Printing help?
- Started
- Last post
- 18 Responses
- MrAbominable
Hi. I've got a client that needs a small art catalog produced with a 1 week turnaround request. Can anyone recommend a great printer that might be able to work with my deadline? We're both in NYC, though I'd consider anyone in the US.
It would be a >1000 run, are my options only digital at this point? And if so, what separates the mediocre from great in digital printers in this day and age? I searched the Filter here and couldn't find anything remotely recent.
Thanks in advance for any help.
- MrAbominable0
pretty much hoping for a Monospaced-type-of-hail-mary at this point...
- monospaced0
My guess is it'd have to be digital.
- MrAbominable0
do you have any recommendations on vendors? you were of great help a few years ago on a different project but it doesn't apply here.
- maquito0
- Maqui, have you worked with them? Seems like they can do fast but not sure about the "catalog" part.MrAbominable
- I've done tons of work in the last 5 years and they are solid man. Ask for Alex.maquito
- Alex is a nice guy. I'm getting samples and a quote from him. Thanks for the intro.MrAbominable
- formed0
I've had decent luck with Modernpostcard.com. Nothing amazing, but not bad. Even Vistaprint and PSPrint were not bad for postcards. Again, nothing superb, but a good bang/buck.
- catalogsmonospaced
- who mentioned postcards? like that would be an issue in a week.fadein11
- Huh, someone got up on the wrong side!formed
- maquito0
bump
- bklyndroobeki0
google: union solidarity printers lic they might be able to do it.
- thanks. will call in the morning. curious if they can generate the detail i need. good to know about in any event. tbd.MrAbominable
- alan is sharp, certain they'll meet your needs. tight turn around but let me know what they say!bklyndroobeki
- MrAbominable0
Both Union Solidarity and Blend SD are bidding. Alex and Alan are great reps and I feel I'm going to be in good hands working with either. I guess now it's just going to be based on estimates on price and whether or not they can hit the timeline in an otherwise insane request.
Thanks all for the help so far!
- MrAbominable0
Alan at Union mentioned that at my page count that I may want to upgrade to 100lb text as the perfect binding will need all the help it can get to hold best (vs. 80lb). Something I hadn't considered. fwiw.
- perfect binding doesn't work well with a low page count, thicker will help.Gnash
- Trust Alan.grotesk_neue
- bigbaby530
- < their site is somewhat impenetrable. have you used them?MrAbominable
- rodzilla0
might be too late, but 4over.com for the turn around might be a decent option.
- nevermind - i didn't see the perfect binding as a criteria.rodzilla
- I appreciate the help all the same. ThanksMrAbominable
- MrAbominable0
update: in the 11th hour as Alex of Blend SD pulled out citing that he just didn't feel comfortable hitting the deadline with needing to wait for time for the binding to dry and for shipping.
and then there was one. I'd hoped to get a competitive bid from him at least but it looks like we're going to go with Alan at Union. I'd been leaning that way anyway as it's local and there's some comfort in that.
- How many pages? I'd like to hear how it came out.Josev
- clocked in at 36pp. Files to Union this morning. I'll update next week when i get the books. Tuesday delivery.MrAbominable
- MrAbominable0
bound proofs hand delivered to me 24 hours later. impressive.
slight shift on the cover. colors look a little dull, not sure if that's me and the monitor or my paper choice. Have asked them to boost saturation 2-3% for second proof. they hand bound the perfect binding on the sample and it's coming apart which i'm hoping is a matter of it being a demo book rushed out.
I guess we'll see about round two in a few hours.
- MrAbominable0
- boom goes the dynamitemonospaced
- Take some pics of the interior and share :)maquito
- maquito0
Good! Looks neat. I'm glad my intro was useful although Alex didn't finally hit the deadline. Nice follow-up dude, thanks!
- I would definitely bid him on the next thing. Nice guy. Alex got reasonably worried about being able to hit the deadline with shipping. Understandable.MrAbominable
- MrAbominable0
My wp site has become difficult to post to. Here's a link to interior shots from the book on my B-hance profile. You'll have to edit the B-hance part of the link due to QBN nonsense. Apologies. (by request, Maquito)
- MrAbominable0
Follow up question. Not to nitpick but out of curiosity. I didn't have the vantage of seeing the actual artwork before production. Photography I used was corrected by a pro. I added a slight s-curve to all of the images to slightly intensify.
The books were digitally printed on #100 silk finish paper. As a general comment, it looks like all of the images could have benefited from about a 10% saturation boost. Is that a natural part of drop off from digital printing? Is it a factor of the silk finish knocking back the reflected light? or is it just a quirk of this particular printer?
I'd love feedback from anyone with better time on the press than i have.
- after the 2nd proof i asked Alan to boost the saturation 2-3% from what i could estimate. But if i were exacting it would have needed more.MrAbominable
- monospaced0
That's the result of converting from RGB to CMYK, and the limitations of the inks on paper on gamut. Try to soft proof in CMYK first to anticipate this shift in saturation. You won't ever get it as good as RGB, obviously, but you can bump up saturation where it gets lost.