Before the arrival of the Internet, ordering printed materials was both time consuming and costly. Fortunately, the introduction of digital printing alongside all this new technology has made it simpler and much cheaper to order printed materials. These days, it is simple to produce graphics on your own computer, save them to PDF and submit them to an online printing store and the materials will be delivered to your home faster than ever before.

In days gone by, printing was much more labour intensive than people may realize. All of this work added up for the customer, making printing a real financial drain. Leaflets printed in colour could cost anywhere in the region of hundreds of pounds, even for only a small number of them. Also, the time it took to obtain a finished product was much greater, more like weeks than a matter of days to receive even a basic brochure.

As a result, many people would go out of their way to make sure nothing went wrong during the production process. If for whatever reason a reprint was needed, even for something as minor as a typo, the consequences (in labour and costing) put extra pressure on both print shops and customers. Because of this, before graphics and text were even sent to the printer they had to be thoroughly proofed, and often, print shops would have to provide customers with a ‘contract’ proof to verify that everything was in order before the store had even begun production on the final materials. The contract proof then had to be thoroughly examined by the client before they signed off on it. All of this added up to extra expense (and a high amount of hassle!), at the customer’s end.

Fortunately, printing today is a much simpler and less stressful process! The aforementioned modernisation of printing technology have significantly lessened the cost, and dramatically reduced the amount of time it takes to produce a finished product. As well as making it faster and cheaper, technology has made it much easier for people unfamiliar with the printing process to rapidly produce materials of their own that they love, and order products to their exact specifications.

Unfortunately, there is a downside to all this. It’s a common problem, and causes customers of Print-Print a significant amount of trouble (and ultimately), time and money. As printing is comparatively inexpensive these days, it seems that people are less afraid of needing a reprint than they used to be. This means that they don’t take as much care or time to check over their artwork before submitting it for printing. Day-in-day-out my team are confronted with client-supplied artwork sporting glaring spelling mistakes, typos or inaccuracies.

While we at Print-Print don’t have an endless amount of time to prof-read every item they receive for printing, if we come across a mistake, we endeavour to make the customer aware of it before moving forward. On top of this, we can deliver a free printed proof that allows the customer to spot any problems before the order is printed in full. And because of all their hard work, reprints are rarely needed as mistakes are caught at the proofing stage.

Sadly, even with their proofing service, some mistakes do make it through to the printing stage, and the customer must pay to have the order reprinted. But there is a secret to stress free printing; before submitting your artwork, always look it over carefully to make sure there are no glaring errors! That way, you will be satisfied with the end product you receive.

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk