So, in this short blog post I thought I would clear up what the term – ‘print ready artwork’ actually means, and why it’s so important to printers these days.

Print ready artwork – a definition

Let’s start by defining what we would call ‘print ready artwork’. A file is considered to be print ready if it meets the following criteria:

• Is in PDF format
• Has the required bleed allowed
• Contains crop marks set at whatever is required – usually this is 3mm
• Has fonts embedded in the PDF or has fonts outlined
• Contains hi-res images 300dpi or above
• Text and images is sufficiently clear of the bleed area

As you can see, a file needs to be thoroughly prepared in order to be able to be considered ‘print ready’. The list above is not exhaustive and individual printers will have their own guidelines for what they consider to be ‘print ready’.

Now you have a basic undertsnaing as to what the term ‘print ready artwork’ means you are now ready to understand why it is important to a printer that the files they receive meet their criteria.

Why does it matter?

With the ever increasing need to be competitive and bring costs down for customers printers need to find ways of eliminating human input in the print process.

More human input = more cost to the consumer.

So by installing a standard  file format into the whole process a printer can improve it’s workflow to improve efficiency. This means when you submit files to a printer, and they are in the correct format they will simply whizz through their system without the need to be manually dealt with.

Of course, this can present it’s own problems. A file that doesn’t meet the specific criteria will either be rejected, or you will get some unexpected results.

But don’t worry, that’s why we’re here!

All this may sound daunting, but that’s why we’re here, to make your life easier and take the stress out of worrying about getting your artwork in the right format for printers.

If you’ve wondered why a printer will charge you for sending them a Word file with your artwork in it, it’s because they’ll need to convert your Word document into a print ready PDF format. The same goes for Photoshop files, JPEG’s, Publisher files etc.

Don’t be surprised when you get asked for a small fee from the printer to convert your files, the process to convert a file that isn’t print ready into one that is can take anything from a few minutes to up to an hour depending on the file and how you’ve set it up.

Use the right tools for the job

If you insist on creating your own artwork, then there’s really only a few tools that will produce the results you’re looking for. Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. Sure, your can use Photoshop, Publisher, Word etc. Just don’t be surprised when your printer calls you up and asks for a ‘print ready pdf’.

In summary

We would obviously recommend you use the services of a graphic designer for your print work. They will ensure the files are print ready for you. The result will be a job that you’ll be proud of, delivered in a timely manner because the printer hasn’t had to reject the file.

If you have any questions about this article and the points raised, feel free to call me on 07849 020558 or email me at steve@demoncreative.co.uk and i’ll be only to happy to answer them for you.

To clarify what we mean, Open Source is a community developed piece of software that is free to download and use, whereas with Licensed Software you normally pay a monthly fee to use the software and development is restricted to the company who developed the software.

Why should you care?

As a consumer you just want a solution that works for you, fits the needs of the project and is reliable. However, the two models are totally different and could have far reaching consequences further down the line.

To draw on an every day comparison it’s a little like owning the freehold to a building or simply being a lease holder, you never truly own it outright.

It’s now possible to open an ecommerce store within 5 – 10 mins and be trading almost immediately. That’s fantastic convenience and will suit some people, however your business is not truly yours as the store will be hosted on someone else’s server and you won’t be able to take it with you when you get fed up of paying the monthly fee every month.

With Open Source software you can get your hands on the source code and with a small amount of technical know how, upload it to your own web hosting account and truly own your little piece of internet real estate.

But, what are the pro and cons of Open Source software, and what impact will it have on your business? Below we look at some of them in more detail.

The pros of open source software

• Free to download – if you have the technical know how, the software is free. Even if you don’t have great technical skills, the fact it’s open source should mean developers fees are lower as there’s a wider community of people supporting it.
• Self hosted – for about £100 per year you can host the software on your own web hosting account, should you wish to move web hosts you can take your site and leave
• Lower development costs ongoing – usually open source software has an army of supporters who are constantly writing new plugin functionality to the software, this means upgrades you want to make will be lower or even free as usually someone has written a plugin to do what you need it to.
• Updates are normally free – open source software is usually supported free of charge, this means updates to the software will be free. This is useful as the world moves at an amazing pace, and you need your website to keep pace with it!
• You’re not tied in to one company - the fact you have it hosted on your server means if you don’t like your developers you can walk away. This is opposed to a licensed situation where the software has been developed by them and supported by them. Fall out and you’re on your own, or to bring in outside help with no knowledge of the coding could be expensive.
• Bugs are ironed out by the community – usually open source software will go through phases of development such as beta testing and release candidate testing. The community will report bugs to the developers and these will be ironed out in advance of a full release.
• No ongoing fees once you’re up and running - with open source software you don’t pay a monthly or yearly licence. You only pay for the work you need doing, if everything is tickety boo then you don’t have a monthly fee to consider.

