Monday, December 24, 2012
Happy Holidays 2012
Another happy holiday wish to all this year in 2012; May you have a good 2013 that brings you fun cards and magnets in the mail. Save the Date Originals will be rolling along makes new designs, improving products, and updating the website.
This photo is of a few holiday cards from this year. My favorite card is definitely the tree made of up the family names, holiday words, a binary code, and a QR code. The QR code takes recipients to the family blog.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Save the Date Magnets
There are a lot of places on the internet offering printed fridge magnets for "Save the Date Magnets" these days, but, not all are created equal. After starting out some 8 years ago, Save the Date Originals has learned, grown, and, boastfully offers superior magnets.
If you are browsing around the internet, how would you know the difference between the magnets at Save the Date Originals verses some place like VistaPrint? That is a little difficult when you are probably more focused on looking at *designs* to be printed on your magnet, rather than the differences between the actual magnets.
Well, here is a blog post to tell you about the awesomeness of Save the Date Originals.
When it comes to deciding on a place to get your magnets, there are various things to consider. Print quality, magnetic thickness, glossy finish, available designs, production time, magnet pricing, shipping costs, and, flexibility.
STDO wins as far as print quality, thickness, glossy finish, costs, and flexibility.
Print quality is something that deserves a whole blog post of it's own, but, just two paragraphs:
Fridge magnets were originally something that mostly just large businesses ordered to promote their business. Image quality just needed to be "good enough". Not all companies have made the transition into higher resolution printing for shorter runs where the customers are couples who *care* about how jaggedy the wording is, or how grainy their photo is. If you are only sending out 50 magnets, and if you are sending them to friends, and if you are sending them as the very first thing that will give people an impression of your upcoming event, you want it to look good.
For print quality, STDO prints at a high resolution. Additionally, instead of the usual 4 color CMYK printing process, STDO is using an 8 color printer, which leads to more vibrant colors. Royal blue, for example, tends to come out looking dullish purple in CMYK. Tragic!
Thickness: Magnetic thickness is another important point for magnets. You probably don't care that much how thick your magnets are... but if you receive a really flimsy one, eh, it's not great. STDO magnets are not so incredibly super thick that you will have problems mailing them out, but they aren't as flimsy as many of the magnets available online.
Gloss: A glossy finish is a standard feature for STDO magnets. One can actually order magnets without the glossy finish, and even have magnets made with something special like a shimmer card stock instead, but for the usual order, your magnets will arrive with that gloss over the print.
Complete: Yes, it has to be mentioned that the magnets arrive complete. STDO used to get questions about whether assembly was required. It seems that some place or places are selling a printed piece + a piece of magnet and leaving customers to glue/attach the printed piece to the magnet.
Flexibility: This is one of the best things about being a small company... If you want to contact Angela to set up an order page for an order of an odd number like 113 magnets, you can. You can even order different quantities of two different designs. You can get something- like hotel information cards- added with envelopes. You can even have a new/custom magnet size made (for rectangular magnets). If you want that there design in a different color, let the designer know. You can get save the dates for weddings, corporate events, family reunions, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, christenings, school events, and, even get actual wedding invitations as magnets.
Production times at Save the Date Originals, though, are really only about average. There are places that can deliver you your magnets super fast... but they won't necessarily be quality magnets. A common saying: You can have two out of these three: "Fast, Cheap, Quality".
When Save the Date Originals first began offering save the dates, it was started as a place that focused on the designs, and subcontracted the production of magnets. Within a few years, Save the Date Originals started producing it's own magnets. Why? Because the owner wanted to offer magnets that weren't flimsy, were printed awesomely without weird defects, weren't cut at odd angles, and also, were packaged carefully (so that they don't arrive dented!).
Lastly, you can be sure that there won't be any tricky check boxes during checkout to trick you into "agreeing" to buy some other product or service. You won't find shipping costs that are randomly inflated twice or more over what they need to be. Your names and addresses will never be given out to a 3rd party as part of a sold mailing list. In other words, there will be none of the shady shenanigans you may have encountered from larger corporations that are looking to boost their profit margins.
Convinced? Stop by the main magnet section to browse designs and pricing by magnet size:
http://www.savethedateoriginals.com/Magnets.php
If you are browsing around the internet, how would you know the difference between the magnets at Save the Date Originals verses some place like VistaPrint? That is a little difficult when you are probably more focused on looking at *designs* to be printed on your magnet, rather than the differences between the actual magnets.
Well, here is a blog post to tell you about the awesomeness of Save the Date Originals.
When it comes to deciding on a place to get your magnets, there are various things to consider. Print quality, magnetic thickness, glossy finish, available designs, production time, magnet pricing, shipping costs, and, flexibility.
STDO wins as far as print quality, thickness, glossy finish, costs, and flexibility.
