Author Topic: Need Advice, Graphic Printing (Read 330 times)

BlckMgk · « **on:** January 17, 2003, 03:48:05 PM »

I'll make it short.

I work for a Real Estate company and I make property brochures as one of my jobs, brochures with high res pictures of the property and different rooms etc.

The company asked me if they should invest in a color printer/copier to cut expenses because this going to be the norm.

It costs 0.80 cents now for each high res print I make at the local print shop.

So my question to you fellas who know, What should I suggest ? I understand something with High Res printing and maybe PPM, but whats cost efficient, laser, Ink, Big Color Copier, Networked B&W and Color Printer?

Need your help please..

-BlckMgk

Dinger · « **Reply #1 on:** January 17, 2003, 04:35:33 PM »

What's your expected volume?
An inkjet, for example, costs very little money and can put out a decent brochure (but water soluble!!!), but if you're doing more than a few, it becomes cheaper to go to laser.

narsus · « **Reply #2 on:** January 17, 2003, 04:38:37 PM »

BlkMgc

Do a cost analysis of it, my previous company decided to pick one of those up 2 years ago and it still hasent paid for itself and we did tons of brochures.

Also remember you need quality glossy paper which can be expensive.

MrLars · « **Reply #3 on:** January 17, 2003, 04:58:57 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Dinger
What's your expected volume?
An inkjet, for example, costs very little money and can put out a decent brochure (but water soluble!!!), but if you're doing more than a few, it becomes cheaper to go to laser.

IMO, any office produced brochure looks just like what it is, something done to cut costs and is of substandard quality.

If this information is important enough that you think it will increase your sales then I'd make damn sure it looks professional.

If you can find a small offset color printing shop you may be able to cut some sort of deal for short runs and constant updates.

The first time you produce a brochure inhouse and figure out that after they've been produced that there's an error either in pricing, pic/verbage placement or the like and you find yourself having to change and rerun the job is when you may find out that inhouse isn't the most cost effective way to do such things.

When you have a pro do it the chances of having to redo it for some stupid reason is a lot less since they know what can go wrong in their business and will try to make sure your job isn't affected by stupidity or oversight.

I've been involved with producing about 25 different brochures ranging from single page tri-fold to 30 page full 4 color documents...one thing that is important to remember is that that brochure, for the potentialy new customer, is a indicator of the professionalism of the company it represents. Best foot forward and all that.

Leslie · « **Reply #4 on:** January 18, 2003, 01:15:14 AM »

MrLars has good advice Offset printed brochures would look better, and be more economical for large quantity. Color is what drives up the cost...4-color printing process. The color "plates" would be expensive...about $1,500 of the cost is just for those alone. Usually, the more you have printed, the better deal there is.

You can, however, use a computer program like Printmaster Gold, to design the brochures ahead of time, and test different designs 'til you find one you like...thus saving on the layout costs, which an artist at the print shop would have to do otherwise, if you wanted a custom brochure made. Would save money there. Camera ready art needs to be 300 dpi I believe. Put it on a disc, and they can work from that, in most cases. However, it's more work than you think it will be, if you do it this way. It's a good idea to be there when they go to press, to check out the first brochures off the press and make sure they're satisfactory, before they print the job.

Les

-dead- · « **Reply #5 on:** January 18, 2003, 05:00:08 AM »

For inhouse printing:
1. Inkjet is nice quality, and the printers are cheap. But it can be quite costly for big print runs in terms of ink, high quality paper and time taken. Top end inkjet stuff looks great (many use it for proofing nowadays), but the printers cost a lot - need a special computer to act as a RIP.
2. Colour Laser generally looks awful - the finish is all shiny and nasty where the ink is, and matt where the paper's blank. But it's faster and cheaper per page.
3. Dye sub printers look very nice but cost unfeasibly vast quantities of cash to buy & run.

Outsourced printing:
1. You'll probably need to use real software - ie Pagemaker (cheap & nasty), QuarkXpress (damned expensive but the top-end industry standard), InDesign, Photoshop (for photo stuff), Freehand or Illustrator (for doing floorplans). Adobe does a combo pack - Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat & InDesign for about US$1,000.
2. Offset is only economical in bulk - ie at the very least 1,000 copies - but it really gets cheapest @ around the 5,000 copies mark. UNLESS the printers will do "test runs" (a small run of mebbe a few hundred dirt cheap).
3. For less than 1,000 copies, Digital printing might be worth it - talk to your local output centre - they might do it, or know someone who does. Doesn't look as good as offset, but it's passable. And cheap in non bulk situations.

BlckMgk · « **Reply #6 on:** January 18, 2003, 12:00:32 PM »

Ok The photo editing I take care of, but with no professional training (Other than a few summer classes in graphic design with illustrator). And the layouts etc I wip em up on Word2000, and they are 1 page brochures. I'd submit the file but I keep the photos in a bmp form so the colors don't become all screwy when printing.

The realtors around here have always liked my work (Miami, Florida) and my costs are only that of the copies, because I get paid a salary. Soon I'll have my liscence for sales, and aswell my brokers liscence, We are relocating to a new place, new building buing built currently, and new management now for 4 years (the company itself has been in business for 35 years.) They're doing well with about 140 million in sales (mostly houses), and we're one of the few if not the only in south florida who offer 100% commission.

--
I guess we'll strike up a deal with this copy/print shop, with some advertising or something, or that we'll bring all our color brochure printing needs to them. Generally 50-100 prints is what we make.

BTW Thank you for your advice folks, much appreciated.

-BlckMgk

Airhead · « **Reply #7 on:** January 18, 2003, 01:32:44 PM »

BlckMgk, I used to lecture realtors' offices on individual agents' promotions. I also owned and sold a printing business about twelve years ago, so when you're ready to promote yourself e-mail and let me know. Good luck on getting your license bud.