...and handed in to Patrick tonight.
I have just returned from presenting Patrick with half a rain forest's worth of papers and notes.
My Personal Project 6 is now finito!!!!
Have fun, Patrick!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009
More feedback...
The Chairperson of Brighouse Pride has labelled the calendar "a great success" at the most recent meeting.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Outcomes...
What have I learned from this episode?
Well, I have discovered how many balls you can juggle at the same time and still keep them all in the air without dropping any! It was incredibly challenging to undertake and complete this project whilst still giving the time and dedication required to my business and I had moments when I was so busy with loads of other things that I was in danger of unintentionally neglecting something - thankfully, I didn't. My own project management skills were fully utilised throughout this project with, I believe, very satisfactory results.
Also, I have learnt that a project such as this needs someone close to it (eg a Brighouse Pride member) who is prepared to coordinate details and put everything into place before bringing a designer and printer on board. I found it quite a challenge, one that I was prepared to do, indeed had to do, to approach potential advertisers and persuade them to become involved. The process of having to repeatedly chase members for an update on who was advertising and then chasing the relevant company for their details, took valuable time and energy away from the actual design process. I found this to be a detriment and hope that, with greater forward planning, this will not be an issue with a 2010 project.
I have also discovered just how much time and effort is required to complete such a project. Despite the actual design side being relatively straight forward, the cross referencing and organisation needed was a surprise. Whilst the design side caused me no major heartaches, the concentration and attention to detail required to ensure no duplication or errors were made and any of the pages was a good learning curve. My usual design work is concerned with single pages, at most double sided, and this 13 page calendar gave my "housekeeping" abilities a good run out.
I have also discovered just how much time and effort is required to complete such a project. Despite the actual design side being relatively straight forward, the cross referencing and organisation needed was a surprise. Whilst the design side caused me no major heartaches, the concentration and attention to detail required to ensure no duplication or errors were made and any of the pages was a good learning curve. My usual design work is concerned with single pages, at most double sided, and this 13 page calendar gave my "housekeeping" abilities a good run out.
On a business side, I have found a new and local printer that I can use in the future. I was reasonably pleased with the product they produced and would be interested in them quoting on work for me. That is a plus point.
I discovered new levels of tolerance and diplomacy when dealing with client's. I have also learnt that some rival suppliers (printers) will never come up with the goods and will happily promise to do things just to get you of the phone - I suppose I knew that already, but it was annoying to find it out when my back was against the wall. But, on a positive spin, I now know not to use them for my own work. Swings and round-a-bouts, eh!
Would I do it again?
Despite some of the problems and difficulties I encountered, the answer is yes. I actually enjoyed doing something that gives back to my local community and would be prepared, if given more time!, to be involved again. A bigger budget would be appreciated as this would allow us to produce something different to the format we have used this year - this would be a nice idea. A bigger budget, however, is very unlikely! An earlier start on the project is much more likely to happen than more funding!
It was nice, and quite rewarding, to see the delight that people showed when they saw the finished calendars. A few words of congratulations made all the hassles seem worthwhile.
Would I do it again?
Despite some of the problems and difficulties I encountered, the answer is yes. I actually enjoyed doing something that gives back to my local community and would be prepared, if given more time!, to be involved again. A bigger budget would be appreciated as this would allow us to produce something different to the format we have used this year - this would be a nice idea. A bigger budget, however, is very unlikely! An earlier start on the project is much more likely to happen than more funding!
It was nice, and quite rewarding, to see the delight that people showed when they saw the finished calendars. A few words of congratulations made all the hassles seem worthwhile.
Feedback...
The members of the Pride were all very pleased with the calendar and declared it "to be the best we have so far produced". They were especially delighted with the colour scheme and how it complimented the children's pictures.
The members present that evening were all very impressed with the calendar and commented that it was the best one to date. They loved the choice of colours and were very happy with everything. After the similar colours and design of the 2007 and 2008 calendars, they were delighted that my design was, to them, a radical departure from the earlier ones.
The members present that evening were all very impressed with the calendar and commented that it was the best one to date. They loved the choice of colours and were very happy with everything. After the similar colours and design of the 2007 and 2008 calendars, they were delighted that my design was, to them, a radical departure from the earlier ones.
They were also very relieved that these calendars had been delivered on time and were not delayed like the previous years.
I suggested to the members that, if they wanted a calendar for 2010, we begin preparations in the middle of the year with the aim of getting everything finalised and at a print ready stage by the autumn. Also, Sue and I reiterated our view that a modest cover charge be considered.
