Meeting in my garage -

I scheduled a meeting in my garage with Jan, a new client who found me through my website. Jan has been undergoing chemotherapy, and she needs to take extra precautions to protect her health when she meets with people. “While I want to be careful, I really do want to move this project forward, so I would like to keep the appointment,” she told me.

We exchanged emails and Jan said, “I would appreciate it if we could possibly talk outside if there is some shade in your yard.”

I don’t have a lot of yard shade, and there was a thunderstorm approaching. So, I suggested we meet in my garage with the door open. I set up two stadium chairs and opened the back end of my husband’s car trunk to use as a tabletop surface. This was a first for me; I’ve never had a meeting in my garage.

Favorite examples

Many years ago, paper houses (distributors of printing and busines-communication documents) gave away beautiful, printed samples to designers. They enticed us to use their paper that was adorned with specialty effects, such as foil stamping, embossing, special ink colors, and die cuts. These samples were inspirational, and I had saved my favorite examples, which were perfect to show Jan.

The project we discussed was a small pocket booklet. Jan had an old, worn booklet to show me. The cover stock was a glossy red with a gold foil stamp.

The printing cost for foil stamping or embossing depends on the artwork size, as well as the print quantity. In this case, Jan mentioned she had a target audience of five thousand. She also said this booklet was to be a special anniversary edition, so it would be nice to do something unique.

Although there were many wonderful ideas, we narrowed the choices to two: 1) print on a specialty paper with a clear foil stamp; and 2) print the background color and stamp Jan’s logo with copper foil. After the meeting, I planned to contact the printer and get printing quotes.