Print design services rank among the main integrated disciplines provided by Design Inc. Effective campaigns can often include a printed element as an illustration of a point of difference or means for a client to best demonstrate a special or unique quality of a product or service. The visual aesthetics, design, quality of materials, air of calm and levels of service provided by TAG Farnborough Airport provided a range of design cues for our print design services to follow as inspiration.

The resulting brochure format and production specification that resulted from Design Inc print design services marries the TAG Farnborough Airport brand elements with a lifestyle feel that brings warmth to the cool Swiss feel and minimalist building interiors. A true temple to aviation and design for air travel deserves nothing less.

The cover features a striking image of the terminal building with a reflection of itself which mirrors the impression of the fuselage and tail of a jet aircraft teamed simply with the aspirational word ‘experience”.

The brochure has been very well received both by the team at TAG Farnborough Airport and beyond. The creative approach to the print design services is now being developed into a very special TAG Farnborough Airport 2012 bespoke desktop calendar innovatively contained within a branded engraved metal case.

Design Inc UK is a West London-based specialist in print design services. If you’re considering our print design services for any new marketing communications, you may be interested in receiving Design Inc’s information pack. Alternatively, please contact us by calling 01784 410380 or emailing us to find out more.

Design Inc has considerable experience in specialist print design services. To see more samples of our design and print work, please look through our design portfolio.

‘Experience’ Design Inc creative print design services for TAG Farnborough Airport is a post from the Design Inc Blog

Most of our long-term marketing and design clients look to us to provide specialist print management for the production of their integrated campaign deliverables. This is a value-added benefit for them as we handle all print elements on their behalf. This specialist print management service can often mean that we are dealing with a whole range of different specialist printers and sub-contractors. In fact just looking at the jobs going through at the moment there are: a laser etching firm, who are adding a subtle logo to a beautiful metal calendar case for us, a prestige tailoring shirt box manufacturer, who are making a very special presentation box for a smart phone, loyalty card and invitation, a carrier bag manufacturer who are making some lovely quality goodie-bag style accessories for a client’s series of West End events.

We are trusted to source, purchase, deliver and quality manage on our clients’ behalf for all their specialist print management.

Specialist print management has also this year meant lollypops in branded wrappers, embroidered mission patches for Top Gun style leather flying jackets and even building wrap graphics for OOH branding of live events.

This is what we mean by integrated, and variety they say is the spice of life!

Far from being ‘jack of all trades’ we have to be master of all when it comes to specialist print management and our resident technical experts and paper engineers can handle it. This time of year it is calendars and more calendars, with half a dozen in production in different innovative formats – we may yet be improving on the performance of our previous bespoke Calendar Awards short-listed projects.

Design Inc UK is a West London-based specialist design and print management agency. If you’re considering the design and print of any new marketing communications, you may be interested in receiving Design Inc’s information pack. Alternatively, please contact us by calling 01784 410380 or emailing us to find out more.

Design Inc has considerable experience in specialist design and print management. To see more samples of our design and print work, please look through our design portfolio.

Specialist Print Management Delivered is a post from the Design Inc Blog

Customer relationship management and building brand loyalty in the world of private corporate jet purchase goes a little beyond the expectation of your usual incentive direct mail, corporate gift or giveaway. Owners and prospective owners of a Bombardier Global jet expect a whole different level of treatment – and they are used to it.

Design Inc applied experience in both direct mail incentive campaigns and strategy for corporate branding to introduce the new range of world leading Global aircraft and the Bombardier’ I Am Global’ strategy for corporate branding to the Middle East Business Aviation market place. Specially invited airshow attendees delegates received a hand delivered and rather striking item of ‘direct mail’.

Boxing clever, Design Inc devised the ultimate tailored shirt makers box with the dream contents to greet prospects and clients. The contents included a gold plated iPod loaded with the new I Am Global movie, and a personalised invitation to the corporate Bombardier booth for hospitality and a gold plated concierge services membership card for the duration of the show.

Dressed to impress, the MEBA ‘survival kit’ uses Bombardier’s new strategy for corporate branding elements, the ‘Be Global’ initiative’ and Bombardier corporate values. This is one direct mailpiece that simply refuses to be ignored.

The I Am Global initiative, spearheaded by the new Global product family is a commitment to world leaders: that they may continue their life mission, uninterrupted and without compromise.

“The values of the Bombardier I Am Global branding campaign: Creativity, Performance, Ingenuity, Technology, Community and Leadership have each been demonstrated by the design style and contents of our MEBA (Middle East Business Aviation) incentive direct mail campaign. Beautiful, top rank strategy for corporate branding. Bombardier loved it, and so did their clients!”

