In no particular order our three 20th anniversary competition winners are:

• Dawn Bontoft – Total Office

• Steve Taylor – Adare International

• Kate Morgan – Office Team

We will be in contact shortly to arrange your prizes.

Thank you to all who took part and we wish you a pleasant and happy New Year!

Best Regards

Print Evolved

Two of our most popular finishes, duplexing and triplexing involve adhering different papers together to create really beautiful finishes. Duplex involves gluing two papers or boards together, while triplexing uses three. Duplexing is a great way to achieve different textures and colours on either side of your print. It also works really well with die-cutting, as you can set the die-cutter to only cut out the top layer, revealing the second colour underneath. Triplexing can be used to get a coloured seam running through the centre of a card.

Duplex and Triplexing are a great way to make your print look special and definitely more classy. Used mostly for corporate invites and business cards, these finishing processes give an extra touch, showing your customers that you pay attention to detail and that your brand is a premium one. Emboss a triplexed invite for an outstanding result that will suggest your guests a luxury event from the second they receive it and Print a triplex business card to make a memorable first impression that will last.

If you are not sure what would work best for you, pop in for a chat, or ring us. We are happy to help!

No More Chores! Integrate!

Integration is a word that typically terrifies all but the most hardened of techies. Done right however integration can make life better for everyone connected to your business.

Benefits include:

• Reduced cost to serve
• Improved buying experience
• Increased awareness of print offer
• Total order visibility
• Quicker fulfilment
• Reduction of service queries

With this in mind we have added a multitude of ways in which Cognitu can integrate seamlessly with your existing eCommerce and MIS (management information systems).

So what is it?

Integration typically comes in 2 main flavours front end, streamlining the UX (user experience) and back office, optimising administration processes.

Integrated User Experience

With front end integration we recommend simply automating user logins when jumping from your website to our web2print solution. Removing the need for your users to remember multiple logins, ensuring they see your full offer as they travel via your main site and giving them total access to all of our software’s capabilities.

Integrated Back Office

Optimising your administration processes is where integration truly shines. By allowing your order processing systems to communicate with Cognitu you can strip away many painfully laborious and repetitive tasks, saving time and money across the board. Processes we can help automated include:

• Order creation
• PO acceptance
• Despatch notification
• Invoice processing

How do I get it?

Getting integrated can be relatively easy depending on your needs and the capabilities of your existing systems. If your website caters for cXML (commerce eXtensible Markup Language) or OPXML (a BOSS standard) you may be halfway there already, If not don’t fret we have a multitude of APIs to suit your needs.

Get in touch with your account manager to get started on your integration journey.

THEN

It was nearly 30 years ago and before the Internet, that we started developing a batching process called Stik-Address, a print offer aimed at print shops and a way of producing mini labels multi-up on a sheet. Orders came in by fax and had to be keyed on to a template and

as soon as 48 order units were added. The System batched the labels up so that they could be litho printed on pre kiss cut stock. Atour peak we were producing around 200 orders a day together with the shop’s delivery label, thus matching label to delivery and avoiding incorrect deliveries.

This became the basis for the batch printing system that we built into our software right from the start. Successful batching is the reason that the template information had to ‘then and now’ be precise as jobs are automatically sorted into their unique attributable batches.

NOW

Batch printing became the basis for much of the cheap litho print offerings but very few of these systems are, even now, attached to front end ordering. We always saw the importance of having a seamless workflow from user design and ordering right through to despatch, on a fully automated basis. With this workflow we are able to handle an unlimited number of orders, many more than the 1000+orders a day we are currently producing.

Some three years ago and in conjunction with specialist consultants we added the lean manufacturing process which looked at your entire digital print production so that we could set up efficient batch control. Its thinking showed us how to organise all batches in strict despatch order and how to stock up with “justin time” materials and schedule staff for eachdays production.

The results of the implementation of lean were significant; less stressed staff, meeting all deadlines (a countdown screen is usually down to zero by mid-afternoon avoiding the end of day panics!) spot on accuracy, a reduction in wastage and of greatest importance workflow that our customers can rely on every single time they use us!

