Thursday, October 15, 2009

Developments In Brochure Printing

By Allana Clark

As promotion tools, brochures have never been unsuccessful in registering an impact on clients' minds. They can be kept on cash counters, handed out to spread the word about a company, or even posted to prospective clients. The need to have brochures printed has led to the growth of a segment of the printing services industry, which specifically caters to brochures. There have been many radical changes in brochure printing in recent years and the internet along with digital technologies is ushering many of them.

At a time when computers had not yet been used in brochure printing, the whole thing was a tedious activity involving use of plate-making machines and film negatives, and the steps involved taking multiple test prints, making adjustments, and what not. Designing too was limited to a few set patterns, and the printers executed the designing job with the client having almost no say in this respect.

On the other hand, now brochures are designed, transferred to the printing company, and edited on computers, mostly by the client himself, and the end product is supplied to the client within a much shorter timeframe. Technology has progressed far enough to make round the clock printing possible, allowing any quantity of prints to be supplied to the customer within a single day.

One should not forget that brochure printing involves cautious consideration of features like content, graphics and formatting. With the introduction of digital technology, printing companies have started to provide a range of benefits to the customers in this area, like high resolution colour printing, multiple choices in complex layouts and designs, and smart packages on content-building.

Printing services firms offer many latest options to customers, among which colourful brochures and digital brochures are most favoured by them. These are generally suitable for brochures which will be distributed from medium to long-term. Any content for short-term high volume use is best promoted through the use of eye catching, colourful, but brief brochures, which have only a limited print cycle. Off-set printing, which is a relatively older method, is still the preferred choice for these brochures as although it requires more time to make the brochures, a huge number of copies can be printed at one go.

Additional services are now provided by many printing service providers besides the quality improvements in the prints. Direct mailing, circulation and design are some of these additional services.

The internet has radically altered the scenario, with clients now visiting websites of printing firms and placing online orders after picking designs and colour specifications from the comfort of their office. Hence, brochure printing has undergone ground-breaking alterations in recent times, and the prospects of further change seem to be endless.

About the Author:

No comments: