Author Archives: P & B Print

A Brief History of Everything Greeting Card

Brief History of Greeting Cards

October heralds the official start of the holiday season (in my mind, anyway). It is time to start thinking about what kind of candy to buy for Halloween, how big of a Turkey you’ll need this year, and just what the heck are you going to get Aunt Norma for Christmas? It’s also a time to let your loved ones know how much (or how little) they mean to you, and so you’ll turn to the dreaded greeting card aisle in your grocery store; it’s seemingly never-ending walls towering above you as you breakout in a cold sweat.

Do you ever wonder how we got to this point? Hundreds of options for (almost) every occasion lay before you to summarize a myriad of sentiments. It wasn’t always this way, though. In fact, the American greeting card industry really only came about in the last century. Sending well-wishes for significant events pre-dates modern society altogether. We can trace this practice back to the ancient Egyptians (duh, those folks had their hands in everything) and the ancient Chinese (also, some real smarties).

But even more recently, as early as the 1400’s, Europeans were selling handmade Valentine cards to give to loved ones. After that, we didn’t really see much advancement in card technology until the advent of the US Post Office Department (later to become the USPS) in 1775. After that it quickly became easier to pass along a “Happy Birthday” to someone in another state (if you had a few months notice or if they didn’t mind it being a little late).

Esther Howland became the first to publish a regular series of Valentines in the US in 1849. She established a publishing firm that was quite successful, specializing in elaborately decorated cards. After that, a German immigrant named Louis Prang started a small lithographic company near Boston in 1856. Prang is widely known as the Father of the American Christmas Card, as his business perfected the art of lithographic printing on cards. This increased the speed at which the cards could be produced, as well as the volume. This is seen as the birth of the American greeting card industry.

It is an industry that would establish itself as a money-making machine in the 1940’s, when a group of greeting card publishers would form the Greeting Card Industry (a predecessor of the Greeting Card Association). The new group helped organize the first “mail early” campaign with the US Post Office Department which brought more awareness to using the mail to send your “Happy Holidays”.

That’s just a brief summary of centuries of creative endeavors that culminates to one point…send somebody you love something nice every once in a while. You don’t have to stare down that wall of cards, though. We can create something truly as unique as your Aunt Norma. Just send us an email or give us a call and let us “hand craft” something for you today!

Information culled from  Greeting Card Association and other sources

Banners for Spring

The spring equinox is here, bringing warmer weather, blooming flowers, and a sale on our over-size marketing solution: vinyl banners! Get the word out with a large, yet portable, signage solution that won’t get rid of all your green.

Outdoor vinyl banners

Until the end of March, you can get our 15 oz indoor/outdoor banners for 20% off! Also, you can choose from our most popular sizes. If you don’t see the perfect dimensions for your needs, just let us know!

Our banners are printed with high-quality equipment and come with or without grommets. You’re going to love them!

If you’re not sure if a banner is right for you or your business, here are some common uses of vinyl banners:

  • Trade show signage
  • Farmers’ market booth
  • Art/Craft show booth
  • Temporary marketing event
  • Promotion of sales or specials
  • …and much more!

There are a ton of reasons why you might need a portable banner for your business, and they aren’t limited to the list above. Therefore, anywhere you need to convey a message that can be seen from a distance is the perfect place for a vinyl banner this spring.

EDDM Direct Mail

EDDM is not some new type of dance music, it stands for Every Door Direct Mail. EDDM lets you pick the Post Office’s route that will best apply to your business marketing, and send out postcards or mailers without the need for a specific address list.  The postal carrier delivers your advertisement to EVERY house on their route, thereby getting your message out to as many potential customers as possible! Let our experienced Graphic Designers help you with making that eye-catching mailer that conforms to the post office requirements.  We know the rules and best practices so you don’t have to! Call us today!

Here’s some more information on EDDM from the USPS.
EDDM Mailbox

Setting Up Bleed in your Artwork

Bleed for Print

One of the most difficult concepts to understand in printing is Bleed. Don’t worry, it’s not as dangerous or messy as it sounds. It’s a way of planning for the inherent imperfections in the process of turning your files into printed products.

P&B Spot Business CardsIf your design has color or elements that run off the edge of the page, you’ll need to add a BLEED to your document. Think of it as the extra bit around the edges that can be cut away without affecting the design. Printing is ultimately a mechanical process; paper enters a machine (in this case a printer or press), ink is applied, and it comes out the other side. Every sheet of paper that runs through the machine can shift and move by a sixteenth of an inch or more because that paper has such a long path to travel.

This is oversimplifying a bit, but the basic idea is there. If we didn’t take these shifts of paper into account, when the sheet is cut out, you may see extra white paper around the edges of the offending sheets. To avoid this, we want to stretch the color of the design out past where we want to cut it. This way, even if it shifts, we won’t see it.

NOTE: Another tricky-wicket when designing can be borders. If you have a solid border around your artwork, you’ll want to make sure that it extends INTO the Safe Zone of your design by at least.25″. This way, when your print is cut the border will appear even despite the variances in printing. Otherwise you could end up with a lopsided border that isn’t consistent throughout the run of prints.

 

Bleed Guide

Cut Edge: This line represents the finished cut edge of the piece.

Live Area (Safe Zone): The area that is considered safe to keep information or important elements within.

