After my Tutorial on wednesday with both David and Graham it came to my attention that digital printing and layout is not the way I should be spending the rest of my time in Com Tech, although they are practical skills and well worth learning I feel that I should attempt to perfect my photography skills as a primary goal first. For instance I have little to no knowledge of Photoshop and so will be spending some of my remaining time looking at basic photo editing and manipulation. It was also suggested that I could try assisting another photographer on a shoot in order to learn the process of studio photography and the organisation skills I would need. I will start this by looking at online tutorials and speaking to the technicians, such as Mike Flowers, and other students in order to learn more about photo editing. I will also be hopefully assisting Vicky Kortekas on at least one shoot for her own com tech project, this will befit both her as a studio using photographer and myself as a student learning the tricks of the trade.
Due to this change of plan and reversion to photographic techniques I have blogged all of the printing and making posts together consecutively followed to avoid confusion, posts from now on will be based again around photographic techniques.
Printing Evaluation
Overall I have learned quite a lot even though only looking at two companies and printing 3 documents and I feel that if I was going to print a photobook or zine at a later date that I would definitely use the Digital Print Partnership and would pick either the saddle stitched notebooks or perfect bound documents based on the number of pages and content of the document. Also depending on the size of the print run I have learned that I could print zine or booklets as cheap as £1-£2.50 depending on size, quality and type of binding and so making and selling is not out of the question as most zines are around £5 with or without postage. This means I could get my work out there but also make back my costs and make some profit but this is something I will look into at a later date.
DPP Perfect Binding Test
The second Digital Print Partnership service I tested were the Perfect Bound Documents, the initial process is exactly the same in the way that you pick document size, paper weights and finishes etc and then you are given a brief overview and shown prices. Again prices are high for a single document but you can get multiples for the same price as once and large scale prints increase the price at regular but fair intervals. The rest of the details are the same as the previous order with DPP and so wil lnotbe reapted.
Again the overall finish is very good and the perfect binding gives a professional look to the document straight away, furthermore the thicker cover gives an extra layer of protection and makes the whole thing seem more substantial. This is a very strong product but one that I feel suits larger scale documents of 30 or 40 pages and does not work so well with anything less than 20 or so. The choice of paper weights is slightly limited for perfect bound documents but this is not a problem and the overall product is very strong. The only real problem is that during the printing process the inside front and back pages got misaligned and so everything is about 1cm lower than it should be, DPP offered to rectify this and reprint the document which again shows that they have a strong level of customer care and quality control. The pictures included in this are from a trip to Amsterdam in Easter and again the layout was kept the same for direct comparisons.
I also took this opportunity to place the two DPP documents side by side and make comparisons, both documents are the same size but the perfect bound is far more substantial. Here you can also see the bleed through on the stapled booklet due to the thin paper and cleaner lines and better visual appearance of the perfect bound document. Obviously the perfect bound document is more desirable but it does come at a costlier price.
Evaluation
Again this is a very high quality product and is reasonably priced if you intend to make more than at least 5, however I do feel that due to the nature of the book it lends itself to larger scale documents as previously mentioned. My only real problem is that due to the nature of the binding it is hard to open the document wide to fully see the pictures and you are at risk of splitting the spine by pushing it too far.
Again the overall finish is very good and the perfect binding gives a professional look to the document straight away, furthermore the thicker cover gives an extra layer of protection and makes the whole thing seem more substantial. This is a very strong product but one that I feel suits larger scale documents of 30 or 40 pages and does not work so well with anything less than 20 or so. The choice of paper weights is slightly limited for perfect bound documents but this is not a problem and the overall product is very strong. The only real problem is that during the printing process the inside front and back pages got misaligned and so everything is about 1cm lower than it should be, DPP offered to rectify this and reprint the document which again shows that they have a strong level of customer care and quality control. The pictures included in this are from a trip to Amsterdam in Easter and again the layout was kept the same for direct comparisons.
I also took this opportunity to place the two DPP documents side by side and make comparisons, both documents are the same size but the perfect bound is far more substantial. Here you can also see the bleed through on the stapled booklet due to the thin paper and cleaner lines and better visual appearance of the perfect bound document. Obviously the perfect bound document is more desirable but it does come at a costlier price.
