Colour Your Worlde

Artisan Colour, Inc. announces the opening of an East Coast office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Artisan Colour was founded in April 1998 with a mission to provide our color separation clients with industry-leading quality pre-press services.  Our state of the art production facility in Scottsdale, Arizona has been expanded twice in the last 10 years to include a Digital Photographic Studio and Large Format Display Graphic Division. Now, with the addition of an East Coast office our expert staff is poised to fulfill clients needs nationwide.

The East Coast office will be managed by Fred Chaboya, who has over twenty-five years of experience in the pre-press industry. Artisan's East Coast office will better connect clients with the Scottsdale, Arizona based company. "We are dedicated to providing exceptional service to our East Coast clients, and the opening of our new office confirms that commitment. Our goal at Artisan Colour has always been about providing customized solutions for discerning brands. With the addition of our East Coast office we will provide a strong touch-point between our clients to our production team in Scottsdale."

For more information, contact:

Fred Chaboya
Artisan Colour, Inc.
1271 Fawnwood Drive
Lancaster, PA   17601
480-861-2813
Fred@artisancolour.com

Proving how important brand colors are to company recognition, Graham Smith of ImJustCreative has website dedicated to this principal - Unevolved Brands. It also turns out to be a fun game. See if you can match up the company by viewing just the colors of their logo. Found [Via]

"A progressive study on brand & logo simplification by Graham Smith - ImJustCreative." Graham strips some of the most recognizable brands in the world (and web) down to their simplest form leaving us with a new perspective on color's place in identity design. Some takeaways from this study: color and the positioning of elements makes all the difference when it comes to creating effective visual branding; a unique color scheme will help ingrain a brand.

With Black Friday upon us many people are poised to do some serious power shopping. The increased traffic is a perfect opportunity for retailers to use in-store signs to their advantage.

Signware manufacture, Rose Displays, wrote some great tips on things to consider about your store environment before installing your next campaign. Some of them may sound like common sense, like #1 'Know your space', but each store can hold their own unique set of challenges. They offer some suggestions about areas in your store that can be utilized for signage, like ceilings and floors, that can keep the shoppers engaged at all levels. As well as things you may not have considered, like making sure you large graphic is not placed in front of a door or air conditioning vent where it will blow over. At the end of the article they also provide a check list to help in planning.

Environments and Understanding Your Space

Planning a great signware program starts with understanding the particular demands of your store’s environment — everything from its location, to its size and shape. Use this environment guide and checklist to plan ahead, and ensure your signage works with, and not against, your space.

 Rule #1: Know your space.

The first step in the process is to consider the layout and general environment of your store. For instance, are you dealing with warehouse-like space that will require large, oversized graphics, or is your store an intimate boutique where signage will be much
smaller? If you are working with a chain of stores, are all of the stores similar in size or do they vary? If some stores are much larger than others, you may need to consider more graphics for those stores, and they may need to be larger and/or in bolder colors to increase their visibility.

COLOURlovers recently compared the predominate colors chosen for brand identification out of the top 100 most popular websites. Blue and red with their various shades and hues top the list. Sometimes the color is chosen after many hours of market research, and other times the arbitrary can turn out to be poignant. I didn't know before reading this article that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, chose the now iconic blue shade because he is color blind and blue is one of the few colors he can see.

Since your brand extends beyond the web to all identification and marketing material, when creating a new company or rebranding your current one, think about how your brand colors will represent across all media. Maybe the web popular blue will not work as well for you in print.


The Most Powerful Colors in the World - Darius A Monsef for COLOURlovers

When we released our report on the colors of the social web, based on data analyzed by our Twitter theme tool, we were surprised that blue was such a dominant color in people's profile designs. Was Twitter's default color influencing their design decisions? Or is blue really THE most popular and dominant color online? ...We decided to look at the colors in the brands from the top 100 sites in the world to see if we could paint a more colorful picture.

Turns out the blue-berry doesn't fall far from the bush. The web landscape is dominated by a large number of blue brands... but Red occupies a large amount of space as well. What's driving this? You might want to say that carefully organized branding research and market tests were done to choose the perfect colors to make you spend your money, but a lot of the brands that have grown to be global web powerhouses, started as small web startups... and while large corporate giants with branding departments spend quite a lot on market research, user testing, branding, etc. Lots of the sites listed above got started with brands created by the founders themselves with little to no research into the impact their color choice would have. I once asked Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook why he chose blue for his site design... "I'm color blind, it's the only color I can see." ...and now 500 Million people around the world stare at a mostly blue website for hours each week.

For graphics that need to be swapped out or dismantled frequently magnets are a great option. Ideal for trade show booths that need to travel or retail displays that are changed to advertise sale or new seasonal items, magnets can be easily altered by staff not trained in professional installation. Magnets are also great for car graphics and corporate vehicle identification. They offer a high impact without the long term commitment required with a car wrap.

