I have featured Thank You Cards previously on this blog (click here for previous post) and they have become very popular. I have recently been discussing these at the pre-wedding meeting and some of my clients are choosing the design and layout before the wedding so that they only have to choose the image or images to get them ordered. As we aways have the photographs on-line within 24 hours, and the cards can be printed and ready to collect in 1-3 days, you can have these very soon after your wedding. 

The most popular design has 1 image on the front and 1 on the inside with ether a printed or hand-written message, or combining both. The sample above has 3 smaller images below the main shot but you can have any design you want in either upright or landscape format. Click more to see a few more examples.

This one was printed upright as A6 and Michelle chose to use black and white for each image and to have some printed text and write a personal message between the printing.

This one was done in the landscape format and again, the Bride chose to use black and white images.

We are one of the few companies that leave all our photographs on-line and have all our weddings going back to 2005 on our website. The advantage of this is that clients who do not order an album at the time of the wedding can do this at any time. We have recently had 2 clients from 2007 that have just ordered their albums (click here to see the album from a wedding at Mar Lodge). Pauline and Paul did not get round to deciding on their album at the time of the wedding but recently decided to order a beautiful Graphistudio book and below is the first draft that has been sent to them to review.

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Margaret and Ian selected a landscape format for their album and have chosen to include their stationery, menu, and table plan. See the page layouts below.

We have just added a page to our website with details of Thank You Cards that we often supply for clients but rather stupidly, have never promoted. We have had eight orders for these in the last month which has prompted me to offer this service and in the future we will offer this at the pre-wedding meeting, 

These cards are a great way to thank your friends and family for the gifts or any help you have had with your wedding. You can have any design you want using one image or several. We supply you a pdf proof before they are printed to make sure they are exactly what you want. If you have a theme to match, you can send us a sample to match to.

You can decide to print everything including your signatures so you just to have address the envelopes. Alternatively you can leave the inside blank and personalise them perhaps mentioning the gift etc. A good option is to print the inside right of the card so they are ready to post but use the inside right for a handwritten note when appropriate. 

Delivery is 2-5 days but if you want to post them very quickly after the wedding, you can have the card design done and approved before the wedding so that all you have to do after the wedding is choose the image or images required.

All cards on this service are printed on a 300sgm board in either smooth, silk, gloss, ivory or a textured finish. You can have both text and images on the inside as well as the outside, in colour or black and white. These come supplied creased and folded with conqueror envelopes.

  The prices for 50-99 are:

  A6 single sided    £1.30

  A6 double sided   £1.50

  A5 single sided    £1.80

   A5 double sided   £2.10

A client and friend of mine wanted to create some posters for his daughter's 16th birthday and had an idea to use some old photographs of her and present them as a magazine cover, and print them as A1 posters as a surprise for Lucy.

As always the posters were required very urgently and I did not have time to do it so I delegated the job to David (blog post about David to be added soon) who started work with us in April. David scanned the prints Tommy had given us and then designed the poster. I sent a proof as a pdf to Tommy who was delighted with it and ordered several A1 and A2 versions to surprise (embarrass) Lucy. As we design and print posters for our commercial clients (click here), we often get asked to do personal jobs such as this and there are more examples of personal posters here.

One of the many products that we supply is digitally printed wallpaper. We have done several jobs where this has been used very effectively and I intend to feature several of these on this blog. Last year Bob Fitzgerald (see post) met with me to discuss his plans for the restaurant in the Craighaar Hotel. The theme was to be a garden room. After looking at various options, we decided that digital wallpaper was the best option.

We then looked for stock garden shots to use but could not find anything suitable and as large files were required, it was just as cost effective for me to take the photographs. We decided that very colourful shots would not be suitable and we wanted something more calming and muted, and possibly even with a early morning mist. I went to photograph Crathes Castle Gardens several mornings between 5 and 6am but never got the mist I was hoping for. Eventually I took a range of shots of the more overgrown natural areas of the gardens including some in a "panorama" type format where several shots are taken with overlap and these are joined later using Photoshop. On the way out I photographed the area on the right hand of the drive just as you enter Crathes Castle. The water, the bridge, and the "depth" to the shots was what I was looking for and there was also scope for good panorama shots and it was eventually these that were used.

The next stage was to photograph the restaurant and prepare visuals for Bob and the GM of the Craighaar. The job was in progress so the shots were taken in a "building site" but the visuals were approved (despite the fact that they could not properly convey the finished look and only showed the wall coverings). Then careful measurements were taken and the files prepared to print the wallpaper.

