Eprint wanted to talk about Forty Agency again. I had posted a couple of months ago the article titled, “Marketing Tips You Can Use,” inspired by an article from Forty Agency that included a downloadable pamphlet with forty marketing tips which were all fantastic in my opinion. Now Eprint is on Forty’s email list (I suggest that everyone become a part of it!) and so recently we received another email from them containing some very  interesting articles. Everything the company publishes is both catchy and easy to follow. The articles always inspire us here at Eprint!

One article I particularly enjoyed was called, “Why are logos getting simpler.” Now this of course probably caught my attention because of my graphics background. In fact, this “simpler” trend is something  I have come to notice more and more. And not just in logo design but in all graphic design, business cards, brochures, you name it. And if you ask me, it’s true, simpler design gives a clean and professional appearance. It just works. But the reasoning behind simple design and why it works is best explained by Forty themselves, so please read the article and enjoy the many examples of companies who decided to take the “simple” approach.  Maybe even do a little poking around their site as well, we are sure you will find some articles that interest you!

There are so many creative ways to advertise and gain consumer interest. In fact, stumbling (yet again…), I came across some very creative print advertisements. After being so impressed I did another search. I just typed  ”creative advertisements,” right into Google Images, and came up with a whole bunch more. I wanted to share some of my favorites here, but please do your own search and see what you come up with, and if you come across any creative advertisements that you want to share please feel free to comment. These ads are sure to catch the attention of everyone who sees them, some are cute while others are competitive. But all in all they will make you take a second glance! Enjoy!

As we discovered in one of my earlier posts, “Business Cards Endure,” business cards are still as popular as ever, and they aren’t going anywhere.  Lately I have come across some very creative cards that I wanted to share. Talk about making a fantastic first impression, these cards wont let you go unnoticed! Today the ones that most stood out to me were those that weren’t just boring squares, their shape gives them character. Check them out & feel free to share other cards that you find interesting, there are so many neat designs out there. I found these particular cards “stumbling” the web at Bloggerspath.

Printing is our business here at Eprint so of course we are curious to know where printing might be in 10 or 20 years. The answer might amaze you, it sure made an impression on us!

Imagine being able to print out 3d objects from your home computer & printer. You need a toy Tonka truck for your child’s birthday?  What if you could  hit print and have it in your living room the very same night! The crazy thing is that this technology actually exists. It is just to expensive to make it into consumers’ homes as of yet.

The technology is used in large companies for prototyping. Here is a video produced by ZCorporation, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of 3d printers. The video shows the printing in action  and explains it further. Basically the technology allows you to print a three dimensioinal products from a digital file using a “materials printer.”

The technology is becoming more popular and the price of the printers has already started to fall.  In researching this topic a little further, I even found a YouTube video about how to make your own 3D printer using powder and an HP desk printer! Of course the technology does not even come close to those printers from the ZCorporation described above, and it doesn’t print Tonka Trucks, but it’s still neat!

Here at Eprint, we can see this becoming the norm in the future…and not like the flying cars future… the near future. We’re talking within our lifetimes.

Here at Eprint  we love Stumble Upon. If you have never “stumbled” I very much encourage you to visit the website and create your own free account. Coming home from a day at work I like to relax on the couch and “stumble my interests.” They consist of humor, marketing, design, photography, etc. When searching for inspiration this little tool can be very helpful (it also spawns procrastination so be careful!). Even my boss enjoys stumbling.  Just the other day he came across “33 ways to stay creative,” and shared it with me. I thought it was cute and  decided to share it here as well. For everyone who designs, I’m sure that you will be able to relate to a lot of these simple little tricks, I know I did. Enjoy!

This week, BusinessWeek published an article by Roger Bennett, titled “How the archaic business card endures in the age of LinkedIn.” The article discussed how business cards should be a thing of the past. This of course caught my attention because customer business cards are a large portion of what I design and what we print here at Eprint. As I read the article however, it said that business cards continue to be a large, profitable, and flourishing sector. So why haven’t business cards, as they said, “gone the way of the telegram? ”

The article explained that there are new technologies out there  which allow for the information normally found on one’s business card to be instantly uploaded to computers and smartphones and stored there. The article discussed LinkedIn, among other technologies.While the technologies can be useful, and some in fact, very cool – Bump for example is an app that allows for the transfer of information from your smartphone to someone else’s through simply tapping your phone’s together! This is great if both parties have the application downloaded and know how to use the app, but how many people even know about it? You can’t just walk into a business meeting and say “Oh I thought I’d just bump you my card,” we just aren’t there yet. I can’t see them ever replacing the business card, and the article agreed.

