Design Tips from Dischro Creative to Achieve the Best Results and Save Money in the Process.

In these difficult financial times, small companies and individuals in particular are trying to save money by doing their own graphic design without knowing enough to be able to present an acceptable image to their printers. Sometimes this proves to be a false economy due to changes that are necessary in order to have their job printed.

Here you will find a number of helpful tips to enable you to present your artwork which is print ready and eliminate expensive mistakes which many printers will charge for:

1.       Check the specifications before starting the artwork creation. Set up the canvas, which is simply the area you are using for the design, ensuring you are using the correct dimensions to the specification supplied. This will show the length of each edge or a ‘to scale’ template which will enable you to lay out your graphics. It is most important that you follow the exact requirements of the printer you are going to use as many use different parameters. Although some products such as CD Jewel Case Booklets vary little it is still advisable to stick to the script. Even with an A4 Poster which is unlikely to cause any confusion.

2.       Bleeding Out is one of the most likely problems that people get wrong. All artwork for print must include an extra 3mm of the background on all outer edges. Therefore, if the total finished size is 210mm x 148mm which is the size of an A5 Booklet for instance. You need to add 3mm extra background on each edge resulting in the full dimensions of the artwork being 216mm x 154mm. Also include crop marks indicating where the actual cut line is. This always true whether using Digital Printing or any other form of printing.

3.       Keep relevant data away from the edge by ensuring it is at least 3mm away from the actual cutting line within a safety margin. So a total of at least 6mm away from the very edge of the graphic design. This is because there is always the possibility of small shifts when printing which is why the bleed area is necessary. Furthermore, this could affect both edges so you could find that some of the area inside the cut on one side will be lost as more bleed zone comes onto the finished unit. It doesn’t matter if it is design of brochures, booklets, leaflets, CD packaging or whatever always stick to these principles.

4.       If in doubt create a PDF rather than saving to JPEG to save your work as most programmes are capable of outputting files of this type. This, along with the quality aspect makes it much easier to get your crop marks added prior to production. If the whole process can be designed inside Adobe Acrobat for instance, this is most likely to save you money too. There are many software packages around that are used for graphic design but not all are truly suitable. Some will not let you add crop marks or registration marks showing the cut line but you can overcome this by ensuring you have compensated for the bleed and keeping all elements far enough away from the edge as stated earlier.

One thing to remember is that it is impossible for any printer to help you improve your images if it is presented in poor quality and using an unreliable or inadequate software package like freeware. Sometimes it is worth getting the design professionally completed, especially if there are branding issues and particularly for a logo design. In the long run, if you do not have sufficient creative design skills and are conversant with the software you are using you will finish up with more problems which will result in additional costs and time wasted.

Digital Printing is the Future with Flexibility

Dischromatics offers digital printing for small runs of CD and DVD packaging along with the ability to have personalisation of printed material such as inlays, Digipaks, booklets, brochures, leaflets, flyers postcards etc. The Digital Printing process is absolutely ideal for smaller runs up to a thousand.

Dischromatics is probably the only supplier of CD Duplication and DVD Duplication in the UK that can provide in-house services at the front end like graphic design and authoring of the master, through to the duplication and printing of the CD or DVD, Followed by digitally printing the paper parts for CD and DVD cases, wallets, Digipaks and booklets and finally packing and fulfilment to customers’ clients if required. Digital Printing has the flexibility that lithographic printing cannot match.

At Dischromatics, they strive to satisfy their customers’ changing requirements. They believe any project is best managed by one individual supplier. By continually investing in new machinery and computer equipment along with highly qualified staff, they have maintained an excellent reputation with their customers. The ability of this Company to supply every aspect of the projects they undertake ensures they are always in total control. There is no necessity to rely on third party suppliers like their competitors for CD and DVD Duplication and packing.

One of the most attractive services Dischromatics offers is Direct Mail Marketing using variable data printing with software from Adobe Creo Darwin for the digital printing process. This type of direct mail has many advantages over the previously supplied lithographic printing which requires orders in the many thousands to bring the unit cost to an acceptable figure. Furthermore lithographic printers can only economically produce the same graphic on every print with a sticky address label being the only unique feature. Is it any wonder the majority are quickly tossed into the wastepaper basket?

The real attraction of digital printing for direct mail is, as well as having a different name and address actually printed directly onto the mail out, there is also the opportunity to have individual graphics on every single printed item. It can be provided in small batches up to one thousand if required. This type of direct mail has proven to increase the return on investment (ROI) up to tenfold. This type of digital printing can be applied to flyers, leaflets, postcards, booklets, brochures and even CD and DVD packaging like Digipaks, wallets, inlays etc.

Dischromatics has been in business for over twenty two years, with ISO accreditations for quality and the environment displaying professionalism in business none of its competitors can rival. To enhance and streamline the digital printing process, the company will soon release a new web to print site which will allow customers to choose from a selection of available templates or create their own. With professional Graphic Design available to help with logo design, branding and re-branding.

Dischromatics is aware that many companies have made the claim to be the proverbial one stop shop but with the additional services and staff and state of the art equipment added over the last couple of years their boast can be backed up by facts. With a Digital printing press, Graphic design, DVD and Blu-ray Authoring facilities along with duplication and production and packing departments emphasise this. With links to local universities, working in collaboration with highly talented graduates they will continue to innovate and introduce new and attractive products in the future.

By Johnio Muccles

Low Quantity, Retail Quality CDs & Unique Productions

We've all read that the download market is killing the CD. Not so, it may be wounding the CD animal, but the chances of it killing the beast completely are neglible not least for nostalgias sake in owning something tangible to keep physically, rather than just on a computer, but also to give the musicians artistic streak another outlet in the design of the CD label and packaging.

Musicians from all over the UK produce a handful of CDs to sell at their gigs and shows and although they do not produce the thousands of copies that allows them to opt for replication of CDs and complex packaging, they still want professional looking packages to whet the appetite of their fans.

This is the reason Dischromatics made the bold move to purchase a Digital print press a few months ago, plus numerous items of finishing equipment and subsequently developed specific high quality products that were not available elsewhere in the market place for such small order volumes.

Items such as Digipaks and Card Wallets, as well as CD Booklets and Rear Inlay Cards are printed and correctly folded, stapled or perforated - just as if our clients had purchased 1000 copies of replicated discs. Not only are these items printed on one of the best Digital Printers on the market, guaranteeing a quality comparable to lithography, but the production is also fully manufactured on site - start to finish - allowing us to control the quality and the timing of the order to meet any deadlines our customers might have.

Even more impressive is the fact that as this method allows the production of ANY quantity of product, we can now completely personalise any production, with individual names and images on any disc, inlay, booklet, digipak etc. The potential for added value and extra revenue - not only for musicians - is untold. Imagine a completely individual CD of a favourite band as a birthday present or a collection of school photos personally printed for each of the students.....

We are immensely proud of the quality of product we can now produce on-site and the speed with which these can be produced. We have other duplication houses now wanting to purchase digipaks and CD packaging from us because they simply cannot find them elsewhere. But we realise words are easy and will not convince everyone, so visit our website, fill in the contact form and request a sample to see for yourself. We are convinced you cannot fail to be impressed too!