THEN – Email Approval Madness

In the early days, if customers needed approval of the job they had edited and ordered, on line, it was a simple matter of the customer sending an email with a copy of the finished product to the approver.

This more manual process actually worked well as it was such an improvement over what was the previous off-line process even though an edited page could take well over two minutes to refresh!

The next stage was to automate the process by providing an email option on check-out, where the customer would add the email address of the approver who would return the email with either the go ahead or suggested amendments.

NOW – Well Oiled Workflows

Since we have introduced the fully automated approver system its use has grown dramatically.

When users or products are set up a workflow can be added with a notification that is sent to a designated approver to check and authorise an order. Several approvers can be added so, for instance, a Marketing manager can approve the design whereas a line Manager can sign off the expenditure.

There is no limit to the number of workflows and they can take place concurrently or sequentially. Approvers can not only approve the order but can also modify or cancel the design themselves and an audit trail is kept of every action.

THEN – Software and the difficulties of outsourcing print

When we first started out 20 years ago investing in software was an expensive venture so we decided to put most of our funds into internet software which was still relatively new.

We had set ourselves up in London and the plan was to outsource the system created batch printing to a local digital printer via ISDN who would then print them the next day ready for us to pick up and finish. Little did we know how anti printers would be to our proposal! Thankfully we found a printer as forward thinking as ourselves who couldn’t turn down new technology and who took up our offer.

There was still a lot suspicion towards digital printing and its capabilities. Our aim was to show our customers how seamless our workflow was from ordering right through to getting the job through the door. Eventually more customers came onboard and we were soon receiving positive feedback based on our mutual successes. This perseverance for both the internet and digital printing gave us great expansion possibilities

NOW – Everything in house – software and print (Going Solo)

Things then started to move fast; we had already relocated once to be next to our partnered supplier but it was not long before they couldn’t keep up with our demand. It was now time for us to invest in our own production capabilities, so we took the plunge and purchased our first Indigo press along with some finishing equipment.

It was not long before we also needed larger premises and were fortunate enough to find a new location in Central London that was part of the major Arsenal stadium redevelopment which gave us a blank canvas to fit out our factory to the specifications we required.

Our software now branded Cognitu became much more sophisticated, with greater scope for marrying it with print and thus creating our hybrid model. Now the factory is a model of automation and mass production often producing over 1,000 orders a day which leave us on time every time.

Then – What You See Is What You Get

The holy grail of online design and editing has always been displaying actual fonts so that people could see exactly what they would have printed. You may be familiar with the term WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get. For all the pioneering web to print systems, apart from ours, this meant users would just see substitute fonts. Showing only positions not the real thing!20 years ago, through the ingenuity of our programmers, we discovered a unique way to show actual fonts right from the start. For many years we were the only system in the UK that employed this groundbreaking technology.

Now – Full Language Capabilities

Over the years we have been able to automatically scale text along with font handling to very accurately display on screen the final text output. We have always strived to keep our graphics technology ahead of the competition, so much so that seven years ago we added the capability of displaying Arabic fonts.Here we had to not only display right to left text but also recreate the ornate “joined up” flowing nature of the language. After Arabic the world was literally our oyster, with Cognitunow being able to cater for any language, such as Chinese, Russian, Mongolian and even some pretend ones like Klingon.

When 3 minutes* was acceptable

When the internet was first becoming viable for business in 1997 most connections were through just an 8k modem. At the time this was state of the art.

Print Evolved faced the challenge of a requirement for two-way communications in a world that was predominantly one-way, giving users the ability to edit and save their templates online. The Available Technology at the time struggled to handle data. Fortunately Print Evolved anticipated faster modems coming on stream in the not too distant future.

There were rapid developments with connection speeds which soon doubled to 16k, 32k, 64k and onwards. These modems, although laughably slow by today’s standards, were having a positive effect on users experience of the Internet. The three minute screen refresh times were decreasing, helping PrintEvolved’s business rapidly expand.