Daniel Gilbert – Managing Director

Design Inc is a West London-based Corporate Branding Design Agency. If you are considering re-branding your business and need a strategy to support it, you may be interested in receiving Design Inc’s Information Pack. Alternatively, please contact us by calling 01784 410380 or emailing us to find out more.

Design Inc has considerable experience in marketing the Aviation industry. To see more samples of work within the Aviation industry, please see our specialist Aviation portfolio.

A New Bombardier Strategy for Corporate Branding is a post from the Design Inc Blog

In the face of digital everything, a unique corporate brochure can achieve stand out creatively by your target audience receiving something really intriguing or special. This becomes a bespoke gesture and project and should feature print production values matching the business proposition. What about sustainability? I hear you say – well yes and I read that story in Campaign about the high tech Landrover CRM mailer that went down like a lead balloon too. Truth is, if the recipient is targeted and proven to be genuinely interested in the message contained in a unique corporate brochure printed on resources that are sustainable or recyclable what’s the harm?

A unique corporate brochure can involve interesting cardboard engineering, new printing techniques and special effects, material textures, binding methods and formats can all contribute to impact and if the design theme is a metaphor for the message too then so much better. At Design Inc we have recently designed and printed some very special branded and individually assembled boxes for the extremely tailored marketing of an executive jet presentation preloaded onto an iphone to a luxury brand. These DM pieces were varnished with branded messages and also protectively packed in bespoke recycled cartons. So a unique corporate brochure can really set you apart, engage intrigue and entertain – and combined with a digital or online component truly provide a memorable brand experience for head and heart.

Design Inc is a West London-based Brochure Design Agency. If you are considering designing and printing a new corporate brochure for your business, you may be interested in receiving Design Inc’s Information Pack. Alternatively, please contact us by calling 01784 410380 or emailing us to find out more.

The return of the unique corporate brochure is a post from the Design Inc Blog

Market intelligence and message development at these planning stages can help exhibitors to make the most of the commitment to attend. Apart from the obvious attraction of some December sunshine, many smaller companies who offer highly specialised services are investing in shared-stand accommodation. This can be very cost-effective as not only enabling the face-to-face on stand contact, but in participation as show exhibitor enabling additional supporting guerrilla activities on the show fringe. The organisers of most aviation industry trade fairs like MEBA encouraging and accommodating creative participation as business seeds are sown.

The design of exhibition space usually falls into two clear camps, the ‘stakeout your territory approach’ all walls and stools with flags and towers at each corner, demonstrating the maximum acreage of your expensive floor space – but a little intimidating to approach as your visitors may be fearful of being rounded upon by lurking salespeople. Better perhaps to design an innovative stand with a seamless boundary transition that blends into the surrounded aisles – the prospect then being drawn onto the stand by the ambient feeling of space and calm. Actually arriving right in the middle of your brand and message without even being aware that they have strayed into the zone! Gotcha.

Design Inc at MEBA 2010 Dubai is a post from the Design Inc Blog

As part of a photography proposal currently being written, Design Inc are suggesting this rather interesting, but widely underused photographic technique which really brings images to life.

HDR (high dynamic range) imaging, gives a larger dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of a photo and combines them. This offers a larger dynamic range and visually represents evenly all the intensity levels found in any one scene.

This technique can be constructed either by the photographer using camera at the photoshoot, or by merging and photo manipulating images of the same scene taken with varying dynamic ranges back at the studio.

I hope it is considered, as it would create a very individual brand style indeed. Let us know what you think!

3D Photography is a post from the Design Inc Blog

You may have heard the term “FSC Accreditation/Certification” used by print companies previously but not fully understood it’s meaning and benefits to the environment, below is some information of the processes involved in trying to be a ‘green’ company.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. The FSC was established in 1993 as a response to concerns over global deforestation and is widely regarded as one of the most important initiatives of the last decade to promote responsible forest management worldwide.

FSC Accreditation is a certification system that provides an internationally recognised standard-setting, trademark assurance and accreditation services to companies, organisations, and communities interested in responsible forestry.

The FSC label provides a credible link between responsible production and consumption of forest products, enabling consumers and businesses to make purchasing decisions that benefit people and the environment as well as providing ongoing business value. See www.fsc.org for more information.

It is the case that recycled papers tend to cost slightly more than papers manufactured from non-sustainable sources, however the more demand that is created for earth-friendly papers and cleaner manufacturing processes, the greater the chance of reduced prices more swiftly. For companies wishing to print their corporate literature and collateral on FSC Accredited paper stocks, not only do the papers come with certification of where they have come from, but the actual wood used can be traced back to guarantee its authenticity (subject to request).