I suggested to the members that, if they wanted a calendar for 2010, we begin preparations in the middle of the year with the aim of getting everything finalised and at a print ready stage by the autumn. Also, Sue and I reiterated our view that a modest cover charge be considered.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Delivery...
The completed calendars were delivered to Sue on Monday 5th December - the day of the final Brighouse Pride meeting before Christmas. Perfect timing!
Final pages...
It took a few weeks before Gary returned from holiday and this delayed me from completing the artwork. Eventually, Sue and Gary managed to get enough advertisers interested and I was able to complete the final pages and sent them to the printers on November 3rd.
Netherton Cross Printer...
I visited the printer armed with a set of proofs, my laptop and the artwork and all relevant files on a CD-ROM.
This is the stage at which you can suddenly find the printer cannot use your artwork and you have to redo something or, occasionally, start again. Hands on hearts time!
Thankfully, they said that everything was in order and they would begin printing ASAP.
The relief I felt was immense.
Nearly there...
It took a few days for me to draw all the adverts and place them into the relevant spaces; several of the companies had specified that they had to go onto a particular month. I played around with the positioning of them to ensure that each month had a variety of different trades displayed and that the adverts complemented each other.
I then carefully placed the scanned images of the children's pictures into the correct month - they had already been decided upon by Pride members - and added the correct child's name. This in itself was an issue that had not been fully resolved as we were still awaiting a decision on whether we could use the full name of each child or only the first name. Plus, we were still waiting for a definitive list of all the names anyway! The details eventually came through and the full names were allowed by the school.
The cover was designed quite quickly - the only problem was in deciding on a title for the calendar. I chose to call it "Brighouse 2009 - our town through young eyes". Slightly corny, but in the abscence of any firm details from the Pride, I had to use something or the cover would be, at best, anonymous and possible even confusing.
The first 9 months plus cover were now ready to show to Sue. I took a trip to her office armed with a set of prints and my Apple Mac to see her. Sue was delighted with the look of the pages and gave the thumbs up for me to send the artwork to Netherton Cross.
I returned to my studio and prepared the files for print and burnt a CD to take to the printers.
I then carefully placed the scanned images of the children's pictures into the correct month - they had already been decided upon by Pride members - and added the correct child's name. This in itself was an issue that had not been fully resolved as we were still awaiting a decision on whether we could use the full name of each child or only the first name. Plus, we were still waiting for a definitive list of all the names anyway! The details eventually came through and the full names were allowed by the school.
The cover was designed quite quickly - the only problem was in deciding on a title for the calendar. I chose to call it "Brighouse 2009 - our town through young eyes". Slightly corny, but in the abscence of any firm details from the Pride, I had to use something or the cover would be, at best, anonymous and possible even confusing.
The first 9 months plus cover were now ready to show to Sue. I took a trip to her office armed with a set of prints and my Apple Mac to see her. Sue was delighted with the look of the pages and gave the thumbs up for me to send the artwork to Netherton Cross.
I returned to my studio and prepared the files for print and burnt a CD to take to the printers.
Getting somewhere...
I set up the first file for the artwork in InDesign, using an A4 page with 3mm bleed all round - as stipulated by the printers. I then created the boxes required to hold the various components required on each page - images, adverts, log, dates etc. These were then arranged to suit the demands of my client and to make best use of the available area.
Using Illustrator, I redraw the Brighouse Pride logo from a scan I had made of an earlier calendar; this took several hours for me to accurate reproduce it. This was then placed into the correct box in the InDesign document.
The file was then copied and renamed for each month - January through December - with another file made for the cover; this would be the one page that had a different style.
The file was then converted into a PDF and emailed to Sue for her inspection. She replied that it looked great and was exactly what the wanted. I had set the artwork on both a white background and on a yellow background for Sue to choose which she wanted. The yellow background was much better for showcasing the images and complemented the theme of primary school and, therefore, Sue decided to go with this one.
Illustrator was also used for creating the artwork of the advertisers so far confirmed and I set to on these. Some were easier to do than others, with an average of 45 minutes taken on each one. Several adverts from the earlier calendar were obviously put together by the printers as some of them shared similar choices of fonts and the designs were very close. As time was important, I made the decision to redo some of the adverts myself as I did not have sufficient time to contact all of the companies to discuss their needs.
I also rang the printers to discuss the timing difficulties with them. They gave me a boost by saying that if I could get the majority of the pages to them within the week, then they could accept the final pages once we had filled all the advertising space. This was a great help to me as we had by now managed to get enough advertisers on board to fill 9 pages.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Progress of sorts...
