Hirt Brothers Serve as Primary Example –Michelson

IT’S NOT SURPRISING that this issue’s cover, which features Primary Color co-owners and brothers Dan, Mike and Ron Hirt with company CEO Vincent Randazzo, doesn’t follow the standard executive portrait format so often depicted on Printing Impressions’ covers. After all, the Costa Mesa, CA-based printer isn’t your typical printing industry establishment. How many u.S.-based print shops can you name that have even opened a satellite printing operation in China—let alone one designed to output digitally printed signage and point-of-purchase materials for their multinational, high-end retail clients serving Asia Pacific? Likely, none.

Or the fact that, since the Great Recession—a period of retrenchment for many print providers—Primary Color has aggressively expanded its West Coast footprint, its headcount and its capital equipment arsenal, investing $12 million into the business during the past five years.

So, when Primary Color Director of Marketing Jeff Peterson approached our art director and myself about creating a cover image where non-toxic Holi Powder would be thrown onto the executive team to create a colorful and festive splash during the cover shoot by their in-house photographer, we couldn’t wait to see the end result, which was then retouched by Primary Color’s post-production staff.

It’s also fitting that a cutting-edge print provider like Primary Color, which has developed proprietary ink sets, proofs and screening to extend its digital and offset color gamut capabilities, would depict printer owners who don’t just have ink and toner flowing in their veins— they’re proudly covered in an artistic representation of it.