printing.com Southampton

Britannia Thia Menu

2011-08-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

BEFORE

AFTER

Since its official opening in 2008 The Britannia Thai Restaurant has received nothing but outstanding acclaim from all that visit, and has quickly established itself as the premier Thai restaurant in the New Forest and wider area, regularly attracting new clients from Bournemouth, and Southampton.

Britannia’s old menu (BEFORE - shown above) needed updating. We redesigned the menu, to give the restaurant a fresh new identity and made the menu more interesting to read (AFTER - shown above) . The menu was printed on our Luxury Showcard – so it has a heavy feel and a lovely matt laminated finish.

Forest Spice Takeaway Menu

2011-07-15T08:00:00.000+01:00

BEFORE

AFTER

Forest Spice is a friendly restaurant serving high quality traditional Indian and Bangladeshi Cuisine. You can either savour a meal in the contemporary restaurant, or order a takeaway to enjoy in the comfort of your home.

Forest Spice already had a menu (BEFORE – shown above) but it was very old fashioned and a bit boring – only printed in a single colour. We designed their logo to give them a stronger and more modern identity. The menu was also designed so that it was more compact (the old menu was 8 pages) and more interesting to read (AFTER – shown above). It was printed on our plastic fantastic menus with matt encapsulation – so if one of their customers spills something on the menu it can be wiped clean as good as new.

WE HAVE MOVED!!!

2011-07-14T11:52:00.000+01:00

We've moved...

to some fancy new offices!

Check out our new contact details below.

Address

Printing.com
Ocean Village Innovation Centre
Ocean Way
Southampton
Hampshire
SO14 3JZ

(For sat nav use SO14 3TJ)
T 023 8038 1966
F 023 8038 1967
E southampton@printing.com

If you're driving park in our car park for free.

Asha Take Away Menu

2011-06-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

BEFORE

AFTER

Asha is an Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant situation in Totton near Southampton. It serves great food at very reasonable prices – check out their chef’s specials on their website.

Asha already had a takeaway menu (shown above) but its style was a bit dated and because the text was quite small some customers had difficulty reading it. We redesigned the menu, up dating the brand, to give it a more modern feel (see above). We also printed the takeaway menu onto an 8 page A5 booklet which gave us more room to make the menu more readable.

Water Bottle Hangers

2011-06-27T14:31:00.000+01:00

We’ve just printed these bottle hangers for Jurys Inn. They use them to advertise the price of their mineral water.

This is just one example of the many things we can do with cut-out flyers. The bottle shown in the photograph isn’t one of Jurys Inn’s (it's only a small bottle, it's actually one of ours). So if you don't like the idea of a bottle hanger we can produce branded water bottles from 74p each.

NGS Latte Mugs

2011-04-15T08:00:00.003+01:00

Southampton based NGS supply winter maintenance vehicles, complete with skilled operatives, to undertake the pre-salting of highways, car parks, paths and roads. They also supply gritting and specialist salts.

Above are a couple of different mugs that we have produced for them - the one on the left is a latte mug and the one on the right is our standard budget mug. Mugs are a great giveaway as your customer will use them time and again and so will be reminded of your company.

Die Cut Run

2011-04-01T08:00:00.001+01:00

We batch print to get ecomonies of scale - see our last post.

The same process is used for die-cutting or shaping cards. The above image is of one our die cutting boards. Each thin black line is a blade which will either cut, perforate or crease a card when the board is pressed onto the run sheet. The red foam is just to protect the blades. Each die cut board is made for the specific run and then recycled as the exact board will never be used again.

The above process means we are able to offer die-cutting at very competative prices but we are limited to the complexity of what shapes are possible. However we can do shaped business cards, shaped flyers and shaped showcards - see some examples here. We can also do perforated cards.

Business Card Run Sheet

2011-03-18T08:00:00.004Z

We batch print in order to get economies of scale. So one business card wouldn't be printed on its own - it would be printed with 120 other cards - as the above run sheet shows. This is how we can achieve high quality business cards for such great prices.

Even so if you order 5-10 sets of business cards we will give you a 20% discount and increase the discount to 55% for more than 40 sets of cards.

NGS Fabric Bag

2011-03-04T08:00:00.002Z

Southampton based NGS supply winter maintenance vehicles, complete with skilled operatives, to undertake the pre-salting of highways, car parks, paths and roads. They also supply gritting and specialist salts.

Above is an example of one of our fabric bags that we did for NGS.

These are great to hand out to customers as they are ideal for taking to the shops, and will be used time and time again. So perfect for long term promotion of your brand.

We do a variety of other paper bags and plastics bags all customised for your company. Come and see some samples in our Southampton studio.

Business Card Portfolio

2011-02-18T09:23:00.001Z

We get quite a few customers who come to us after being a bit disappointed with business cards that they’ve ordered online.

Apart from the odd shape and flimsy stock the design is always a let down. And when you bump into someone with the same business card design it can be a bit embarrassing.

In our Southampton studio we have samples of all our business cards (for you to take away) and you can browse through our business card portfolio (shown above) to give you some idea of what is possible. We can design a business card bespoke to your business. So don’t settle for a “simple” business card – get one that’s actually going to help win you some business.