There a couple of options when it comes to magnetic displays. The first is direct to magnetic printing. This, as it sounds, is where the ink is printed directly on magnetic material. This method is most commonly used when it comes to vehicle magnets. Magnets cling and stay the best on a clean flat surface, like the side panel or vehicle door. However, because of the increased weight of magnetic material in bulk, this method is limited in size to a standard 24" width roll.

For larger applications magnetic receptive materials can be used. Magnetic receptive substrates have a metal layer that attract magnets to the front or back surface, and are available in wider width rolls. This innovative material can be used in two ways; magnets can be attached to the front making it ideal for message, instructional or planning boards; or a panel can be installed in to a display frame with just magnetic strip edging, perfect for menu boards, trade shows, or retail settings. Additional finishing, like dry erase laminates, can also be added making them even more versatile.


Consider magnets for displays that need to be flexible and convertible. Artisan Colour can work with you to bring your design to life.

Image resources: Magnum Magnetics for Wide Format Imaging Magazine & Drytac FerroJet Matt.

Our photography studio is often employed to aid in product shots that are used in catalog or online sales. The perfect image that highlights the product attributes and represents the product accurately is imperative, and part of our specialty at Artisan Colour. How the resulting images are ultimately used in print or website placement can be equally as important. A picture can literally be worth a thousand words. The way that photos are utilized to promote a product or brand can express much more than lines of copy when used properly.

This article by Smashing Magazine offers several suggestions on how to use photography effectively and in turn enhance the consumer experience driving more sales online. Concepts like promoting company brand through imagery, telling a story, evoking an emotional response, and good old fashion demonstrating the attributes of your product in a stylish way are discussed. One topic that maybe can not be stated enough, is to avoid using static stock photography. Investing in quality images that perfectly communicate your product or company image will be duly rewarded with larger sales. Although this article focuses on web commerce, the same concepts apply to traditional print campaigns as well.

How To Use Photos to Sell More Online - James Chudley for Smashing Magazine

As a photographer and UX designer, I pay particular attention to the effectiveness of photography when I’m testing with users. Regardless of the context, users rarely fail to comment on or be influenced by photography when shopping online.

This article pulls together principles from psychology, marketing, UX design and photographic theory. It provides a set of principles to follow when commissioning and editing photography and when planning and designing profitable e-commerce user experiences.

Show Off Product Benefits

The best way to sell products is to let them sell themselves. Consider the Gorilla Pod shown below. The photo demonstrates brilliantly the benefits of the product. The copy is supplementary; the image does the heavy lifting. Let photography do the selling for you as much as possible.

You have your mission statement written, and the perfect tag line all picked out. Most people's first step to building your company's visual identity and brand is the selection of your company logo. This important visual image projects to the world what your company represents, and needs to function well in different contexts; website, letterhead, business cards, signage & advertising. A well designed logo can establish the first crucial impression of your business and even build customer loyalty.

Looking for alternate signage ideas for your product? The floor is often the perfect place to add to your message and literally stop consumers in their tracks. Every retail space has a floor, and each floor is a potential advertising canvas.

By utilizing floor space, these graphics can be used as a directional tool to guide customers to the desired location in an interactive way. Strategically placed in point of purchase locations through the store they can increase sales of your product up to 30%. With a low cost per square foot to produce, and a durability to withstand high foot traffic for several months, they offer a high return making them one of the most inexpensive advertising mediums.

Floor graphics are made up using a base vinyl and a specially formulated over-laminate for the floor. This over-laminate has a rough texture to prevent slipping and protects the print from foot traffic. The vinyl is easily removable and leaves no residue on the floor. Making it also easy to change out for future campaigns.

Most commonly seen in grocery stores, floor graphics can be used in many ways beyond the frozen food section. They are perfect for trade shows and special events. A logo placed at the entrance of your lobby can promote company pride and help build your corporate brand. Or create three dimensional illusions like this image of a 'hole' in the ground that Publicis, an advertising agency in Brazil, created for an anti-drug campaign at Mackenzie University.

Contact an Artisan Colour representative to learn how to create your own floor graphics.

Posted via email from Artisan Colour

The Big Picture Magazine featured a recent display put together for perfumer Mandy Aftel. What made it so unique, and literally stand out, was the fact that they used the board itself cut in to shapes and layered to create their low impact environmentally friendly display. The project was put together by Brandimage for Mandy Aftel's new line at Henri Bendel in New York City. The inspiration was based on "layers of nature". Since Aftel uses natural essences for their perfume, the company wanted to keep the display as natural as possible. They used a recycled cardboard that contains no VOC, called X-Board. The final display was cut from 150 full sheets of the material stacked 11 feet high and 8 layers deep. They also created display cases out of the same material.

