Making the Grade

If you had to distill the essence of your company into artwork that could fit on a dollar bill, what paper, techniques would you use?

If I had a dollar for every time the subject of variable data printing (VDP) came up over the last few weeks, I’d be a happy woman indeed. And never more so than at GRAPH EXPO, where vendors and PSPs alike were touting the possibilities of this powerful digital printing option. Still, I have yet to find a designer OUTSIDE GRAPH EXPO who knows what VDP is, and is eager to embrace it.

The landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years for sure, but visiting GRAPH EXPO must be every print-service provider’s dream come true: the latest and greatest printing technology as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately, if you were a designer, the chances of being able to have a chinwag with one of your peers were not good.

You can get your desired color of paper (and weight, for that matter) custom made by a paper mill. Just for you. Just the way you (or your client) likes it. In fact, most mills have always offered this as an option, yet not many printers or designers that I’ve met seem to know it.

Let’s take our collective heads out of the sand and face the fact that our work is never done. There are always print jobs to be saved and awarenesses to be raised. It’s our job to leave those creatives saying one thing, and one thing only: "Wow. And I mean, wow."

While everyone else still zigs, these artists zag. They are renegades who defy the "people-only-buy-based-on-price" theory and produce stunning, handmade wares. And their business cards zag right along with them.