Folding Business Cards

2011-02-02T09:20:00.003Z

Some of our customers only want folding business cards – not the plain flat ones for them. You see folding business card have a few extra benefits:

You can get twice as much information on them for starters – that gives you space to add a map or some striking images.
They also stand up on their own. So if you’re inclined to leave your business around, e.g. a wedding photographer leaving them at hotels, or a caterer leaving them next to the food, they will actually get picked up.
They are interactive – people like opening them. So if you’ve got a special message or a killer offer put it on the flap of your business card and people will notice.

We have lots more examples of our folding business cards in our Southampton studio - come and have look.

Options Leaflet

2011-01-22T08:00:00.005Z

Options is a professionally accredited counselling service providing confidential, one to one counselling for individuals and workplace programmes for businesses in Southampton and Hampshire. Options, in partnership with the Primary Care Trust and Southampton City Council, offer free one to one alcohol counselling with experienced and skilled specialist.

Above is the 3 panel dl leaflet we designed for them that explains their alcohol counselling service. The design needed to be eye catching but also sensitive to what for some people is a very serious issue.

Instruct On Leaflet

2011-01-08T08:00:00.003Z

Instruct On is a new company (based in Southampton) that connects Driving Instructors with garages that are able to offer a courtesy cars with dual controls. In this way Driving Instructors can continue to work while their main car is off the road.

We helped Instruct On with their marketing, their logo design, brand and developing the copy for leaflets and covering letters.

Above is the 3 panel A5 leaflet that we designed. It explains the benefits to garages of joining Instruct on. When the leaflet was sent out Instruct On had a good response rate, which demonstrates why it is important to have well designed marketing material. The design demonstrates that Instruct on are a well organised professional company and the content explains the offer so well that garage owners could immediately see the benefits of the service.

A poorly designed cheap flyer just wouldn’t have had the same impact.

12 College Place Calendar

2010-12-17T08:44:00.004Z

Here's a Case Calendar we've just done for Southampton based 12 College Place.

They are the largest independent set of barristers in Central Southern England. Their underlying approach is to offer genuine expertise at each level of call, both individually and throughout each team.

The above calendar has various images of Southampton, Portsmouth, New Forest, Dorset and Hampshire.

Long after the rush of holiday gift-giving has passed, a Case Calendar will still be working hard for your business. Each card has a month to view and you can personalise each month with your choice of image, logo and contact details.

So your customers will constantly be reminded of you!

We also design other types of desk calendars, wallplanners, desk notepads, mobile phone holders, pocket calendars.

Christmas Cards In Southampton

2010-12-03T13:08:00.003Z

Here are some of the Christmas Cards we've recently printed for local Southampton companies.

It's some much better getting a real Christmas Card than an e-card. In a recent survey conducted by the University of Salford, 71% said that e-cards were impersonal.

Unlike many online Christmas Card printers you can completely customise our Christmas Cards - so we can print front and back and come up with a unique design for your company. Alternatively you can pick a image from our stock library for us to work with - Merry Christmas!

NGS Booklet

2010-11-26T08:44:00.001Z

Above is another example of our StarMarque finish. This is also known as gloss varnish, Spot UV or UV coating. It's just a way to really add impact to your marketing material and really make it stand out from the crowd.

Southampton based NGS supply winter maintenance vehicles, complete with skilled operatives, to undertake the pre-salting of highways, car parks, paths and roads. They also supply gritting and specialist salts.

We've added the concept of tyre tread marks on their marketing material to go along side the brand and this is printed in different ways. As shown above we've also used the StarMarque finish for the tread marks on the cover of the booklet and on the back of the business cards.

StarMarque Business Cards

2010-11-12T07:57:00.006Z

On the phone customers often ask what is StarMarque. This is the name we give to a gloss varnish that we can apply to our business cards, flyers, booklets and presentation folders. This type of finish is also known as Spot UV or UV Coating. It's basically a way to add an extra finish to your marketing material to make it really stand out. It can be applied in a variety of ways, just like a colour, and we've got tuns of examples in the studio to get your ideas flowing.

The above example is a business card we did for the award winning Southampton author Ali Sparkes. The design is the cover of her book "Dark Summer". We added a StarMarque finish to emphasise the rays of light emanating from the crystal. This added a real impact to Ali's card, but I'm not sure my two photos show how good it really looks!

Ali says "The cards cause murmurs of awe every time I hand one over!"

Premise Property Maintenance Mugs

2010-10-22T08:00:00.001+01:00

Premise Property Maintenance is a Southampton based company that provides a comprehensive range of domestic and commercial property maintenance services.

We designed and printed these mugs for them. Just one of the many promotion items that we can produce - see our website for more details. Mugs are a great give away to remind your customers about all the things you do while they are having a cuppa!

We can produce single colour standard mugs (as above) but also full colour mugs in a variety of different styles, e.g. latte mugs, pop into the studio to see some examples.

Baby Bond Stationery

2010-10-01T08:00:00.003+01:00

Your stationery is your image. Like it or not, people judge you. If your letterheads look sloppy, they’ll assume your work is too. If your logo looks dated, they’ll figure your business is out of touch. If your stationery is home-made, they’ll worry that your business is your hobby and you’re not serious. Badly designed stationery may cost you a lot more than well designed and well crafted stuff.

