The value of the 5th color

When you see a color brochure, pocket folder or newsletter, you may not realize all that is involved with printing these pieces in such vivid and accurate detail. Perhaps your company has a very specific blue or green that you use in your logo, online and throughout your print. In the printing industry, we use a color matching system called Pantone Matching System, or PMS. This allows us to specify spot colors by a number or name, ensuring that they are matched pretty precisely with our ink.

When this gets tricky is when we’re printing a four-color piece, which uses “process colors” or colors that utilize a ratio of each element in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) to produce all the colors used in the design. In cases where matching a certain PMS color is critical and we are printing out of four-color process, we would suggest adding a fifth color from PMS. Then your piece prints in C, M, Y, K and that specified PMS color.

To give you an example, we print a five-color newsletter for one of our clients whose company’s blue is PMS 300. It’s important within their branding standards that PMS 300 blue be properly represented in all printed pieces, so we not only print this newsletter in four color process, but we also add in PMS 300 as a fifth color to ensure that the areas printing their blue match precisely.

Have more questions about when to add a fifth color? Contact your sales rep or CSR today to ask for more information. As always, we’re here to guide you through the process!

Don’t be laid out by your files | File Preparation

Are you stuck in your page layout program? Does it feel like a foreign adventure for you to layout your book or your business card? Do you fear that you have made a mess you can’t recover from? Call us - we can help! We are familiar with almost all design-related software and can assist in most circumstances to get your file ready for print, or take what you’ve started and turn it into the masterpiece you were striving for.

We recently had a client working in PageMaker who had never used that program before. She was worried that she messed up her page layout to the point of no return. Upon meeting with her, we were able to put her at ease and offer some coaching. Sometimes an experienced eye is all it takes when a computer program is making you feel like you are on another planet. Use us as a resource to help you in preparing/building your next file for print!

Beyond assisting with troublesome files, we also offer a full array of design services to take your project from a simple idea to a creatively designed piece. Ask your sales rep or CSR for more information today!

Take it to the table

A tabletop display is a great way to make a statement at eye-level when you’re at a trade show, conference, event or need to share information from the front desk. Perhaps you’ve taken a look at your tabletop display recently and decided it needs a fresh look or isn’t quite right for the space you have available. We have several creative and functional options to consider and whichever you might choose, we can print the art for your display in vivid color, including metallic inks!

• Attachable Easel Backs
• Cardboard Easel Back - the most cost effective, but meant more for temporary display. Bonus - it collapses flat for shipping.
• Plastic Easel Back - still cost effective, but better durability for the tabletop displays you are going to use again and again. Bonus - it also collapses flat for shipping.

• Tabletop Pop-Up Banners
• Available in both vertical and horizontal orientation.
• An easy and compact way to transport your message. Something different to draw attention!

• Tripod Easel Rest
• Might be the solution you need if you will be interchanging your signage often. Bonus - the legs collapse for shipping and unit can support up to 5 lbs.

• Bamboo Stand
• An easy, creative solution to a quick display. We print the banner for you, add grommets and roll it up for transport. The stand can be assembled quickly and the sign attached through the grommet holes.

• Spider-Spreader Stand
• Similar to the Bamboo Stand, but a varies slightly in that the legs spread and lock into position and it has more of a wire look to it that can be more subtle.

• Acrylic Sign holder
• Great for when you want a flyer or a poster to stand on its own and be protected from the elements. Ideal for restaurants or offices where people might touch the sign a lot and where the sign will be interchanged frequently

Still looking for something different? Let us research other options for you. Discovering new and creative ways for our clients to display their signage is just one of our specialties.