Product Selection

It sometimes happens that a customer gets the book they've ordered and it's not at all what they were expecting.

We're thrilled to hear from customers who were blown away by the quality of the product and who can't wait to tell us how much better it is than what they expected or received from one of our competitors.

Unfortunately, we do sometimes have complaints that perhaps the print texture isn't fine enough or the paper weight isn't what they expected. We have a wide range of products each catering for a different market segment and each coming in at it's own price point and it's sometimes a little tricky managing customer expectations. 9 out of 10 times when we receive this complaint we find the customer didn't actually understand the difference between all the products and have ordered X when in fact they really wanted Y. We're always eager to help exceed a customer's expectations and we always do what we can to help them receive what they were looking for, but in order to avoid disappointment, it's a good idea to go over all the different products and to decide what you need before starting your project.

When making an album you need to consider what it's for:

For ultra-high quality, for applications like weddings, commemorative books, keepsakes that you want to be able to hand to your kids one day, Ultimate books are the definite first choice. Printed at 300dpi in our wetlab, the pages are true photo quality (resolution dependant on images supplied). The pages are thick, butterfly bound in genuine leather, to open to a completely seamless spread. Metallic, paper, cover embossing and other special enhancements are available on request.

For more casual coffee-table books, applicable to holiday books, portfolios, brag books, sports events books .etc, Hard Cover books are perfect, they have 170gsm silk pages (linen and layflat also available) and a fully personalised cover. They are printed on one of our Xerox 1000 digital presses at a 200 screen. The print is in no way comparable with the Ultimate books, digital presses all have their drawbacks, the resolution isn't as high as a wetlab, there may sometimes be light patterning of the dots in smooth gradients but it has many advantages too, the cost is much lower. Regular paper is used (as opposed to the thick wetlab prints) and larger page sizes may be made. All in all the hardcovers are a great product for most applications but not advised for weddings or other applications where photo-quality prints are required.

A note for layflat option in hard cover books - there can be up to 3mm shift where the pages meet in the spine. Please do not put faces, text or other fine detail over the spine in any hardcover books.

For cheaper books where longevity is not an issue or you're anticipating replacing the book if it gets damaged, Soft cover books are great. These are also printed on the digital press and 170gsm and stitched in the spine with steel wire, they make great guest-gifts, recipe books that might be replaced when they get too tatty, school projects and portfolios that are cheap enough to leave with a client.

This is of course only a guide, you need to decide what album suits your requirements and budget best. Also, keep this knowledge in mind when shopping around, we're confident that our product types and prices are competetive and of the best quality.

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2 Comments

  • Avatar
    Motlatsi Samanthar Lorma Seabela
    Don't you print t-shirts
  • Avatar
    Steven Hook

    Currently we do not print t-shirts.

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