Our business card options explained!

What a selection we have for you, and more besides. Here's an intro into the business card series that we currently offer, all prices are available online at Click Print.

QUICKSTART Business Cards ; we print Digitally onto an extra heavy weight semi-gloss stock ideal for business cards, booklet covers and greeting cards. Printed up to full colour both sides. This is a simple and inexpensive range of cards to promote your products or services. These cards are available in either Matt or Semi-gloss stock on a chunky 310gsm.

VALUE Hi-Gloss Business Cards ; these are durable, full colour cards with a Hi-Gloss laminate on the front only, helping them last a lot longer than your usual card. These cards are printed Offset for the best possible quality. Check out these different three options online;

Value Hi-gloss full colour both sides

Value Hi-gloss full colour front only

Value Hi-gloss full colour with black reverse

Second only to our Vmax range, these vibrant cards are ideal for writing appointments, quotes or notes on - great value for money.

See our website now for a 10% discount on printing of this product!

VALUE Smooth-as-Satin Business Cards ; These stylish, durable cards have a velvety smooth finish with our unique smooth-as-satin matt laminate on both sides. The satin-matt finish does not dull your colours as much as older matt laminates have done - ask us for a sample! We will gladly post one to you, of this and any other series you are interested in.

These cards are New Zealand's best quality/value for money with full colour on both sides! These are high quality, great looking cards printed on a thick chunky card. They are Offset printed for the smoothest possible print.

Check out these three different options online;

Value Smooth-as-Satin full colour both sides

Value Smooth-as-Satin full colour front only

Value Smooth-as-Satin full colour with black reverse

VMAX Smooth-as-Satin and VMAX Hi-Gloss business cards ; You won't find a better quality card than this. These are our best 'value for money' range of cards - giving you maximum colour for maximum value. Thick, chunky board with our strong, durable Hi-Gloss laminate on the front OR Smooth-as-Satin laminate both sides.

Our Vmax business cards also include 100 high quality stickers, valued at $59.00 +gst, 10 magnets & up to $250.00 +gst worth of vouchers on various printing products, absolutely FREE.

See these six different options online to price your VMAX cards ;

Vmax Hi-Gloss full colour both sides

Vmax Hi-Gloss full colour front only

Vmax Hi-Gloss full colour with black reverse

Vmax Smooth-as-Satin full colour both sides

Vmax Smooth-as-Satin full colour front only

Vmax Smooth-as-Satin full colour with black reverse

Now that you know our main business card series, have a look for our variations on these options where you can get any of the above cards with die-cut, foils, holes drilled (for swingtags), or UV Accents. For the best value on larger quantities of cards, follow this link to view pricing for our Ultra Gloss range.

And speaking of variations, we've had some amusing spellings of business cards come through, so I've included some here, incase anyone is doing a search for bizness cards, biz cards, bisness cards, busness cards, bcards, busines cards, buseness or bussiness cards - we've got them all and we'd love the opportunity to print yours - and do a quick spell-check, of course.

Tania's North Island Tour

Want to read the latest about our travels around New Zealand in Search of Excellence in Print? This time we specifically target those industrious New Zealand Signwriting Companies in our efforts to give customers the widest range of Marketing Material and available products, from within our own productive little beehive of a country.

To read our Patch Print blog follow this link ; http://www.patchprint.co.nz/blog.html

Printers Special Effects : FOILED CARDS

I've had a lot of interest lately about Metallic business cards, business cards printed onto metal or plastic - like a credit card, cards with numbering or individual names and numbering, cards with metallic foils in various colours including orange, red, blue and green, as well as the usual gold and silver printing, emboss effects, die-cut cards - both your standard die-cut business cards or unique, original die-cut cards, and more... Here I will start with some information about Foiling and go from there, as there as so many small ways to ENHANCE YOUR IMAGE and HELP YOUR CLIENTS REMEMBER YOU!

So not just once, but definitely for all, I will give a explanation for all those people looking for business cards and printing with a little something extra. A little ZING to make a business card stand out among the billions of others.

So like the salesman with the flashing gold tooth.. but a lot less cheesy.. we offer foiled business cards! These can be added to either our Hi-gloss cards or our slinky matte option - Smooth-as-Satin business cards, and come in a variety of colours ; Classic Gold foil, Stunning Silver foil, Bronze foil, my personal favourite - Gunmetal foil, Blue foil, Green foil, Red foil - great for Christmas Cards, Black foil - you gotta see the black, ask us for samples! .. White foil - looks like a smooth twink finish - yes, that's the best way I can explain it - and a white foil will look fantastic on the right card.

