L I M E Blog

It's just paper!

So I set out to find some paper, and as I sat there, looking at 30+ books of paper samples I asked myself... what's the big deal? It's just paper right? WOW! Was I so wrong! I knew there were different types, such as glossy, matte, card stock and photo... and that you could have it almost any color you want... But I didn't know that fibers, and weight, and texture could make such a big difference. I didn't know that paper came in lbs... I suppose in this industry it is about time I learn. So I spent some time looking through the paper... and some time on the phone with Dale at Printing Resources, and feel that though I am still a paper novice, at least I know enough to ask the right questions... :D 

So when it is time to get some new business cards, or brochures, or time to get those door hangers ready, I will be more able to help! 

Happy Printing!

Kristy

Hard Disks

We put so much trust in our digital storage medias. We put our pictures in the hands of memory cards, and our audio files in our iPods, and pretty much everything on our hard disks. Well, I have gone through my whole life without ever experiencing hard disk failure. I am was very lucky. I am also an avid fan of "Time Machine" in leopard (Mac OS X) This has been reassuring to know that if my hard disk were to fail, I wouldn't be too far up a creek without a paddle. Well, last week my worst fears came to fruition when my main hard drive had a failure of the external circuitry rendering it undetectable by any computers. Fortunately, I had a spare HDD lying around as well as my trusty backup. Thanks to Apple, my computer was as good as new in under 4 hours. However, a week later, i found that my backup disk failed as well, this time do to the internal components of the disk. It's under warranty, and i was able to use another spare to make another back up of my data.

So, why am I telling you all this? Because I want to stress the importance of backing up your files. The more digital our society becomes, the more important all of our files are going to become. Don't get cought losing everything from tax information to family pictures. We at L I M E have to be cautious of this, and we work hard to back up all of our client's data to ensure no loss of important information. Consider this a public service announcement. BACK UP YOUR DATA!

Playing

This week I have been doing research for Makeup Companies and Cosmetic Surgeons for a few of our clients, and found some pretty cool websites. I went to the MaryKay website that I found let you put makeup and hair on a picture of yourself (or a model that they provided). It was a lot of fun to play around on. And even though I am not the biggest fan of their makeup (or any makeup for that matter) their site is defiantly worth a visit. 

Colors

We all learn about the primary colors when we are in grade school, but not everyone knows that those colors (red, yellow, and blue) are the primary colors in only in specific settings. There are two types of color mixing; Additive and subtractive.

Subtractive Colors
RYB (red, yellow, blue) is an example of subtractive colors. We have developed this concept into what is known as CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). Whenever we print, we use these colors. Its called subtractive because the more colors you mix together, the darker they get. For instance, adding a cyan (blue) to a yellow makes a green which is going to be darker than either color individually. It's very hard to mix these colors to get light colors. There are many shades which are virtually impossible to print.

Additive Colors
RGB (red, green, blue) is what is known as additive colors. this is the type of color we experience all around us. Light emits a spectrum of colors. These colors are then either absorbed or reflected by objects, and the reflected light is what interacts with our eyes to stimulate a color interpretation by our brain. For instance, a red apple absorbs all the colors of the spectrum except for the red light, which is then reflected and seen by our eyes and interpreted by our brains. Black is produced by all of the colors being absorbed, thus why black materials get so hot. It's because all the energy of the light is being absorbed by that color. This is also how monitors work. There are red, green, and blue pixels. By adjusting the intensity of these colors, monitors can simulate most any color.

 

Putting them together
In our industry, we deal with both print and on screen colors. This becomes a difficulty because colors don't always translate perfectly. Additionally, since CMYK is more limiting as far as a printable spectrum, many times you may be surprised at how different things look after printing compared to your screen. It's not perfected yet, but computers can do a pretty good job at compensating. We at L I M E work very hard to make sure these colors come a close to possible to the desired shade. It may take a couple tries, but in the end we do everything possible to get that color perfect print.

Therapy

Occasionally, LIME gets projects that are turned over to me for brainstorming, when this happens, I print off every thing that I need and shut myself in our little “war room” and proceed to tape up pictures, notes and any other random ideas, across a couple of white boards that line one of the walls. This happened yesterday and as I started cutting and taping my fellow office members started giving me those indulgent “let the crazy honey do her thing” kind of looks. And although everyone in the office thinks this is funny, I have decided that I like having my brain taped up on the wall. There is something very therapeutic about being able to see all of your ideas at one time and to be able to rearrange them easily. (It beats trying to do the same thing on a computer screen) I will admit that doing it digitally is a lot less messy, but also a lot less satisfying than taping things on a wall. I am a bit old fashioned and like being able to touch my ideas and lay them all out. (it feels good, kind of like checking something off of a list) So, despite the laughter of the office in general, my Brainstorming on a wall will continue. I like it. And it adds "decoration" to an otherwise boring room. 

Planning

It is interesting to see how some people are able to plan ahead and get things done way before a deadline, and some thrive under pressure and wait until the last minute to make decisions and finish a project. In most industries this is okay, but in our industry planning ahead is key. It can be the difference of being able to print your project on time or not. Sure, there are times when last minute is the only option, or that something was forgotten. For these times we all generally pay a pretty penny to get our items printed on time and up to our high standards. Simply stated, lets work together to plan ahead and reduce the stress all around! By planning ahead we can make your event, presentation, or marketing campaign a stress free success!