mences, he adds. "That enrolls the client in the idea very, very early on, and
they're less likely to come in with preconceived ideas." Connolly says. "They
almost feel ownership of the shared idea
we approach them with."
Connolly hasn't interfaced with onstaff designers at printers with which his
company has worked. Some have staff
designers, but he's never sought their
services. "But the print reps I work with
are creative problem solvers and do bring
solutions to the table," he says. "I don't
need to talk to a designer on staff at a
printer. But we do have to bounce ideas
off the printer through the rep, and also
get a sense of—if we're thinking outside
the box—how far out can we go?"
Early Communication
The customer service representative
serves a key communication role at
Trends Presentation Products of Washington, MO, which won a major award
in the 2013 BIA awards for its cherry starburst design, created for Cherry Coke.
"Communication is key," says sales
manager David Inman. "We're a custom
shop, doing these short-run, challenging
pieces. Our customer service rep, who
has an artistic background, works with
the customer directly. It makes it so
much easier when she can see the concept and bring it to life. She has to take if
from the customer and bring it to our inhouse engineering department, which in
turn takes that concept and brings it to
life…Right away, she can identify problem areas, related to the art the customer
is bringing in."
Early communication between designers and printers is especially crucial in
the book printing industry, where it's
essential to consider finishing and/or
binding right from the design stage.
Dennis DeHainaut, vice president of
sales at Nashville's Bindtech, Inc., one
of the country's largest privately-owned
trade bindery and book manufacturers,
says designers must communicate with
the customers as well as the finishing
company, so those stakeholders know
what the end product will be before any
design work is done.
"That way, we can provide the designer with specification sheets that will give
that designer the various layouts for the
various binding styles," he says.
Without communication, problems
can occur. The designer may lay out
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18
QUICK PRINTING / August 2013
a page without realizing this will be a
mechanically bound book, and "when
we're punching the text, we're actually
punching into the copy," DeHainaut says.
Or the designer may design a page
layout for a perfect bound book that has
a grind-off on the spine, and when the
book comes to Bindtech, the publisher
has decided this will be a Smyth-sewn
book, which has no grind-off.
When Bindtech is talking with a customer in the design stage, "we will get
the concept they are trying to achieve,
get what the book is about, and in many
cases we will pull books out of our own
library of books we've done in similar
fields. That will give that designer a
number of options to review."
The designer will also be encouraged to
visit Bindtech's website, which includes
many photographs of products the company has produced over the years. "That
would give them ideas of different styles
or looks they could achieve, in multicolor foil stamping, of embossing, of onlays
and more," he says.
The story's moral is that problems
must be caught before they're printed.
"We can be a second set of eyes for the
designer," DeHainaut says. ◗◗
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