Need to get some printing done? It can be hard to know where to go, what to print onto, how to print, who to trust, and how to ensure you get what you need for the best quality and sharpest price available. There are so many options and so many methods to get an idea from the screen to the page, and we’d like to help.
Not only do we, at Activate Design - design, build and host websites - we design for print! If it’s letterheads, compliments slips, docket books, t-shirts, coasters, menus or even the humble business card that you require - we’re the ones to introduce you to the process and get the printing you need, done right. We can manage your promotional stationary from logo conception right through to final printing right here in Christchurch and around the country. We can source and produce speciality items such a pens and balloons for printing onto, or perhaps you would like a run of plastic business cards, or transparent cards, rather than the traditional paper-based media? We are forever looking for new challenges and ways to assist New Zealand companies in promoting themselves and we stand above other print companies in our ability to do so with our wider range of skills and services on offer.
We understand the processes involved, and most importantly, we understand when designing a company brand, company logo, or concept for print - that there are limitations to what may look amazing on-screen, and how that logo or brand may need to be manipulated to look just as amazing for print. Issues such as how many colours are used, what colours you need to achieve, and the print processes that will best achieve this; or how to maintain the evenness of a colour throughout many different print runs, on potentially many different printers; and perhaps how to produce your specific design on a very large scale - such as banners and posters, and then to produce the same concept on a small media - such as pens or drink bottles. Design must be flexible, and so must we, when working with you to conceptualise and create a brand or design that markets you.
As design is what we’re here to do, come and see us for the printing that you need, we will gladly take on your projects and requirements, be they the printed page or on-screen outputs such as iPhones Applications, Web Developement and Hosting or getting your company into the Social Media scene.
When working with printing options - Digital printing is one common method of having excellent quality printing to you in a very short time-frame. This can be your letterheads and notepads, business cards and brochures. But what about larger quantities? For bigger output we will look at “Offset Printing” your work, to see if this more traditional method of printing would better suit what you require. Offset printing is suitable for larger quantities, and is the technology that makes most magazines and catalogues possible. Not to mention larger quanties of handouts, flyers and promotional material such as postcards and questionaires. Offset printing requires plates to be made, and these plates can be kept and re-used for many further print runs, much like the negatives that were created from your old camera films could be stored and re-used to produce further photographs. In this way offset printing may be the right choice for larger on-going print runs, such as company letterheads. Offset printing can often be a longer-turnaround process than Digital Print, but traditionally the quality is better, though arguably Digital Printing has certainly caught up.
With offset printing there is also the option to produce a “base print” - this is where we would print, for example, the background of your brochure, and any text or information that is not likely to change. The plates would be made for this job and kept for future runs, then another plate/s would be made to overprint these original background images with any information that may change, such as contact details or services you offer. This can be a wonderful cost-saving way to print, as you would print bulk-quantities of the “base-print” product, be it brochures, letterheads or flyers, etc. Then as needed, we would over--print these existing prints with your current information, as required. For flyers, it may be a monthly special offer that changes, or if letterheads, you may wish to use the same background image on a “base-print” but have the information change for different related companies or branches. These are some of the ways we can look at organising the printing requirements for your company.
Contact us for more information or to arrange a meeting where we can discuss progressing your ideas to print or online media... and adding a few ideas of our own to push your business out in front.
Graphic Design businesses in New Zealand
