Become familiar with different printing processes and learn which are more economical and when. For example if you need to print bulk, that is more than a thousand units, litho printing would be the way to go and for smaller print runs, digital printing would probably be more suitable. Get quotes from multiple printing companies. Just because you used a printer in the past and they were cost effective, does not mean that they will be competitive for all sorts of print jobs. Printing costs can vary substantially from one printer to another depending on their focus or equipment.
With colour printing there are often noticeable price differences between printer companies. This could be influenced by the numbers of colours required in the artwork or the brightness of the colours. Printers will often specialise in a niche due to the high cost of printing presses.
Use standard sized pages and avoid high quality paper except where necessary. Printers order paper in bulk, so it would be advisable to discover what size papers and colours work out most cost-effective. Design your marketing material using dimensions that would avoid unnecessary trimming and waste. Avoid bleeds, the practise of printing with no margins.
An interesting experiment was done to determine the most cost effective font. Century Gothic won. Below is a list of the most economical fonts.
1. Century Gothic
2. EcoFont
3. Times Roman
4. Calibri
5. Verdana
6. Arial
7. Sans Serif
8. Trebuchet
9. Tahoma
10.Franklin Gothic Medium
Whiteness, weight and coating of the paper can also play a decisive role in the final cost of the print job. Do not be shy to ask your printer the simplest way to reduce costs. Often by changing something small you are able to save a lot.
Here are some tips specifically related to home printing. Change your default printer settings to draft mode and Grey-scale. Use the print preview option to see how many pages will print. Sometimes only a few lines will spill over onto the next page and by shrinking to fit, you can save on paper.
I often print doubled sided by selecting pages to print manually and feeding the pages back into the machine flipped over. If there is only a paragraph in the document that I need, I will highlight it and then print by selection. Finally the only time that I use a new branded cartridge is when I buy a new machine that comes with one. Refilled cartridges are readily available and so are the do-it-yourself refill kits.
Graphic Design Cape Town will advise you on the most economical options available and print your marketing material with the utmost quality guaranteed. Visit us for more info: Printing Cape Town
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