07/12/05 - Moving Downtown IT IS OFFICIAL. We will be moving DOWNTOWN. Our new home will be 304 East 3rd Street former site of the Austin - Real World and no, we do not get the pool. We are so excited about the change. Finally you will get the most modern, open concept production shop. We will have another shop in the North part of Austin to continue to service our many repro accounts that need the immediate response in that area. It will be a complete shop in its own right, with downtown to assist on the larger projects. PS opened in 1994, we were acquired by Thomas Reprographics out of Dallas, in October 2003, and have continued the practice of being a consultant and a partner to many of our clients and the results are still positive.
I was reviewing a newsletter that I wrote in 1997 embracing our third anniversary. This newsletter included a section in which I stressed the success of thinking about us as a “Partner in Planning” and gave a few examples of what had occurred for two of our clients. They had included us early in their planning and design phase of their project addressing constraints related to budgets, staff, installation, maintenance, and etc. It allowed for a better understanding of their business, goals, and challenges. We were able to present and explain more options and offer more value. The results were positive. This time we want to highlight some of the recent unique projects that evolved from early planning, and the results are viewable on our web site.
An advertising agency had a beautiful new office and they were looking for a unique way to showcase their campaigns for their clients. They wanted to have a different look for each client and be able to add graphics easily on a continual basis. We were able to suggest a unique concept using Gyford Productions that offers wires, pulleys, brushed aluminum pucks, wire suspension clips and a modern appearance. We used two members of the Presentation Solutions team to install in the 48 hours required. Review a brief thumbnail of the Enviromedia facility at your leisure on our website: www.ps-graphics.com/installs.
Boxes: Another one of our clients needed custom boxes to present a very real motivational campaign for outside distributors. With a lot of planning for the graphics, labels and final presentation wrapping, we secured a manufacturer that could achieve the results and again the campaign was a success, and we are fortunate that this is an ongoing campaign.
Wallpaper: This has been one of the most fun new products we have offered this year: custom wallpaper. It is easy to install, using all the common methods of regular wallpaper installation, and totally devoted to your own message. Thermo Finnigan had a new requirement for a product wall and meeting room facelift. We output graphics of their specialized products, mounted and framed them using “Quik frames” (easy to change out) and then installed these over formulas that were printed as wallpaper and one wall has their logo running as a baseboard. All fun projects that resulted from early conversations and the list continues.
WE are very proud that we were awarded “Sign Company of the Year” by the Advertising Society - The Ad Federation, of Austin for 2004-05. This honor has been awarded to us twice as well as being Graphic Service Bureau of the year for 1996.
This is special because it is our clients recognizing all the passion that we have for what we do and servicing their needs anytime with quality and service. We strive to meet your needs.
07/12/05 - New Services Next Steps toward VALUE-ADDED SERVICES: One additional service we offer, due to our ownership by Thomas Reprographics, is flatbed printing. This is inkjet on steroids. We can print directly on glass, tile, wood, metal, or any regular mounting service, and then router cut that into any unique shape. I had the opportunity of watching the machine in Thomas’ Phoenix shop, when it was printing on wooden shutters for a custom home builder. The print was a scene of an Italian landscape. AWESOME. This is one of the most fun future opportunities that I hope we can further expand into Austin. Thomas has three of these units to service all of our locations. Thomas also recently purchased Cline Graphics in Houston, and with this addition, we can do larger full truck and trailer wraps than we have had the ability to do in the past. The colors are vivid, long lasting, and installation is guaranteed.
Our reprographic division has definitely met with open arms in Austin. We have grown steadily, added equipment as needed and will continue to do so; thus proving that our customer service is “contagious”. Our partnership with ReproMax allows many projects to be printed anywhere in America or Europe and delivered on time without the expense of shipping.
The electronic age has been upon us for a long time and we are able to help you embrace the way business is being done with the impact of our DFS (Document Fulfillment Solution) software program. This exclusive program is ideal for the company that wants to:
Upload documents easily
View quickly
Distribute locally or globally
Track efficiently and effectively
Print anywhere, and
Have their own customized online plan room
We have solutions for the AEC market, for the corporate office with satellite offices, the food industry with multiple locations, and the event industry.
We schedule demonstrations with specific applications bi-weekly. Just call.
One of the biggest value added services we want to request your assistance in implementing, is sending your files directly to the digital or CAD departments for production scheduling and prepping rather than sending them to your sales representative. Our sales staff is constantly meeting with clients in and outside the office, and we want to service you better. Send your files directly to the digital or CAD department and copy your rep. This keeps communication flowing but will get your projects produced or scheduled faster and more efficiently.
