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Bindery Services Gallery
09 Monday Jul 2012
Category Archives: Case Studies of Our Work
Bindery Services
09 Monday Jul 2012
Or, Now That My Work is Printed, What Next?
While the heart (and soul, or is that going too far?) of our capabilities is our Xerox 770 Digital Press (the first one installed in the state), it’s what we do after the job is printed that raises the bar from simply “making copies” to creating truly great craft printing. The ability to produce printed materials at a level of quality that rivals, we might say even exceeds, that of offset printing but in short enough runs to make any amount cost effective is pretty cool, but it’s the ability to take paper and drill, score, cut, glue, fold, bundle, etc. is what it takes to devise truly creative solutions that make your work shine. We’ve created a quick gallery look at some of our in-house bindery options, but this is by no means an exclusive look. (Besides, we really needed to try out this gallery feature!)
Double thick business cards
20 Wednesday Jun 2012
As email, Facebook and Google Plus make business cards more and more a disposable throwaway, using creative and unique cards can really make you stand out in the clutter. We’ve discovered a unique digital stock, 12 pt thick, that comes in tabloid size, with a perf down the middle, and pressure sensitive coating covering the entire back surface. We print the front and back of business cards on one side of the sheet, then when they are cut with a hydraulic guillotine cutter, the pressure bonds the front and back surfaces permanently, allowing for a double thick 24 pt. card. These cards really make an impression of quality, elegance and professionalism that say a lot about who you are, and get read and saved. Does your business card do all that?
250 cards on 100 lb. cover VS. 250 double thick 24 pt. cards.
CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW FOR AN ANIMATION:
AIGA Fellows Program
19 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Case Studies of Our Work, General Announcements
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The Smart Set was invited as guests to the MN AIGA Fellows program last Friday, June 15th. In a collaborative project with our good friends at Studio On Fire, we received beautiful, letterpress printed covers which we scored, combined with text pages printed on our Xerox 770 Digital Press, and stitched to create programs for the event. The program was printed on the new Neenah Environment Natural 80 lb. text and 130 lb. cover in the new “eggshell” finish, donated by the mill. It was great to see three new AIGA Fellows, John DuFresne, Monica Little, and Heather Olson, inducted into this elite group. As usual, the food and facilities at Solara were excellent. We’re seeing quite a bit more letterpress/digital hybrid jobs, whether it’s printing full color backs mounted onto letterpress business cards, full color floods on sheets which are then letterpress printed, or, as in this case, a letterpress cover with digital guts. Hope this gives some food for thought for our many letterpress clients; we speak your language and can help you add value to your work in sometimes unexpected ways!
15 Sunday Jan 2012
Posted in Case Studies of Our Work
Case Study
Alecia Stevens is an interior design writer who splits her time between Minneapolis and New York. After a recent trip to Italy she wanted to find a way to share some of her photographs with friends and family and create an attractive give away and leave behind for current and potential clients.
CHALLENGE: Create a unique way to present photographs in a format that would be fun to browse and useful.
SOLUTION: A postcard book that could be viewed as a book of images, but also used as individual postcards to send a message to a friend.
Alecia sent us 20 images from her trip with accompanying captions. The images were printed as standard postcards at 4.25″ by 6″, with a wrap-around cover.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paper: Images were printed black and white on 110 lb. Classic Crest Solar White Cover. Each set was printed collated with slip sheets and manually duplexed with the caption and postcard mailing format on back. After printing two up, the sets were trimmed to size on the spine side only. We then applied pad glue to stacks of collated sets, then separated each book with our pad knife. The covers were printed on Wausau Royal Complements Tuscan Sun 100 lb. cover and double scored to accommodate the exact thickness of the book. We then applied double stick adhesive to each cover and wrapped the cover around each book block. The books were then trimmed to size to create a smooth, flush finish, and finally, they were shrink wrapped to keep all the pages intact. The result is a postcard book that hold together for viewing, but allows each card to be removed and used as a single postcard.
