“Today we are going to get creative…” – so that means no magazine designs from off the peg or template pool. And the immediate question is: who’s going to do the printing? And what options do designers have in terms of print method, materials et al?
While print design in the conventional print industry knows practically no bounds, online print only restricts designers’ creativity. But is that really the case? The A to Z of creativity in the print industry essentially consists of four factors: design creativity, quality, variety of materials (paper and finishing) and – that may be new to some people – personalization/customization. And that’s where the problem starts – many online print providers have idiosyncratic ideas about what constitutes quality. Even if you get your stuff printed by just one provider, that’s no guarantee of color accuracy or straight cuts/serrations. And as far as paper variety is concerned, many providers seem to be keen on lagging behind. Only a few online print providers, like Berlin-based Laserline (www.laser-line.de), stock so many different types of paper. Typical customers of this online print pioneer include agencies, which require a certain degree of paper variety. But now you can definitely have nearly any product printed online – provided you have the right provider.
A great example from the photo book sector are, in my opinion, the children’s photo books that can be customized online, offered by Hamburg-based kleine prints GmbH (www.kleineprints.de), and currently available in 3 different versions. The neat thing about this concept is that these self-design photo books can be specifically tailored to children – card pages at 650 g/m² (keep their shape), rounded edges and robust wire-o binding constitute the basic materials. That gives these child-friendly photo books safe lay-flat properties, which avoids injuries caused by protruding corners or sharp edges. Now that’s creative, because this product means that kleine prints now occupies a small niche in the huge photo book market, in which parents and grandparents are prepared to spend a bit of money.
Another piece of creativity comes from Gateway 3D, whose software solution makes online 2D and 3D personalization a feasible option and thus helps businesses that want to offer individualized products starting at batch sizes of one, in keeping with the mass customization trend. Depending on requirements, Gateway3D provides an integrated eBusiness platform solution or modules, like its Product Configurator, and is therefore targeting not just online print providers, but also other eCommerce businesses. The company, founded in 2012 and based in Cheshire (UK), is therefore offering a model in the form of a cloud-based SaaS solution that can be integrated into existing web store systems using API integration. More than 500 websites currently use Gateway 3D’s CSS-compatible personalization apps, including Marks & Spencer Personalised (UK) or Kruidvat (NL).
“Quality, creativity and personalization – these are key business creativity concepts, which some online print providers are not just talking about, but proactively incorporating into their businesses.” – Bernd Zipper
This integrated store solution combines website design, order capture, processing and fulfilment. Gateway3D therefore offers processing of orders, which are either fulfilled by the customer and their own print provider themselves, or by the service provider’s fulfilment partners, in addition to its core business of personalization apps (some 45,000 customer transactions per month just in this segment alone) – an all-in service if you like. For around 550 € a month (+ a one-off set-up fee of 1000 €) a Magento eCommerce website is set up that can handle the software-related processing of up to 500 print jobs; in excess of 500 jobs, further order-related costs are incurred. However why you as a partner have to pay more if you generate more sales shall remain a Gateway 3D secret.
As far as creativity is concerned, you don’t necessarily get a raw deal from the major providers. In the last few years Flyeralarm and Onlineprinters in particular have gone up a learning curve. You could almost say that nothing is impossible. Flyeralarm offers all sorts of products that could definitely stimulate creative minds, from pizza boxes through branded shipping packaging and from gym bags through printed glass. Onlineprinters is not quite as creative as its competitors in terms of product diversity – but admission tickets featuring blacklight ink are pretty special. Above all if you consider all the things you can do with this product. New at Onlineprinters is its expanded large-format segment. Here products, like adhesive labels that stick to dry surfaces merely as a result of being statically charged, have been added. Pretty neat. Unitedprint has added photo wallpapers to its range of products. The user can therefore create her/his own designs on real non-woven wallpaper. The same also applies to the Tapeterie. There you can buy not just wallpapers designed by artists, but also have your own motifs printed on wallpaper. There are several providers competing in this segment and it’s safe to assume that this is a product segment that is set to go places. Limmaland has come up with a really original concept. Here users can have foils/transparencies printed that can then be used to “pimp” the rather boring children’s furniture supplied by a certain Swedish furniture company. So interior design via online print definitely has potential.
Of course typographic creativity should not be forgotten: letterpress – a method that can achieve haptically appealing effects using old relief-printing presses. The fact that there are enough discerning buyers of such high-end business cards in the market is validated by the increasing number of providers with online stores operating in this segment.
Be they single- or multi-colored, single- or multi-layer, printed on one side or both, with or without edge coloring, letterpress print products are able to stand out from the crowd, given various aesthetic properties. In contrast to the cheaper, uniform products of competing methods, this “old”, more craftsmanship-based printing method generates plenty of opportunity to work creatively with paper. Virtually old technology offering new benefits. A successful provider operating an online store in this segment is Letterjazz from the Ruhr region of Germany. However this printing method is not restricted to haptically appealing business cards – other products like giveaways, book covers, bookmarks etc. can be easily produced using the letterpress method for customers with high quality standards. This method usually uses veteran Heidelberger platen presses to print or to print and simultaneously emboss on different high-volume uncoated grades of card with grammages significantly in excess of 300 g/m². This is the only way of creating the embossed print that distinguishes this product from conventional business cards and gives it a visual/tactile impact. The only thing that actually limits design creativity here is the really small format of the old presses. Requests for these premium products are usually accommodated starting at a minimum order quantity of 100.
My take: there are currently plenty of options for implementing creative ideas, especially where customizable print products are involved. This brief synopsis was only intended to provide an overview of how much creative potential online print possesses. We have seen that product differentiation and associated typographic and other technical implementation can be actioned as creatively as any of the comprehensive software solutions, on which current print store offerings are based. Ultimately it is the customized product, one’s “own” product or one’s own mark of identity that buyers are demonstrably prepared to pay more for – this is not some vision of the future, it’s a reality! So we are curious to see what further creativity the online print sector will dish up and what else will go down the mass customization route. For as we have seen, “new” technologies are not the only resource that help businesses to earn money…