When you use our ftp site, please send an email to the digital dept. telling us the file has been uploaded and the name of the file or folder, or send us a link providing all the information we need.
As you briefly read this, remember we want to continue to offer you exciting options, so let us know additional services you wish we would review, changes you recommend for the next decade, and any improvements you desire. We will share these with our corporate office and their leaders. Together we become better.
Enjoy your summer and thanks for a great time of earning your business and appreciation.
03/01/02 - Vector vs Raster Raster image files are composed of an array pixels (picture elements) with each pixel assigned one of millions of colors. That grid of pixels, when enlarged, resembles a mosaic made from square tiles. The process of resizing a raster (or bitmap) image involves adding or removing pixels to or from the original image data. Because they contain a fixed number of pixels to create the image, enlarging a raster image to a desired size can cause significant degradation of quality, so it is important to create the image with sufficient dot resolution for the final output. Raster images are the best choice for creating subtle gradations of shades and color, such as in a photograph or in a computer-generated painting. Raster files can be created and edited with paint software such as Photoshop, Painter, or PaintShop. Vector graphics are mathematically defined and contain, rather than pixels, a sequence of equations as drawing instructions to describe how to render the image. These mathematical components can be moved, scaled, rotated, or deleted independently. This allows the images to be modified without any loss of resolution. Vectors can be printed at any size, on any output device, at any resolution, without losing detail and without altering the resolution of the image. Vector images are the best choice for typefaces, logos, charts and graphs, drawings, and other graphics that must have sharp lines when scaled to various sizes. Vector drawings can be created and edited with software programs such as Illustrator or Freehand.
02/22/02 - Viewing Proofs Sometimes a print order requires approval of a proof before final printing. The purpose of a proof is to give everyone an opportunity to perform a final check before the piece is printed. Some of the things to look for when viewing a proof are: Text - Are the fonts correct? Check spelling and punctuation. Double check hyphenation, reflow, and page breaks. Graphics - Are all photos and illustrations printing? Check size and cropping. Are any raster images too bitmapped or pixelated? Color - Has the color shifted too much in any elements? Are the color combinations working together? Careful examination of each aspect of the proof is the best way to ensure the printed piece will meet all expectations, and is the final chance to correct any problems. Once the proof is approved, the printing begins!
12/02/01 - Monitor Color vs Output Color Of all the possible colors that can be detected by the human eye, only a subset can be displayed on a computer monitor, and because of the limitations of inks and paper, even fewer can be printed. A monitor displays images by transmitted light using the primary colors of Red, Green, and Blue (RGB). Adding combinations of these results in all possible colors that can be displayed ‚ the monitorís gamut. Monitor colors, as with light, result from an additive combination of wavelengths. Like a slide on a light box, light is coming from behind the image. Viewing a printed output, the human eye sees the reflected light off of the print. Color on the printed page is the result of a subtractive process using the primary process colors, or printer inks, of Cyan (C), Yellow (Y), and Magenta (M). To add depth, Black (K) is also used. It is referred to as subtractive because white light reflecting off a printed page is absorbed by the CYMK inks on the paper. Printing a screen of C, Y, M, and K dots in a specific pattern creates the range of colors in the gamut. These differences between additive RGB and subtractive CMYK are further complicated by environmental factors including monitor glare, video quality, and ambient light. Depending on the chemical composition of the inks used, the output colors can vary a great deal under certain lighting conditions, so color decisions should be made using consistent lighting. Consider, for instance, an Illustrator file that may contain CMYK swatches, an embedded RGB scan, and several Pantone spot colors. This file becomes a mix of three very different color spaces, all viewed on an RGB monitor. The perceived colors can vary slightly or greatly as the file makes its way through the production process. It may start on a CRT monitor, be edited on a LCD monitor, saved as a CMYK or RGB postscript file, processed through a RIP (raster image processing) program, and printed on a variety of papers or other materials using toner or inks. Each device has its own color gamut. The first step to managing color through the whole process is to calibrate the computer monitor. The goal of monitor calibration to match the display on the monitor to another output device, such as another monitor, the output from a printer, or slides from a film recorder. Adobe's Gamma software, which is automatically installed with recent versions of Photoshop and even the inexpensive Photoshop Elements, can be used to calibrate a monitor's contrast, brightness, gamma, color balance, and white point. The settings obtained by working with the Gamma control panel are used to create a profile for the monitor that color management systems can use to improve color viewing. While Gamma isn't perfect, it is an easy and inexpensive start. Other ways to calibrate your monitor include ColorVision's Monitor Spyder, Monaco Systems MonacoPROOF, ColorBlade from Studion, and X-Rite's Digital Swatchbook spectrophotometer.
