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Print has many qualities that other forms of communication today lack: it is tactile, permanent, portable and easier on the eyes. Print can stand on its own, but it can be more powerful when used together with other mediums, both digital and non-digital. This publication explores ways that organizations can get a handle on their print costs and get more out of every printing dollar without giving up the benefits of print. At Rye Printing, we look forward to working with you to achieve your communication goals.
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Design a Lower Cost Piece
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Seasoned print buyers know that the biggest cost savings result from decisions that are made at the beginning stages of the print project. By far, the best way to save money on printing is to design a piece that takes advantage of savings in paper cost, ink usage and finishing techniques. As the cost of paper can comprise 30% to 45% or more of the cost of a print job, a good place to start your savings is your choice of paper.
1. Use House Stock.
Printers use a particular stock of paper for their everyday printing that has proven itself to be the most versatile in printing and reliable on press. This stock is purchased in large quantities at substantial discounts which can be passed on to you. Inquire about printing your job on house stock and ask to see samples so you can evaluate how your piece will look on that paper.
2. Lower the Basis Weight.
Paper comes in different weights which affect its texture, its durability and its opacity. Heavier basis weight sheets of the same type of paper costs more money. For example, printing on an 80# cover stock versus a 100# cover stock can save you up to 20% in paper costs.
A heavier basis weight paper may not be necessary for your project. Ask to see a printed sample of your job on one basis weight below and compare. Lower basis weight papers can also save money on postage and natural resources. Often lower basis weight paper means you will not have to pay for scoring (putting in a crease to help fold) since the paper is less thick.
3. Be Flexible with Your Paper.
If you are not concerned with slight differences between printed pieces for a particular job, ask your printer to suggest alternative papers that may be appropriate for your job. Will any of the recipients of your newsletter notice that their paper is slightly different from others? If not, use discontinued stock or paper your printer has left over from other print jobs.
4. Learn the Price Breaks and Carton Size of the Paper You Like.
Sometimes a design or publication just calls for a special paper and paper must be ordered for the print job. Paper comes in cartons and the more cartons you buy, the less the unit cost of each sheet. If you know that you will be using more of this stock in the future, it pays to purchase it all at one time to take advantage of savings and to warehouse the rest at a nominal cost at the commercial printer. Be aware that if you print less than the carton amount, you are still responsible for paying for the carton price.
5. Design a Standard Size Piece.
The sheets of paper that are fed through digital and offset presses come in standard sizes up to 28" x 40". These large-size press sheets were created to easily fit multiples of commonly used finished sizes such as 8 ½" x 11" with minimal waste. Pieces that are designed to these standard sizes save paper as well as money.
6. Reduce the Size of Your Piece.
Given that paper comes in standard size sheets, sometimes reducing the size dimensions of your piece by a small amount will enable you to use more of each parent sheet of paper. Talk to your printer about your specific project to see whether this might be the case with paper you have chosen.
7. Know Your Envelopes.
Standard size envelopes save time and money. (See table above for common invitation and commercial envelope sizes). Envelopes should be at least ¼" longer than the longest insert and the recommended clearance from top to bottom should be no less than ¼". Make extra allowances when inserts are thick or bulky. And stick with two color inks on your envelopes for the best price.
8. Explore a Combination Run.
Prior to printing, a piece is laid out (imposed) to utilize as much of the press sheet as possible. Multiple copies of the piece will be squeezed onto a sheet. Due to the particular dimensions of a piece, often there is extra room on the press sheet. Instead of wasting paper that is paid for, it might be possible to use the extra space for another printed piece (i.e. do a Combination (Gang) Run - see example at left). It always pays to plan your printing needs ahead of time.
9. Design with Two Colors.
Clients can save when their pieces are designed using two spot color inks rather than process colors. To reproduce in full color, offset printing uses four process color inks - cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Full color printing requires a large, sophisticated press that can handle all the ink (and often varnish/coating) stations. Press time for four- to six- color presses is billed at a higher hourly rate than 2-color presses due to higher equipment cost, additional plates and more set-up time to quality check all the colors.
Attractive and compelling pieces can often be designed for the right job using two spot colors (usually referred to as Pantone colors) and their mixtures and tints. Two color jobs can be printed on less expensive two-color presses.
10. Avoid Solid Ink Coverage.
Speaking of inks, print jobs with solid ink coverage require more press time since it is harder to maintain consistent color and quality throughout the run. Consider using large solids carefully when determining the purpose of your design.
11. Go Easy on the Fancy Stuff.
Custom coatings such as spot varnishes, metallic inks, die-cuts, embossing and debossing can add substantially to the price of printing. Speak with your printer about your goals and budget. There might be another way to achieve the same desired result for less money.
12. Take Advantage of Volume Discounts in Printing.
If you anticipate needing more print pieces in the future, it often makes financial sense to print more of these pieces now. With offset printing, the more you print, the less it costs per piece. Printing involves various fixed costs regardless of the volume of printing such as prepress, imposition, making plates and setting up the plates and ink stations.