As well as an awareness that papers and boards need to be further sourced from sustainable forestry as an eco-friendly act to the environment, print processes have been given the green treatment too. Good print production houses are more frequently using waterless print production techniques as well as the reduction in usage of solvent based inks in favour of more natural organic-based inks too. Couple this along with non-solvent based varnishes and advancement in biodegradable plastic laminates, we can all help to ‘do our bit’.

Design Inc. is committed to eco-friendly print processes and paper manufacturing methods and we are doing everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint including the use of electronic artwork supply, PDF invoices and estimates and even car pooling when commuting to work and meetings.

Would you like to do a bit more to help the environment? all FSC certified papers need to be quoted specifically on estimates and invoices to guarantee their chain-of-integrity so if this is of special importance to you and your company, don’t forget to mention so when requesting prices.

If you are considering a forthcoming creative/marketing project, you may be interested in receiving Design Inc’s  Information Pack.

Printing on Recycled Paper – Our Chance to Help Ourselves and the Planet is a post from the Design Inc Blog

For example, if you printed a business card onto a low-gsm paper it will feel flimsy and most probably give a negative view of your company. On the other hand you wouldn’t want to print an A2 poster onto a high-gsm paper stock either. It would certainly feel good quality but it wouldn’t be practical, the posters heavy weight would cost more in delivery and there is a greater chance of it falling down as well as being more bulky for transportation purposes.

Therefore there are general guidelines when printing these types of standard items, of course these are not set in stone and the application of paper weight to each item needs to be considered for every print project. Below are some standard print items and the gms weights used:

Corporate 24 page brochure – anything between 170gsm – 300gsm, an important point to remember is that the more pages printed onto a heavy stock increases the chances of the pages springing open and the brochure not laying flat.

Oversized A4 company literature folder – between 350gsm – 400gsm, folders are used to contain many different items whether datasheets, product sheets, note pads, invoices or proposals and as such need to be strong and study. A lightweight paper stock would simply fall apart under the stress.

Business cards – either 350gsm – 400gsm, business cards are generally your first introduction to a potential client and need to express your company and values suitably. To a customer, a flimsy lightweight business card, might be a reflection of your company and quality of your product or service.

A4 datasheet/insert sheet – between 170gsm – 250gsm, a datasheet promotes your company/products and can be presented within folders, presentation wallets or literature dispensers (possibly at an exhibition) and is generally of a medium-weight feel.

This is especially important when choosing specialist paper stocks. Due to the way papers are manufactured, the fibres in some paper stocks are not as compacted as they are in others, even though their sheet-weight may be the same, some papers will appear to be thicker than others. Whatever the printed item and whatever its purpose is, each project needs to be considered carefully and the correct paper stock decided upon. Paper samples are always available and if necessary mock-ups can also be supplied to get a real feel for the finished item.

What paper weight gsm should you use to print on? is a post from the Design Inc Blog

International Standard (ISO 216) specifies paper sizes used in most countries in the world today (except for the US and Canada which uses its own sizing standard) and the development of these paper size ratios can be dated back to the Eighteenth Century. Before the adoption of this standard, paper sizes did not fit into any formal system and did not work with metric units and it wasn’t until 1975 when so many countries were using this paper sizing system that the International Standard was formalised.

There are a lot of mathematical fomulas behind the workings of A, B and C paper sizes but the underlying feature is that any successive paper size (eg. A1, A2, A3, A4) measurement is determined by halving the dimensions of the preceding one. For example the most commonly used paper size is A4 (297mm x 210mm) and the next paper size is A5 (210mm x 148.5mm) which is equal to half of the A4 dimensions.

The main uses of A, B and C paper sizes is their application to a particular print project. For example C paper sizes are solely used for the manufacture of envelopes and are sized in a way that would allow an A4 piece of paper to fit nicely into a C4 envelope. B sized papers are larger than A sizes and are generally used for oversized projects such as posters and folders, and allow for multiple page documents to be printed on fewers sheets and more economically.

Commonly printed items such as a postcard (A6), flyer (A5) or newsletter (A4) will be printed at a standard size, it is at the special request of a customer to create something with a bespoke size that would change this. Therefore a request to quote for a postcard would be based on A6 size (148.5mm x 105mm):

• A0 (841mm x 1189mm)
• A1 (594mm x 841mm)
• A2 (420mm x 594mm)
• A3 (297mm x 420mm)
• A4 (210mm x 297mm)
• A5 (148.5 x 210mm)
• A6 (105mm x 148.5mm)
• A7 (74mm x 105mm)
• A8 (52mm x 74mm)
• A9 (37mm x 52mm)
• A10 (26mm x 37mm)

Click on the images below to see paper size dimensions in greater detail.

