David Airey, graphic designer

Dayfold’s Little Black Book

Published on August 26th, 2010 11 appreciated comments »

Dayfold’s Little Black Book is a useful print guide for designers and print buyers.

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Archived under Printing.

Recommended UK commercial printers

Published on July 20th, 2010 34 appreciated comments »

Finding a reliable commercial printer can take some time. Here’s a head start — UK print companies recommended by a few of the UK’s top (and friendliest) designers and design studios.

(Updated with reader favourites.)

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Archived under Printing, Resources.

Figuring out the Amazon Sales Rank

Published on February 26th, 2010 11 appreciated comments »

As an author, I’m keen to know how book sales are going, so it makes sense to check the stats provided by the world’s largest bookseller, Amazon. The retailer displays what’s known as the Amazon Sales Rank.

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Archived under Marketing, Printing.

Hatch Show Print

Published on January 22nd, 2010 17 appreciated comments »

A fascinating eight-minute look at Hatch Show Print, a 130 year-old working letterpress shop (established 1879) in Nashville, Tennessee.

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Archived under Printing, Typography.

Prepress tips for graphic designers

Published on October 20th, 2009 36 appreciated comments »

When you design artwork for print, standard practice is to send a PDF to your printer. But are you 100% sure you got the settings right? Are you confident the size is correct? Have the colours been set to print standards or client brand guidelines? What about font usage?

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Archived under Printing.

Top ten problems in file prep for print

Published on July 27th, 2009 57 appreciated comments »

The following is a print-primer guest post from NetPublications, an “award-winning on-demand printing, publishing and fulfillment company with 25 years of experience in the book and manual business”.

There’s a lot to consider before printed products can go to press, so we’ve compiled a list of the top ten problems that occur when a printing company receives your files. By following this checklist, you can avoid many of these problems.

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Archived under Printing.

HP invent

Published on July 8th, 2009 35 appreciated comments »

Hewlett Packard set a design brief for the recent D&AD Student Awards, and one result in particular stands out.

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Archived under Advertising, Printing.

Musings on book writing

Published on January 27th, 2009 61 appreciated comments »

I’ve been asked to author the first logo design book from Peachpit Press.

We’re discussing possible topics, and the aim is to publish a book that’s different from any other in the logo design market. I thought it’d be a good idea to involve you.

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Archived under Personal, Printing, Writing.

12 money-saving questions to ask before printing your promotional material

Published on August 1st, 2007 48 appreciated comments »

When it comes to a printed graphic design job, there are certain questions you should ask at the beginning to prevent costly errors and to make the most of your print budget.

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Archived under Business, Printing.

How paper can critically affect the colour of your printed product

Published on April 8th, 2007 10 appreciated comments »

Have you ever had a client ask you why their marketing material hasn’t printed the colour they requested?

Their first reaction is normally to point the finger in the direction of the designer, and here I explain how printing can go wrong.

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Archived under Colour, Printing.