Above is some stationery we printed for the Southampton branch of Babybond. Babybond is the UK’s first ISO Quality Endorsed ultrasound provider. They nurture the parent-to-baby-bond via a unique and unrivalled combination of professional standards and ultrasound scan experience.

This stationery pack includes printed envelopes. These are great for getting your message across before the recipient has evened opened the envelope and can greatly enhance your branding.

Tenant Link Newsletter

2010-09-17T08:00:00.003+01:00

We print and design a few newsletters for Southampton based companies. Newsletters are a great way of regularly keeping in touch with your customers.

Above is a newsletter we designed and printed for Southampton based Tenant Link, who are an independent Letting Agency with 3 offices around Southampton.

Newsletters are generally formatted as a double sided A4 or a folded A3. However this newsletter has been designed on a roll folded A4 leaflet. This means the newsletter can either be mailed out directly as it is, i.e. just putting a stamp and address label onto the leaflet, or can be easily included with other correspondence in a DL envelope.

My Boat Share Leaflet

2010-09-03T08:00:00.002+01:00

At this time of year we do quite a bit of work of companies exhibiting at Southampton Boat Show. We can help them with flyers, exhibition stands, posters, invitations, business cards or as in the above example, leaflets.

We designed the above leaflet for Southampton based MyBoatShare. It offers membership sailing as an alternative to owning a boat. From just £299 a month you can have the use of a fleet of modern 31ft to 39ft sailing yachts for up to 49 full days per year.

This 3 panel A5 leaflet packs a lot of information into an easy handout - great for exhibitions like Southampton Boat Show. So if you need a handout but haven't got enough information for an 8 page booklet then a 6 page 3 panel A5 leaflet could be the answer.

Pure Home Technology Stationery

2010-08-20T08:00:00.002+01:00

The importance of stationery design is often overlooked. Customers often ask for something "simple" without really thinking about how the stationery is to be used. For example, if you're sending a tender to a large company, along with other potential suppliers, then it's vital that your stationery not only looks professional but also stands out from the crowd.

One of the ways to make your stationery grab attention is to use both sides. Above is some double sided stationery we designed for Winchester based company Pure Home Technology. They design and install home cinema, multi-room audio video and smarthome technology.

So if you're thinking about getting some business stationery then give us a call or visit the Southampton design studio to see some of our inspirational designs. What's more if you order any size, style or quantity of Letterheads and Compliment Slips, then add any number of Business Cards (any size, style or quantity) we take 20% off the total print price.

Shaped Flyers/ Cut-Out Flyers

2010-08-06T08:15:00.001+01:00

With any flyer the first thing you need to do is grab the attention of your target audience. One very effective way to do this is to add a shape!

Here are a couple of recent examples - a key shaped flyer for the Winchester lock smith Winlocks and a van shaped flyer for Southampton property maintenance company Appsolute Solutions Limited. Bespoke cut-out shapes are normally an expensive addition to your marketing campaign. Not any more. With our revolutionary techniques, you'll pay a fraction of the usual costs and make your marketing stand out from the clutter.

So what shape could you use? Estate Agent? How about a house-shaped flyer? Denist? When did you last see a tooth-shaped flyer?

Winchester Sports & Spine Voucher

2010-07-24T08:12:00.001+01:00

Winchester Sports & Spine use a variety of techniques to treat a wide range of conditions such as back pain and sports injuries. They have recently moved and wanted to send a letter to all their clients informing them of the move plus an incentive to visit the new premises.

So we designed the above voucher letterhead. This is a letter with a perforated tear off voucher at the bottom. Vouchers are a great way to get new customers to try out your service or to reward existing customers for their loyalty. We have a variety of different products that can incorporate vouchers such as voucher cards, perforated flyers etc. So if you are thinking of creating and incentive for new and old customers then let us show you what we can do.

Wastemasters Southampton Flyer

2010-07-08T15:39:00.000+01:00

Above is an example of how we turned a customer’s ideas into an actual piece marketing material that can be used to professionally promote a business.

Wastemasters (Southern) Ltd, based in Fareham – Hampshire, provide tipper and grabber lorry services to the building and construction industry.

Like many of our customers Wastemasters had a great idea for promoting their business. But knew if they tried to produce their own flyers they would come across as amateurish, which is not a great way to build confidence when selling your services to prospective customers. However by using our Graphic Design service they have been able to win new business with this well designed flyer.

Southampton Restaurant Business Card

2010-06-17T08:00:00.002+01:00

We are often asked for a "simple" business card. I think what most business owners want is a business card that not only gives propective customers their contact details but a business card that also helps sell the business. Afterall is you just want to pass on contact details why not use a bit of paper?

The above images show the initial brief given to us by our customer (My Dreams in Southampton) on the left and the final design and printed business card on the right. The cardboard effect is printed onto the business card - click on the image to see this better. The business card on the right is far more interesting than a bit of paper and importantly through its design gives prospective customer confidence in the business.

Southampton Restuarant Menu

2010-06-03T08:00:00.008+01:00

My Dreams is a new restaurant on Shirely High Street near Southampton.

The owners wanted a menu (or leaflet) that reflected the style of their restuarant and had come up with some ideas - see the images on the left. After a consultation we thought we could come up with something much more creative that would actually sell the restaurants to customers. The actual printed menu is on the right. Note on the bottom right menu the creases are printed onto the menu - click on the image to get a better view.

