by josiet | Jan 20, 2018 | Article, News
We (Jim and Josie) trained in graphic design in the 80’s and were fortunate to be taught the skill of typesetting using lead type. The other traditional skills we learned including hand lettering, font design, colour separation and camera ready artwork have all proved their worth even in the days of computer aided design and print. Returning to our roots, we are delighted to now have a 1950’s Adana letterpress and some beautiful lead type so we are looking forward to doing some ‘artisan’ printing alongside our regular work.
Check your stocks
The start of the year is a traditional time for planning ahead and making decisions about marketing, keeping in touch with your clients and networking. Now is a good time to check the level of your stocks of letterheads, business cards and all the other stationery you will need to put those plans into action. We are not suggesting you have your stock re-printed using letterpress techniques (honestly, we wouldn’t have the strength!) as we have digital backups of artwork for design or print work we have done in the past few years and can quickly make any necessary changes, such as new mobile ‘phone numbers. All you need to do is just drop us a line if you want to place an order.
Did you know that many of the words and terms used in print today originate from letterpress printing?
From the creation of the first metal type printing press in the mid-15th century, letterpress was the primary form of mass produced print of the written word until the 20th century saw the invention of offset printing. Johannes Gutenburg made type from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony, a durable moveable type suited for high quality printing on the letterpress – the inked type was literally pressed onto paper.
Uppercase and lowercase
The ‘lead’ type was stored in cases, with box compartments for each character, number, ligature and punctuation mark. The cases containing the majuscule or CAPITAL letters were stored above the cases containing the minuscule or lowercase letters. Now most typing programmes give you the option to ‘change case’.
Leading
This is gradually dropping out of use on desktop programmes but in all print it is the term for the line spacing between rows of text. When setting lead type you place a strip of lead of a particular point size between each line of text – the leading.
Mind your p’s and q’s
Lead type is reversed so that the imprint bearing the ink views the correct way round. When setting the type it is very easy to confuse p’s with q’s, especially if the last typesetter was less than careful about returning characters to their correct compartments in the case.
by josiet | Oct 20, 2017 | News
In October 2016 we decided to leave our offices in Hailsham High Street and work from a home office. One year on and we are still very much in evidence on the High Street. You can’t turn a corner in the town without seeing something that we have designed or printed.
Once again we were very happy to be on the committee for the annual Hailsham Festival of Arts & Culture and were involved with several of the events. The pop-up-shop in the middle of the High Street had posters, banners, leaflets and programmes, many of which were designed by us. We promoted the Dicker Players productions at Hailsham Pavilion (OK, yes, we performed too!) and helped to organise the 3 Minute Flix movie competition, again at the Hailsham Pavilion.
Some of our local clients include Highcroft Veterinary Group, Hailsham Jewellers, Hailsham Town Council, CMA Karate, What’s On in Hailsham, ESAB, Smythe and Barrie, Ross & Co, Quinnel House, Marlow Ropes, MFC Supplies, Hook & Sons, Hailsham FM, Howdens Joinery, Millies, Firefly Tattoo Company, Experience Holidays, Rare Repro and the Arlington Bluebell Walk, amongst many other small and large businesses, local and national.
So, even though we are working in a small studio surrounded by the trees of Arlington, we are still very much in evidence in the town of Hailsham.
by josiet | Dec 13, 2016 | News
Chreative Christmas
Thank you for your friendship, support and of course business during 2016. We’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and peaceful New Year.
Like many other businesses at this time of year, we’ll be taking some time out. As per the last couple of years, we’re taking a couple of days before the holidays too.
Monday 19th December – Closed
Tuesday 20th December – Closed
Wednesday 21st December – Closed
Thursday 22nd December – Open
Friday 23rd December – Open
The office will then be closed from Monday 26th December – Monday 2nd January, reopening Tuesday 3rd January.
by josiet | Dec 7, 2016 | Marketing, News, Promotions
One in our Question and Answer series
Q: My company is going to have a stand at a big international trade show so want to produce brochures to hand out. Would you recommend folders with loose information sheets or booklets?
A: Well folders/inserts are a very popular product for this scenario and for good reason. They can provide a very flexible vehicle for giving specific information to potential customers. If you have multiple services or products, you can tailor the folder to the customer or at least to the market sector. The other advantage of this is that if you change a product or service, you don’t have to reprint the whole brochure again – just a single sheet. The down side is that you have to hold quite a lot of stock, you have to possibly mess about stuffing sheets into folders, and folders themselves can be relatively expensive compare to a printed booklet.
