Chances are, if you have designed for any length of time in the business world, you have worked with various printing companies. Your efforts to create and maintain lasting relationships with a printer are often the silent part of your job. For example, your boss calls:

“Hey, I just remembered, we want to put a full four color photo in the middle of that two-color poster you just made and sent to bid.”

And while they hang up the phone and think about lunch, you’re on the phone to the three printers you’ve sent bids to, praying that they have a sense of humor. And they do, bless them…they have to, after inhaling that much ink every day.

A lot of this might be old hat for the longtime in-houser or freelance folk, but for the newbies and the uninitiated, the strain of serving the best needs of everyone can be daunting. And as important as it is for designers, printers and clients to have a code of ethics, the designer must serve as ombudsman and all-around champion for their business, the printer’s business, and the needs of the project at hand. It’s a delicate line, but it’s an easy one to travel if you’re willing to treat every experience as a learning one.

Before we start…

For the sake of simplicity I’m going to combine the supervisor/manager/guy who signs checks into one word: Since I can’t actually use that word on this website, I will choose a euphemism and call them “The Boss.”

A quick set of rules:

1: You were hired by The Boss. You must represent their needs.
There’s no doubt that what you do is dictated by the needs of your company or organization. If you’re working with a printer who decides to tack a couple extra fees not covered by your bid, or if they tell you that they ONLY work with a particular paper or ONLY accept jobs of a thousand copies or more, then it’s your duty to say “no thanks” and continue on down the road. If you bid a job for 700 copies and you only need 500, don’t say “well, I don’t want to upset the printer.” Your job is to represent the needs of your company, not the needs of your printer.

This does not mean that you can’t commiserate with your printer, hug your printer or send them an email saying. “My boss scaled the job back; can you re-price this job for me?”

On the reverse…don’t let your printer dictate things to you, either. There is a difference between your printer saying “the layout of this will cost a lot of paper waste; you might consider scaling it down” and “We’ve got some spare cardstock that we’re gonna use for your project in the back.”

2: You cannot bend or break the laws of color.
A perennial favorite with The Boss, and never a problem with the printer, but this is one of my favorites. Someone will ask you for a glossy postcard with their company logo on the back….in color. But they don’t want to pay for it. This is a point where the exact amount of cash will come in handy.

Example:
Them: “Hey, designer, we want our logo in color here.”
You: “That will cost $137.00 more.
Them: “Oh…then I guess…not?”
You: “You guess right.”

Keep a Pantone swatchbook in your back pocket. I cannot stress this ENOUGH. If they say “it’s not the right green, but keep trying,” hand them the swatchbook and say “Please choose one of these colors now.” Don’t let them leave the room without choosing a color and don’t let them take the swatchbook. DON’T LET THEM TAKE THE SWATCHBOOK. Did I mention that they can’t have the…nevermind. Moving on.

3: Have an answer for everyone under ten words: Oh, your printer will be happy and your boss will be happy. If you bid the job for a monotone Pantone 2685 and the printer asks if a digital estimation is okay, don’t email them back with “Well, I talked to the boss, and the boss isn’t sure, because we did that last time and it didn’t seem to match right, and I was kinda freaked out, because it reminded me of this thing I went through in college where everybody wanted to smoke salvia plants and I said ‘no,’ but…” It is enough to say “Let me see a proof.”

And when you send the email to The Boss, don’t repeat the jargon of the printer. Say “I’m bringing you a proof. Please check the color.”

4: You are the chosen expert in your field – act like it. There is a time and place for indecision. It’s in your closet when you’re getting ready to go out for the night. Don’t freak out if things are late or incorrect on the proof. The Boss will sense your fear and indecision, and you will suffer. Nothing is worse than the thought of a client saying “I like Sally, but she tends to be panicky.” Sympathize, commiserate, get on the phone with the printer and say “I trust that you’re working as fast as you can. Please give me a call or email the moment the job is ready/corrected.”

Conversely, if you don’t know what an 8-up on Classic Crest 80lb is, don’t try to bluff. Sing out, loud and proud, “EXPLAIN THAT TO ME PLEASE.” Your prestige with the printer goes up, your knowledge increases, your life gets better.

5: When in doubt, trust your printer. It’s a simple fact. They’ve dealt with thousands of clients and hundreds of designers on MILLIONS of products. If they make a recommendation, you’re 90 percent certain they’re doing it to please you and make you come back for more. Printers want designers to be happy and successful. Happy designers get better clients. Better clients give more work to designers that printers will benefit from. It’s a good cycle.

until the next
Dyer Straits
Tom

Thomas (Tom) Stephan | Director of Something Clever
BoDo Author | Dyer Straits