Postcard, Business Card, letterhead and envelope

Extreme Design Package- Our Extreme Professional Design Package Includes Design of: Custom personalization of Book sleeve, Brochure, Business Card, CD Label, Compliment, Envelope, Fax Cover, Label, Letterhead, Postcard, Video Label, Website.
User makes choice and follows easy checkout as outlined in step 4 above
* Due to Infringing Usages of Pantone’s proprietary rights, is why we have named our colors as such. As a printing company we use the pantone matching guide to keep colors consistent as its intented use. The only reason our lab technicians have named our colors as such “Dk. Blue. Color Chip 2623” is to let clients know what a likely pantone color may look in its html format. These colors are an estimation based on our pantone matching guide as purchase from pantone. We do not guarantee its accuracy on the web but can assure all clients that you purchase a printed product, we print with pantone printing color standards.

Tags: postcard software, graphic designer graphic design resumes, software programs, postcards software, postcard templates, graphic designer

The study of/training in the use of artistic techniques effectively to communicate ideas and information to business and consumer audiences via forms of printed media.

Graphic Element Placement Options

Most people think Graphic Design is intended for commercial, advertising or educational reasons only. An element you may wish to include in your corporate brochure may be images of a 35mm Slide Presentation or a screen capture of their website, plus many other graphic aids. If time is not on your side you may want to employ two graphic artists to create company ID, all necessary marketing literature. Many of the folks I have come to know are graphic designers; I enjoy my time with every one of tome because of the uniqueness in each of their creative thoughts. But there are only handfuls that are very precise at creating art that sells.

Graphics, Print Modes and General Layout Tips

All you need is a decent graphics editor like Macromedia Fireworks, Adobe PhotoShop or Corel Photo paint to edit your own graphics. When working with web graphics remember they are viewed on screen, so you should always save them in RGB mode. When you are intending for the image to produce on a commercial printing press you

will save them in CMYK Mode. When you want to send or receive a reliable file type the best one is tiff, it’s the best way to retain color and detail found in photographs and universally accepted. When you want to layout graphics for any project there are certain primary elements to be aware of such as vector file format.

Who is the Right Designer for you?

Confidence, certainty and spot on creative thinking are what separate ordinary from the extraordinary. The”Top Dogs”just know and understand where it’s at and what the goal is. They know that there is a reason for being, and will take a scientific approach that encompasses an entire identity. Only a few of today’s designers are qualified designers for print and web, these designers may outsource the print media and this is where inconsistency may occur. We must seek and find a design that knows both in order to get maximum value for your dollar. The greatest graphic artists have learned that their talents are about creation.

Service is the rent we pay to be living. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time…Marian Wright Edelman

Plan a Qualified Designer for your Company

Once you have gone through your creative process and come to the acceptance step, stand back before signing off! Now, let’s take a breath and remove you for a moment. You should be seeing an innovative graphic design that will help set you apart from others in your arena. Don’t forget your company must have a website in today’s’

business climate it is not an option to not have one. There are plenty of companies you will see that offer SEO, SEM, SES and web design for 1000s of dollars. Again I say you company designer of choice should be taking care of everything for you.

 

… Don’t be annoying by sending your business customers garbage mail…send a classy postcard

Tags: graphic designer, graphic design software, graphic design companies, graphic design scholarships, graphic design job, graphic design logos