Custom Brochures - 4 Things That Go Wrong

Printed custom brochures are still a major industry. Whatever happened to that paperless world we were supposed to have gone to by now? Even now with multiple computers in every home, people still want to hold big, pretty, color brochures in their hands, so companies still have to print the elaborate custom brochures and in color.

Often someone will go out on the Web just to get some comparison prices to see if the local printer they have been using for years is overcharging them. Many are surprised to see the amount of printing services that are now available online. More and more people are turning to the internet for all their printing needs from simple flyers to complex custom brochures but there are things that can go very wrong and you need to know about them.

Deadline: If you are looking to get those custom brochures done online you will probably start your Google search with something like cheap color brochure printing. This is an ok place to start searching but often “cheap” brings you right into the first problem area which is deadlines. Deadlines or how soon you have to have those custom brochures is an important thing to look at when shopping for brochure printing online. Remember to check where they are physically located and allow for shipping time to your location. You can see how big the brick and mortar print shop is when you walk in but that is not as easy to evaluate when talking about an online print shop. They maybe able to deliver cheap color brochure printing but can they meet your deadline.

Color: Remember how you use to run down to the printers to do that “print check” just before they did the entire run. They actually stopped and held the huge printing presses waiting for you to sign off on the colors before they did the whole run of your custom brochures. Color brochure printing is a little different when you are having it done online. The main thing you have to remember is that the colors you see on your computer screen will be different on paper. Be sure you have some control over the final outcome of the exact hues and shades of colors you need for your custom brochures. Digital color printing can be as good as traditional offset color printing.

Sharpness: Cheap color brochure printing may not give you images and details that are clear and smooth. Without it your company brochure will not impress your customers. Since you are spending a portion of the advertising budget to “Wow” your customers, the images and details in your custom brochures really have to “pop”; otherwise you have wasted both time and money. Custom brochures and color catalogs require all possible detail for the correct product image. Look for companies and services that advertise digital color printing at about 230 line screen resolution for best results. This high resolution helps to ensure that your printed color job will look sharp and clear.

Fold: Whether you are looking for a half fold, Z fold or tri-fold in those custom brochures, it all has to be designed on the proper panel sizes other wise you’ll end up with folds across your text or images, which is not good. Most online color brochure printing services will show you these panel size selections as you are placing your order. Usually they will have a page or two on their site that helps you pick the correct panel but sometimes they are too cryptic to easily understand. For example with some online brochure printers you have to know ahead of time that a it takes 2 equal panels and a shorter panel to make a tri-fold.