The term magazine was coined by Edward Cave editor of the first ever published magazine back in 1731. The Gentleman’s Magazine was the first general interest magazine; ever since magazine printing has evolved and became a highly competitive business.

Magazines are normally printed in sections, typically of 16 pages, which may be in black-and-white, full colour or spot colour. Each section is then bound either by stapling them within a soft cover in a process sometimes referred to as “saddle-stitching”, or by gluing them together to form a spine, a process often called “perfect-binding”.

Nowadays there are various magazine printing techniques that combine various core elements that influence in the final product, publishing schedules, formats and target audiences play an important role when choosing a magazine printing technique.

Magazines have become an extremely competitive business, mainly because magazines turned into an important advertisement channel with the majority of publications aimed at consumers, employees and buyers. Here we have 5 different magazine printing examples.

Magazine Printing Example #1 Café Europe

Magazine Printing Example #2 Kemptown Rag

Magazine Printing Example #3 Tombridgian

Magazine Printing Example #4 Today’s Therapist

Magazine Printing Example #5

Business cards date back to the 17th century and evolved from a combination of visiting cards, calling cards and trade cards that were used to promote businesses at the time.

Business card designs and printing techniques have since evolved into dozens of modern techniques for business people to choose from. Without the right knowledge, you could end up choosing the wrong type of business card.

To aid our readers on their quest for the ideal business card, we decide to list some of the best business card printing techniques available. They are:

Die Cut Business Card

Once printed, a cutting form is used to cut the shape out of flat sheets. More on this technique in upcoming posts.

Foil Block Business Card

Foil blocking is another example of business card printing with a high quality printing finish. Foil blocked business cards are the ultimate choice for creating business cards with decorative appeal.

Embossed Business Card

Thermography creates a raised print effect and can add texture to a business card by keeping it clean, simple and understatedly stylish.

Spot UV Business Card

Spot UV is a high-gloss UV varnish applied to a selected area of a printed image. Embossing creates a stunning 3D effect on a business card. Embossing is particularly effective when used in conjunction with other processes i.e. matt lamination and spot UV with the spot UV image embossed out of the lamination (or foil blocking and embossing).

Augmented Reality Business Cards (3D Business Cards)

This new business card printing technique might be in its infancy, but it shows just how much the business card industry can still evolve. The creator of this revolutionary business card is James Alliban.

Claimed by its creator as the world’s first augmented reality business card. James Alliban added to the back of his business cards a graphic that can be captured by a webcam and reproduce a cool 3D grid of coloured planes pop ups.

For a better understanding, we’ve added a video to help you get a nice picture of this - dare we say - boundary-pushing business card printing technique.

Don’t miss our upcoming posts where we’ll look at each of these printing techniques in more detail.

Environmental concern has become a daily subject and many companies are investing big to turn their services and products eco-friendly.

One industry in particular that has been investing thousands of pounds in environmentally friendly techniques is the printing industry; where many printers are modifying their printing processes in order to work under the “Green Printing” label.

There are many international and national accreditations that can ensure a printer is offering environmentally friendly printing services.

One of the most important accreditations is the ISO 14001 environmental management standards. This international standard specifies the actual requirements for an EMS - Environmental Management System. It applies to those environmental aspects which the organisation has control over and it can be expected to have an influence. The ISO 14001 environmental management standards exist to help organisations minimize how their operations negatively affect the environment and cause adverse changes to air, water, or land.

Another respectful international accreditation is the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), a certification system that provides internationally recognized standard-setting, trademark assurance and accreditation services to companies, organizations, and communities interested in responsible forestry.

Along the same line we have the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) which provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and paper products that they are promoting the sustainable management of forests.

The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity and printers sponsoring WT’s Tree for All Campaign are sure contributing for a greener UK.

With these 4 green credentials a printer can sure label itself an environmentally friendly printer.

There are a wide range of techniques to design and print business cards, the number one rule is to combine a great design with high quality print finish to give you and your business a professional look.

Choosing the right printing finish will give life to your business cards, for example an Embossed Business Card will create a raised print effect and can add texture to a business card by keeping it clean, simple and stylish.

Talking about giving life to your business cards, James Alliban just created the world’s first augmented reality business card. James added to the back of his business cards a graphic that can be captured by a webcam and reproduce a cool 3D grid of coloured planes pop ups.

This video will help you get a better picture of this new business card printing technique.

AR Business Card from James Alliban on Vimeo.

While this business card printing technique is in its early days, it will be interesting to see what other improvements can be made.

A Dutch company has come up with a clever way of saving some of the huge amount of ink that gets used in office inkjets and laser printers these days. Rather than developing complex systems to save in Holland-based Sprang has gone back to first principals and designed a ‘greener’ typeface, Ecofont, which features circles of blank space embedded in each letter they say.