The reasoning that Richard Moross, the founder of moo.com gives in the article, is that “they [business cards] don’t require batteries, experience no intercompatibility problems, require no sign-up, and everyone in the world understands them.”  Evan Shapiro, president of IFC, added that ” it is not a simple information exchange. It is an expression of identity.” I feel that both answers explain the benefits of the business card perfectly. I guess we have nothing to worry about here! (but we already knew that didn’t we?)

Forty Agency is a great resource for marketing tips. Heck fortyagency.com really jump-started Eprint Impressions, and the even newer Eprint twitter account. Of course we knew all along how important social media was, we just needed a little push…

Anyways, Forty Agency recently came out with an easy to download pamphlet titled “40 creative marketing ideas,”  that all of us here at Eprint found very interesting. Each idea is short and sweet, just how we like it  –they  get straight to the point so you can too. The pamphlet starts with the easiest marketing ideas to implement and works up to the more difficult options. And better still, each of the forty tasks are labeled according to cost, making it very easy for smaller companies (like us)… to only focus on those ideas which fit into their budget. Also, the printable version gives space on the sidebar for notes and sketches and each idea is followed by a question with room to answer. Each question’s purpose is to get you thinking about how you specifically can implement the idea and how it will work for your company. Most of the tips even have examples of nationally recognized companies who have already implemented the idea. This helped Eprint visualize the concepts better and realize how beneficial the tips can be.

Download the pdf yourself and let us know what you think. You may come across some very uncanny and creative ideas– things like hiring a voice actor to record your company voicemail, creating unique names for your projects–and using them, “giving away remarkable schwag,” and putting on an April Fools prank that brings attention to your business (keep an eye out for a mysterious Eprint flash mob come April 1st)– but each tip will help to spark new ideas and we promise you will find it beneficial. We sure did!

 I have come across two new programs that make sharing information quicker and easier. And the best part is they are both 100% free! The quick and easy sharing of information between people has come to be expected by all. It is no longer a luxury but instead a necessity for both businesses and consumers. That is why I wanted to share two of my newest discoveries.

The first, I’m sure you have all heard of, and probably even used, but to what extent is the question? I’m talking about Google Docs. I have typed many documents with the program, but it was just recently, when I was asked to edit a friend’s cover letter, that I really used the program to its full advantage. My friend sent me the shared google doc file right to my gmail. By clicking on the file, it allowed me to view the document on my computer while he also viewed it from his. Every change I made he could see, and vice versa, and the program allows you to chat on the side bar and discuss your thoughts. Maybe this is old news to some, but to me it was an amazing discovery. If only I knew about this during my college years working on one of my many group projects. The implications are easily seen.

The second file sharing tool is an app called Join Me. The app allows you to view a friends computer screen and exactly what they are doing from anywhere at all. This is great for sharing knowledge. Have you ever been designing in Photoshop and your stuck trying to do something that you just know your buddy could do in five seconds? Well now he can show you step by step what to do without even being there. The app is great for online meetings and as the app developers say, “collaborating in real time.”

Eprint loves QR Codes. These simple little things are so easy to produce and their uses are immense. Here at Eprint we are always offering to add QR Codes to the back of business cards, or recommending that they be used on the latest company postcard being designed. As QR codes become more and more popular, other technologies are being seen that use the same “point and shoot” design. These technologies bring additional information right to consumers’ fingertips, literally.

Google Goggles is the application I use to recognize QR codes, but the app also does much much more. Driving down the highway, you can take a picture of a landmark and find out that “Oh!, That’s the Chesapeake Bay Bridge!.” The phone not only recognizes landmarks, but consumer products as well.

And lets take this a step farther. What about an app that recognizes a product and then brings it up on the web so that you can click to purchase the item or compare prices.  Amazon Mobile does just that, and all within seconds. Both are free and easy to use.  Download the apps and see for yourself. We at Eprint find them not only useful, but very interesting as well!

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