n assume there has been some inflation). And, we’ll make this a two-color printing job. On a small printing press, an ink reservoir will be filled with the first color, the first “pass” on the paper will be run, and then the same thing will happen again with the next color and a second pass of the paper through the printing press. If you have ever painted anything with a two-color design such as walls with a different trim color, perhaps around your house, you will immediately recognize what I mean when I say that cleaning up the mess in between can be a chore if you are using somThrough former business and employment roles, I have previously serviced numerous marketing communications projects. My own personal path influenced my approach to design and execution, and I learned several lessons along the way which you will probably find valuable. Some of these lessons were acquired through business startup experiences that entailed bootstrapping as an entrepreneur; others were from servicing clients. There is little incentive for anybody in the business to tell you how to save big money, and the tips that I plan to share with you do make a few jobs less profitable for certain producers. On the other hand, if you use this knowledge, they will R-E-S-P-E-C-T you!

Rule-of-Thumb: The More You Print, the Lower the Cost

Let’s start with an easy concept: the more copies of an item that you print, the cheaper each individual copy becomes (rule-of-thumb, but of course there are exceptions). I’ll use an extreme example, just to help you get your critical thinking cap on and creative juices flowing. Suppose that you hire a designer to create some business identity basics for your new company, e.g., a logo and some basic stationery items. Within the trade, there are guidebooks listing the going rates for these services among professional firms and designers. However, you will find wide variation these days. This is because a desktop computer, the right software, and enough talent can enable a designer who is less established, cheaper, and yet just as capable quality-wise to do a bang-up job for a client.

If you care to check out the story of the famous Nike “SWOOSH” logo on the company’s Web site, it serves as an example of what I mean by “bang-up job” and “cheaper.” Its designer, Caroline Davidson, was a student who met Nike’s founder, Phil Knight, while he was teaching an accounting class at Portland State University. When she delivered the logo in 1971, she was paid $35.00. To Phil Knight’s credit, after Nike took off, he hired Caroline for many more projects and eventually rewarded her with an undisclosed amount of stock in the company as well as other forms of praise and acknowledgement. (I admire an entrepreneur or anyone who is loyal; when I read this part of the story I was really impressed.)

We’ll use a $75.00 amount for a logo in this example (we can assume there has been some inflation). And, we’ll make this a two-color printing job. On a small printing press, an ink reservoir will be filled with the first color, the first “pass” on the paper will be run, and then the same thing will happen again with the next color and a second pass of the paper through the printing press. If you have ever painted anything with a two-color design such as walls with a different trim color, perhaps around your house, you will immediately recognize what I mean when I say that cleaning up the mess in between can be a chore if you are using some

table for certain producers. On the other hand, if you use this knowledge, they will R-E-S-P-E-C-T you!

Rule-of-Thumb: The More You Print, the Lower the Cost

Let’s start with an easy concept: the more copies of an item that you print, the cheaper each individual copy becomes (rule-of-thumb, but of course there are exceptions). I’ll use an extreme example, just to help you get your critical thinking cap on and creative juices flowing. Suppose that you hire a designer to create some business identity basics for your new company, e.g., a logo and some basic stationery items. Within the trade, there are guidebooks listing the going rates for these services among professional firms and designers. However, you will find wide variation these days. This is because a desktop computer, the right software, and enough talent can enable a designer who is less established, cheaper, and yet just as capable quality-wise to do a bang-up job for a client.

If you care to check out the story of the famous Nike “SWOOSH” logo on the company’s Web site, it serves as an example of what I mean by “bang-up job” and “cheaper.” Its designer, Caroline Davidson, was a student who met Nike’s founder, Phil Knight, while he was teaching an accounting class at Portland State University. When she delivered the logo in 1971, she was paid $35.00. To Phil Knight’s credit, after Nike took off, he hired Caroline for many more projects and eventually rewarded her with an undisclosed amount of stock in the company as well as other forms of praise and acknowledgement. (I admire an entrepreneur or anyone who is loyal; when I read this part of the story I was really impressed.)

We’ll use a $75.00 amount for a logo in this example (we can assume there has been some inflation). And, we’ll make this a two-color printing job. On a small printing press, an ink reservoir will be filled with the first color, the first “pass” on the paper will be run, and then the same thing will happen again with the next color and a second pass of the paper through the printing press. If you have ever painted anything with a two-color design such as walls with a different trim color, perhaps around your house, you will immediately recognize what I mean when I say that cleaning up the mess in between can be a chore if you are using som

stationery items. Within the trade, there are guidebooks listing the going rates for these services among professional firms and designers. However, you will find wide variation these days. This is because a desktop computer, the right software, and enough talent can enable a designer who is less established, cheaper, and yet just as capable quality-wise to do a bang-up job for a client.

