Printing your promtional materials

Hi everyone! Monkey, after ordering samples and actually using some of these services, has put together a review of large printers in case you are interested in printing business cards and postcards. We haven't really looked into posters, or other printed materials, and we're comparing based on business card prices and postcard prices. Originally made for the SF Etsy Street Team, we decided to share it with you!

-www.PSPrint.com has a good selection of cardstocks, and are cool because you can order small quantities (like just 50) while most other printers start at around 100 or even 500. They also have rush options for same-day printing (although they ship out the next business day), and you can pick it up in Oakland. Their most expensive quantity/time frame (only 50 cards, same day printing) you're looking at 42 cents per card, and if you order 500 cards with a 3-day turnaround, it drops to 7.5 cents per card. We can't stick with a design long enough, but if you're in an identity for the long term, you can get 10,000 cards printed the same day for only 2.7 cents per card. They're also printing business cards and postcards on 100% recycled paper now with soy-based inks, so there's not a whole lot to be worried about. They're so good, we signed up to be their affiliates, and are the Monkey + Seal local printer of choice.

The one thing about PS Print though - they'll say "omg, we're having a huge sale!" Don't freak out and buy right away, the prices aren't really any different from any other day.

-Moo.com - Our 2nd go-to printer. Moo has really high-quality cards that are thick, satiny, and you can have different designs on the face of every card. This make getting choosing what image you want on the face really easy, as you can have them all! My only complaint is that the back side of the cards all have to be the same, and they're a quite a bit more expensive (~35 cents each), but you're paying for the high quality and customization. (They're also amazing, so we're also affiliates of moo as well).

-As other handmade artisians, however, you may want to check out www.1984printing.com. They're woman owned and operated, local to Oakland, and even though they're a *bit* more expensive than PS Print, you can know you're supporting a small press that's pretty punk rock.

They do have higher minimum quantities, however. I haven't worked with them personally, but they hooked up the SF Zine Fest on poster printing deals two years ago, and seem to be really cool.

-GotPrint.com has the best prices around for stuff printed on heavier cardstock. They offer really nice matte finished, heavy cards. I'd say their quality is very similar, but not quite as good, as Moo's. However, they do not have rush services available for the nice premium paper stock, and their customer service (if something goes wrong) isn't that awesome (it's actually pretty craptastic) - they're very big boxy, and seemed to care less to lose my business when something went wrong and they couldn't meet my deadline You definitely have to stay on top of them to make sure your order goes through, but if it does come out okay, the product is awesome and the prices can't be beat. They're based in Southern California, I believe.

-GreenerPrinter.com has some good product, but they're slightly more expensive than PSPrint, but I also have not worked with them very much. They are eco-friendly, but most other printers are going pretty green, so unless it is super important to be 100% green, I'd say there might be better options.

-Vistaprint = says stuff is free, but tacks on little fees that add on for custom printing, 2-sided, getting rid of their logo, etc. However, if you need super cheap and you don't have design skills or friends with said skills, they are pretty cheap, but the quality is also such. I don't recommend them at all, to be honest, unless you're absolutely devoid of design capabilities (but then you can always go to Moo.com, so I guess I don't recommend them at all unless you have absolutely 0 capital).

-Overnight prints.com - PS print is still cheaper for overnight printing. I did the price comparisons, so I'm not sure why I'd ever choose them.

-Rocketpostcards - They're almost 3x as expensive as PS Print. Not sure why I'd ever go here, besides that they're located here in SF rather than Oakland.

-Logos Graphics - If you have the budget and want to go the custom letterpress route, I could very well refer you to our affiliates over at Paper Source or at Minted.com, but Paper Source doesn't do printing over the internet for business cards, and I think you'd probably have to call Minted to see them. Thus, I've worked with the ever-helpful and talented Lars and John over at Logos Graphics. They recently printed up some wedding invitations I designed for a friend, and did an awesome job for a great price and I couldn't be happier with the entire experience.

Here you go! I hope this helps, and if you have any other opinions on printers, please let us know!

Process: commecial printing

Hi ho, everyone! Today on our process post, Monkey will do a brief explanation of how you can request printing quotes from commercial printers. When doing invitation design for Little Yeti, Monkey has to check around at some of his favorite printers to see who's going to have what stock, who can print in what timeframe, and who's going to be the most affordable for any particular job. Yay!

