Getting Started: Questions for Every Print Project

Resources: Who Should Do the Work?

• Producing quality publications requires considerable specialized expertise, including writing, editing, graphic design and layout, and print production.
• You should strongly consider turning to a professional project manager or to individual professionals—a writer/editor, graphic designer, and/or print production specialist—to help you develop your project.
• Rutgers-affiliated units can work with external vendors who are selected through a competitive bidding process. To learn more, contact University Procurement Services.

Schedule/Deadline: When Do You Need Your Publication?

• Always get started as early as you possibly can.
• Quality publications take time to develop from concept to printer-ready electronic file.
• Rush schedules are costly and increase the chance of errors getting through to your final piece.
• Development time can run from a few weeks or a month to many months’ time.
• The actual printing time alone will vary from a few days to a week for a simple, small piece to as much as three weeks for an elaborate publication.

Format: What Size and Shape of Publication is Right for Your Project?

• Publications can vary tremendously in size and shape: brochure, booklet, flyer, postcard, poster, or a combination of any of these.
• Advertisements usually conform to sizes supplied by the media in which you are buying ad space.
• The length of your text and the photos, illustrations, or other imagery you want to include will drive what format will work best.
• Consider your audience’s attention span: less is frequently more, and as the adage says, a picture can be worth a thousand words.
• How will you distribute the piece? Will it be a self-mailer, placed in an envelope, or handed out at a fair or conference?
• Consider postal regulations and costs as you choose a format.
• Remember that budget limitations are always the final determinant.

Paper and Ink: Is Color Critical to Attracting Your Audience?

• A professional designer or print production specialist can advise on papers and ink.
• Remember that glitzy can capture a reader’s attention but can also communicate “wastefulness” in economically challenging times.
• The quantity of publications you will need will also significantly affect paper and ink choices. Unit costs for color printing go down dramatically as the quantity goes up.

Printing: What Are the Options?

• Traditional offset printing is now supplemented with a number of different options.
• Color photocopying and digital printing may make small-quantity, full-color printing more affordable.
• Offset printing typically requires the most time.

Quantity: How Many Do You Need to Last for How Long?

• The more you can print, the better your unit printing price is likely to be. 
• Consider when the content of your piece will become out of date.
• Direct reprints are likely to be costly, relative to printing a larger quantity the first time around. On the other hand, cartons of unused pieces that must be trashed are financially wasteful and don’t help the environment.

Distribution: How Will You Get Your Publication to the Audience?

• Be sure to consider distribution seriously from the outset of your project.
• Your distribution plan should be in place—mailing lists, delivery to conferences, etc.—by the time your piece is printed.
• Make sure you have room to store the boxes once your piece is delivered.
• Remember, decisions already made on paper weight and size will affect distribution costs.

Budget: How Much Money Do You Have to Invest?

• Many of the issues above need to be answered, at least tentatively, to proceed with cost estimates from the people providing services and from printers.
• You may want to get some initial estimates to help with the decision-making process and then proceed with formal, competitive bids once the project is well defined.