In the early two thousands, some five years after Print Evolved started their service, broadband came into commercial operation. This technology was made possible by using telephone lines to connect directly to the Internet. Broadband was going to be the answer!

Because of Print Evolved’s enthusiasm for new technology, they became one of the first adopters of broadband and were proud to be recruited into the government drive to research broadband and its potential in making the Internet accessible to all.

When 5 seconds is too slow!

Instant reaction is now the order of the day and Print Evolved’s systems response times keep up with the speed trends.

Print Evolved started with the emergence of cloud computing twenty years ago (First known as Application Service Provision – ASP) where the provider sold an all-in-one service rather than a program. This became possible because of the incredible networking capabilities of the Internet and meant speeds were not restricted by the hardware of the end user.

Using this new technology Print Evolved perfected their web2print technology Cognitu to capture customer orders and output print ready files, becoming one the first company to bring this technology to the industry.

Being cloud based not only increases speed but security and when credit card payments first became available over the Internet, there were initially fears about the security of this type of transaction. Print Evolved helped pave the way for acceptance of these types of payments by establishing the trust of its customers that security was paramount.

Print Evolved took on the challenge of persuading customers that, with common sense, online transactions, conducted with bona fide suppliers, were actually more secure than conventional credit card use.

One of the company’s core values is data security for both themselves and their customers.Keeping security up to date is of the utmost importance to Print Evolved who are already fully compliant with GDPR.

As far back as ancient Egypt, the allure of gold and silver in print has caught the attention of our inner magpies, and it’s no different with consumers nowadays.

This appeal may not have changed, but the techniques for adding a little shine to design has adapted over time to meet the ever growing needs of our customers.

We have always offered high quality foiling, alongside embossing and debossing services. These processes involve the creation of a metal foiling die with a raised section in the shape of the desired image which would be mounted on a traditional letterpress printing press. Once set up the printed work would be fed into the machine, where gold foil would be pressed onto the print using the hot die, leaving a great impression of the foiled design on the printed piece.

The digital era has made the legend of Midas a reality, allowing any artwork to be brought to life with a touch of gold. Almost as if the technology has gone full circle, this new technique is similar to the way ancient Egyptians adorned gold leaf onto statues. With a little ingenuity we can now adhere gold foil to printed items using the adhesive properties of the ink itself.

With this technology we can now offer foiling much faster, for shorter print runs and even cater for personalisation jobs such as tickets, certificates and invitations cost effectively.

Features

• An extensive selection of foils ranging from traditional to coloured metallics
• Clear foiling to achieve spot UV effects at a fraction of the cost
• Holographic such as sparkle or carbon fibre
• Fully personalised

Contact your account manager for more details on our digital and traditional foiling service

Workflows are a vital part of any web2print system, helping you to manage and organise your order pipeline, catering for all your post-order needs. They are a particular requirement for Large Corporates, Multi site businesses and also Companies that operate a matrix organisational structure.

Workflows act as the communication tool to manage authorisation/approval procedures that would normally be performed by people if they were sitting next to each other. They can also be used to create awareness of certain activity

Typical tasks any workflow may need to facilitate are:

• Authorise
  • Sign-off Orders Financially
  • Check Artwork Compliance
  • Legal/Regulatory approval
• Collaborate
  • Team Up to Create Newsletters
  • Get Business Cards Translated
• Automate
  • Send Notification Emails
  • Perform Automated Checks
• Design
  • Get Artwork Recreated
  • Use Our Design Studio Services

Within Cognitu one or more tasks can be joined together, creating workflows as simple or as elaborate as your needs.

Call your account manager to learn more and discuss how we can help you save time and improve the way your web2print order system works

Make your ordering experience better – we’re here to help!

To request the new user guide please fill in the form below:

We have launched our new user guide with clear and comprehensive steps on how to navigate our web2print software Cognitu, whether you’re the ‘end user’ or a ‘super user’.

The new guide is available fully indexed in a digital format to allow for quick navigation and reference and covers everything you need to know about using our product templates.

