One of my absolute favorite projects that we get to be involved with is the publication that Visit Bend puts out annually touting the tourist mecca that is my home town. This 96 page beauty is full of seriously excellent photography (which makes the printer in me giddy), and tons of useful info (which makes the serious part of my brain stand up and take notice). Click on the link to get your copy today - if you're a Bend resident, it's a great bragging tool, and if you don't live here, pack your bags. I'm betting after a look through the guide you're going to want to come and visit!
Congrats to my buddy Tony Querio - his label design for Backporch's Cold Brew Coffee made it into Marrow Magazine. We've done a couple of projects for Backporch and I've always appreciated the minimalist design that they employ to focus the attention on the product and their message. Also, keeping things in black sure keeps the production costs down!
Gordon Pritchard writes a great blog called Quality in Print. If you don't follow it, you should. Here's an example of why - these are some great shots and examples of the different types of misregistration possible on a printing run, what they look like and what causes them. Invaluable Printing 101.
I really dig Steven Heller’s contributions to the “imprint” design blog. His latest comments on the birth of the Nike Swoosh and the old images that he dug up are a fun distraction for the day.
Connexion is so excited to be a part of Bend WebCAM for the third year in a row. If you haven’t checked out this amazing annual conference that the Advertising Federation of Central Oregon puts on, you should – world class speakers, great networking, mind blowing take-aways, so worth the time spent.
Heartbreaking is all I can say. I was so looking forward to the $100 bill – it had so many cool new security features and complex printing technology going down. 3-D Security Ribbon, color shifting denominations, hidden watermarks – oh so neat. Turns out it was too complex to print – only printed up $110 billion dollars worth before giving up. Talk about expensive make-ready.
We in the world of print are completely and totally enamored with QR codes. A lot of friends and colleagues feel that these physical hyperlinks are a great way to make printing relevant in a hyper-connected age, and I’ve got to agree. Here’s an article a techy would love about why the rapidly increasing implementation of QR codes will start to have an impact on how the hipsters manage their SEO.
It's a bad habit - I'll pick up a printed piece and turn it back and forth wondering how it was produced. Often, if done in public, this will result in a whack up-side the head from my wife. U.S. Currency has got to be the holy grail of "how the heck did they do that" - and I'm just glad that someone else took interest in the production process so I don't feel alone with my habit.
The number one way we've grown over the last year has been on the word of mouth from delighted customers. This summer, we're taking it up a notch - now all of our fans that are referring our business stand to win a new iPod Nano. Click here to see how.
Seeing a finished project always gives us a good feeling - especially when it involves creative people from all walks of the industry. We put together this self-promo piece as a special greeting to our friends and supporters after our first year of business. Managing this piece was a beast - especially hand trimming and gluing everything together. The props from Trish Witkowski, one of the leaders in making bindery cool again, made it all worthwhile. Check out her video blog here.