The owners were delighted with the finished menu that we designed and printed and agree that if two menus were posted through their letterbox they would definately pick the resturant with the menu on the right.

Eurotank Southampton Pad

2010-05-14T08:00:00.006+01:00

We print a variety of different kinds of pads including NCR pads, sticky note pads, desk pads and as above ordinary note pads. These were printed for Eurotank Enviromental - based in Southampton. Eurotank are specialist contractor consultants to the petroleum industry.

As a rug-rat, if you didn't get enough attention you just SCREAMED (maybe until you threw up your milk). No-one likes to get ignored, especially if it's your customers who are doing the ignoring. With Notepads you get to deliver them as presents to your customers, safe in the knowledge that every time they scribble something down, it's your business that SCREAMS at them.

Steamy Windows Business Cards

2010-05-08T14:09:00.006+01:00

Steamy Windows, based in Romsey near Southampton, replaces damaged doubled glazed units. If double glazed units loose their seal, water gets in and they become "steamed up" - hence the company name. Steamy Windows can also fix other related problems with windows and doors - see the business card.

We designed and printed these business cards for them. This is a well designed business card, over and above a plain business card, for 3 important reasons :

1. It includes confidence building "trade" logos - namely "Buy with Confidence" and "Check a trade". These 3rd party organisations vouch for the credibilty and reputation of member business - vitally important for referrals.

2. The card includes a detailed list of what services are offered. This is also important when getting business via referral to make sure the recipient of the card knows exactly what the business does.

3. The card is good quality, well designed and has an eye catching spot UV finish on the back that looks like steam! The recipient of this business card will be impressed and therefore think better of the company that it advertises. Again vital for referrals.

Remember you can get referrals from your contacts and customers passing on your business card to people you haven't met. Which is why a business card is so important as it is effectively advertising your business.

Printed Envelope

2010-04-16T20:00:00.003+01:00

We produced these printed envelopes for RCCG Holy Ghost Zone Southampton.

We print a range of overprinted envelopes in 2 or full colour on 90gsm and 120gsm - see our website for prices. Printed envelopes are a great way to brand company stationery, the receiver will know who its from before opening the envelope, or for solving administration problems such as in the above example. Here the envelope is used as a form to collect information about church donors but we have also produced similar printed envelopes for such things as collating car service documentation for a garage and account information for a factory.

Natural Beauty A4 Folded Leaflet

2010-04-02T06:24:00.000+01:00

Natural Beauty, based in West Wellow near Southampton, offers beauty treatments using the ultimate in skincare products. They offer facials, massages, waxing and manicures for discerning clients.

The above leaflet was initially drafted by the client using MS Publisher. We quite often get artwork given to us in MS Publisher and MS Word. Neither of these products are great for producing print standard artwork - they just don't have the features to make the fine adjustments needed.

However we can finish off artwork for our clients and quickly turn it into something that looks professional. In the above example we added some stock photography, designed a flowery swirl to add interest, formatted the text for the roll fold, made all the type consistent and allowed for the artwork to bleed off the page, e.g. so there was not gap at the page edge.

Power & Sail Leaflet

2010-03-19T08:00:00.003Z

Power & Sail provide marine electrical design, installations, sales and repair for the sports, leisure and charter boat sectors that includes motorboats, powerboats, ribs, fishing vessels and racing/ cruising yachts. They are based in Lymington and Southampton but operate across the south coast.

It goes without saying that boats don’t come cheap and so boat owners are very discerning when it comes to selecting a company to handle their maintenance. That’s why it was vitally important to Power & Sail that their marketing material reflected the high quality, premium service that they offer.

For the above leaflet Power & Sail provided the text, images and logo - then following their brief we produced the leaflet design.

It’s immediately obvious that this leaflet has been professionally designed. Therefore anyone picking up this leaflet will feel reassured that they are dealing with a professional company. The images on the front grab attention while the reverse provides the necessary details.

ETC Folded Leaflet

2010-03-05T08:00:00.003Z

ETC Training Centre is specifically designed for committed football players who want to develop to make the step up from grassroots football.

Based in Southampton, they bridge the gap between professional clubs and grassroots football by offering talented players opportunities to continue their football development through professional coaching and competition matches.

We designed and printed this A4 half fold leaflet for them. They supplied the text and images and we developed the concept and design. Having a professionally designed folded leaflet such as this makes it much easier for ETC to sells their services to prospected customers – in this case talented footballers. The design will immediately catch the attention of people interested in football and then allow them to easily digest all the information. Including a high profile testimonial from Lukas Jutkiewicz, a professional Everton player.

Statham Business Stationery

2010-02-19T08:00:00.006Z

We designed the above corporate identity and business stationery for Statham Property Maintenance who are based in Southampton.

It’s easy to forget how important business stationery is for a company. If you are trying to win a new contract by writing to the prospective customer on what is obviously a home produced letterhead it won’t inspire their confidence. In trying to save a few quid in printing costs you could loose thousands of pounds worth of business. Business stationery typically consists of letterheads, compliment slips, business cards and sometimes continuation sheets.

How can you tell the above stationery hasn’t been produced at home?

