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!

Proof It!

In a rush for a printed piece? Think you’ll just skip the proofing stage to save time? We advise you to think twice. Proofs can save your print job and your wallet.

The pace of our world continues to increase these days, while the time to produce (planning for an event, creating an invitation, brochure, or mailing, for example) is decreasing. We all tend to find ourselves running on this inevitable treadmill. But, even as deadlines get tighter and expectations grow, accuracy still needs to trump speed. As Charley Lindemann, one of KPB’s owners, often  says, “You may feel like you don’t have time, but you certainly don’t have time to print it twice”. In most cases, not only do you not have time to print something twice, you likely don’t have the budget.

That’s where the proofing process comes in to save the day. Proofing is essential to an accurate final product. Seeing something one last time before you print it can save you the headache of spelling someone’s name wrong, realizing your corporate red actually looks pink, catching an incorrect event date, or seeing that holes punched are going through critical data. These are just a few examples of the many things that clients catch at the proofing stage of a job. Always remember, bypassing a proof might save you time in the short run, but ask yourself, what could it do to your budget, or even worse, your clientele, in the long run?

Large and In Charge!

The effects of over-sized marketing can be seen far and wide, helping to bring your brand into view even from a distance. We have a variety of large format print options to choose from.

These options provide:

• high-quality, versatile wide-color gamut capability including white and silver
• printing on clear film, vinyl, canvas, photographic paper and most popular substrates
• a guarantee for up to three years outdoors without lamination.
• ultra-smooth gradations and transitions through the use of light inks in conjunction with CMYK
• creative options and market appeal without compromising your budget.

Communicate your message in style, using vivid colors, solid whites and a range of special metallic effects!

The array of uses for attention-grabbing is wide:

• full-color posters
• indoor and outdoor banners
• window clings and graphics
• floor and ground graphics
• pop-up and trade show displays
• outdoor signage
• feathers and sails
• product prototypes
• wayfinding signage
• vehicle wraps and graphics
• wall and building murals

Give your sales rep or CSR a call today for big ideas you can use to enhance your current marketing campaigns!

Every Day Direct Mail have you confused?

Every Day Direct Mail (EDDM) is a great way to saturate a market with direct mail. Every address in an area will receive a piece of your marketing material. You can save money as you do not need to buy a mailing list and the POSTAGE is lower. Even with the new rates below, you can save up to 30 cents per piece in postage from a first class mailing.

Here is the new postage and a quick explanation.

The new rates for EDDM went into effect January 27^th, 2013.
>Retail rate $0.16.  This is the rate the was formally $.145.  This is the rate that people use that do not have a permit number.  These pieces are to be delivered to the post office of the zip code area being targeted.

The Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU) rate is $.149.  This is the rate you would use if you have a permit number and you bring it to the BMEU and submit paperwork and then transport to the delivery Post Office. This means you still deliver each bundle to the post office of the appropriated zip code but you save money by having a registered permit number with the post office.

The BMEU rate if you have a permit and you take to the BMEU and leave it at the BMEU for the Post Office to transport to the delivery Post Office the rate is $.158. This saves you time but costs you money. You do NOT have to deliver the pieces to the appropriate post office. You SIMPLY drop it off at the BMEU and they handle the shipping to the post office of the assigned zip code. No need to drive to multiple post offices to drop off your mailing. Simply deliver to the BMEU post office and know that your mail will make it to each household in your selected zip codes.

Sound confusing? We handle these mailing frequently. Contact us at 513-681-4450 to see if EDDM is a mailing solution that makes sense!

Changing Culture

Changing culture in itself seems as though it would be easy. Get rid of the people that created the culture no longer desired. Bring people in that embrace the culture that is anticipated. The culture has changed, right?

Not so easy. When we changed ownership of our company over a year ago we wanted to make a few changes in culture. We knew we wanted major changes:

1. for the employees to feel as though they mattered and were heard
2. a shift in attitude to buying the best may be a better answer than buying the cheapest.  
3. quality was of utmost importance
4. if something was broke we wanted to fix it

The owners were all of this mindset. We went about our business of educating employees about quality, buying new things, improving equipment, and the building. We had lists from the employees of what they desired for us to fix and buy. Nearly every item on the list that was reasonable, was purchased. By fulfilling requests and through our attitude, we really felt that we were setting a good example for the desired culture. Yet, we found that some employees still do not feel included, some won’t tell us when parts break, and others still brush off quality.

It is difficult to know we still haven’t made a full impact, but the culture is slowly changing. It is evident in the laughter heard through the building, the productiveness of the employees, and the overall quality of jobs that are shipped. It is joyous to see that the culture is changing, but it was not easy and we are not all the way there yet.  However, the results are so worth it.

Read about some historical transformations in this article:
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121106193412-1213-why-relationships-matter-i-to-the-we