You can now request to have the user guide branded with a specific logo or colours to best suit your needs.

For example, things that you might not know that can be done through Cognitu.

• Quickly Re-order Products
• Update the delivery address before they are processed
• Cancel orders before they are processed
• Amend card details before they are processed

Benefits:

• Reduced user queries
• Improved user experience
• Increased user activity
• Customised Branding

If you are currently not setup on Cognitu please contact your account manager or the sales team on 0207 566 5070

Make your templates do the hard work so you don’t have to.

Below is a short guide on how to make the most out of your online templates and how to brief these in correctly.

Top Tips for building a template

• Drop Downs – if you have multiple data sets make sure you set your template up with a drop down to keep it clean and easy.
• Lock it down – If there is only one address needed on your product, lock it down. Less is best.
• Profile Data – If each location will be ordering for themselves then consider using profile data so products are automatically populated based on the user or group they belong to.

Key things to remember when briefing in a template,

• Always use the Template Wizard
• Provide all information upfront in as much detail as possible.
• Artwork needs to be high resolution PDFs with bleed and packaged with any fonts used.
• Artwork should show the maximum data length and all possible fields required.

Use your existing templates Smarter

An often overlooked aspect of Cognitu’s capabilities is address books, simplifying address entry within the delivery stage, saves time and improves the ordering experience. By just supplying a spreadsheet in the correct format to the template team we can upload this into your client setups on your behalf.

Use your order history! If you frequently need purchase order number reports, cost centre spends, usage reports etc. Cognitu’s downloadable order history can help. What’s more you can even tailor the information to your needs.

Our NEW Digital Washing Machine is here to help!

It checks the files are print ready and fixes many minor artwork issues. If the artwork cannot be fixed instantly you can choose to send via an automated workflow to our expert studio team to be fixed, recreated or even designed from scratch.

What’s more as it’s all done online, the whole process is easily trackable and the final order is available to reorder in the future.

Full Wash

• Artwork Upload – Checks the files (FOC)
• Artwork Creation – Recreate from a scan or a photo (Fixed price)
• Design Service – Build artwork from scratch (Quoted)

Quick Spin

• Artwork Upload – Checks the files

You will have products that are not template-able due to ad-hoc additions of text or accreditations etc. so let us set up a file submission product for you. You can then upload these non-conformist PDFs within your portal, making the item visible, trackable and re-orderable within Cognitu and with a fraction of the hassle associated with manual orders.

Benefits

• Frees up your studio time
• No costly contract rates
• Instant response

Speak to your account manager or the sales team if you would like to find out how this can be added to your portal on 0207 566 5070

Get custom watermarked paper for the fraction of the cost of traditional methods.

With our specialist finishing capabilities we can apply a custom watermark during the print process, making the paper unique and hard to duplicate as well as showcasing your brand in a different way. The watermark can be anything you want and this process gives a much sharper result than more traditional methods.

This process is ideal for letter heads and certificates but can also be added to luxury pads, appointment cards and invitations.

Key Features

• Added security for your printed items
• Create more brand awareness throughout your stationary lines
• Add a luxury aspect to your product offering
• No minimum order quantity

Add a bespoke Watermark to your letter heads for as little as £14.99* per 1000  *price based on an order of 10,000 sheets

There are a few things to remember when adding watermarks to one of your products.

• It works best on Uncoated 100gsm
• You get a cleaner image on non-textured substrates
• Designs such as logo work best

If you would like to discuss any of the above in further detail please call us on 0207 566 5070

To request a sample please fill in the form below:

It is not just Banks and large Corporate Companies that have the requirement to print in one or more languages, now a growing number of small and medium sized businesses are building a customer base outside of the UK Market, finding the need to produce business stationery and marketing collateral in a different language and often in dual languages.

The management of a foreign language requirement in a traditional way can be very truncated and expensive, especially if you add up the total time taken. We estimate that including translation the cost of a simple business card requirement can be in excess of £125! Many of our customers are now using Cognitu to manage standard high frequency requirements, such as business cards as part of their Web2Print offer.

