Like clockwork, this time of year brings in two specific areas of work in our business; communication pieces to help incoming students get acclimated to their new environment and outreach material to drive dollars to the university. Universities communicate with both students and alumni on an ongoing basis. General communication materials typically are produced this…

On this topic, I read an article recently that a majority of back to school shoppers preferred print and direct mail for back to school promotions.  Now as a marketer for a print communication company, this statistic didn't necessarily surprise me because we often see an uptick in business during this time of year.  However,…

During the course of our discussion, the owner suggested that perhaps they could print and mail a postcard. The requirements needed to produce this postcard perfectly matched our company’s abilities. This job could have been designed, printed & mailed within a week or two and would have counted to our sales goals for the month.…

Print, as with specialty cakes, are a custom made item that are produced by skilled artisans of their craft. While technology and automation have greatly improved the efficiency of how both products can be produced, the quality of the final product still depends on a experienced craftsman to produce it correctly. Good design principles are…

In our nearly 35 year history we have printed thousands of these signs, an experience that has provided us with a great amount of insight as to what may or may not be important when joomla_4eloping useful and purposeful signage. However, we seldom have the opportunity to gain insight from the end users, the decision…

It seems that the newly designed bills were printed with too much ink and the lines in the very detailed artwork were hard to distinguish. The new $100 bills will feature 3D images and a chameleon like Liberty Bell, designed with the intent to thwart counterfeiters across the globe. While much has been made about…

Beginning in the mid-1980’s thru the 1990’s the printing industry began to feel the impact of an industry-wide transformation. The invention of the Mac and its impact on image setting, the arrival and widespread use of email, and the emergence of electronic media caused great pause within our community. As the world celebrated the turn…

Some of the best practices in creating a donor appeal campaign includes segmenting the target audience into New Grads, New Grad Renewals and Regular Renewals. The direct mail piece can be versioned for these segments. If an offer is part of the campaign, this too can be versioned among the intended recipients. For instance, more recent grads…

One thing that an organization may want to try is the introduction of variable data into the newsletter to see if this can breathe life into an underperforming asset. You may have heard the phrase, variable data, but what does it really mean?  Variable data printing is a form of digital printing in which elements…