Foils are a great option to get your cards looking classy. We have done designs where we try to work a foil into the design which looks great for Manufacture companies, where the foil is the hammer or anvil or some kind of metal. We have used foils to give a card a "riveted" look, or to highlight parts of a motorbike or a safety helmet. Imagine the possibility!

Classic foil use would be starting with the right font for your style, and having that font embossed. It used to be that you would only see a foil effect on your lawyers business card, or the foiled business card with matching foiled letterhead from you Dentist reminding you of your next bill due date. Nowadays foils are an affordable and very effective way of making your card stand out from your competitor, and insuring your customers KEEP your card, which is, after all, our ultimate goal. Even better if they're impressed enough to show their friends!

More on our other Special Effects coming soon!

Marketing Tools - Choosing Banners & Posters

We offer a wide range of media to enhance your look, your unique business identity, and can help you choose the products to suit your desired use, allowing you to stand out from your competitors. If you're having a conference, a stall at a trade show, or just need more advertising space in your office or reception area, try our durable wide format banners - under 'Posters' on our website.

Our posters are printed on a heavy weight 150gsm for a Matt-finish poster and 160gsm Photogloss for a Gloss-finish poster - a great option for moderate ink coverage. We have other stocks and sizes available, please contact us for more options as you require.

We have the banner solution for you, for indoor or outdoor use.

Prices are readily viewable on our website for A2, A1 and A0 posters, as well as our 'Low Cost Posters' in A3 and A4. These are our best online deal for quick simple flyers or posters. Limited stocks to choose from make selection quick and simple, but again, contact us if your needs are more specific and we can discuss alternative options with you.

Follow this link for our poster prices.

To view our site with an overview for all products, follow this link to Clickprint.

We are always looking for advances in print technology that continue to dramatically change the face of printing. Expect advances in eco-friendly products, technology, productivity and efficiency as the market looks to sustainable solutions to produce their printed marketing material.

Extremely conscious of image quality and colour management? Looking for a press that can product photo quality or close to it? This is what we do best, try us for best quality and value.

For those in the Printing, Design & Marketing Trades - you are welcome to apply for access at our Wholesale Printing Site The Production House.

How We Can Help with your Budget Printing

Fast printing, quality printing and budget printing - if you're looking for any of these we would love the opportunity to help you with your Design and Marketing Solutions on a budget.

We have such a large range of printed products, you can easily find options for printing on a budget. For our best low cost business card printing I would recommend either our Budget Business Cards which offer our lowest price cards with printing single-sided in black only onto a quality white-card, or for something a little more snazzy, black printing onto our Stardream Card Stock - a sparkly luminescent stock that I believe would be the best way to dazzle your potential clients and allow them to spot your card in the depths of their dark handbags and dusty wallets.

Budget cards are a good entry-level to start with, allowing you to get your name and contact details out there, and upgrading to a glossy or satin matt finish card when business takes off.

Next step up would be our Quickstart range. These are all digitally printed with the latest in print technology for a smooth finish and great vibrant colours. For these we print on a chunky 310gsm card. Durable and quality that you'll be happy with? Definately. Contact us if you like to dip your toes in the water before you swim and we will happily send you some samples.

Climbing the ladder a little higher we have our Value range. It's tempting to state this is our best value, but the product speaks for itself. Value business cards are Offset Printed, the best quality we can produce with the best colours - and a colour-matching service available if your business card must match your lipstick, or carpet, or company colours. (We have matched to squashed berries that were posted to us in a sticky envelope before, so I wasn't kidding about the lipstick!)

Value cards come in two finish options ; Smooth-as-Satin Matt business cards - a silky matt that doesn't dull your colours as much as a true Matte finish. Our Satin Matt business cards are laminated both sides, but you can easily write on the back with a ballpoint pen. Satin cards are glamerous and professional - contact us for a sample and be amazed.

Hi-Gloss business cards offer a rich glossy finish giving depth to your printing while adding durability to your card. Hi-Gloss cards are laminated on the front only, so you can note your appointments, notes, or contact names on the reverse.

Top shelf - you'll be wanting to take a look at our Vmax range. All the quality and finish options of our Value range with the addition of Magnets and stickers - which will have the same image printed onto them as your business cards. You'll want to be handing these out from the slightly-lowered tinted window of your limousine.

