When it comes to print projects, packaging runs, or promotional mailers, how you ship is just as important as what you ship. Smart planning at the start of a project can save money, prevent delays, and keep your client (or your boss) happy. Shipping isn’t just about boxes and labels—it’s about strategy, timing, and clear communication.

When it comes to printing, choosing the right printing technology can make all the difference in cost, quality, and turnaround time. At Castle Press, we guide our clients through a thoughtful decision-making process to ensure each project is estimated, planned, and produced with the best method available.

Paper can be tricky—especially when you’re faced with terms like pounds and points.

Online ordering is fast and efficient If you repeatedly order print items such as stationery, business cards, postcards or brochures, an...

A handwritten note lends significance to any personal or professional correspondence. If you are on a first-name basis with your customers

Marketing Basics With modern variable printing, the text and graphics on each sheet of a press run can change to reflect the...

Variable-data printing, a form of digital printing, is a data-driven application that consistently delivers better results than conventional direct mail, reports Mark Kolier of Connecticut’s Canterbury Graphics, Inc. According to a CAP Ventures study, he notes, VDP generates: 36% higher response rates 25% increased average orders 47% more repeat sales 32% better profits 34% faster response time Variable-data printing works The only question is whether its category — which inc

Embossing images requires creating a die — charges vary with size. Save money by discussing the design early in the planning process. Oftent

Standard drilling is 3-hole, but size and position of holes can be customized Standing dies can save you money During the design process, show the print representative the possible design to determine if there is an existing die. If it is decided to use the standing die, $75 to $450 can be saved. Presentation folders have a standard die with one 4-inch pocket A standard presentation folder has 4-pages and a 4-inch flat pocket. Adding an additional pocket will increase costs b

Die cut tab dividers can assist readers through sections of a binder Tab dividers have an approximate half inch section that extends past the face of a book or multi-page document. The purpose of the divider is to assist the reader to easily find a particular section of the book. The type of binding that allows the greatest flexibility and lowest relative cost of tab dividers would be loose leaf binding such as ring, Wire-O, or spiral binding. The tabs are inserted by hand at

Comb bindings are more vulnerable to damage than spiral bindings. Adjoining pages are held more tightly in register with each other than with spiral bindings. Comb bindings come in several colors and allow screen printing on a document’s spine. They can bind pieces up to 3" thick. With comb binding, pages can easily be added or removed. Plastic comb bindings allow pages to lie flat when opened. However, they cannot be doubled back. And inserting them is a hand operation that

Case binding is the most common type of bookbinding for hardcover books. There is a minimum of 60 printed sheets in case binding . The pages are arranged in 16- or 32-page signatures which are collated and machine-sewn. The sewn edges are coated with glue. Then a strip of gauze adheres to the document’s spine. Finally, the book and its covers are placed in a casing-in machine, which pastes the endpapers and fits the cover, which is made of cardboard covered with paper, cloth,

Spiral bindings are made of either plastic or wire and allow the printed document to lie flat. Pages can also be folded back to 360 degrees without damage to the spine. These are useful characteristics for documents such as technical manuals, notebooks, and calendars. Spiral binding allows play—hence registration inconsistency—between pages. One cannot add pages to documents once they are spiral bound. Also, rough handling may crush the spirals. Spiral wire coils range from 1

A Wire-O binding holds the covers and pages of a document firmly in place by a double-loop wire inserted through holes drilled in their left edges. All of the document’s pages lie flat when opened. Wire-O books can also be folded back to 360 degrees without damage to the spine. Wire-O books allow for images or charts spread across two pages, and are ideal for any book that needs to stay open when not being held: cookbooks, instruction manuals, calendars, or meeting materials.

Perfect binding is an adhesive based binding. It is the easiest and least durable way to produce books, and is how most paperback books are bound. To produce a perfect-bound document, the piece’s folded signatures are gathered together in page sequence, clamped together, and placed in a machine that slices about 1/8" off their left edges. Then roughers mill the newly sliced sheet edges to prepare them for gluing. Finally, the edges receive an adhesive application and and are

Saddle Stitching refers to a very popular book binding method used for booklets, magazines, catalogs, calendars, and many other printed documents. In saddle stitching, the piece is held together with wire staples. A machine drives them through the folded crease from the outside where they are clinched between the centermost pages. A saddle-stitched printed piece lies almost flat when opened, a convenience for readers. However, this method involves certain mechanical requireme

Smaller Saves Rethinking size in general is a good place to start. Can a smaller piece serve the same purpose and have as much impact as a larger piece? Large or odd-sized design pieces may not use paper efficiently and can result in substantial amounts of waste. Digital Photography The advent of digital cameras has drastically reduced waste output. Gone are the developing chemicals and the celluloid negatives. Paper is considerably reduced or eliminated entirely. However, no

Digital or Offset: Which Printing Technology Will Best Serve Your Needs? How to determine how many to print Digital printing or offset printing produces the majority of printed products. Digital printing has a low fixed set-up cost and a high per unit cost. Offset printing has a high fixed set-up cost and a low per unit cost. Yes, this is the simple answer and there are a wide range of what-if’s but let’s keep it simple at this point. Short print runs result in lower total in

Using 100% black on small objects such as body copy text and fine keyline borders is recommended. But if you have a large background of solid black or very large black type, then the solid black may look washed out when printed. Process inks are translucent. They allow light to pass through them, much like a color filter. The light is then reflected back to our eyes and the result is a washed out looking black. To increase the “richness” of the black it is necessary to add ad

Getting your file imaged onto the printing plate at the lowest cost Desktop Publishing Desktop publishing is the process of using the computer and specific types of software to combine text and graphics to produce documents such as newsletters, brochures, books, etc. Which Platform? Both Macintosh and PC platforms are is acceptable. Industry standard software is available for both the Macintosh and PC. Industry Standard Software Applications Page layout: Adobe InDesign Illust