… is not as easy as one would think. Or at least not as easy as I thought it would be.
The basic lessons are as follows:
1) Always call twice.
2) Expect to get a different story the next day.
3) You get what you pay for.
After contemplating different options I decided to simply go with the traditional postcard for advertisement (maybe next time I’ll go for a bumper sticker). Not being able to afford a professional photographer, I tried my hand at it. After about two weeks of cursing the results, and some help from Joe, I came up with a rather cool image.
I had some business cards printed up last December by a printer I’d gotten to know and wanted to go to him for this project. However, there was no answer to my phone call. I tried looking up his company online but saw no trace of the website and so assumed something had happened and he’d gone out of business. I decided I should try the cheap route… and headed to Kinko’s.
I went in on a Thursday afternoon and spoke to the helpful guy behind the counter. I asked him the price per page, what file format I should use, and the proper sizing for each image. The answers he gave sounded good; 99 cents per page, in PDF, and images were to be 4.25×5.5 inches in order to fit four images on each sheet of card stock. After asking a few more questions, I went home and got everything in order.
When I arrived the next day the person who came to my assistance told me that I would not be able to fit four images on a sheet. This person was very snippy and it took some coaxing to find out the reasons behind this inability. She just kept not-quite-yelling that it wouldn’t fit. Once I found out the reasons, that they don’t do “full-bleed” images and instead need a quarter-inch gutter around each image, she then informed me that the only card stock she could give me would cost $2.30 per sheet.
So I decided to look through the phone book. While perusing the printing section I came across the company who’d done my business cards. I decided to try calling them again. They answered! I can still get some cards printed from them… 100 cards for $113.75, 250 for $217, etc. I know they will be good quality. I just need to decide if I want to spend that much money when I’ve found another solution…
Gnomon Copy on Mount Auburn St. in Harvard Square. On the same day that Kinko’s lost my business, I got a recommendation to try this company. They too would require a quarter inch gutter around each image, but it came to 85 cents per page and they were very nice to me.
The quality of the text on the back isn’t as sharp as one would like, but the picture is good and they are done! I still may get some by Westwood Graphics (look in the Cambridge, MA phone book… they’re not online), but the urgency isn’t as keen as it was last week.
Updating the gallery… with luck more people will be viewing it in the next month.