For the best part of 25 years I’ve worked on design-for-print projects from the bizarre to the borderline impossible and, for the most part, have enjoyed every second of the process of applying creativity to commerce.
But there’s a part of the process which designers rarely talk about with their clients: print and distribution. Without these we are redundant. The most effective design in the world is of no use if your print standards aren’t high enough and in the hands of your customer at the right time. And in the hospitality sector where I’ve cut my cloth this is always going to be 100% essential. And that’s where everyone needs an efficient and experienced print and distribution maestro.
Allow me to share some stats with you;
- About 3 times a year we undertake print and distribution for 1 client approximately 350,000 litho and digitally printed items broken down into 24 different menus and pieces of point-of-sale.
- Over 3 days these are then bespokely picked, collated, packed and delivered to restaurants from Aberdeen to Plymouth, Belfast to Eastbourne and over 250 destinations in between.
- On time, in full. 100% success.
- And, at last count, with over 2.6 million print impressions for a single client last year, we like to think we’ve got some great design working hard to deliver improved results for some of our favourite clients.
So, in the spirit of International Women’s Day this week, I salute and thank the most efficient and conscientious print and delivery system I have ever known.
Ladies, and gentlemen, please be upstanding and raise a glass of sherry to MY print and distribution maestro: Leigh Hammans. (Not that she gets much of a chance to drink but when she does it’s usually a sherry).
Cheers Leigh!
