What are you printing for?
The catalogue is arranged the way a printer thinks — cards, banners, apparel. Nobody wakes up needing “apparel”. These pages are arranged the other way round: by the job, with the products that do it and the lead times that make it plannable.
Corporate gifting
A gift with a logo on it is judged twice: once as a gift and once as a signal of how the company does things. The items below are the ones that survive both tests — things people keep on a desk rather than in a drawer.
Starting a business
A new business needs a surprisingly short list of printed things, and ordering them in the wrong order wastes money. Settle the logo and the address first, because both appear on almost everything below and a change after printing means reprinting.
Events and exhibitions
A stand has to work from across a hall and from a metre away, and those are different jobs. Height and a clear name do the first; something worth taking home does the second. The items below cover both, plus the passes and signage that keep the day running.
Schools and colleges
An institution orders in bursts — an intake, a sports day, a convocation — and each burst has a fixed date that nothing will move. The items below cover the recurring ones, with the quantities and lead times that make them plannable rather than fraught.
Restaurants and cafés
Almost everything a customer touches in a restaurant is printed, and most of it is reprinted more often than owners expect — menus change, prices change, and a laminated sheet with a sticker over one line is noticed by everybody.
Weddings and celebrations
The date is fixed, the guest list moves, and the invitations have to be posted long before either feels settled. Everything below is grouped by when it is actually needed rather than by what it is.
Agencies
An agency orders print for somebody else, which changes what matters: the invoice has to be in the right name, the delivery has to reach the client rather than the studio, and the colour on the proof has to be the colour on the box. The items below are the ones agencies reorder most, and each page states its minimum and its production time so a client can be given a date rather than a guess.
Pharma and healthcare
Healthcare print is read by people who are unwell, in a hurry, or both, and some of it is regulated. That puts legibility ahead of every other design decision: type size, contrast and a paper that does not fight the ink. The items below cover the leaflet in the box, the label on it, the material a representative carries, and what staff wear.
Gyms and fitness
A gym is branded by what its trainers wear and what its members carry out of the door. Both get sweated on, washed and dropped, so the fabric and the finish matter more than they do on a conference giveaway. The list below starts with the kit, because it is worn every day, and ends with the signage that sells the membership.
Real estate
Property is sold with a brochure that is kept and a sign that is seen from a moving car, and the two need opposite things: one wants weight and detail, the other wants three words and a phone number. The items below are arranged the way a launch is — the sales office, the site and the material that leaves with the buyer.
Something else
These are the jobs people ask for most, not a limit on what can be ordered. The full price list covers every product with its real minimum quantity, and delivery times by city covers where it can go.