It started with a call from Matt Flick at SAA. Matt had designed a pocket folder for the Dayton Country Club that was  a little challenging. First, lets move back to last year. Matt had designed (4)  5.5 x 8.5 brochures for Golf, Weddings and  other events/services that DCC offers, so we needed to come with something that would hold all 4 brochure and actually display them (sorry, Matt had to design something to hold them) We could take  a regular 9 x 12 pocket folder, put the brochures inside so they stacked on top of each other, tumbled around (because they fit in so loose) and in the end looked like you just put 4 brochures in a pocket folder because you did not have a better way to hold them….or better yet, you didn’t have a “system” to hold them. So Matt came up with a pretty cool solution.

I stopped by to see Matt, and he had it all sketched out on a piece of 8.5 x 11 paper. It all seemed to make sense (at least on paper)…Print a big piece of paper 1/sided (28″ x 20″), fold it in half to make it 10 x 28, and then you could have 4 panels that were 7 x 10 when folded up, with a slit in each panel to hold a brochure. Heck, when folded and all four pieces inserted, it would even fit in a golf bag..imagine this, a guy could come out for a game of golf, grab info for the daughters wedding or what ever (even a class reunion), tuck it in the golf bag, play a round and have it when he gets home. Cool thing being that when you got it home, all 4 brochures fit real nicely inside and it was in real good shape.

It all made sense on paper, but… So I put together a dummy. I used the old light table and cut down a piece of 23 x 35 80# Gloss cover to 20 (tall) x 28 (wide), and folded it in half to 10 x 28 (I did have to use my blade to lightly cut a score into it so it would fold right). I had cut 4 slits before I folded it that were 5.9″ (those would hold the brochures, again, Matt’s idea). So I glued it up with a glue stick and then closed gate folded it into 4 panels of 7″. once again I had to put a light cut to act as a score and the fold was a little rough (a lot of paper in the middle, thus kind of buckling). A little rough, but I know it would work…the only worry was the buckling paper in the middle.

I talked to Mike at CFP (Custom Formed Products) and he thought he could make a die that would work and do the cutting, folding & Glueing. He also said we might need to cut relief slits on the 10″ x 28″ panel that was the “inside panel. That worried me a little, as we were only going to print on 1 side, and 1/8″ relief slits would show white from the panel underneath, and the inside was flooded with green (like Country Club Green).

Well, at least at this point, we knew what it would take to get it done, the cost to do it, and had a real good idea of how it would work and what it would look like. Since it didn’t cost anything, we made cheap low res ink-jet and cut it out (with the relief slits) just to make sure, show it to the customer, and we all agreed it’s cool.

After a full color proof (and I’m not adding the part of what a totally cool piece this was, due to Matt’s awesome design skills), we printed the big sheets (added an aqueous coat to avoid fingerprints) and got them down to Mike to die cut. As always Custom Formed did a killer (precision) job of die cutting, folding in half, gluing and then closed gate folding them (gluing & folding by hand). Mike had made a die with all the scores, slits (relief slits + brochure slits) so that they just folded up perfect.

I guess that wasn’t that complicated a project, but it was just one of those special ones that I thought came our very cool. And it goes to show that even when at first, I thought this one might be clinging to a wing and a prayer to work, the designer had a vision and we worked it till we got the results we wanted.

From Both sides, you can see the brochure slits as well as the relief slits on the inside. I didn't have any brochures when shooting, but they stuck inside very nicely, and when folded would still fit into a golf bag.

The Living Brand

Yes, 2010 ended up being a pretty good year. When the dust finally settled and the counting was done, we were up again. The last 4 months of the year were a complete flurry of activity (which is a good thing), and I think that really put us over the top. So I thought, I should look back a little and see what the trends (a totally un-scientific approach) look like.

One thing I’ve noticed is people creating and protecting their brand. It seems to me in the new cross-media driven world, we can express ourselves in ways we never thought of, and expose our brand in multiple channels (social media, websites, print, promotional items, events and so on). I’m talking more than just being social, I’m talking about people who have developed a business, a product or service and gave it a brand….. there are more ways than ever to bring that brand alive and communicate your message to your audience.