Evaluation
Again this is a very high quality product and is reasonably priced if you intend to make more than at least 5, however I do feel that due to the nature of the book it lends itself to larger scale documents as previously mentioned. My only real problem is that due to the nature of the binding it is hard to open the document wide to fully see the pictures and you are at risk of splitting the spine by pushing it too far.
DPP Saddle Stitched Booklet Test
The Digital Print Partnership offer a simple to use service in which you can pick everything from paper size and thickness to lamination and paper coating in order to give you the exact product that you want. Once selected it shows you an overview of all your choices and upon accepting that it asks how many pages and copies you would like. The price updates automatically upon changing either value and even tells you the cost per unit. Again this is fairly expensive for single copies but printing multiples results in much cheaper prices, for instance it is the same price to get 8 copies as it is to print 1 in the scenario shown above.
Upon finalising your choices you upload your PDF to your website and you are told the exact cost involving VAT and postage and also given an estimated delivery date, this is normally within 5 days. The biggest difference between this and Newspaper Club is that instead of paying at the time of ordering they send you a monthly invoice, however you can opt to pay this at whatever point you would like. My assumption is that they use this system as their products are more geared to business style transactions and it is the most appropriate way to deal with taking money.
The overall impression fo the document is very good, cleanly cut and stapled spine, high quality images and all round strong presentation. I chose the thinnest paper as I thought it would be cheapest but in retrospect I could have gotten much higher quality paper and coating for the same price. Although the finished product looks good I feel it could be vastly improved with the previously mentioned changes. In comparison to the newspaper it is a much more practically sized document and is more substantial, furthermore it is more cost effective to get these printed either in bulk or in smaller runs and so it seems like a more viable option depending on the document. The images featured in this are a selection of photos from various wild swimming excursions throughout the summer and the layout has been matched as much as possible to that of the Paris newspaper.
Evaluation
The service offered by DPP was of a very high quality, as was the finished product, the only minor is that the paper is very thin however this was an error by myself and I would definitely invest in thicker and/or coated paper next time as it is the same price. The document is very well made and shows precision production, I would say that the overall impact is stronger than that of the newspaper and would be better for large runs and in terms of selling as a collection of photos. The only other problem is that some of them arrived with slight creased through them, but due to the nature of the packaging I am assuming that this happened during transit. I raised the issue with DPP and they assured me that they only send out goods to the highest quality and even offered a reprint and so I cannot complain about their customer service at all.
Upon finalising your choices you upload your PDF to your website and you are told the exact cost involving VAT and postage and also given an estimated delivery date, this is normally within 5 days. The biggest difference between this and Newspaper Club is that instead of paying at the time of ordering they send you a monthly invoice, however you can opt to pay this at whatever point you would like. My assumption is that they use this system as their products are more geared to business style transactions and it is the most appropriate way to deal with taking money.The overall impression fo the document is very good, cleanly cut and stapled spine, high quality images and all round strong presentation. I chose the thinnest paper as I thought it would be cheapest but in retrospect I could have gotten much higher quality paper and coating for the same price. Although the finished product looks good I feel it could be vastly improved with the previously mentioned changes. In comparison to the newspaper it is a much more practically sized document and is more substantial, furthermore it is more cost effective to get these printed either in bulk or in smaller runs and so it seems like a more viable option depending on the document. The images featured in this are a selection of photos from various wild swimming excursions throughout the summer and the layout has been matched as much as possible to that of the Paris newspaper.
Evaluation
The service offered by DPP was of a very high quality, as was the finished product, the only minor is that the paper is very thin however this was an error by myself and I would definitely invest in thicker and/or coated paper next time as it is the same price. The document is very well made and shows precision production, I would say that the overall impact is stronger than that of the newspaper and would be better for large runs and in terms of selling as a collection of photos. The only other problem is that some of them arrived with slight creased through them, but due to the nature of the packaging I am assuming that this happened during transit. I raised the issue with DPP and they assured me that they only send out goods to the highest quality and even offered a reprint and so I cannot complain about their customer service at all.
Newspaper Test
The Newspaper Club website is very easy to use and has a helpful pricing page, shown below. The drop down box, in the top left, gives you the option to print anything from 4 to 64 pages and by selecting this the prices below change accordingly. This is quite an expensive process for small scale printing but can get very cheap for large scale print runs.
