Calendar Printing Techniques

Calendar printing is a great way to brand your company image and motivate direct response from your target audience. Great calendar design is only part of the process. Before you can distribute your catalog to your soon-to-be customers, you have to consider the catalog printing process. The following printing techniques will help you make the right decisions when printing your calendar.

Paper

Your catalog cover should be thicker and sturdier than your inside calendar pages. A 100-pound gloss cover stock with aqueous coating is perfect for calendar covers, because this type of paper has an illustrious sheen, feels strong in your hands and protects your calendar. For your inside calendar pages, choose from 80-pound gloss text or 100-pound gloss text for a bright shine, or 70-pound 50 percent recycled matte text stock, which has a subtler sheen and the added benefit of being eco-friendly.

Size

How big do you want your calendar to be? You have to consider where the majority of your calendars will be hung - on break room and office walls or on cubicles or the insides of vehicles? If space is at a minimum, go with a 6-inch by 6-inch or 5.5-inch by 8.5-inch calendar. If you have plenty of space, the bigger your calendar is the more people can easily see it. Go with a standard 8.5-inch by 11-inch or large-format 12-inch by 12-inch calendar (which unfold to 17-inch and 24-inch, respectively).

Finishing

How you finish your calendar can have an impact on its appearance and durability - and the longer your calendar hangs, the longer it's working for you. Make sure your calendar hanging hole is drilled large enough to accommodate most nails and screws to prevent tearing. Go with a 3/16-inch, ¼-inch or 5/16-inch hole for best results. You also need to decide between saddle-stitch (stapled) or Wire-O binding. Saddle-stitching is cheaper but doesn't last as long as Wire-O, which looks great and will keep your calendar pages together well beyond the 12 to 18 months it's in use.

Use a template, get a proof

You want to make sure your calendar looks as great coming off the press as it does on your computer screen, so make sure you use a pre-formatted calendar template for your design. Such templates include bleed lines, safety area and cutlines, as well as any special instructions you need to know. Plus, they are ready-made with the proper color attributes and resolution to make your design more efficient. You should also get a hardcopy proof so you can see exactly what your catalog is going to look like before you run the entire job. This way, you're free to make any necessary changes before you to go press.

Print in volume

The more calendars you print, the less your price per calendar. This is because it costs a fee just to turn on and set up an offset press, which makes small runs more expensive but large runs extremely economical. Calendars are excellent vehicles for boosting brand recognition and returns on investment. Follow these calendar printing techniques to get it right the first time.