If you care to check out the story of the famous Nike “SWOOSH” logo on the company’s Web site, it serves as an example of what I mean by “bang-up job” and “cheaper.” Its designer, Caroline Davidson, was a student who met Nike’s founder, Phil Knight, while he was teaching an accounting class at Portland State University. When she delivered the logo in 1971, she was paid $35.00. To Phil Knight’s credit, after Nike took off, he hired Caroline for many more projects and eventually rewarded her with an undisclosed amount of stock in the company as well as other forms of praise and acknowledgement. (I admire an entrepreneur or anyone who is loyal; when I read this part of the story I was really impressed.)

We’ll use a $75.00 amount for a logo in this example (we can assume there has been some inflation). And, we’ll make this a two-color printing job. On a small printing press, an ink reservoir will be filled with the first color, the first “pass” on the paper will be run, and then the same thing will happen again with the next color and a second pass of the paper through the printing press. If you have ever painted anything with a two-color design such as walls with a different trim color, perhaps around your house, you will immediately recognize what I mean when I say that cleaning up the mess in between can be a chore if you are using som

Davidson, was a student who met Nike’s founder, Phil Knight, while he was teaching an accounting class at Portland State University. When she delivered the logo in 1971, she was paid $35.00. To Phil Knight’s credit, after Nike took off, he hired Caroline for many more projects and eventually rewarded her with an undisclosed amount of stock in the company as well as other forms of praise and acknowledgement. (I admire an entrepreneur or anyone who is loyal; when I read this part of the story I was really impressed.)

We’ll use a $75.00 amount for a logo in this example (we can assume there has been some inflation). And, we’ll make this a two-color printing job. On a small printing press, an ink reservoir will be filled with the first color, the first “pass” on the paper will be run, and then the same thing will happen again with the next color and a second pass of the paper through the printing press. If you have ever painted anything with a two-color design such as walls with a different trim color, perhaps around your house, you will immediately recognize what I mean when I say that cleaning up the mess in between can be a chore if you are using som

n assume there has been some inflation). And, we’ll make this a two-color printing job. On a small printing press, an ink reservoir will be filled with the first color, the first “pass” on the paper will be run, and then the same thing will happen again with the next color and a second pass of the paper through the printing press. If you have ever painted anything with a two-color design such as walls with a different trim color, perhaps around your house, you will immediately recognize what I mean when I say that cleaning up the mess in between can be a chore if you are using some of the same tools. You have to clean those tools thoroughly, or you’re going to contaminate your original colors. I’ve just alluded to the printer’s problem. Each color requires a “wash up” and ink changeover procedure.

I’ll suggest that each ink color change is $35.00. So far we’ve spent $145—still no stationery has been printed. We can now add the cost of paper; we’ll make it $20. Of course, the printer is going to have some overhead costs; we’ll call that another $20. Although my prices are hypothetical, if you actually tried this you’d find that I’m not that far out of the ballpark, by the way. We’ve spent $185.00, and no stationery has been printed.

Now, since I told you this would be extreme example to illustrate my point, let’s suppose that we print just one sheet of stationery: that sheet will cost $185.00. At that price, it should be fit for a king! After you recover from the sticker-shock that I’ve just subjected you to, let’s look at what happens when we increase the quantity. If we paid to run the press for half an hour for, say, $15.00, we’ve now spent $200.00 total. During that half an hour, we could print 1000 sheets of stationery (we already figured in paper cost, above). This would amount to a unit cost of twenty cents per sheet.

At the above rates, we could add $80.00 for another 4000 sheets of paper and $60.00 for labor, and we’d have 5000 sheets of stationery for $320.00; that means each sheet of printed stationery is now just over six cents, or less than one-third the unit cost of printing 1000 sheets (which is a typical small business order). Wow!—what a difference.

The Concept of Time and Information Instability

Here’s another rule-of-thumb: If you print it, something will change. You will change some things voluntarily, perhaps. If you add a new toll-free telephone number because your business is growing, that’s great; however, now your business cards and stationery are out of date. In some cases, information will change without your knowledge or consent. If you live in a high growth geographical area, you may find that telephone area codes are changed. You’ll get a friendly, conciliatory letter from the phone company, which ends with bad news: “tough.” Next, your friendly postal service will notify you of a zip code change. Surp