They do offer an online layout tool but as previously stated I have opted to make my own PDF files for all tests in order to keep the content very similar. For the next step I set about designing a short 12 page paper with pictures from a recent skate trip to Paris, I made this using InDesign using the basic layout skills I learn in the previous zine and book projects. I also received an email the day before printing saying that pixelisation may occur on the larger images and that larger files were requested for optimum quality. Newspaper club print twice a week, tuesday and thursday, and will have the product delivered normally within 5 days of printing - overall a very efficient service. Below are the pictures of my newspaper, as you can see it is typical newspaper dimensions and printed on newsprint as you would expect from a normal newsprint publication.
There are obvious criticisms of this as a final product, for instance it is flimsy and due to the nature of the paper the colours often bleed through but this exactly what is expected with newspaper printing and common faults in any regular newspaper. However the quality of the print itself is very good, the colours are surprisingly vibrant in comparison to the muted tones I was expecting and the overall look and feel is very satisfying.
Evaluation
Overall I would say that I was very pleased with the service I received from Newspaper club both in terms of the end product and their customer service, especially in relation to feedback. The finished product is exactly what you would expect and the only faults I can find are due to the nature of newspaper printing, not due to the actions or qualities of the service they offer. Apart from this it is quite expensive for small runs, but very cheap for larger runs and so it is really dependant on the publication as to wether or not this is appropriate but I feel that a large collection of photos would suit this format very well taking all things into account.
They do offer an online layout tool but as previously stated I have opted to make my own PDF files for all tests in order to keep the content very similar. For the next step I set about designing a short 12 page paper with pictures from a recent skate trip to Paris, I made this using InDesign using the basic layout skills I learn in the previous zine and book projects. I also received an email the day before printing saying that pixelisation may occur on the larger images and that larger files were requested for optimum quality. Newspaper club print twice a week, tuesday and thursday, and will have the product delivered normally within 5 days of printing - overall a very efficient service. Below are the pictures of my newspaper, as you can see it is typical newspaper dimensions and printed on newsprint as you would expect from a normal newsprint publication.There are obvious criticisms of this as a final product, for instance it is flimsy and due to the nature of the paper the colours often bleed through but this exactly what is expected with newspaper printing and common faults in any regular newspaper. However the quality of the print itself is very good, the colours are surprisingly vibrant in comparison to the muted tones I was expecting and the overall look and feel is very satisfying.
Evaluation
Overall I would say that I was very pleased with the service I received from Newspaper club both in terms of the end product and their customer service, especially in relation to feedback. The finished product is exactly what you would expect and the only faults I can find are due to the nature of newspaper printing, not due to the actions or qualities of the service they offer. Apart from this it is quite expensive for small runs, but very cheap for larger runs and so it is really dependant on the publication as to wether or not this is appropriate but I feel that a large collection of photos would suit this format very well taking all things into account.
Research - Printing Companies
After researching and speaking to various people from my course I have found a few companies that I am going to look into in regards to self publishing. My plan is to produce the smallest runs I can of a document for the cheapest cost in order to get a feel about the quality of their products without spending too much money. I am aware that most companies offer a software program via their website to get the best out of their products or allow you to send your own PDF's, as I am reasonably confident with InDesign I will be designing all of the documents myself in order to keep continuity in the content so focus can be kept on the product itself.
Newspaper Club is the first real company I was told about by various friends and previous students, including Andy Jones who still has a few copies of his left for sale. As the name suggests Newspaper Club print newspapers in the traditional way, they can and will print pretty much anything in newspaper format and it seems the more you print the cheaper it gets. Obviously there are limitations such as ink bleeding through and a lack of durability but the process is very cheap and one I will be looking into.
Digital Print Partership (DPP) are a company I found through Google, they print pretty much everything in any format, however it is there saddle stitched brochures and perfect bound documents that I am interested in as they not only offer a wide variety of sizes and paper qualities but also the nature of them lends themselves very well to zines and photobooks. Obviously these are more substantial products and so cost more but the difference in price seems to be worth it, again printing one document can be costly but printing more results in cheaper costs overall. Again the offer help with layout and design software but I will be opting to design my own PDF.
Finally there are Blurb and Ubyu, both of which offer high end book printing and binding. These are the most costly but also the most substantial, I have grouped them together as there end products look to be very similar whereas the previous two were very different. They offer a wide range of sizes, paper thicknesses, lamination/gloss options, covers and pretty much everything else you can think of. However after only browsing through their websites I feel the products they offer are of a much higher quality and higher price than what I was originally looking for and so I will be looking into the other previously mentioned printing companies first.