I decided to drum up some extra advertisers my self and contacted three of my own clients about placing ads. Thankfully they all agreed.
OvenU - Halifax
Sleigh & Story, Brighouse
Refreshing Web Design, Brighouse
As I now had just over half of the required advertisers in place, I put my mind to designing the overall feel of the calendar and to preparing the adverts of the companies so far on board.
Scanning
I had to scan in each of the 13 pictures chosen for use in the calendar. These images were then converted from RGB into CMYK versions and slight colour adjustments made using Adobe Photoshop. Some minor cropping and a little cloning to remove a child's name were also carried out.
Advertisers details...
The next problem was in getting the advertisers in place and sourcing their logos and artwork. Of the 36 spaces available in the calendar, approximately 15 were allocated to advertisers from previous years who had agreed to appear in the 2009 calendar.
Due to the current difficult economic climate, some of the previous years advertisers had gone out of business whilst others could not afford to place an advert.
The Pride members had decided that the calendar would be given away free and that advertisers would pay £49.00 for a single advert and £90 for a double. Both Sue and I felt that a small cover price - £1.00 or maybe £1.50 - would be acceptable to people and would help to offset the printing costs and provide a modest profit to be used in future Pride projects.
This idea was rejected by the other Pride members who chose that the calendars would be freely given away with people allowed to make a "donation" if they felt like it. Any funds earned through donations would go to a local charity.
I contacted various pride members to ask if any artwork from previous years was available but none of the members had any. They gave me the names of the printers used in 2007 and 2008 for me to chase. I was intrigued as to why they had not used the same printer on each ocassion; was it due to cost each time? Did different pride members handle the calendar each time and not pass on the suppliers details? Was the printing also handled by the previous designer?
Hassle
It proved to be a major hassle in getting artwork for the advertisers from the original printers. The firm that produced the 2008 calendar promised me on 6 ocassions - 3 via email and 3 via phone - that they would send it. But they never did.
The 2007 printers eventually got a disk ready which I collected from them. As this was over 2 years old, many of the original advertisers were no longer involved for 2009 and those that were still on board had newer designs in place. Plus, the 2007 artwork was created in Macromedia Freehand and caused me some time consuming problems as I extracted the few parts that I could use.
Whilst awaiting the disk - which I never really expected to se or to be able to use - I had decided to redraw all the advertisers logos and adverts in Adobe Illustrator and to incorporate the few elements that I might be able to use from the original artwork (if it arrived).
Another problem was obtaining enough advertisers to fill the available spaces. Pride member Gary Blakeley was approaching various business about placing ads, but I then discovered he was to be away for a week on a holiday! This was a huge problem as without the advertisers in place, I could not design their adverts and, therefore, would be unable to get the artwork to the printers in time.
Design begins...
The thumbnails had been shown to the members of Brighouse Pride and they had decided to retain the exact same format and feel as in previous years (main image at the top, with the dates below and the 3 advertisers at the foot of each page).
This left me with no input as to the design of the calendar other than in the choice of fonts, colour etc. Whilst not a major issue to me personally, it would have been nice to be able to add a completely new feel to the calendar both in terms of actual graphic design and in the physical format and appearance of the calendar. The budget dictated the format we chose but the client wanted to retain the previous design. Oh well, the client is always right.
Preparation
I called Alan McKenna (MD of Netherton Cross Printers) to discuss the file types they accept and determine any specific instructions that I would need to observe. It was at this stage that I was told that, due to their existing commitments and work scheduling, I had to get the whole calendar designed and to them within one week.
This was a surprise and did make me wonder what I had got myself into! An already hectic work load, college projects and personal obligations made the new deadline very difficult. And I had agreed to do the design work FOC as well!
The printers advised that they wanted 3mm bleed all round the artwork and that PDF files were acceptable. Nothing different there then.
I was worried about the actual dates for the calendar - where to source an accurate version which included the necessary holiday dates and special occasions. Netherton Cross advised that they had all the dates pre-configured and could very simply add them into my artwork. Given the tight deadline now in place, this was a great bonus to me. All I had to do was advise them of the dimensions of the area that I was leaving for the dates.
I had already made the decision to use Adobe InDesign as this would allow me maximum scope for creativity whilst retaining uniformity across the 13 pages and would allow for the inclusion of different images and logos across each month of the calendar.
A printer is chosen...
I forwarded all the costings onto Sue Heginbottom and she relayed them to the Brighouse Pride members.