For the full range, take a look at our website where you can select your product and order online, all while keeping track of your job progress and being able to upload your file direct online, request your proof method, and any alterations online http://www.patchprint.co.nz

Need Graphic Design? This is our passion and we would welcome the opportunity to work with you to create a business identity that suits your needs. Contact us today!

The Art of Marketing - tips for design and marketing

"The Art of Marketing is the art of Brand Building. If you are not a brand, you are a commodity. Then price is everything and the low-cost producer is the only winner." - Philip Kotler.

In short - No Brand equals No Business. This is a simple statement of fact, unless you are simply competing for price and not trying to create your own identity, you need a brand.

So what is a brand? 

"A brand is not a product. It is the sum total of everything a company does - the good, the bad and even the off strategy - that creates a large context or an identity in the consumer's mind." - Scott Bedbury.

Strong Brands have distinction, authenticity and a brand promise. 

A Brand is a Promise. A Brand is a Mark of Trust. 

A brand promise is supported by three key management principals ; 

1. Positioning ; Determining what you want your promise to be. 

2. Communication ; Creating an expectation in the customers mind of what the promise is. 

3. Operations ; Delivering the Promise.

"The most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart - if people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to a brand." - Howard Schultz.

If you need some advice on creating your own brand and identity we'd love the opportunity to help. We have a selection of the best graphic and web designers we could get our hands on and they're waiting for a chance to use their creative skills to work with you on your company brand or company logo. 

From there we can offer the best value printing for your colour business cards, letterheads, notepads, envelopes or any other company branded stationary you may need. Expand your identity by taking advantage of our special branded products like presentation folders, personalised pens, caps or t-shirts, consumer-targeted brochures and flyers, give-away items like stickers and magnets, and a lot more creative and inspiring marketing ideas we can offer. See our website for more ideas on how to market your identity www.clickprint.co.nz

For Graphic Designers or Business Owners in the creative trade, apply for trade access to our wholesale website and let our wide range expand your own product list. For those with their own product range we specialise in extras and tricky jobs like business cards with foils (in red, green, blue, silver, gunmetal, gold, bronze, black or white), also embossing and custom diecutting (for example rounded corners on business cards or your own funky cut-out designs for cards, brochures etc.), not to forget those hard to find jobs like docket books and ticket books, with all our finishing options including perforating, numbering, collating, binding, hole-punching, and even envelope-stuffing after the tight schedule printing of those bulk flyer printing and envelope branding marketing jobs - you don't want to do THAT yourself.

If you think we can help, we'd welcome the opportunity to see if we are the right people for the job, if we can meet your printing and marketing needs and find a solution that works for you. Our system of online ordering and job archiving / handling is the best I've come across so give us a try, you'll be glad you did.

Trades people find us here at www.theproductionhouse.co.nz

Offset Printing and Spot Colours

In Offset Printing, the image you want printed is burned onto a plate - a very thin piece of aluminum-like metal - and from there is transferred (or offset) on a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface - paper or card. This process is called "Lithography", and is based on the repulsion of oil and water. The image to be printed gets ink from ink rollers, while the non printing area attracts a film of water, which keeps the blank areas ink-free.

This process is done using CMYK = Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. A tray for each of these four colours is in the Offset Press and the ink is poured in. When the paper is pulled through the machine it prints one ink at a time so 'drying time' is required before the paper can be put back through for the second, third and fourth colours. If a Spot Colour is required, many machines can add additional trays and the job can be put through a fifth time for the first spot colour, and again for additional colours. Some machines don't have additional trays so have to go through the time-consuming process of cleaning out one or their CMYK trays and replacing the ink with a Spot Colour, then changing it back afterwards.

Spot Colours are colours that are found in commercially available colour ranges such a Pantone. These specific colours can be used in addition to CMYK (Cyan, Magents, Yellow & Black) when C.M.Y.K. cannot achieve the desired colour. These Spot Colours are pre-mixed and can be added to the process as described above, by running the stock through the machine additional times, once for each colour. Spot Colours can also be Gold, Silver, Bronze or other metallic or fluorescent colours that would never be possible from a CMYK breakdown.

The use of Spot Colours can be costly as a separate plate is required for each colour. For a normal offset printed 4 colour process job, only four plates would be required.

Spot Colours can also be used instead of CMYK. If you wanted, for example, a brochure printed in your companys' specific blue and green colours - that would only require two printing plates, and the machine that would print the job would need these two colours added into their additional trays - think of paint trays when you're using a roller to paint your house, but inserted into a large printing press.