Traditional – 7 Steps Minimum

If you use a traditional means of language translation, there can be many steps involved, including the understanding and communication of the requirement and multiple proofing stages which often result in very long email trails!In our experience a typical requirement including one set of amendments can take 11 steps before getting printed.

Issues

• Costly
• Lengthy
• Increased Potential for errors

Cognitu – We can do it in 3!

Using Cognitu you can reduce this down to as little as 3 steps. We can create an online environment as an extension to an existing template where the end user places the order in their default language which in turn creates a translation task that can either be carried out by someone within their Company or a third party translator that is linked to the system.

Benefits

• Easy to use
• Quicker
• On-screen approval
• Reduction in total cost
• Trackable on-line

Speak to your account manager or the sales team for more information on: 0207 566 5070

New Recycled Coffee Cup Paper – Get it while it’s hot

Did you know that 81 disposable coffee cups are used every second in the UK alone? That’s a shocking 7 million a day! With 2.5 billion take-away cups being thrown away each year something had to be done, thankfully James Cropper has developed a way of giving them a second chance. This was the world’s first coffee cup recycling plant opened by HM The Queen in 2013 leading to the development of a range of high grade but environmentally friendly papers.

How its done: Coffee outlets, cafésor retailers can send used paper cups to James Cropper for Cupcycling™. The cups are collected and baled close to source, so that they can be delivered efficiently on a large scale. It’s a world-first in recycling. The unique process removes the tricky polyethylene lining that makes take-away cups waterproof, while preserving the precious paper fibres. The polyethylene is recycled by other reprocessing partners, and the paper fibres are ready to upcycle. This is then made into a range of luxury papers that are both beautiful and environmentally friendly. Available in ten stylish colours and two paperweights, 130gsm and 380gsm. Print Evolved now have the capability to offer recycled coffee cup paper on a vast range of their products from business cards to luxury folders.

APPLICATIONS

• _Business Cards
• _Compliment Slips
• _Letterheads
• _Presentation Folders
• _Luxury Packaging
• _Greetings Cards
• _Garment Tags
• _Invitations
• _Menus
• _Brochures

Get your free paper samples…

To celebrate our 20th anniversary we are running a great competition that we want you to take part in.

There will be three prize winners who will have the opportunity to select a prize from the five options on below! The draw will take place on 20th December 2018.

Not received your copy? Request to add a colleague or yourself to the mailing list.

Request 20 Year Campaign

Be the first to know about Digi-Laser

The latest technology is used to create eye catching, memorable print projects that make a real impact.

Print Evolved have developed specialist typefaces that can quickly and accurately be cut and removed down to the tiniest of details adding a unique effect to your print project. Any combination of letters, numbers and punctuation marks can be used to take print projects to a new level. Print Evolved use their existing capabilities of printing white ink and extensive material testing to ensure Digi-Laser can be combined with a range of coloured card that really makes an impression.

Whilst developing Digi-Laser, Print Evolved also engineered Digi-Etch using the same technology, specialist typefaces and coloured materials. Digi-Etch can precisely remove 25% of the top layer of material creating a very tactile effect.

Both technologies can be added into the design of existing print products. For example; business cards, contact cards, invitations, wedding stationery, personal stationery, covers, folders, place cards, name badges and certificates.

Low set up cost, no minimum order quantity and fast lead times makes them a welcome addition to the fast paced world of print.

So if you would like to try out Digi-Laser and Digi-Etch, you can build your own sample pack using the Print Evolved web to print platform, Cognitu. Please login and register using the website printed on our Digi-Laser sample card.

Order your personalised cards now

GDPR What is it, Why Should I Care & How Can Cognitu Help?

Now that GDPR has come into effect…

The Customer now has control of how their personal data is used and kept.
It prevents organisations from being able to market to them without their consent.

So what does GDPR mean for Organisations?

