Prepress 101: From Fonts to Bleed

Guest post by Christine Alexander You’ve been slaving for hours to get that project design completed, and you’re just about ready to send it off to your printer. Just what is it that your print provider is looking for when they open up your files and prepare them for proofing and press? Sizing First and […]

Print Media You See Every Day

Image source: http://skurktur.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/CMYK-51.jpg Fellow inkheads, I’ve noticed that the general public, especially folks who work in online marketing, cast a very narrow view of print. They seem to view our dynamic industry through biased blinders that cause them to reach false conclusions about print’s future. Surely some of these folks deliberately downplay print’s value, yet I […]

What does print ready artwork mean?

Hello inkheads! Let me start off by wishing you a very happy June! Summer is my favorite time of year and luckily, PrintFirm’s celebrating the season with lots of exciting sales and promotions. I’m also planning a few more of those free print product giveaways you guys like so much. I don’t want to spoil […]

Solutions to CMYK Conversion Problems

Happy hump day, inkheads! Today’s regularly scheduled blog post about sexy summer flyers is going on the backburner by request of our operations manager, Alex. As much as I’d love to inspire your creative designs, Alex asked me to explain a very common printing issue that came up with a customer yesterday. The seasoned ink […]

Share Creative Print Pieces on Social Media

Happy Monday inkheads! Anyone who follows my personal social media accounts knows I started the #onething personal creative challenge with my friend Drew Myler in the re:Design Google Plus community. Over the past 5 months or so, numerous artists have joined in the fun of creating for personal fulfillment i.e. making art for art’s sake. […]

When to Use Plain vs Rich Black

Hello inkheads! We all know print design projects have several pain points, especially when it comes to color matching. For instance, have you ever held your freshly printed piece in your hands and wondered, “Why the heck does the black stuff look grey???” After the initial shock dissipated, you probably questioned what the press operator […]

Canva Review: A Printing Company’s Perspective

The design community is buzzing about yet another DIY online graphics tool known as Canva. While there’s really no difference between Canva and other similar sites, several prominent marketing figures rave about the latest wave in drag & drop “design.” The homepage goes so far as to proclaim, “Canva enables anyone to become a designer.” […]

7 Things Not to Say to Your Printer Part 3: I Don’t Need a Graphic Designer

Hello and welcome to the 3rd installment of our educational series on commercial printing! If you have questions about image resolution or colors, you might want to backtrack and read the prior posts first. Today’s post will be a bit different because we’re going to discuss an important business investment you may be neglecting—professional graphic […]

5 Deliciously Free Thanksgiving Vectors for Holiday Designs

Last minute Thanksgiving graphic projects got you down? Have no fear; we rounded up a collection of free turkey day vectors for your fliers, postcards, and web banners. At this point, you probably don’t have any print projects left, unless you plan to place an order today with same day turnaround time. Since most of […]