One of the members suggested that Sue contacted Netherton Cross Printers, a firm just outside Huddersfield. Their price of £1300.00 plus VAT for the 13 page A4 wire-O bound calendar was the best we had obtained and Sue commissioned them for the printing.
On October 7th, the printer advised that I had 2 weeks in which to prepare the artwork. This would allow them sufficient time to print and collate the calendar before passing them to the firm who were to add the wire-O bindings.
Quotes...
I obtained a quote from a printer based locally near Halifax. Although they were less than Siddalls, they still came in too expensive for my client - A4 @ £2895.00 and A3 @ £3900.00.
I trawled through the www in order to locate a cheaper option but was unable to find a company that was cheap enough to be in contention whilst retaining the required quality. Also, I much preferred to be able to meet with the printer and discuss any issues directly with them - this would be impossible with a web based printer.
Eventually, I received a quote from a York based printers, North Wolds Printers.
Their prices for the 13 page, wire-O bound style were:
A3 £2871.00 plus VAT and carriage.
A4 £1747.00 plus VAT and carriage.
They supplied a quote for "desk" calendars with 13 pages at £1875.00 plus VAT for 2,000.
The project begins...
First contact
I was first approached about the calendar for Brighouse Pride via an email on 2nd September 2008. I was due to take a family holiday between 5th and 22nd September and was only able to have a brief meeting with Sue Heginbottom to discuss the calendar before my departure, with the aim of beginning work on the project when I returned. This delay later led to some minor problems with the printer's deadlines.
I called my usual printer and requested quotations on the calendars based on what my client had previously had. Also, during my holiday, I gave some initial thoughts to how the calendar might appear based on the information Sue had told me about their previous ones.
Beginning work
After I returned from holiday, I prepared some simple thumbnail designs for my client to see. These were based on A4 size – with the option of A3 if the budget would allow – for each of the pages. The thumbnails showed a variety of layout solutions with different sizes of the children’s images and accommodation the necessary information for each month – dates, Brighouse Pride logo, advertiser's details etc.
The thumbnails included portrait and landscape options as I tried different ways of fitting all the information onto each page.
Variations
Additionally, as I spoke with various printers, I looked into other ways of presenting the calendar.
Case The option of having the calendar in a neat CD case with each month able to be displayed in a free-standing acrylic case was very tempting. However, as the size of each page would only be 116mm x 135mm, this was too small to satisfactorily arrange all the details in a clearly visible way.
Also, the costs of these – 2000 units at £1300 plus VAT for full colour on one side – were deemed too high. A smaller version in a 3.5” case was still too costly – 2000 units at £1054 plus VAT – and the pages were even smaller at 89mm x 92mm.
Though very attractive in style and packaging, the CD style calendar was out of the running due to cost and ability to adequately display all the information. This style would be fine for a calendar that did not need to show 3 advertisers logos per page.
Hanging A cost effective version was the “hanging calendar” – 2000 A3 units were only £596 plus VAT. However, as these showed a full year on one page, they would not accommodate all the children’s images or the advertisers logos and were not suitable for the task.
14 months We also considered calendars which showed 14 months – December 2008 through to January 2010. These were available in sizes A5, A4 and A3 in both landscape and portrait versions.
However, the costs were considered too high – ranging from £1395 to £5064 – and also we had insufficient time to produce this version.
Wallplaners These were also suggested as the costs were quite attractive and the sizes of A2 (450mm x 594mm) or Super A1 (891mm x 630mm) would allow all the details to be displayed.
The costs ranged from £604 to £979 plus VAT – a gloss laminate to the face would add approximately £150 to the job.
However, as they were so large and required sufficient wall space to hang them, they were deemed unsuitable for the project.
They were also ruled out as all 13 of the children’s images and each of the advertisers (a total of 36) would be presented on one single page and would appear too “busy”.
Desk The largest format in this style, “Chunky”, was only 3 panels at 210mm x 138mm and, once again, too little space was offered.
I obtained prices on these from several sources, but the sizes and space available for all the information was too small.
Quotations
It quickly became apparent that the style previously used by the Pride (13 pages, wire-O bound at the top) would be most suitable. It only remained to get competitive quotes and choose between A4 and A3 size.
My usual printer (Siddall Colour of Cleckheaton) emailed some costs. Even passing on my discount of 10% to the client, these proved much higher than I had anticipated;
CALENDARS. 13 leaf. 4/0.
13 leaves printed FULL colour 1 side only. Leaf 1 on 280gsm, rest on 170gsm art. 500 mic Greyboard back. Wire-O bound at head with calendar hanger. Supplied with board backed envelopes.