The images are printed on high quality vinyl wall coverings and supplied as rolls of wallpaper custom sized for each area with the appropriate overlap to allow the decorator to hang the paper and achieve a seamless finish. I met with the decorator to ensure he got what he needed. His team made a great job of hanging the paper and Bob then added lots of little touches including plants, and traditional Lion head wall fountains to complete the look.

The finished job was very well received by both Bob and the Craighaar and matched the visuals supplied and created the effect and mood required. Click here to see more photographs of this project.

Digital wallpaper is a very effective way to achieve a custom look for any space. You are only limited by your imagination and we have supplied wallpaper with logos, purchased stock images, shots from our library, and from copied artwork. We have created designs customised with areas left for TV screens, and to include text etc. This type of display can really help develop a theme (we produced a great wall of a black and white shot of New York with yellow cabs for the City Bar (post to be added soon), and I am currently working on visuals of iconic sports shots to use for a sports bar in Aberdeen, which will also feature in a future post.

If you have an area in your home or business that you want to transform, please contact me and I can create visuals and give you a quote.

Point of Sale Material

Many people including our clients are not aware of all the services we provide and although taking photographs and supplying images for many uses is what we are known for, we also provide design for a wide range of projects including posters that we print in-house. These are used in hotels, pubs, clubs, and retail outlets to promote and inform. This is a very cost effective medium and it is well worth investing in the design to create an eye-catching professional appearance. Often the investment in design repays itself many times over as you can use it as a “template” and simplify modify it for future use.

The 4 posters featured here give an idea of the uses for this type of material:

EDC Hotels : A 4 ft x 3ft print was produced showing the 5 Holiday Inn’s owned by European Development Company (EDC). This is being used in reception of their Albyn Place head office so all visitors are reminded of the group’s hotel.

Washbay: This A1 poster is displayed at the Washbay premises in Salisbury Place to remind clients of the services offered and to enhance their credibility. This poster was created from the same artwork used for an A5 advert in a magazine so the cost of the artwork had already been covered and an A1 high quality photographic poster can cost as little as £19.

Wimbledon at the Albyn: This artwork was used as A1 posters outside and inside the Albyn Bar and Restaurant to promote the showing of Wimbledon (and the strawberry and champagne offer) on the many screens at the bar. A new screen outside had just been installed so clients could sit outside in the sun but still watch the tennis. The same artwork was used for cards on al the tables and on the TV screens. We photographed the champagne and strawberries in the studio (and consumed them), supplied the large format sign holders used outside, the table cards, and a TV format version of the artwork.

Douglas Hotel Service Guide: The A1 posters were created with images already taken for the Hotel. They are on every floor so residents are informed of the facilities available to them in the hotel – Mollys bar and restaurant, Malones, the Arran Room, and Bali-bliss. The images we have taken for the hotel have been widely used for

• The website that we have created
• Signs on the outside of the building
• TV screen in reception
• Pull up banners at exhibition
• Leaflets and brochures (new ones supplied last week)
• e-mail marketing which we are about to start on

This highlights how good value images can be and most people accept that the saying that a “picture is worth a thousand words” is definitely the case for advertising and promotion.

A case study for the Douglas and the services provided will be featured on a future blog post and our website.

(click to see a larger version of the posters)

Posters – Design and Print

Although most of the page layout, design, and print work we do is for our commercial client’s, (click here for blog on this) we are often asked to create posters for personal use. Above are three different ones done recently.

Eastenders: One of my best friend’s son’s- Barry, Jordan, and Josh Clarkson were in restaurant in Spain and had their photograph taken with Kara Tointon who plays Dawn Swan in Eastenders. The photographs were not great and had red eye and were low resolution. The mutual friend who took the photographs wanted to give a framed poster size print as a gift so we enhanced the images, added The Estenders logo and background, and added text to create a nice poster, which when framed looked great. Click the thumbnail above to view it.

Old Trafford: Barry Woods took his Dad to Old Trafford as part of his 50th birthday celebrations and wanted to give his Dad something to commemorate this. He had taken photographs on his phone but they were no use for a poster size print so we got a shot of Old Trafford on-line and scanned the ticket and added it, the phone photographs , and text to create something to frame and keep as a memory of a great Father and son trip. Click the thumbnail above to view it.

12 portrait display: This was done for my daughter (so not very lucrative). A friend of hers had bought a frame with 12 apertures for prints and when I saw Natasha trying to fit the small prints into the flimsy mount, I suggested creating the same effect by adding the images to a 20inch x 20 inch layout and printing it as one print to fit the existing frame. Click the thumbnail above to view it.

If you need to present something or create something with artwork and photographs, call us and see what we can do for you.