"I needed a sign and my current printer said he could do it, so I let them".

That is what our very first customer told us when we found out that he had had two 2'x3' presentation signs made by the printer that handles the printing of his legal briefs. Each sign had a picture and text, but were slightly different from each other. The printer produced each sign on their traditional offset press, at a cost of over $300 (due to pre-press and press set up, proofs, multiple colors, etc).

A month later, when our customer was doing another presentation, we bid it out to a number of printers that had Large-Format printers. The cost of this job was $75.00.   He had paid almost 4x that amount for the previous print job!

"I don't have time to find a printer, so I called the closest shop"

Sound familiar?

There is no "one-stop" shop. Printers that specialize in legal documents understand the specific needs of that industry and excel. But, ask them to print a 2'x3' display with graphics and they most likely will not have the knowledge or correct equipment. This customer went to Kinko's (Reason: They have a huge sign area!).

This  is true, but with the exception of a few markets with Kinko's sign centers, the "in-house" capabilities are an HP aqueous inkjet printer, to produce signs for indoor use. The Kinko's employee didn't know the difference between UV ink and UV curable printing, resulting in disappointment. This banner only lasted a few weeks before it faded and was not presentable.

The customer needed output from a solvent or UV curable device, where 3-5 year durability without lamination for outdoor elements is common. We determined that their ongoing need justified a purchase of a small, 48" eco-solvent printer, and in the long run, they saved money.

"I don't need high-quality signage, my clients get the message"

As industry experts, we recognize the fine line between the quality of the printing and the message it is intended to convey. The question is "when does the quality of the print create a barrier to understanding the message?". Recently, we had a client that pointed out that the picture of the ice cream cone above their store's register was "clearly an ice cream cone" and promoted his message. After a quick survey of his customers, we discovered that the off-white, out of focus image did not create the intended result and stood in the way of creating a desire to purchase an ice-cream cone. This client quickly re-did his interior signage to promote a cleaner, crisper message.

"I'm only doing a few prints, so I know it'll be expensive".

Sounds like the same people who say "I'm going to Las Vegas, It's OK if I lose a little money". We know a lot of people, and none of them like to lose money. This is just plain false. You just need to know where to get your printing needs fulfilled!

How do you get the best price and quality without spending your day calling around to lots of printers?

Let IPS do the work for you!