So, how does this relate to a printing company having a good year? I think a lot of what we do is brand protection (and brand creation at the beginning of the process). Brands start with a look and feel. It’s up to you to say the right things at the right time, to develop the best products and services and get your customer service right, and that’s what your brand is all about.

But it’s up to us to make sure the colors are right, to make sure the right fonts are used, the right paper selected and so on. It’s also falling to us to help choose the right promotional item, make sure it’s done correctly (and on time). It’s also up to us to make sure your graphic files are right (you have an AI vector file when needed), even that your graphic files are available to you when needed. And this keeps growing….

We’re helping companies develop newsletters and distribute them, we’re helping people at the event planning level with giveaways, banners and signs. We’re advising people on colors that work in certain instances and we’re developing on-line ordering systems that cut down on ordering time and cost, while improving accuracy. All of these things help protect and grow your brand, so that your hard work is represented by the right look and feel.

And thats just phase 1 of this whole transition. Over the next couple of years, I see companies like Oregon continuing to add tools and services to help companies protect their brand, reach out and communicate with people on multiple levels, and even gather quality information for better decisions. Its incredible how the digital revolution has transformed business. Stay tuned…as the dust settles the next time this movement will continue to grow.

Ball's there before the runner

Flash back to Detroit a couple of weeks ago, and a drama played out in the public eye in which everyone involved acted with a grace that we could all learn something from.

I’ve aways been a baseball lover,  and baseball lovers know the only thing more unlikely than a perfect game is the unassisted triple play and hitting 4 home runs in 1 game. Well by now I’m sure that you are all familiar with the near perfect “perfect” game pitched by Armando Galarrga of the Detroit Tigers  a couple of weeks ago. Galarrga had laid down 26 straight batters, and on the 27th (the fewest number of batters that can be faced in a 9 inning game) umpire Jim Joyce blew the call. Right on national TV, in front of the whole country he made what was an obvious mistake, the ball got to the first baseman’s glove ahead of the batter . Now lets put this in perceptive, what Galarrga would have accomplished has been done only 20 times since the turn of the last century (thats 1900, not 2000!). It’s an honor bestowed on very few people and would have put him in the record books and possibly a trip to Cooperstown, the Baseball hall of fame. But a simple human error wiped it out, and unfortunately it can’t be turned back.

My first reaction was frustration and anger. I listened to Marty Brenneman (the Reds play by play announcer) describe what a blatantly bad call it was and what it cost this poor kid, and I could not help but to co-miserate with him. It does not help that I’m not a big fan of Jim Joyce either, especially after I watched him call 2 balls that should have been strikes (in my opinion) and cost David Weathers & the Reds a game against the Brewers a few years back. I remember him defiantly looking down at Weathers as if to say “question me and your outa here!”.

Galarraga put's a hand on Joyce's shoulder

So I was shocked when I heard that Joyce was in tears after the game saying “I just cost that kid a perfect game”. Joyce said he realized it after going to the umpires room and watching the replay. “I’m not sure what to say right now other than that probably was the most important call of my career, and I missed it”, going on to say “Nothing like this has ever happened to me, and I don’t know what to say”. Wow, it’s brings a new respect for somebody when they are human enough to fess up and say they made a mistake. Equally as powerful was Galarraga’s graceful reply regarding Joyce, that he’s human and everybody makes mistakes. According to Galarraga, I then gave Joyce a hug and said “I think he feels worse that I do”. The next day, Joyce and Galarraga met at Home plate as Tiger fans cheered. Joyce was visibly moved by the pitchers grace as well as the crowds.

So, what’s so powerful about this whole drama? You have something big, a perfect game could commercially make Galarraga a wealthy man with future contract negotiations, not to say the record books. And it will put Jim Joyce up there with Bill Buckner on the biggest “should have been the last out of the game” list. But it was incredible to see Galarraga shake it off, give Joyce a hug and move on. Could you imagine if our politicians, our leaders, our coworkers (even BP), along with you and I had that type of grace . Just be honest, admit mistakes and move on….There’s not enough of that in the world today.

Fast forward back to reality. We live in a world full of litigation, finger-pointing and and more complex issues than ever imagined back in the “good ole days”, but for just a moment, to watch this drama play out in front of all of us was remarkable thing.