The cons of open source software

• Support is by email or forums only if things go wrong – this means usually you won’t have a person to call if things go wrong. However, your web developer should be able to help if you need a question answered. Or if you are a little technically minded there will be forums where you can ask a question and get a response.
• No guarantee of ongoing development – sometimes due to work commitments or a general swing away from an open source package the development of it may halt and you could be left having to find another solution ongoing.
• It’s ‘sold as seen’ - ok, not literally as its free, but you may find your off the shelf solution doesn’t do everything you need it to and you may end up paying someone to add it in for you. Open Source is great for lots of projects but sometimes you may need a bespoke solution.
• Support is not instant – if your website is the mainstay of your business and something goes wrong you may find it takes a little more time to fix. With licensed software you normally have phone support where you can get issues resolved more quickly.

Well, there you have it, some helpful comparisons between open source and licensed software. It’s a vast topic that cannot be covered in a single article, so if you need some free advice as to what solution would best fit your project call Steve at Demon Creative on 01442 560054 or 07849 020558 or email steve@demoncreative.co.uk

That was analytics of the 90′s, the world has moved on, the needs of website owners has moved on and so has the world of Website Analytics.

Free Analytics providers such as Google Analytics will allow you to go much deeper than just the bog standard stats telling you how many visited your site on a given day, or how they found you.

How much cooler would it be to know what links were clicked on? Or what documents were downloaded and how many times? We can even set up your site so that we can tell how many times someone clicked on a particular graphic on your home page.

We can give you this feedback using what’s called ‘Event Tracking’ – a simple piece of code that is added to clickable links and graphics on your website.

Event Tracking will give you another perspective on how your website is interfacing with your audience, it will allow you to drill down to specific details about what is effective and what is not on your web page.

To find out more about how Event Tracking can provide you with more information as to how your website is performing call Steve at Demon Creative on 01442 560054.

Quite often clients overlook the need for the marketing piece to have a purpose – or what we like to say ‘a call to action’. Something that will initiate some sort of action from the recipient. This may be a phone call to you, a visit to your website or an email to enquire about your product or service.

So, looking at this simple aspect of the leaflets design we also look at other elements which are often overlooked. So here’s a few tips of what to look for when putting together your copy.

1. Call to action – as discussed above, something that will initiate a response. An example of this is “Call us today to receive your free information pack” – this will usually prompt a call to you. This is a ‘call to action’.

2. Contact details visible – it may sound obvious but you’ll be surprised at the number of briefs that don’t include vital contact info such as multiple phone numbers, email address and web addresses.

3. Social media links – if you’re looking to build your profile online don’t forget to supply your social media links for Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter even your YouTube profile (you do have one don’t you?).

4. Less is more – don’t try and cram in as much text as possible. Less is ALWAYS more in design. Give your leaflet room to breath and make it easy for your end user to read, digest and action your content. Too much and they’ll just skim read and miss the message altogether.

5. Pictures speak a thousand words – so true for many professions. A good sprinkling of images and a measured amount of text will always get a better response than a text only leaflet. Images break up the design and can be used as instant visual indicators instead of text. We have access to a huge (10′s of thousands) of images to use in your designs, many that won’t cost you a penny!

6. Measure your response rate with an offer – to do this you can include an offer code people can quote when they’re contacting you, usually linked to an offer of some sort. For example – ‘quote code FREE10 to get 10% off your order’ – you can then measure the response rate you’re getting from your campaign.

7. Don’t make your logo bigger! – there’s a good viral video that explains this crime much better than we can explain, have a watch of http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/

8. Starbursts don’t work – you might think they’re cool, but they’re not! Just because you put a price in a fancy star and add a drop shadow won’t make people buy your products. They’re a relic of 90′s design, so instead how about using good quality pictures, well written copy and let the end user make their own mind up? Go on, you’ll be amazed at the result

9. Proof read your work - grammatical errors and speling mistakes are unforgiveable when you’re attempting to portray yourself as a professional company. So make sure you proof read your design before signing it off. (Yes, we know there’s a spelling mistake in this paragraph!)

10.  You can’t nick images off websites to use in your design – we’ll say it again… You can’t just nick images off other people’s websites. Instead, let us use some high quality images in your design or if we don’t have an image in our own library that suits we’ll tell you to spend a few pounds and invest in some at www.istockphoto.com

So there you have it, a few words of wisdom to help you create a better leaflet, hopefully it will help you to think a little differently and understand design in a different way.

We Love Printing has been developed to make buying print hassle free. A simple online ordering system ensures customers can place their orders 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

The eCommerce site has been developed using an Open Source solution – Prestashop. The latest version offers a whole raft of features, normally reserved for paid for carts. We were able to produce and integrate a skin to the ecommerce engine to create a unique customer experience.

Have a look around the site at http://www.weloveprinting.co.uk