The company has a corporate identity (see below)
It’s obvious some thought has gone into the design of the letterhead and business card
Good quality paper has been used for the letterheads and compliment slips
Heavier card has been used for the business card
It’s well printed – lithographically as apposed to inkjet or laserjet (you can tell the difference)

The corporate identity is the combination of the text, graphics and colours used. You know how you would like your business to be perceived but the art is to make sure your marketing material conveys this consistently. A corporate identity helps customers familiarise themselves with your brand and so instantly recognise that the message is from you.

The clever idea in the above logo is that the different elements, i.e. the logo and icons, can be used in different way across a range of marketing material.

Digital Booklet

2010-02-05T08:00:00.004Z

We print a range of high quality lithographically printed booklets (or magazines) with many different specifications, e.g. size, stock weight, finish, covers etc. However for runs of less than 500 we also produce simple digitally printed booklets too. Printing digitally doesn't offer the same quality finish or variety but if you only need a few and are on a tight budget then they are a good solution.

Above is an example of a 12 printed page (12pp) A5 digital booklet we did for the New Naturalist. Collins New Naturalist series is the longest-running and arguably the most influential natural history book series in the world with over 100 volumes published in over 60 years.

So if you need a booklet printed the chances are we have a product to suit. Prices of our booklets start from £75 for 50 - see our website.

Parkers NCR Pad

2010-01-23T08:00:00.006Z

We offer such of wide range of products that it’s sometimes easy to overlook the more mundane but important products like NCR Pads, or as they are variously called duplicate sheets, copy pads, carbonless forms, order forms etc.

Above is an example of an NCR Pad we did for Parkers. Established in Totton, near Southampton, for over 10 years, Parkers have built an enviable reputation for matching quality tenants to quality properties.

We can design the forms to meet your requirement, from 2 to 4 part, including adding perforations, numbering and printing on both sides - customers often add their terms and conditions on the back of the forms. We can produce the forms as loose sets, pads or booklets in the usual sizes of DL (1/3 A4), A6, A5, A4 and A3. In the studio we’ve got samples and examples to help and inspire you for what is possible.

Ice Scraper

2010-01-08T08:00:00.002Z

Given the current weather conditions I couldn't help posting these ice scrapers that we printed for NGS.

As previously mentioned NGS supply winter maintenance vehicles, complete with skilled operatives, to undertake the pre-salting of highways, car parks, paths and roads.

Just think how many of NGS's customers are using these at the moment and so are constantly being reminded of them. That's why promotional items like this are such a great way to promote your business. Of course as well as ice scrapers we do pens, mugs, pads, rulers, wine, key rings etc. have a look at our website for prices.

Fresh Therapies Voucher Card

2009-12-18T09:00:00.006Z

We designed and printed these voucher cards for Southampton based Fresh Therapies.

Fresh Therapies operate from a beautiful, relaxing, and well equipped studio in North Baddesley. They offer their clients the chance to fully escape the stresses and strains of everyday life, and to invest a little time indulging themselves, their bodies and minds for a better well being!

Voucher cards are a silk greetings card but with an extra tear-off voucher panel. They can be used as gift certificates, as in this example, or as a card with a thoughtful gift or special offer, saving or discount.

So if you’ve got a service which you can give as a gift, like Fresh Therapies, then why not try selling some voucher cards.

NGS Sticky Notes

2009-12-04T09:28:00.001Z

We designed and printed these sticky notes for NGS.

NGS supply winter maintenance vehicles, complete with skilled operatives, to undertake the pre-salting of highways, car parks, paths and roads. NGS customers are typically local authorities, NHS Hospital Trusts or companies with large sites.

Sticky notes are a great way to subtly promote your business. They’re useful so people hang onto them and every time they’re used they gently give reminder of your businesses services. And next time they need that service – who are they going to call? They tend to work best for business to business, e.g. solicitors, accountants, courier firms etc.

Choose from a range of sizes and colours – prices start from 42p each.

Reflo Socks Point of Sale

2009-11-20T08:00:00.001Z

We've produced these point of point of sale tent cards for Reflotherapies, based in Marchwood near Southamton, who sell reflosocks.

Reflosocks have unique patented ridges which stimulate specific reflexology zones on the bottom of the feet as you walk or stand. Wearing the socks offers drug free pain relief for the back and neck.

Tent cards are a cost effective way to create some point of sale information as in this example. And as they are printed both sides you can also have two different designs within the same card.

Tent cards can also be used to promote your business on a customer's desk. They are excellent for calendars, essential phone numbers, crucial advice and all the amazing ideas that you can think of.

Logo Design Southampton

2009-11-06T17:05:00.002Z

We help companies with their branding. Be it an established business or a brand new start up we have the experience as well as some trusted tools and techniques to help our customers.

Here is an example of a logo we designed as part of a branding process. The first image shows the initial idea our customer had for his company Oyo Mesi Productions.
Oyo was a 15th Century West African Empire and the Mesi were it’s elected councillors.
We developed different concepts for the logo – using different typefaces, colours etc. The second image shows the preferred concept. The earpieces of the headphones make the two Os and the wire the Y.

However as part of the development we questioned the company name. This ultimately led to the renaming of the company to Fitilla Productions – fitilla means lamp.

The third image shows the revised logo.