A1, A2, A3, A4 learn about paper sizes, if you’d like to know more is a post from the Design Inc Blog

Depending on the desired result and project budget, each of the print finishes has it’s own pros and cons and in any print situation the suitability of a laminate or varnish needs to be considered carefully.

Lamination is the process of using an ultra thin plastic film which can be applied to almost any paper or board and is more commonly used in gloss, silk and matt finishes. A lamination will cover the whole side or sides of a document and cannot be used to cover a specific area alone.

Lamination Pros:

- can be used to enhance the appearance of standard paper boards at relatively low cost and is generally cheaper than a spot uv varnish in most cases

- will make a paper more durable and long lasting and can actually offer some water/grease resistance

- eliminates cracking of ink on creases

- no set up costs

Lamination Cons:

- can only be used to cover a whole side of a document

- matt lamination over a dark colour will show scratches and finger prints, more so than gloss

UV (ultra violet) Varnish is a liquid coating used to ‘mask off’ any area of a design and enhance it (ie. varnishing text, logos or images whilst leaving the remainder of the page unaffected). Unlike a lamination, UV varnishes come in an array of finishes and not only include gloss and matt but also glitter and colour-flip versions as well as many others.

UV Varnish Pros:

- can be used to enhance specific areas such as text, logos or images rather than cover a whole page

- additional substances can be added to varnish to increases its versatility such as glitter

- can be used in conjunction with a laminate and printed over the top to create a more creative and diverse result

UV Varnish Cons:

- if printed over a crease in a document it will crack in the same way ink does

- if printed over text or images will be subject to ‘make ready’ die charges which increases its cost

- due to additional set up required uv varnishing is a longer process than lamination

A neutral Varnish (which is invisible to the eye) may also be used to ‘coat’ or ‘seal’ the ink and can be applied ‘online’ (the varnish is applied directly to the product on the press after the ink has been printed) or ‘offline’ which means it is applied some time after the print process. This is not the same as a Spot UV Varnish will generally cover the whole of a document to prevent ink offset.

Many factors will determine whether a lamination or varnish is used such as budget, usage, and the creative brief and we at Design Inc. are happy to offer advice and expertise for any requirement you might have.

Print Finishing Methods – Lamination and Spot UV Varnishes is a post from the Design Inc Blog

Working with an agency that has driven the course before has many benefits. No nasty surprises. No schoolboy errors. No time wasted on duplicated briefing. The agency adds value in terms of experience – what works, what doesn’t in that specific market.

These learnings are applied to the strategy, the creative as well as the delivery and measurement mechanisms of a project. Allowing greater focus and genuine innovation within the experience-based parameters of what will work and what won’t or can’t.

Our portfolio pages now group together some of our main market specialisations:

• Aviation
• Subsea
• Medical & Pharmaceutical
• Venues & Events
• IT & Telecoms
• Energy & Engineering

The lie of the land is a post from the Design Inc Blog

These dry rub transfers are especially useful for short run visuals. Perhaps you would like to see (or show a client) a corporate brochure with a foil block to the front as close as possible to the final result without having to incur the costly expense of full-on wet proofs. We can print a single digital sample and using metallic dry rub transfers they can easily be hand-applied to the front to give a very realistic result.

Dry rub transfers are not as much as you’d think and compared to a real wet-proof the savings for visuals and small run jobs are significant. If you would like any further information, samples, examples of how they work or need a presentation visual for a corporate branding project yourself we would be happy to help.

Letraset-style Dry Rub Transfers For Short Run Presentation Visuals is a post from the Design Inc Blog

Clients looking for luxury-look & feel, quick turnaround and most importantly, cost-effective folders have turned to Design Inc. for support and expertise in this area. We have seen a real increase in demand for these types of folders which are ideal for conferences, presentations or as business gifts.

The folders themselves are made from real leather, with a 4-D ring mechanism inside, pen holder, cd sleeve, and fastening zip, and free pad of paper they are available either screen printed or embossed with your corporate logo or brand identity and can be delivered using our same-day or overnight courier in as little as 5 days from artwork sign-off.

New Custom Corporate Leather Portfolio Folders, Maintaining Your Brand Identity At All Times is a post from the Design Inc Blog

Not all however, may know that the Metal FX company is no longer trading and therefore able to supply their own brand of metallic silver printing inks to printers and creative design agencies in the UK.

Middlesex design agency Design Incorporated are able to use their own choice of metallic silver inks to create the same unique look and feel as Metal FX without the price tag. So if you would like to add something special to your next brochure design, business card design or whatever corporate design project is coming up next then let us know and we would be happy to explain the process to you further.