With a booklet you have everything in one place and there’s no risk of sheets dropping out and getting lost as they’re stapled in! They can be relatively inexpensive compared to a folder – particularly when it comes to shorter print runs. And that can be a very important point if the item is just for one or two shows.
It’s a question of horses for courses (or International Trade Shows).
by josiet | Nov 4, 2016 | News
October 2016 saw us move out of The Old Courthouse, our base for the last 13 years. A lot has happened in that 13 years and Rare Repro have been wonderful hosts. In order to concentrate on doing the best design and creative work, we felt we needed less distractions – it is hard to work on something like a corporate identity programme when the doorbell keeps ringing – so we are now based in a home office in the ‘sticks’…. but still close enough to Hailsham for it to make sense to retain our name.
All businesses have ups and downs, and we are no exception! But we’re still here, having traded uninterrupted for well over 20 years!
A quick bit of history –
Jim Tipler, Josie Tipler (née Church) and Melanie Davies (née Ingham) were college friends studying Graphic Design at Hastings in the 80’s and, after working for agencies, Jim and Melanie teamed up in ’94 to create The Original Tipler Pomfret Design Company. This was from a small office in Tunbridge Wells.
As the phrase goes, we were made “an offer we couldn’t refuse”, and relocated to St Leonards Road in Eastbourne where Josie joined husband, Jim, in the business. After several years operating as an in-house studio for PR agency PRG, as well as looking after our own clients, we decided we wanted a little more freedom and departed on good terms.
So summer 2000 saw us move to the Sussex countryside and take beautiful offices at Bates Green Farm, Arlington, the home of the famous Arlington Bluebell walk. Every May we were treated to the the arrival of thousands of visitors, which was a real buzz. We enlarged the business, taking on more staff.
After a couple of very happy years in Arlington, we upped sticks and moved to The Old Courthouse, Hailsham (via a temporary office in a friend’s dining room!) as tenants of our great friends Rare Repro. We became a Ltd Company, renamed the business Accomplice Ltd. and built a sizeable client base from all over the country. It was a great location and Rare Repro were brilliant landlords. Business was good.
Melanie, expecting her 2nd child, decided to step away from the business, leaving Jim as managing director. In order to stay profitable, a change of direction was needed. We embarked on the next part of our journey, enlisting as a Printing.com franchisee. A risk but it turned out to be a great move, changing our client base from several large eggs in one basket to many smaller eggs in lots of baskets (we never really got the farm out of our system). We took on more staff to cope with the increased workload and enjoyed several years as a successful printing franchise.
But the print industry is painfully fickle, very fast-changing and you have to be on your toes all the time. We adjusted direction again to highlight our design expertise and present ourselves as a one-stop-shop for design, print and marketing services, targeted at local business.
Thus in 2011 Hailsham Creative – Your local image experts – was born.
The concept worked great from the start. We offered small and large businesses the same quality of design and service. Same great print prices and quality. Again though the print industry moved on and printing.com were marketing their online automated service more and more which on the surface contradicted what we were wanting to offer. As a result we relinquished the franchise whilst still retaining the print services, and downsized the business to what it is now – Josie and Jim Tipler, a husband and wife team.
With increased distractions at the Hailsham office, we started working more and more from our home office. Then because of the upheaval caused by the redevelopment of Hailsham High Street, we decided to move as soon as we could. We treated ourselves to a very slight logo refresh and launched our new website.
So that’s it in a nutshell – albeit, quite a large nutshell. You can come and see us, you just need to make an appointment now, or of course we’ll come to you.
by josiet | Oct 31, 2016 | News
One in our Question and Answer series
Q: Our directors have decided that our logo looks a bit dated, can you come up with some new ideas (different colours and typefaces) to hand round at the next shareholders meeting so we can get some feedback?
A: As simple request it seems. However…
Logo design by committee never, ever, ever, ever EVER works in our experience. Just don’t do it. Don’t EVER do it.
The problem is that everyone has an opinion and, although you want to be inclusive or democratic, that approach will never work when it comes to corporate identity. The most successful logos are the most distinctive – if you try and make everyone happy you will end up with either a very confused design or a very bland design. A logo should say something about your business and I’m guessing neither of those are characteristics that you’ll want your business to be associated with.
Here’s what you do. Formulate a brief. Tell us what you do and don’t like about the logo. Tell us who your customers are and how your logo will be used mostly. We will then do a little research and come up with a few ideas – one to two of those will hopefully appeal and we can then do some more work. Then we will end up with a logo that you can present the shareholders as a fait accompli (French for unless you have any major objections, this is what we’re going with).
That way, you’ll have one or two more up your sleeve if you need to rethink!
(If you are wondering about the photo – it’s for the SHARE SHEAR holders…)