The HP Indigo 5000

Hi everyone! So today I'll do a quick overview of what you need to ask about when requesting printing quotes from commercial printers. I've found that generally the more knowledgeable you are about what they (the printers) do, the better relationships (and potentially better rates) a designer/illustrator can build with print shops.

To be perfectly honest, unless you're doing big business (whether a high number of orders of simply incredibly large print runs), you realistically aren't going to be getting huge discounts on print jobs. But, a) it doesn't hurt to ask, and b)knowing what you're talking about will help you be able to accurately compare different printers and their services.

So basic terminology:
Bleed - your printed image has a bleed if anything printed (text, design, background color, whatever) runs to the edge of the card. Instead of slowing everything down and trying to print right to an edge, what printers do is they print larger than the final size, then cut the card down to the final, or trim, size.

4/0, 1/1, etc., etc. Any number over another number (in x/y form) refers to the numbers of colors of ink on the front of the card, then the number of colors on the back of the card. If you wanted a two color image printed on the front of the card, and your logo in black and white on the back, you would request a quote for 2/1.

Full color (like a color photo) will usually be printed in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key aka black). So even though your illustration might have yellows and purples and reds and greens, and everything in between, when you request a quote for a single-sided poster, you're asking for a 4/0 print job.

If there's an option for scoring, or the process of making a crease or foldline, you don't need it unless you're doing something with folds.

Perhaps you've heard the words "offset" and "digital" printing thrown around. Offset printing is a printing method that offers more consistent printing, highly accurate color matching, and is great for high volume runs. Digital printing on a commercial scale is really just a really awesome inkjet printer. While it might not sound as awesome, it is usually way more affordable for smaller (~100-200) jobs. The quality of digital printing has also improved dramatically over the past couple of years, and the quality difference that I've personally seen is pretty slim, but to be perfectly honest I don't get a lot of things offset printed besides business cards.

PMS stands for the Pantone Matching System. This is the industry-standard of color and color matching. Pantone produces books of swatches that any commercial printer worth doing business with will have. If you are getting an offset run done of just a few colors, you can specify which PMS colors you want them printed in, and since the presses use pantone colors, you'll get exactly what you're looking for. With digital printing, they'll combine CMYK the best they can to get the color you want, but really bright, saturated colors usually come out more muted than expected.


You'll also want to specify your paper weight (if you have a preference) and/or paper brand, etc. Ask about PCW (or post-consumer recycled waste) if you're interested in finding out how much recycled content is in your paper choices as well.

So, with all that in mind, the quote I requested for some wedding invitations I recently designed went something along these lines:

Hello! I would like a quote for 100 5"x7" invitations printed 4/0 with a full bleed on 130 lb. Mohawk Options iTone stock without envelopes. Additionally, I also need 100 4"x6" RSVP postcards printed 4/4 full bleed on the same stock without envelopes. Also, what size bleed do you need? Thanks a lot!

I asked for a specific stock because a)I sent this to a printer I've worked with before, b)I wanted a 100% PCW paper and Mohawk Options is one of the few papers I know about that has pure white, heavy cardstock that's 100% PCW, and c)I know they print on HP Indigo printers, and the iTone stock is designed specifically for the Indigo.

Anyhoo, I know that's probably a lot of information, and it's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of getting things printed (I didn't even mention screenprinting, letterpress, or engraving), but hopefully that'll get you on your way to learning more about paper, and printing. If you have any questions about commercial printing, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help you out!

PS - Happy Birthday Monkey's Dad!

Screenprinting Squeegees!

So after a huge delay (that was unfortunately mostly Monkey's fault) he finally got his squeegees in. Monkey had previously been using the equipment at the Academy of Art, but now that he finished, he was slowly building up his collection of screens. However, he had forgotten that he needs squeegees as well, and the ones they sell at art stores by Speedball really just don't do the job properly.

So, he ordered some from Creative Screen Technologies in San Leandro (where he also got his screens) and due to a hectic work schedule, the squeegees were sent back to the manufacturer, then resent back = double shipping charge and an extra week and a half of delays.

On the good side, now all Monkey needs to do is get some heavy-duty screws for his clamps and he'll be back in action printing from home now!

Monkey is looking at a few options in SF to rent studio space, as having all the fancy equipment is nice, but at least he's made sure he can do it from home!