With our own Zund G3 digital router, creating and cutting displays like this one can be possible for anyone to do. Layering and assembling cut shapes can make your display distinctive and can be used in many ways. Imagine your logo layered for a 3 dimensional effect, or sign holders and frames that look like city skyline. If you can imagine it, we can help you make it a reality. For more details about our digital routing capabilities, visit our website.

Posted via email from Artisan Colour

The successful promotion of a company’s product line depends on effective marketing and presentation. It is vital for a product to be advertised in such a way that grabs the audience’s attention and also creates brand recall among customers. Most companies are looking for an approach that will give them the best return on their investment.

While there are many methods of advertising, Point of Purchase (or POP) displays are an effective and low cost method that can be used as one component of an overall marketing strategy. POP displays can be found at many different retail applications. They have been in utilized in a basic way ever since man started selling their wears. Used in the simplest form, merchants would hang samples of their product in shop windows to inform potential buyers of what they sold. Nowadays, with technological advancements, samples have been replaced with picturesque depictions of the products.

Point of purchase displays come in variety of forms. They may be backlit signboards, an entire showcase, or a counter top display right at the cash register. An effective piece will have the brand name predominately mentioned. POP fixtures and displays should be colorful and attractive to consumers. The goal is to draw the customer’s attention to the display to entice them to buy your product. They need to be targeted to the demographic you are trying to reach. They should also make a statement about your company and be consistent with your brand image, as it may be the only impression the customer gets of your company.

The machine we recently purchased to create the Artisan Colour Display Graphics Division is ideal to produce this type of marketing. It was recently recognized for its superior print quality at the Euro-Reklama Outdoor Expo. The Océ Arizona® 350 GT won the 2009 Poznan International Fair (PIF) Gold Medal. The first generation of this machine (the 250 GT) was awarded the PIF Gold Medal in 2008.

Océ Wins Double Gold at Euro-Reklama Outdoor Expo 2009

The PIF Gold Medal is awarded to a product that meets a number of criteria, including quality and innovation, and that has been produced using the best technology available. A panel of specialists in each industry judges the entries. The PIF Gold Medal competition jury has a 30-year tradition of recognizing outstanding products in various fields.

The Océ Arizona 350 GT UV curable flatbed printer uses Océ VariaDot™ imaging technology to deliver near-photographic image quality for nearly any application. Designed as a true flatbed system, it can print on a wide variety of rigid substrates and features a Roll Media Option for printing onto flexible media. A White Ink Option is available to enable under-printing on colored media or objects, over-printing for backlit applications on transparent media, and printing white as a spot color. The Océ Arizona 350 GT printer is ideal for producing a wide variety of applications such as event graphics, point-of-purchase displays, limited-term signage, banners, backlit and reflective rigid displays, transit advertising, and directional signage.

Today's display graphics are no longer considered just a sign. Very often the graphics we print for our customers in the Retail Market are thought of as art by their shoppers.

Here at Artisan Colour, color management is religion! The two pillars that we live by are accuracy and consistency. Our ability to replicate colors to the highest standard is a daily task. So often Retail Graphics Buyers demand that product colors in the graphics match the merchandise. Easier said than done, eh? A number of our readers have expressed frustration when trying to produce a certain color to match a brand or product where the slightest shift spells disaster. In the print graphics field we spell disaster W-A-S-T-E!

The other pillar of color management is consistency. Have you ever had a job come in where the client is requesting different applications for the same campaign? Using multiple printers on different substrates can seem like an insurmountable task when the goal is to be consistent through out the entire campaign.

In this month's edition of Wide-Format Imaging Marc Welch describes how science has aided color management in image editing and producing uniform and precise color output no matter what devise is used.

How it's Done

The workflow is quite simple:

The first step shuts off color management on all RIPs. The RIPs will receive color-managed files, so they do not need to perform this function. However, the RIP still performs basic printer to media calibration for each media type. This involves printing a tone scale for each color, and making adjustments to optimize the match between requested and printed values. Once calibration is complete, the device is linearized.

The final step is creating a reference or “fingerprint” of the printer or press. A reference chart is printed and ‘read’ with a spectrophotometer. This allows the software to understand both what colors your printer can reproduce as well as how it produces them. Good color management software takes the printer color output, compares it to a preferred standard (GRACoL, for example) and creates a link to correlate the printer’s color capabilities to the color standard. Printers with a broader range of colors (gamut) support a better match to the color standard or original color being matched.

With the right software and training, you can deal with special circumstances. For example, some customers print the backside of polycarbonate then laminated over the print with a white film. The resulting color gamut is considerably smaller than GRACoL. In this type of case it is possible to compress the input color range to fit the available gamut.

....What once required a time-consuming, difficult to teach, and often inconsistent skill has become an efficient, productive process. Both you and your customers will take notice.