by Milt Vine
Boy, did I just have an enlightening past two months. By the time you read this, most of you already will have seen my company's new logo, new signage and new marketing materials. This should help you relate to what I'm about to describe.
When I purchased Seattle Bindery about six years ago, I knew the company's mission and image would have to be updated to reflect my vision for the company. A year ago, I retained an independent marketing firm to help me review past marketing programs and evaluate their success. That study supported my view that some fundamental changes were in order, beginning with a complete revamp of our look and marketing message. I hired the firm to help me accomplish both.
We settled on a campaign consisting of a new corporate identity and stationery system, a capabilities brochure, six postcards to be mailed over the course of a year, six ads for targeted publications, new building and vehicle signage, updated website graphics, employee polo shirts and sweaters and tradeshow graphics for our TechGraphics booth. We had two months before the tradeshow for which everything had to be completed. Plenty of time . . . or so I thought.
The basics. A CPA by training and having worked many years with Fortune 500 companies, I was prepared for the financial investment. What I wasn't prepared for was the incredible amount of time and logistical coordination the multiple programs would demand.
After weeks of meetings and emails back and forth to convey my views on the company's direction, the marketing firm presented design concepts for a new logo. Our common goal was to portray accurately what we believe are Seattle Bindery's unique qualities: a decades-long history in the industry, superior craftsmanship, strong trade alliances and technological sophistication. While we wanted the logo to impart the stability that comes from years of experience and a financially secure position, it also had to relate our usage of state-of-the-art equipment and online communications capabilities.
As it turned out, that was the easy part.
Two weeks down and counting. Once the logo was established, the other projects went into full swing. We prepared a schedule for each project, working our way back from the deadlines presented us by the multiple vendors we would be dealing with. Only then did I begin to perceive the monumental task before us.
Vendors not only had their own inviolate deadlines, they also had individual requirements regarding artwork. Digital files were preferred by our printers; others wanted film or hard media.
Since original photography was to be used in the brochure, postcards and ads, photoshoots had be scheduled, proof sheets submitted for sign-off and prints made for scanning into electronic art files. Copy for each element was drafted, revised, re-revised and resubmitted for sign-offs. Initial black and white designs for each piece were presented, refined and re-refined. Finally, color choices had to be decided upon, using a range of proofing systems, from on-screen proofs via the Internet to Fieries and MatchPrints®. Precious weeks flew by at a dizzying rate as stress levels to meet our multiple deadlines mounted.
From the frying pan into the fire. By far, the most complex project was our brochure. A firm believer in the "too many cooks spoil the soup" adage, I had given free reign to the design team. The resulting design was dynamite, in both senses of the word: It was unique and compelling. It was also one of the most complex pieces to produce, demanding technical mastery from the printer, diecutter and bindery. Print registration had to be exact, die-lines had to be precise, and binding margins and cross-overs had to be accounted for if the piece was going work.
Because each stage was outsourced to a different vendor (Seattle Bindery was to perform the bindery portion), specifications had to be coordinated at the outset. In the shape of a half-oval, the brochure would be printed on an uncoated 80# stock and would be mechanically bound using Wire-O® on the top and plastic spiral binding on the bottom. There were three tabbed section dividers and, in the final section, there were three narrow inserts onto which sixteen different Mylar color samples were to be applied.
We worked with the printer to arrive at the most cost-effective way to lay out the pages on the parent sheet. However, we soon discovered from our diecutter that the proposed layout would be problematic for diecutting. The printer then had to reshuffle the layout and recalculate and resubmit the estimate. When he was re-estimating the job, the printer found out that the stock we'd specified was not currently available. Since the same stock was to be used for both the brochure and postcards, both of which were to printed by the same deadline, we all scurried to find a comparable sheet.
Down to the wire. Final art was prepped and rushed to the printer. When the first pages were off the press, dummies were prepared for the diecutter and Seattle Bindery so we would be ready to go into immediate production when the job arrived.
We made the deadline . . . just barely. With only two hours to spare, we had a new tradeshow booth, and new business cards and column reprints to hand out. We also had new stationery, new polo shirts for employees, and the first in a series of new ads that would soon appear in publications. And new signage was in progress.
It was an intense two months. The experience gave me a brand new respect for the extraordinary feats printers and others in our industry perform every day. It also gave me an eye-opening opportunity to witness the process from a client's perspective. Finally, it really brought home the need for preplanning and proactive communication, among manufacturing partners and between us and clients.
Milt Vine is president of Seattle Bindery, a post-production house specializing in custom index tabbing in addition to bindery services including plastic spiral, Wire-O® and perfect binding; folding; stitching; scoring; perforating and trimming services for the trade. You can reach Milt at 206/682-2558.
©1997, Seattle Bindery. Reprinted from Northwest Trader, June, 1997.