The last image shows the business card design and how we’ve reinforced the “brand” by using the headphones independently of the company name – this is a spot uv finish.

Intech Fat Folder

2009-10-23T08:00:00.001+01:00

If you need to hand out lots of bumpf, thick brochures, CDs, samples and the like then Fat Folders could be the answer.

Above is an example of one we designed and printed for INTECH in Winchester. INTECT is a great hands-on interactive science and technology centre - my kids love it, the planetarium is amazing. INTECH is also an educational resource that supports learning in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). They needed a folder for the information packs that they hand out to teachers.

We do a range of different presentation folders to suit different budgets. From just 23p each, presentation folders can seriously improve how professionally you business is percieved. Not sure if they will work for your business - then give us a call.

HantsWight Wallplanner

2009-10-09T17:53:00.001+01:00

This is a Super A1 Wallplanner we've just done for HantsWight Searches.

Based in Portsmouth, they provide conveyancing searches for property transactions in Hampshire, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight. Through their membership of the 2 professional bodies for the industry they can offer a national coverage.

Wallplanners are a great to give to your customers. They're really useful and have a high percieved value. In this example we've added HantsWights logo and contacts details at the top, matched the colour scheme to the brand and even added some special dates. Now every time one of HantsWights customers looks up they know who to call if they need a property search.

You can have a 1000 A2 Wallplanners from 52p each - so you don't need to make many sales (as a result of the wallplanner) before you get your money back.

We tend to design wallplanners for customer who sell "business to business", whose recipients are likely to put them on their office walls for important dates, meetings and appointments. For example, courier companies, stationery suppliers, trade suppliers etc. We also do them for customers who sell "business to consumer", for example restaurants and take-aways, tradespeople, professional services, hair/beauty salons and many more.

Give us a call if you think this could be a cost effective way of getting some more business in 2010.

Hartley Resourcing Greetings Card

2009-09-25T08:00:00.001+01:00

This is a greetings card we did for Hartley Resourcing in Southampton.

Hartley Resourcing is setting new standards in the local recruitment market by taking a simple, honest, customer focused approach for their candidates and clients. They have a very experienced and hard working team who get results – you can read the testimonials on their website.

Hartley Resourcing sends this card to congratulate candidates on their new job. This is a nice touch, as everyone loves to receive cards and if it’s a good one like this, it will almost certainly be displayed on the new desk. It’s also a gentle reminder of the good work done by Hartley Resourcing so next time there is a recruitment requirement they will be consulted first.

Remember a customer is for life, not just for Christmas, so why not love them all year round? Make a note of dates that are important to them (like a new employee) and send them a handwritten greetings card. Major brownie points – TRUST US.

Peq Lab Catalogue

2009-09-11T08:00:00.002+01:00

We produced this marvellous catalogue for PEQLAB.

PEQLAB provides excellent, good value products, supported by experienced laboratory staff, to molecular and cell biology laboratories. They are based in Fareham near Southampton.

This is a great example of a 1/3 A4 booklet with 170gsm silk inners and a 250gsm matt laminated cover. PEQLAB send it out to new customers to show them the range of products that they offer. PEQLAB have a comprehensive website but the booklet is a nice format for customers to browse and tempt them to visit the website to view demonstrations of the products. All this plus an attractive 20% off voucher should help persuade customers to place some orders.

We do a range of booklets in all different shapes and sizes from A6 to A4, with thick covers which we can die-cut or add spot UV. We have lots of examples in the studio.

Jury's Inn Southampton Leaflet

2009-08-28T09:58:00.005+01:00

We designed and printed this 2 panel DL leaflet for Jurys Inn in Southampton.

They wanted a leaflet (and some posters) to promote their cruise packages. Jurys Inn offer special pre and post cruise accommodation as well as day guest packages for people to relax before embarking. The packages include transfers between Southampton Airport and the cruise terminals as well as car parking.

We worked with Jurys Inn to design the leaflet and to make sure it fitted in with their corporate branding. It was printed on 150gsm gloss paper.

Leaflets folded down to DL size, like in this example, are so versatile. They can convey a lot of information but are also easy to hand out, leave in leaflet dispensers or use in a direct mail campaign. They look great in glorious full colour and are a very cost effective way of getting your message out.

John Lewis Booklet

2009-08-14T20:56:00.010+01:00

We designed and printed this 12 page booklet for John Lewis in Southampton.

They were launching a Leadership Team Development Programme and needed a booklet to inform it's members about the programme and events. Working with John Lewis we developed the "climbing" concept and designed the layout of the whole booklet. The booklet was printed with 170gsm silk inner and a 250gsm Matt Laminated cover.

We design and print a variety of booklets for our clients. They are a great way to impart large amounts of information in a structured way, as this example demonstrates. Other customers use them as catalogues, magazines or swanky brochures - they can't fail to impress. There are lots of different options for different paper stocks for the inners and cover - we can even add business card slots or perforated pages!

Designing a booklet takes a bit of planning so if you are thinking of doing one gives us a call so we can advise you right from the start.

Sherlock Boswell Website Gallery

2009-07-31T08:00:00.015+01:00

Sherlock Boswell Architecture is a highly successful and well respected practice combining the skills of Chartered Architects and Chartered Building Surveyors. One of their houses was a finalist in this years Grand Design Awards.