Newspaper Club is the first real company I was told about by various friends and previous students, including Andy Jones who still has a few copies of his left for sale. As the name suggests Newspaper Club print newspapers in the traditional way, they can and will print pretty much anything in newspaper format and it seems the more you print the cheaper it gets. Obviously there are limitations such as ink bleeding through and a lack of durability but the process is very cheap and one I will be looking into.
Digital Print Partership (DPP) are a company I found through Google, they print pretty much everything in any format, however it is there saddle stitched brochures and perfect bound documents that I am interested in as they not only offer a wide variety of sizes and paper qualities but also the nature of them lends themselves very well to zines and photobooks. Obviously these are more substantial products and so cost more but the difference in price seems to be worth it, again printing one document can be costly but printing more results in cheaper costs overall. Again the offer help with layout and design software but I will be opting to design my own PDF.
Finally there are Blurb and Ubyu, both of which offer high end book printing and binding. These are the most costly but also the most substantial, I have grouped them together as there end products look to be very similar whereas the previous two were very different. They offer a wide range of sizes, paper thicknesses, lamination/gloss options, covers and pretty much everything else you can think of. However after only browsing through their websites I feel the products they offer are of a much higher quality and higher price than what I was originally looking for and so I will be looking into the other previously mentioned printing companies first.
Research - Others Work
As mentioned previously, the work showed earlier is my only real attempts at printing things myself and so serves helpful as a research, the following things are examples of work and companies that are currently doing the things I am interested in.
The first example is this zine Berlin Wallride by David Cooper, it is a simple photo documentary zine of a skate trip to Berlin he and his friends embarked on. It is well printed on thick card but poorly bound and so bows out. As mentioned previously this is more about the end product that the content of zines, however I feel that I may try something similar with photos from my recent skate trip to Paris.
Blood of the Young are a Toronto based blog and printers dedicated to youthful documentary photography and self publishing. They run an online blog that is regularly updated and regularly print both collections of accumulated work and documents dedicated to specific photographers.
Shown below - 'And I Slept Fine Because my Bed Still smells Like Sex With You' by Dimitri Karakostas.
Fourteen-Nineteen are another example of both an online and printed presence in the self publishing world. They are london based and consider themselves as "exploring and exposing young photographic ingenuity', although the name suggests so they do not entirely limit themselves to youth and teenagers but more so the feeling of youth. Below is an example from their collection of books available in their shop.
Self Publish Be Happy are the largest organisation I have looked at so far and are at the forefront of self publishing in the UK. They not only help artists sell books/zines but also feature articles on up and coming artists and projects while also creating their own collections of work and regularly asking for submissions. Although they do not print for people they will gladly sell products that have already been made or give attention to those in the process of being made. Again they have an extensive shop and regularly update their website with everything and anything related to self publishing.
Shown below - 'Self Publish Be Naughty' by Self Publish Be Happy.
The first example is this zine Berlin Wallride by David Cooper, it is a simple photo documentary zine of a skate trip to Berlin he and his friends embarked on. It is well printed on thick card but poorly bound and so bows out. As mentioned previously this is more about the end product that the content of zines, however I feel that I may try something similar with photos from my recent skate trip to Paris.
Blood of the Young are a Toronto based blog and printers dedicated to youthful documentary photography and self publishing. They run an online blog that is regularly updated and regularly print both collections of accumulated work and documents dedicated to specific photographers.
Shown below - 'And I Slept Fine Because my Bed Still smells Like Sex With You' by Dimitri Karakostas.
Fourteen-Nineteen are another example of both an online and printed presence in the self publishing world. They are london based and consider themselves as "exploring and exposing young photographic ingenuity', although the name suggests so they do not entirely limit themselves to youth and teenagers but more so the feeling of youth. Below is an example from their collection of books available in their shop.
Self Publish Be Happy are the largest organisation I have looked at so far and are at the forefront of self publishing in the UK. They not only help artists sell books/zines but also feature articles on up and coming artists and projects while also creating their own collections of work and regularly asking for submissions. Although they do not print for people they will gladly sell products that have already been made or give attention to those in the process of being made. Again they have an extensive shop and regularly update their website with everything and anything related to self publishing.
Shown below - 'Self Publish Be Naughty' by Self Publish Be Happy.