In short, any customer may, at any time, request for certain personal data to be removed from the Organisations systems. Requests can range from the removal of their entire account to the removal of certain “legacy” orders or transactions. In addition Organisations must now have been given specific consent to be able to send marketing e-mails or texts.

Print Evolved and GDPR

Print Evolved have developed an on-line ‘GDPR help request tool’ which is available within the Help menu to allow for specific requests to be sent for the removal of customer data.
Customer data is stored at a UK data centre which is fitted with cutting edge environmental, operational and security controls to provide total peace of mind. It is certified with the following accreditations;

• ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management System
• ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System
• ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System
• PCI-DSS Payment Card Security Standard
• PSN Certification
• Cyber Essentials Certification

Help is just a click away.

It can be tricky explaining your needs to a Web2Print provider. Translating requests into terms that any given online platform requires is often a challenge in itself. Thankfully, Print Evolved’s platform, Cognitu, is the tool to help with this problem.

Within Cognitu a new help request section has been added.This screen allows users to send technical requests directly to the implementation team in an intuitive and guided manner.To create a new request, users simply select the “Request” option from the “Help” menu. If you cannot see these in your menu, contact your key account manager or customer services, who will arrange for you to be able to access this area.

The links on this help page go to an intuitive form for the task required. This guides you through the process, whilst ensuring that the best information possible is sent through to the implementation team. Once submitted requests are sent directly to the team’s task queue. Once submitted requests are sent directly to the team’s task queue, mitigating the risk of delay or any information being lost in translation.

Ready_for_your_Summer_holidays?

In preparation for when you are away this summer, would it be helpful to have one of your colleagues trained on how to use Cognitu? We are offering a Free training programme to help, contact us today to book on 020 7566 5070.

This week Ivor Solution signage was taken down from their Islington London N7 printing plant and in its place Print Evolved was born. A striking new brand reflects a company that continues to set the pace in web to print solutions and fulfilment and which has seen its turnover rise from £4.3m in 2014 to £5.1m last year with ambitious plans to double output by 2020 .

Next week Print Evolved will launch a bright and accessible new web site to match the new look which will allow its primarily corporate customers, 75% in print management and office supplies, easy access to print services.

Many of its clients use the Print Evolved web to print solution Cognitu, licensing it and creating bespoke portals that allow their customers to order print which is then fulfilled by the Islington plant, or their chosen print output supplier.

Spencer Slee, managing director of the newly branded Print Evolved, explains: “We had outgrown our identity. We remain a technology-driven company which is innovative, creative and responsive. We enable print management companies, dealers and resellers to offer an easy to use web to print portal and fulfil those orders with digital, wide format, Direct Imaging and litho technology as well as extensive finishing including foiling, embossing and thermography. “

The background graphic to the new logo is a series of interlocking rectangular patterns combining low key black and grey with more striking green and blue. This reflects the company’s combination of old and new technology, platens to latest generation digital printing, but also how it uses strong teamwork and lean working practices closely combined to maximise efficiency. Work is tracked through a barcoding system, each job bundled together into one tray, and the production flow measured to ensure speedy turnarounds are achieved and deadlines met.

The word print in the new logo is embraced by angled brackets (>and <), widely used on the Internet (in html coding) and the Replica fount is frequently used on screen. Print Evolved embraces the Internet, regarding it as a tool and not a threat to print.

Ivor Jacobs, who founded the company and who remains as a consultant, was an early adopter of the Internet and led the creation of the Cognitu software (originally known as CardCorp). Spencer Slee joined the Limited company two years ago and, as managing director, will lead the company into the next stage of development. His background in office supplies (he joined from Staples) brought a fresh pair of eyes to the printing operation.

“This company has been the best kept secret in print for 20 years. Now it is time to evolve and build on our heritage by further harnessing technology and the multi-media environment to offer even more printing services to the modern business and print user,” says Mr Slee.

April 2016

For further information please contact

Diana Thompson, Plus Point PR Ltd, on 01494-817178

Or

Spencer Slee, Print Evolved Ltd, on 020 7566 5070 or 07976 721239.