Print quality is something that deserves a whole blog post of it's own, but, just two paragraphs:
Fridge magnets were originally something that mostly just large businesses ordered to promote their business. Image quality just needed to be "good enough". Not all companies have made the transition into higher resolution printing for shorter runs where the customers are couples who *care* about how jaggedy the wording is, or how grainy their photo is. If you are only sending out 50 magnets, and if you are sending them to friends, and if you are sending them as the very first thing that will give people an impression of your upcoming event, you want it to look good.
For print quality, STDO prints at a high resolution. Additionally, instead of the usual 4 color CMYK printing process, STDO is using an 8 color printer, which leads to more vibrant colors. Royal blue, for example, tends to come out looking dullish purple in CMYK. Tragic!
Thickness: Magnetic thickness is another important point for magnets. You probably don't care that much how thick your magnets are... but if you receive a really flimsy one, eh, it's not great. STDO magnets are not so incredibly super thick that you will have problems mailing them out, but they aren't as flimsy as many of the magnets available online.
Gloss: A glossy finish is a standard feature for STDO magnets. One can actually order magnets without the glossy finish, and even have magnets made with something special like a shimmer card stock instead, but for the usual order, your magnets will arrive with that gloss over the print.
Complete: Yes, it has to be mentioned that the magnets arrive complete. STDO used to get questions about whether assembly was required. It seems that some place or places are selling a printed piece + a piece of magnet and leaving customers to glue/attach the printed piece to the magnet.
Flexibility: This is one of the best things about being a small company... If you want to contact Angela to set up an order page for an order of an odd number like 113 magnets, you can. You can even order different quantities of two different designs. You can get something- like hotel information cards- added with envelopes. You can even have a new/custom magnet size made (for rectangular magnets). If you want that there design in a different color, let the designer know. You can get save the dates for weddings, corporate events, family reunions, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, christenings, school events, and, even get actual wedding invitations as magnets.
Production times at Save the Date Originals, though, are really only about average. There are places that can deliver you your magnets super fast... but they won't necessarily be quality magnets. A common saying: You can have two out of these three: "Fast, Cheap, Quality".
When Save the Date Originals first began offering save the dates, it was started as a place that focused on the designs, and subcontracted the production of magnets. Within a few years, Save the Date Originals started producing it's own magnets. Why? Because the owner wanted to offer magnets that weren't flimsy, were printed awesomely without weird defects, weren't cut at odd angles, and also, were packaged carefully (so that they don't arrive dented!).
Lastly, you can be sure that there won't be any tricky check boxes during checkout to trick you into "agreeing" to buy some other product or service. You won't find shipping costs that are randomly inflated twice or more over what they need to be. Your names and addresses will never be given out to a 3rd party as part of a sold mailing list. In other words, there will be none of the shady shenanigans you may have encountered from larger corporations that are looking to boost their profit margins.
Convinced? Stop by the main magnet section to browse designs and pricing by magnet size:
http://www.savethedateoriginals.com/Magnets.php
Friday, December 7, 2012
Happy Holidays & Save the Date (again)
It is that time of the year. Save the Date Originals is busy producing many a magnet that will be sent out with holiday cards. Below is a photographed example of once customer's requested change to the 3.5x4 inch magnet design "MR37" that easily turned it into both a holiday greeting and a Save the Date.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
For the Bibliophiles
While updating the photograph for "STDC14", a save the date card that is meant to look somewhat like a book cover, a new invitation design idea came to mind.
First check out STDC14, where one is asked to "Book the Date" rather than "Save the Date".
If Save the Date Originals has a save the date for those writers, literary lovers, editors, and book lovers, then surely STDO should have a wedding invitation for them as well.
Introducing a 4.5x6.25 inch folded card design. The front is somewhat like a book cover, while the main invitation wording and information is printed on both panels of the inside, complete with page numbers. You can't see it in the photo, but there is even a cute little book graphic with two hearts on the back of the invitation card.
Lastly, one must not forget the response card. For this design, it seemed fitting to make a design that mimics one of those Library cards that keeps a list of the book's borrowers.
This invitation design isn't yet posted in the main website's invitation section, but will make it there soon.
First check out STDC14, where one is asked to "Book the Date" rather than "Save the Date".
If Save the Date Originals has a save the date for those writers, literary lovers, editors, and book lovers, then surely STDO should have a wedding invitation for them as well.
Introducing a 4.5x6.25 inch folded card design. The front is somewhat like a book cover, while the main invitation wording and information is printed on both panels of the inside, complete with page numbers. You can't see it in the photo, but there is even a cute little book graphic with two hearts on the back of the invitation card.
Lastly, one must not forget the response card. For this design, it seemed fitting to make a design that mimics one of those Library cards that keeps a list of the book's borrowers.
This invitation design isn't yet posted in the main website's invitation section, but will make it there soon.
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