“People keep asking for greeting cards of my work but I’ve nowhere to store them and no time to sort them out…..HELP!”
We already hold a stock of images for this customer as we provide giclee prints for orders placed through her website, so we had a look through and selected a set of 8 likely candidates for greeting cards. Once approved by the customer we then worked out a package to supply 250 of each of the cards along with appropriate envelopes and cello bags. The customer paid up-front for the cards, envelopes and cello bags along with the cost of packaging all of the cards in either eights or singles. We store the cards and when the customer sends us an order we pack the relevant cards and fulfil the order. We invoice for the fulfilment at the end of each month. The overall arrangement results in a minimum of 50% profit margin for the customer and much reduced storage and admin.
“I’ve had cards produced from my watercolours before but they can never get the colours quite right, can you convince me you can do any better?”
This customer had previously had her work copied by a photographer and then passed on to a printing firm for printing as greeting cards. When the cards arrived the colours weren’t quite right. The printer disclaimed any responsibility; they had simply printed the images as supplied. The photographer also disclaimed responsibility; they had provided accurate copies of the work. This problem often arises where different firms with different setups are involved. Accurately matching colours and tones and then reproducing them in print is tricky enough when you control the whole process, let alone when you only control part of the process. We fully understand the need for accurate reproduction. As an artist you work hard to get exactly the feel you want from a piece of work, so we work just as hard to ensure it is accurately and faithfully reproduced.
For this job the customer sent us all of the original artwork. We copied it all (more than 50 pieces!) in our dedicated studio and carefully colour balanced each piece. We then advised on the best board to use for greeting cards and supplied a set of pdf proofs for the customers approval for layout and crop. Once these were approved we arranged for a set of hard-copy proofs to be sent to the customer. These proofs were printed on the exact board and to the exact same standard as the final items would be. The customer was very pleased with the quality of the cards and with the colour reproduction but asked for a few adjustments to the brightness of a few of the images. We made the necessary adjustments and supplied further pdf proofs. At this point the customer was happy with the results and the job went to print. The end result was a very happy customer.