The brief was to create a site that could display the numerous images that had been collected for the various projects that they had worked on. The design allows you to easily navigate to a project page where you can click on an image that then displays a pop up gallery. This enables the visitor to view the full size images for the various projects.

RBS Banner Stands

2009-07-17T08:00:00.002+01:00

We recently design and printed these pull up banners for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in Southampton. They were to promote an internal sales initiative to encourage staff to come up with ideas. Each idea was to be assessed by a panel of 5 experts - rather like a popular BBC TV programme.

We developed the logo, concept and design of the banner.

We produce a range of posters, banners and exhibition stands. Come and see some samples in the store.

Hendy Parts Promotion

2009-07-03T20:40:00.011+01:00

We design and print Hendy Parts’ regular offers leaflet – see above.

Hendy Parts, based in Hedge End near Southampton, is the premier supplier for vehicle parts and accessories in the South and South West. They supply parts for a range of vehicles including Ford, Iveco, Mazda, Kia and Honda. Through their buying power they are able to offer their trade customers some great special offers.

This is a great way to keep in touch with your customers. Even if they’re not interested in that month’s special offer they get a reminder of what else you can do for them.

We designed this leaflet as a generic template. So as offers and products change we just replace those sections of the leaflet. This not only saves time and money but also makes it easier for customers to navigate the promotions.

Labels & Typography - Noma

2009-06-19T08:37:00.007+01:00

Graphic Design isn't always about making things look nice, but it is always about good design. In the above example the design was about being able to convey a lot of information in a small space.

Noma (www.complementary-medicine.com) offers a professional service to qualified practitioners of complementary medicine. One of the products that they import has all the important medical information only written in German. So Noma had to replace the German with English.

We designed and printed these labels on a roll for them. We do a large variety of labels and stickers, including car window stickers, CD/DVD labels, sheets of labels etc.

The difficulty with this job was being able to squeeze all the information into a tight space. This is where you need a professional design package. MS Word only has limited functionality for tweaking the letter/line spacing, point size and kerning etc. which is what you need to be able to do!

We’ve taken a 12 page MS Word contract and squeezed it down to 4 pages while still keeping it readable. To do that you need to be good at using Adobe Indesign.

New Naturalist Newsletter

2009-06-05T20:41:00.003+01:00

Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your subscribers - these may be your customers or just potentially interested parties. Above is quite a comprehensive one we've printed for "The New Naturalist" (www.thenewnaturalistcollectorsclub.co.uk)

This is a great example of a newsletter because:

the target market, i.e. the subscriber who will read it, has been well defined
it's published regularly - quarterly in this case
it provides useful information for the subscriber
it reminds subscribers about services/products on offer
the design has been well thought out and excuted.

Sometime customers come to us and they've only really got the content for the first issue. They have so much news to tell their customers and think a newsletter is the answer. A newsletter is a real commitment and so we recommend making sure you have enough news through out the year to justify one - otherwise it might be better do something else, e.g. a one-off brochure.

However if you can commit to publishing a regular newsletter then it can be very effective. If the content is useful, subscribers will pass it on to people they know and so do your markting for you. A newsletter is a good way to demonstrate that you really are an expert in your field - not just because it says so on your website. Keeping your organisation's name fresh in subsribers minds means that when they do need your service they are likely to think of you first.

Charity Calendar - Winchester Travel Health

2009-05-22T08:39:00.010+01:00

This is a 2010 calendar that we've designed and printed for Winchester Travel Health (www.winchestertravelhealth.co.uk). They are a travel clinic, based in Winchester, that offers advice on the best way to travel safely and healthily. As well as offering advice they carry out vaccinations, provide health screenings and travel health products.

Winchester Travel Health supports the Grace and Hope Foundation which is a charity that funds an orphanage in Ghana. Joanna Lowry, of Winchester Travel Health, thought it would be a good idea to create a calendar made from pictures that her customers have sent to her whilst on their travels. The idea is to sell the calendar and give the profits the foundation.

We created the calendar by screening all the photos to find ones that were of a sufficient quality to be used. We then put together all the artwork and after several drafts, trying out different calendar styles, printed this amazing calendar.

Now Joanna is busy selling them!

Design Awards

2009-05-08T08:40:00.007+01:00

Every year printing.com hold a design competition amongst the c.280 outlets. There are 5 different categories that are judged: Functional (e.g. calendars), Identity (logos and branding), Hand Out (e.g. flyers), Prestige (high value items e.g. booklets) and Websites.

Under the Identity category Southampton's designer Dan Ebbrell was the runner up. Dan designed the corporate id for Innovative Technology Solutions (www.itechsol.co.uk). The judges said "The icons visually explain what the company does in a clean, clear and easy to read manner". So if you need a logo designed come and see Dan - a "Highly Commended" designer.

Hoody Top

2009-05-01T06:56:00.001+01:00

Horizons is an outdoor pursuits and socialising club offering a wide range of activities each week to people across Hampshire, Wiltshire and Berkshire (www.horizonspursuits.co.uk).