Design Inc. picks up where Metal FX metallic inks leaves off is a post from the Design Inc Blog

Many companies have a logo, a style and therefore a company brand and it may be set out in a companies brand guidelines that only a particular Pantone pms ink reference may be use for their printed collateral. A customer might order a letterhead, a business card and a company brochure using different types of papers for each. When the printed items are complete they may all appear to have been printed using different colours, however this is not necessarily the case.

In very crude terms, if you think of coated papers as being like a pane of glass and uncoated papers as being like a sponge, when ink is printed onto each the appearance varies greatly. Printed coated papers will appear bright and colourful almost as though the inks were sitting on the surface whereas printed uncoated papers will appear duller and less vibrant where the inks have soaked into the paper’s fibres. Despite the big difference in the appearance of the colour it is the exact same ink that would have been used to print both.

It is for this reason that paper stocks should be considered for every need carefully. We have Pantone pms reference chips in the studio to show you the effect of your brand colour on both coated and uncoated papers and are more than happy to advise what is best suited to every project.

How Coated and Uncoated Paper Stocks Affect Printed Colours is a post from the Design Inc Blog

• Saddle Stitch – a method similar to simple stapling whereby groups of 4 creased pages are collated together and stitched using metal wire in the centre crease. The wire is stitched inwards from the outer spine and can be seen both on the inside and outside of the document. Depending on the weight and thickness of paper used as many as 100+ pages can be stitched together using this method of binding.
• Side Wire Stitching – also know as Stab Stitching this method of binding requires a metal wire to be stabbed through the edge of loose pages from front to back. This wire is then folded back on itself and covered using a binding tape.
• Perfect Binding – this method uses grouped sections or loose pages (leaves) which have a hot glue coating to the edge and are then set inside a separate wrap around cover. This method of binding is one of the most costly and requires a spine thickness of at least 3mm. Contrary to common thought it is not ideal to simply increase the paper weight of the cover and reduce text page weight as the two tend to work against each other and pull the binding apart. When binding the 3mm minimum thickness it is better to reduce the thickness of the cover to the region of 250gsm and increase text to 170gsm, this makes for a more substantial and longer lasting finish.
• Wire-O Binding – this common binding method is used for low cost documents and may also be known as Comb Binding. A document made up of loose leaves with a loose front and back cover are punched along the edge and held together using either a wire or plastic comb. These combs are available in a large variety of colours, lengths and diameters to suit almost any application.
• Half Canadian Wire-O Binding – this method is similar to standard Wire-O Binding but has the added benefit of allowing a printable spine and partial covering of the comb. A single-piece cover is creased and folded around punched loose leaves and a wire comb is then bound through the back cover only. This gives the appearance of a spine and the comb can only be seen from the back of the document.
• Full Canadian Wire-O Binding – this method provides a very similar finish to the Half Canadian Wire-O Binding, the only difference being that the comb is bound through both the front and back cover whilst still offering a printable spine.

All of these binding methods have their features and benefits and vary in cost so the best way to find out the most appropriate for your needs is to get in touch.

Print Finishing Methods (Binding) is a post from the Design Inc Blog

This is a common phrase found in the estimating department at Design Inc, but not one that causes much alarm anymore. Not every client needs 10,000 printed, nor do they have the budget to print 250 lithographically, they may not have money to burn or a two week lead time for delivery, but these issues are no longer a problem with the advancement in digital print technology and digitally printable paper stocks.

For a long while the 7 colour HP Indigo 5500 digital print machine has been a firm favourite of the Design Inc production team with its exceptional print quality and reasonable cost. At the start of the 5500′s life the range of papers that could be printed was limited, however, over the years the variety of paper stocks able to be printed on this digital machine has slowly increased. One of the pioneering suppliers of HP Indigo 5500 compatible paper stocks has been UK based paper mill GF Smith with over 50 different finishes of digital paper available (spanning 175 colours and 80 weights)…and that doesn’t include the thousands of available print colours the 5500 is capable of.

Typically, small-run high-quality items such as invitations and greetings cards would be printed lithographically meaning a high cost-per-item and at least a 7-10 working day lead time. By using the fantastic new range of GF Smith digital papers we are able to turn around small print quantities, at modest costs, on beautiful papers and within a few days.

Design Inc is able to supply paper samples for any of the ranges, in any colour and printed proofs within the cost of any accepted job for free. So should your next printed item need something a little special in terms of paper stock let us know and we can advise of the best route for you your design and budget.

The HP Indigo 5500 digital printer and GF Smith papers are a perfect match is a post from the Design Inc Blog