Bleed Area & Edge: The more bleed, the better. This area is the overage you need to provide if the color of your design goes all the way to the edge. Keep in mind anything in this area will be cut off, but you need something here so you don’t get white space at the edge of your finished card. Printers tend to shift minutely when printing, so not every sheet is always perfectly aligned, this extra space accounts for that shift.

The absolute minimum bleed you need for a printed piece is 0.125 in (1/8 in) per edge but some pieces require more than that. So if you are working with an image in Photoshop or Illustrator and placing it in InDesign for print preparation, keep in mind the area you might need to use for the bleed.

Crop Marks: Indicates where the print shop with cut the paper to create the finished piece.

Logo Design

You already know that we make business cards, banners, and promotional items (along with a myriad of other products), but you may forget that we can jump-start your new company with a stellar logo design. Whether you just have the inkling of an idea, or a fully thought out business proposal, we can turn your design dreams into the reality of a brand new one-of-a-kind logo.

Even if you have NO ideas at all, you can meet with our designer who, with only broad strokes, can seemingly conjure a beautiful logo out of thin air. We will work with you until your new logo is perfect and is ready to be unleashed onto the world. Here are a couple examples of some logos we’ve come up with, just to give you a taste:

Logo DesignLogo Design

And to give you some food for thought on your next logo, here’s a short article from Fast Company to get you thinking about what will make your logo memorable.

Personal Calendars

personal calendarThe New Year is right around the corner, which means you’re probably in the market for a new wall or desk calendar. Why buy a pre-made boring calendar when you can let us create a custom calendar for you! We can add your special dates and holidays, like birthdays, anniversaries and even those “National Donut Day” type holidays!

Calendars aren’t limited to the standard 12-months, either. We can add as many months as you want and the photos to match. 14, 16, 24 months…the sky’s the limit!

One gift that I like to send to family members is a custom photo calendar. You can collect the best photos of the year and put together a functional scrapbook that Grandma will love! It’s an easy and very personal gift that you can’t just pick up at the grocery store on Christmas eve. Just send us the photos, let us know what dates are special to you, and we will do the rest!

Giving Thanks

November is almost over, and so is this crazy year, and as the holidays quickly approach now is the time to reflect on all that’s happened this year. It’s time to let your loved ones know how much you appreciate them. Say it with a card, an email, or even just a quick phone call, but please say it. After all, it’s why we celebrate Thanksgiving.

In that spirit, we want to thank all of our amazing customers that have helped us grow over the last year. We wouldn’t have been able to expand our services and welcome our new printer, Leia, without your support and patronage. We are SO GRATEFUL for all of you and we hope that you continue to allow us to create beautiful things for you and your business in the years to come.

From all of us here at P & B Print and Design Studio, have a wonderful and HAPPY THANKGIVING!!

happy thanksgiving!

 

Put on a UV Coat

As it gets cooler outside, you will eventually want to take a coat with you when you head out. Your body isn’t the only that will benefit from an extra layer of protection, though. Your business cards and postcards need a little love, too! You can add a UV coat to your printed material to make them last longer and improve their look. What’s UV, you ask? Well, let’s find out…

UV Coat
An Example of a Full UV Coat

UV, or Ultra Violet, coating is a thin, very glossy coating that is applied to a sheet of paper or cardstock and then cured (or dryed) with an ultraviolet light. It provides a protective layer on paper, protecting not only the stock itself, but the ink as well. UV coating can be applied in two ways:

Full Coverage (or Flood Coating) covers the entirety of the card so that the entire surface has a high shine. If you prefer to just highlight certain elements of a printed piece, you can have the UV coating placed specifically over those areas. This is known as “Spot Coating”, or “Spot Gloss”.

P&B Spot Business Cards
An Example of Spot Gloss

You can see how the letters in the above example stand out now that they have the super shiny coating. They really pop!

A couple things to keep in mind when you’re considering a UV coat are: it is difficult to write on top of a card that is coated. The high gloss finish inhibits the use of ink in most pens. Permanent markers even have a hard time adhering to the coating. So if you need a card that you can take notes on, it’s best to leave it uncoated, at least on one side.

Also, UV gloss can be a little more expensive and time consuming to create, but it can be worth the extra expense when you see the outcome. Colors seem brighter and blacks look blacker under the ultraviolet layer. It’s an easy way to class up your collateral before you head out to that networking event.

Give us a call and we can get you a quote and show you the myriad of options available when you UV coat.

Halloween Party Invites

halloween-1

Now that October is in full swing, you’ve probably already started planning your Halloween party for this year. If not, what are you waiting for?

The first thing you need to do is get some invitations out, ASAP! Sure, you can use social media and Facebook to notify your friends of your spooky plans, but it’s more personal to send them a spooky invitation to the best party of the year!  The only information we need is the date and location of the party in question, and we will brew you up a unique postcard that will let everyone know that you are full of the Halloween spirit.

If time is of the essence, however, we still have you covered. Our expert designers can conjure a Facebook event photo or other social media invite for your party. Either way, you’ll be doing the monster mash in no time with the minimum amount of hassle and stress.

So before the end-of-year shopping crunch gets you when October ends, let loose and have a little fun for the most interesting holiday of the year! Here is a Pinterest board chock-full of invite ideas to help get you started.