We’ve just produced these hooded tops for them. The challenge was to take the logo that we designed for them a while ago and turn it into a decent stitch pattern. This involves converting all the colours used into suitable thread colours, making sure that the lettering works (e.g. you can’t have big gaps) and actually designing how the stitches will create the logo. Also because the logo was going on the reverse of the top it needed to be large. This resulted in a stitch pattern that consisted of 50,000 stitches. Of course these are sewn but machine, not my aunt Ethel, but is still difficult to produce large, complex stitch patterns such as this. However the results were great as you can see.

Coffee Republic Menu

2009-04-17T15:38:00.002+01:00

We design and print menus for restaurants, takeaways, juice bars etc. Here's a menu we've done for Coffee Republic in Southampton (www.coffeerepublic.co.uk).

We had to recreate the branding used by the franchisor for the Southampton store. Many franchise businesses have artwork and even print provided centrally by the franchisor.

However often it's easier and cheaper for us to produce local campaigns for the franchisee. We normally have to get any artwork we produce approved by the franchisor as we did in this Coffee Republic menu.

Hanger Farm Ticket Holder

2009-04-03T16:32:00.002+01:00

This is a “ticket” holder we did for Hanger Farm Arts Centre. Hanger Farm is part of Totton Colleger (www.totton.ac.uk/hangerfarm).

In this case it was theatre tickets were for the wonderful productions that they put on. It’s basically a folded leaflet, in this case on uncoated stock, which enables tickets to be slotted in. It’s a nice way of presenting tickets to customers and using holder to promote other things at the same time.Of course the “tickets” don’t have to be tickets. They can be receipts, invitations, vouchers or any piece of paper that you want to present to a customer.

Southampton Hospital Charity Leaflet

2009-03-20T17:16:00.002Z

Here is a 3 Panel A5 Folded Leaflet on 100gsm silk that we did for Southampton Hospital Charity’s Red & White Appeal. Making sure the end product is fit for purpose is something we always advise on. So in this case it was essential that people could fill in the detailed donation form on the end panel. We also added a dotted line and a pair of scissors so that it was clear to the user that the end panel needed to be separated.

The aim of the Red & White Appeal is to raise £2.2 million for a transplant treatment centre for patients with leukaemia and other blood disorders. The Appeal is named 'Red and White' in recognition of the particular importance of red and white blood cells for haematology patients.

We often get ask to support various charities or discount jobs if they are for a charitable event. Obviously we can’t support every charity but there are a few, including Southampton Hospital Charity, that we support.

Folded A4 Leaflet

2009-03-06T10:03:00.000Z

We designed and printed this gorgeous folded silk leaflet for Julian Porter Photography (http://www.julianporter.com/). The leaflet introduced their "So Sensual" boudoir photography service. Julian provided us with some images and a brief and we pull together the artwork.

Parker's Key Ring

2009-02-21T17:33:00.000Z

Here's an example of a key ring we did for Parkers Letting Agency (http://www.parkerslettings.com/).

Promotional items can be an effective and subtle way to promote your business. This key ring, for example, is useful as it obviously holds keys but also has the contact details of the letting agent so the tenant or landlord know who to call. That means they will hang onto it and promote your business every time they get their keys out!

Other promotional items such as pens, sticky notes, pads etc. work in a similar way.

City Limits Flyer

2009-02-07T17:45:00.003Z

People often come to us with a designed leaflet and ask us to print it for them. We often oblige but sometimes they want us to jazz up the leaflet and make it a bit more interesting.

Here is an example of a leaflet we did for City Limit’s Employment. On the top left you can see the original design. We took this as the basis for a brief and redesigned the leaflet. We added a map, as it was important people knew where the venue was, and tried to make it appealing to its target audience, i.e. young people.

City Limit’s Employment are part of Southampton Council and are an employment agency that offers help, advice and support to people who have a disability or are disadvantaged. They are a free service and help people to find paid and voluntary work.

Voucher Cards

2009-01-30T09:57:00.003Z

We printed this excellent Voucher Card for Glamorous Amorous (http://www.glamorousamorous.com/). It's a greetings card but with a tear off voucher inside. In this case the voucher offered 10% off their order and a free gift box plus free delivery as an incentive to get customers to order for Valentines Day. The voucher can be fully customised or even designed with a space to add specific offers for customers.

Pop up displays

2009-01-09T21:21:00.000Z

We do a variety of products for companies exhibiting, including posters, banner stands, foamex boards, light boxes as well as all the requisite flyers, leaflets and business cards.

Here is a pop up display and case we produced for Magic Studio (www.magicstudio.com).

Leaflet Timetable

2009-01-07T16:14:00.003Z

Here is an A4 Roll Fold Leaflet we’ve done for Navigate Learning (http://www.navigatelearning.com/).

We followed our clients brief to produce the leaflet for their spring timetable. This leaflet is a good example of how by using careful design a lot of information (in this case a timetable) can be crammed into a small space. The supplied MS Word document timetable ran to 3 pages and was difficult to read. Here by careful use of typeface, graphic elements and colour we managed to fit it onto 2 sides of A4 while still making it easy to read and in keeping with their branding.

Firvale Carrier Bag

2009-01-02T16:07:00.001Z

This is an example of a carrier bag we produced for Firvale Clinic.

Bags are an effective way of promoting a business. As well as being useful as a bag for your products - customers tend to hang on to them and so they literally become a walking advert for your business.

This bag is made from biodegradable plastic but we do a variety of other paper and fabric bags.