To view the Pantone Colour range available, you would need to purchase a Pantone Colour Swatch Book, which can be very pricey. A print & design store would let you see their books, which are available in 'Coated' and 'Un-Coated' options, depending on what stock they have been printed on which does change the colours.

My tip for Choosing a Colour would be be to go to a paint store and take away some printed colour swatches that they have available for choosing house paint. Make sure this is the colour you want when viewing it under natural lighting. You can then take this into a print store and match it to the closest CMYK breakdown, or a specific Pantone Colour.

The Strangest Colour Matching Request we ever received was a squashed berry taped to a letter and posted to us to request the closest colour match we could achieve. Though original we would far prefer to receive your paint-swatches or a bit of fabric to match too. Something a little less... sticky.

An Important Note is to discuss with your Graphic Designer what your future printing may consist of, because using a Pantone Colour could become costly if you have to add this colour in each print run, rather than being able to print in a normal four colour print process or digitally print your work. The best colour to choose would be a spot colour that is achievable in CMYK - check this with your funky design & print professional!

The Offset Printing Process and Spot Colours

In Offset Printing, the image you want printed is burned onto a plate - a very thin piece of aluminum-like metal - and from there is transferred (or offset) onto a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface - paper or card. This process is called a "Lithography", and is based on the repulsion of oil and water. The image to be printed gets ink from ink rollers, while the non printing area attracts a film of water which keep the blank areas ink-free. 

This process is done using CMYK = Cyan, Magents Yellow, Black. A tray for each of these four colours is in the Offset Press and the ink is poured in. When the paper is pulled through the machine it prints one ink at a time so 'drying time' is required before the paper can be put back through for the second, third and fourth colours. If a Spot Colour is required many machines can add a additional ink trays, and the job can be put through a fifth time for the first spot colour, and again for any additional colours.

Spot Colours are colours that are found in commercially available colour ranges such as Pantone. These specific colours can be used in addition to CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black) when C.M.Y.K. cannot achieve the desired colour. These spot colours are pre-mixed and can be added to the process as described above, by running the stock through the machine additional times, once for each colour. Spot Colours can also be Gold, Silver, Bronze, or other metallic colours.

The use of Spot Colours can be costly as a separate plate is required for each colour. For a normal offset printed 4 colour process job, four plates would be required.

Spot Colours can also be used instead of CMYK. If you wanted for example, a brochure printed in your companys' specific blue and green colours - that would only require two printing plates, and the machine that would print the job would need these two colours added into their additional trays - think of paint trays when using a roller to paint your house, but inserted into a machine.

To view the Pantone Colour range available, you would need to purchase a Pantone Colour Swatch book, which can be very pricey. A print & design store would let you see their books, which are available in 'Coated' and 'Un-coated' books, depending on what stock they have been printed on, which does change the colours. My tip for choosing a company colour would be to go to a paint store, take away some printed colour swatches that they have available for choosing house-paint, and just make sure that this is the colour you want when viewing under natural lighting. You can then take this into a print store and match it to the closest CMYK breakdown, or a specific Pantone Colour.

Discuss with your Graphic Designer what your future printing may consist of, because using a Pantone Colour could become costly if you have to add this colour each print run, rather than being able to print in a normal four colour print process.

The Benefits of Online Ordering

Online Ordering is no longer only a way to order a book or the latest CD.
It is not a fad that will fade away.

A major advantage is that information about products and the selling of products is interwoven like never before. The internet enables a company to showcase its products, offer a full range of options, provide up-to-date information, specifications and applications, and sell all this in once place with the ability to update instantly!

Our system makes online ordering more efficient and helps to eliminate errors. A customer can view all the options for each product. For example with our business cards you can choose from Digitally Printed cards from our "Quickstart" range, to "Value" cards in a Satin Matt or Hi-gloss finish from our Offset range. Or even upgrade to our "Vmax" range to include Magnets and Free Stickers with business cards you require.

A good online shopping site empowers customers by giving the customer the ability to gain access to information by themselves. We believe it is important to empower our customers by allowing them to compare products and prices with what else is currently available. If they choose us, we allow clients to check their current job status and freight codes which allow a client to track and trace a job, as well as being able to view and reorder any previous orders.

We have created a site that gives our clients these options. If you choose to register with us online you get your own login and password, you can then order any product or combination of products and go back at any time to track the process of your orders.

Essentially we are working toward creating as smooth a process as possible, and believe we have done this with a simple 5-step ordering process. This enables you to find the promotional marketing, design and printing that you need, without it being time consuming and frustrating.

Visit our site now and see if we can offer you a simple solution!