“After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well.”

Sprang co-founder Gerjon Zomer claims the use of circular holes, means the font uses 20% less ink than traditional fonts, while maintaining readability.

Zomer says that the

“power of Ecofont is its simplicity”. He added: “There are a lot of complicated solutions out there to save ink, but they don’t usually appeal to people.”

Spang started by looking at popular Dutch font Verdana. The team deleted thin vertical strips within each letter, but found the text to be unreadable on most computer screens. It then tried cutting squares and stars out of fonts, but soon realised circles were most effective.

The advantage of changing the font is that it works on all printers and doesn’t require new printer/hardware just changing a fonts – computers only use this font when printing sticking with the tried and tested truetype for display on monitors.

You can download Ecofont  from www.ecofont.eu as its the sort of elegant solution Apple is known for I bet Apple are kicking them selves for not thinking of this.

The Radio Times has “pushed the magazine production boundaries” by printing 21 different covers featuring celebrities such as Cheryl Cole and James McAvoy to celebrate Comic Relief’s 21st birthday.

The covers were printed and bound as an A/B/C/D split to give retailers four covers to choose from.

The Radio times website has a feature on this here you can also see some examples of our magazine printing work on our printing services page

With the threat of global warming and CO2 emissions on the rise, environmental concern has become a daily subject with many companies marketing their “green” qualifications.

One industry in particular that has been investing big in environmentally friendly techniques is the printing industry; where many companies are modifying their printing processes in order to work under the “Green Printing” label.

Green Printing is an environmentally friendly printing process that uses natural inks, recycled papers and energy conservation.

Like in many industries, there are lots of companies working or marketing their “green services” saying how environmentally friendly they are, but only those companies with certifications from national and international agencies are allowed to market such labels.

Accreditations from The Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC), the Forest Stewardship Council and The Sustainable Forestry Initiative help to ensure the printing process is environmentally friendly.

One of the most renowned accreditations for the printing industry is the ISO 14001 environmental management standards. This accreditation is an international specification, aimed to establish an organized approach to systematically reduce the impact of the environmental aspects which an organization can control.

But there is more the printing and publishing industries can do to endorse their Green printing services; they can take part on campaigns like the Woodland Trust and become members of the Ride2Work Scheme, these are campaigns based in the UK.

The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity which has an ambitious children’s tree planting project launched in the UK, with plans to help plant 12 million trees over the next five years.

While the Ride2Work is a government initiative to help reduce company’s carbon footprint, also known as the Green Transport Plan, it also aimed to make cycling more attractive and more accessible by taking advantage of some unique tax incentives.

With continued investment in the latest technology check out our impressive plant list…

Gemini Press environmental certification ISO 14001

First published in 1996, ISO14001 is the internationally recognised standard for Environmental Management Systems and is aimed at introducing a continuous improvement process into a company’s drive to reduce its negative impact on the environment caused by energy usage and generation of waste.

The prospect of undertaking ISO 14001 was daunting at first, but it soon became apparent we were doing the right thing - we just needed to document it. With help from Phil Chambers, associate consultant of the BPIF we have implemented an environmental management system that works and what’s more it’s paperless!

For full information about ISO 14001 visit BPIF’s14001 article - Steve Cropper, Managing Director at Gemini said:

“The print industry often has a negative image mainly for the materials used in the printing process. At Gemini, we already have in place a number of procedures to help reduce the impact on the environment such as sourcing paper from sustainable forests and using vegetable based inks. A company’s environmental performance can have a significant impact on its success so to gain the ISO14001 certificate is a great achievement”.

Steve continues

“In today’s competitive market many private companies and public sector institutions will only look at those that comply with the highest environmental standards. For example all material produced for the London Olympics has come from companies that have ISO14001”.With less than 5% of printers nationwide being ISO14001 accredited printers. Gemini Press is now in a very strong position pitching for new business. As well as generating significant cost savings over time, Gemini are also reducing their environmental impact.

Does ISO14001 play a part in your decision making process, when choosing your print provider? ”Please comment on the blog and let us know your views.

Beards Digital, Gemini Group’s newest member, is a huge asset to the group. Beards Digital was formed in 1952 and is now regarded as a forerunner in digital print across the region.

Now located in Shoreham, Beards will increase the Gemini Group’s digital capabilities. It also offers the group extra finishing facilities including perfect binding.

The merging of Beards with Gemini will provides a strong offer for all print work across the UK with an unrivalled track record in delivering quality and print , on time and within budget.

Visit Beards at http://www.beard-digital.co.uk/