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Make Print Work Harder for You
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Print, like all communication mediums, has a purpose - to inform, to entertain, to educate and/or to motivate a desired action. Smart printing looks at the goals of the communication piece and attempts to design, print and deliver a piece to the targeted audience that will best meet these goals. It seeks to avoid waste and elicit more response than traditional mailing.
13. Personalize It.
Research has shown that when people receive something in the mail that has been personalized with their name, interests or lifestyle, they (not surprisingly) pay more attention to the piece. Though more expensive per piece to print, targeted print earns a much higher return on your print investment and makes print work harder. In fact, the U.S. Postal Service estimates that every dollar spent on direct marketing will return almost $12 in sales.
Digital technology now allows printed pieces to be easily customized with text or graphics for the intended recipient. At Rye Printing, we offer a full-range of affordable personalization services to help you take advantage of the power of direct mail and 1:1 Marketing.
14. Know Your Audience.
If you are doing a mailing, print less and save money by setting aside time in the early phase of your project to update your mailing list. Remove unlikely respondents and duplicate addresses.
15. Consider Web-to-Print Solutions.
Through a secure customer-branded portal on Rye Printing’s website, clients can access, customize and order their printing using on-line forms and templates. Web-to-Print offers significant savings in prepress, proofing and design while improving workflow efficiency.
16. Download a Print Driver.
A great way to save time and money is to install a print driver on your desktop computer downloadable through Rye Printing’s website. As easy as typing FILE PRINT, this driver will correctly assemble, convert and send your digital file to us.
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Keep Prepress Under Control
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Prepress professionals at printers are responsible for ensuring that the electronic files that they receive from clients will print correctly on press. At prepress, client files are converted into a format that the press can read.
It is very important that digital files received from clients arrive at the printer with all the images, fonts, colors, layouts and effects needed and in the correct format. “Reasonable” prepress costs are built into the cost of printing, but extra charges can quickly add up if a great deal of work must be done to make files print ready. Here are some ways to help keep your prepress charges to a minimum.
17. Preflight Your Documents.
Much like a pilot performs a series of cross-checks before taking off into the sky, file creators should preflight their documents to be alerted to missing fonts, images, colors, incorrect color space and transparency issues prior to uploading their raw files to a printer. Many industry-standard page layout applications, such as Adobe InDesign and Quark XPress have such features.
18. Use PDF/X-1a.
The ideal format for transferring digital files is the Adobe Portable Document File (PDF), but not all PDF formats are alike. File creators should save their files as a press-ready PDF/X-1a which is the printing industry standard for graphic-arts data exchange.
19. Ask Your Printer.
As every printer will tell you, each print job is unique. Talk to your printer early; don’t be afraid to ask about any potential prepress or production issues that can be avoided through better design.
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Avoid the Rush
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20. Plan Ahead.
Nothing is truer than the old adage “haste makes waste” especially when it comes to printing. Rush jobs are charged an additional premium to accommodate rapid prepress, press time, fulfillment and mailing - try to avoid this at all costs!
21. What About That Spell Checker?
It might seem silly to mention this, but many print cost overruns are due to press downtime or reprints that results from avoidable mistakes such as typos, incomplete sentences, bad dates, wrong captions, etc. So take a breath, slow down and review your piece carefully with the spell checker on and off. Or better yet, have several people in your organization not involved with the project look it over prior to submitting it for print.
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Consider Digital Printing
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22. Digital Printing Anyone?
Talk to your printer about whether your job can be printed on a digital printer. Today’s generation of digital printers can almost match offset’s printing quality, but can be more cost effective. For shorter runs, on-demand digital printing may cost less, allow personalization, require less complicated prepress and involve less waste. Digital printing may not be suited for certain jobs, however, particularly those requiring certain types of paper or accurate color matches, so speak with your printer.
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Choose Your Printer Wisely
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Having an on-going dialogue and relationship with your printer is the key to printing smarter within your budget. Here are some qualities you should look for in choosing your printing partner.
23. Use a full-service shop.
Not all printers are the same. Some, like Rye Printing, offer graphic design, digital and offset printing, binding and finishing, personalization, mailing and database management services in-house, while others subcontract part of their printing processes with outside vendors. Keeping your job in-house means more quality control, flexibility in meeting deadlines and lower cost.
24. Kick the tires.
A little due-diligence on your part now may save you a bundle down the road. Ask for long-term client referrals and samples to assess the quality of the printer’s work. Ask about the level of service they provide and their reliability history. Visit the printer and get a plant tour.
25. Find a printer who has your goals and expectations in mind.
A good printer asks questions and is concerned with your overall communication goals as well as your time and budget. A good printer is honest about what and when they can deliver. Lastly, a good printer takes the time to understand your objectives and to offer workflow, product or production solutions.
We hope that you have found these money-saving tips helpful. We would be happy to meet with you to discuss your upcoming communications and to see how we can help you succeed within your budget.
Rye Printing
(914) 967 1400
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