Subject to sight of artwork supplied. Price includes 10% discount.
A4 2,000 at a net price of: £4,970.00
A3 2,000 at a net price of: £7,880.00
I returned to my printer and requested they try again and bring the costs down as low as possible. They managed a small reduction;
A4 2,000 at a net price of: £4,473.00
A3 2,000 at a net price of: £7,093.00
These costs were style far too high for my client to afford. I looked elsewhere and contacted other printers – about 6 in total – of whom some did not even bother to return with a quote.
I was first approached about the calendar for Brighouse Pride via an email on 2nd September 2008. I was due to take a family holiday between 5th and 22nd September and was only able to have a brief meeting with Sue Heginbottom to discuss the calendar before my departure, with the aim of beginning work on the project when I returned. This delay later led to some minor problems with the printer's deadlines.
I called my usual printer and requested quotations on the calendars based on what my client had previously had. Also, during my holiday, I gave some initial thoughts to how the calendar might appear based on the information Sue had told me about their previous ones.
Beginning work
After I returned from holiday, I prepared some simple thumbnail designs for my client to see. These were based on A4 size – with the option of A3 if the budget would allow – for each of the pages. The thumbnails showed a variety of layout solutions with different sizes of the children’s images and accommodation the necessary information for each month – dates, Brighouse Pride logo, advertiser's details etc.
The thumbnails included portrait and landscape options as I tried different ways of fitting all the information onto each page.
Variations
Additionally, as I spoke with various printers, I looked into other ways of presenting the calendar.
Case The option of having the calendar in a neat CD case with each month able to be displayed in a free-standing acrylic case was very tempting. However, as the size of each page would only be 116mm x 135mm, this was too small to satisfactorily arrange all the details in a clearly visible way.
Also, the costs of these – 2000 units at £1300 plus VAT for full colour on one side – were deemed too high. A smaller version in a 3.5” case was still too costly – 2000 units at £1054 plus VAT – and the pages were even smaller at 89mm x 92mm.
Though very attractive in style and packaging, the CD style calendar was out of the running due to cost and ability to adequately display all the information. This style would be fine for a calendar that did not need to show 3 advertisers logos per page.
Hanging A cost effective version was the “hanging calendar” – 2000 A3 units were only £596 plus VAT. However, as these showed a full year on one page, they would not accommodate all the children’s images or the advertisers logos and were not suitable for the task.
14 months We also considered calendars which showed 14 months – December 2008 through to January 2010. These were available in sizes A5, A4 and A3 in both landscape and portrait versions.
However, the costs were considered too high – ranging from £1395 to £5064 – and also we had insufficient time to produce this version.
Wallplaners These were also suggested as the costs were quite attractive and the sizes of A2 (450mm x 594mm) or Super A1 (891mm x 630mm) would allow all the details to be displayed.
The costs ranged from £604 to £979 plus VAT – a gloss laminate to the face would add approximately £150 to the job.
However, as they were so large and required sufficient wall space to hang them, they were deemed unsuitable for the project.
They were also ruled out as all 13 of the children’s images and each of the advertisers (a total of 36) would be presented on one single page and would appear too “busy”.
Desk The largest format in this style, “Chunky”, was only 3 panels at 210mm x 138mm and, once again, too little space was offered.
I obtained prices on these from several sources, but the sizes and space available for all the information was too small.
Quotations
It quickly became apparent that the style previously used by the Pride (13 pages, wire-O bound at the top) would be most suitable. It only remained to get competitive quotes and choose between A4 and A3 size.
My usual printer (Siddall Colour of Cleckheaton) emailed some costs. Even passing on my discount of 10% to the client, these proved much higher than I had anticipated;
CALENDARS. 13 leaf. 4/0.
13 leaves printed FULL colour 1 side only. Leaf 1 on 280gsm, rest on 170gsm art. 500 mic Greyboard back. Wire-O bound at head with calendar hanger. Supplied with board backed envelopes.
Subject to sight of artwork supplied. Price includes 10% discount.
A4 2,000 at a net price of: £4,970.00
A3 2,000 at a net price of: £7,880.00
I returned to my printer and requested they try again and bring the costs down as low as possible. They managed a small reduction;
A4 2,000 at a net price of: £4,473.00
A3 2,000 at a net price of: £7,093.00
These costs were style far too high for my client to afford. I looked elsewhere and contacted other printers – about 6 in total – of whom some did not even bother to return with a quote.
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