The Blog

The one thing that is often overlooked in print design is paper. Not necessarily the type of paper – you probably are well aware that there are countless options to choose from – but rather, how the paper is folded, how the color of the paper interacts with the overall design and how different paper colors can be used together in the same piece (for very little additional cost) to create a more dramatic impact.

This is especially effective for one-color jobs, but it also works for full color. A layering of paper types (heavy cover stock, medium text weight and light translucent papers) make for a richer, deeper design without much additional expense.

The most popular time to have work completed is always yesterday. That being said, things do take time. Take printing for instance: simple one and two color jobs without folds have the fastest turn-arounds. Full-color runs may require drying time between colors, depending on the machine being used. Jobs to be folded or scored need extra drying time to ensure that the ink doesn’t get smudged during the folding process.

A general rule of thumb is to budget 5-7 working days for simple non-folded jobs and 7-10 working days for all of the rest. Occasionally, you may get the job sooner, but it’s best to try to allow for that buffer. The goal is to make your job look its best, from design through the printing process, and that takes time. Of course, if was possible to have it yesterday, it wouldn’t be long until we would want it last week.