Understanding printing is a rite of passage for all professional graphic designers. Some designers never understand it. Good thing the Internet came along to keep them employed. I truly love printing. It’s a detailed, tactile process with possibilities limited only by imagination (and budget). When Johannes Gutenberg built his press in 1436, he invented an artform that would lead to the social and industrial revolutions that followed. The Chinese invented a system of printing using movable type as early as the 9th century, but it was Gutenberg’s movable metal type that granted permanence and durability to the printed word. Gutenberg’s press was all about getting ink on paper. Basically, someone would organize metal letters to make words, paragraphs and pages. Then someone else would roll ink on the tightly packed letters, put a piece of paper in the press, and mash the tightly packed letters against the piece of paper. Voila! The very first TV Guide.

Since 1436, the process has changed very little. We’re still putting letters together to form words, paragraphs and pages; someone rolls the ink on the letters and then mashes the letters against a piece of paper. The digital revolution didn’t change that. It did change how we put the letters together, and technology moved us from metal type to a more precise printing plate-making process, but we’re still putting ink on paper.

My new clients typically fall into two categories: those who know they need a project designed (i.e. annual report, brochure, direct mail campaign), and those who tried to develop something in-house and gave up when it came time to print the thing. The former category typically ends up ahead of the game. Design and print are like the cast of Seinfeldtaken apart neither is very effective. They work together, so if you are a marketing or communications professional, your basic knowledge of the printing world is just as important as your ability to recognize good design.

The most important thing to remember is that printing is confusing. Even with a simple project, there is only one right way to print the job and about a thousand ways to print it wrong. If you need 5,000 copies of your fax form, you can confidently bring the original to a local print shop yourself. If you need 5,000 full-color brochures, call in the design troupes. Keep in mind that there are ways a designer can make a 2-color job carry the strength of a full-color job, or make a 1-color job exceptional by adding embossing or a die cut for the cost of a second color. If the words Pantone, spot, CMYK, and 4-color process make your head spin, please download this handy chart to help clarify these terms for you. The chart defines basic commercial printing terms and describes the variables that make print jobs rise in cost and complexity.

In honor of his invention, an international panel of scientists chose Gutenberg as the most outstanding person of the millennium. I agree. Today, printing is second to Agriculture as the largest industry in the world. It makes sensewho needs more than breakfast and the paper on a Sunday morning?

Audrey Nezer is an award-winning graphic designer in Seattle, Washington. Her company, Artifex Design, creates playful, edgy and effective marketing and communication materials for companies and organizations throughout the United States. Visit http://www.artifex.net to learn more (and win a prize!)

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Many factories and warehouses today are utilizing old technology lighting in order to illuminate the warehouse or work environment. Factories are primarily using HID Lighting, which consumes 460 watts of energy per fixture. Example: A factory using 100 fixtures that are on 24/7 will spend $22,314.00 in electrical charges per year. By removing the HID fixtures and replacing them 1 for 1 with a fluorescent high bay the company would save $11,448.00 per year in electrical charges, typically with a payback from 12-24 months.

Budget Lighting’s main goal is to reduce electrical demand while increasing ambient light levels. Demand is the maximum amount of energy that a company requires to run their equipment/ machines/lighting/air conditioning etc. By reducing demand the kilowatt-hour charges are significantly reduced saving energy and money!

By reducing demand, the environmental impacts will be pollution reduction and natural resource savings. These projects have cut the production of harmful emissions and reduced the amount of natural resources used in the production of the electricity saves. According to the Environmental Protection Agency each kilowatt-hour usage of lighting translates to the production of approximately 1.6 pounds of carbon dioxide, 5.3 grams of sulfur dioxide and 2.8 grams of nitrous oxide. Lighting retrofit projects completed by BLI within the last 3 years total 59,746,704 kwh’s saved, and 6820.40 kilowatts saved.

Pollution reduction:

Global Warming (Carbon Dioxide, CO2) 95,594,726 lbs

Acid Rain (Sulfur Dioxide, SO2) 7,169,604 lbs

Smog (Nitrous Oxide, NOx) 3,584,802 lbs

Natural Resource Savings:

Coal 561,619,018 lbs

Oil 45,407,495 gallons

Natural Gas 5,974,670,400 cu. Ft

Many utility companies listed offer rebates to the customer to entice them to retrofit to Energy Saving Lighting. The rebates range from $200.00 per kw reduced to $400.00 per kw reduced. With this additional incentive, rebates to retrofit from the HID 400 watt fixture to a fluorescent high bay drawing 224 watts can be as high as $95.00. Most companies offer a flat $75.00 per fixture to the end user.

Each Project has different fixture spacing, heights and foot-candle requirements. If the factories have air conditioning, there will be additional energy saved, because the arc tube of the metal halide fixture (HID) can be as high as 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. The fluorescent high bay fixture lamps run at 95 degrees Fahrenheit with this temperature reduction, the energy can be reduced by approximately 1 ton per 2200 watts of energy saved.

With this ground breaking fixture technology, factories are enjoying cooler summers with less energy used. Other benefits of the fluorescent lighting system are:

50-100% Increased light levels

95% maintained light output over the life

Up to 30,000-hour average lamp life

Instant on, instant restrike

No flicker, ballast operates on high frequency

Sound Rating A, no hum or buzz, silent operation

Excellent color 88CRI with No color shift

Very wide, even light distribution

Natural Color and High color rendering, A quality light source

Jim Coykendall is President of Budget Lighting, Inc. BLI Lighting Specialists owns the business product and information site BudgetLighting.com http://www.budgetlighting.com

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Standard commercial flagpoles range from thirty to sixty feet and are usually made of a single piece of aluminum or steel tubing.

You may want two, three or more flagpoles, depending on how dramatic you want to be. Be sure that there is enough room between flagpoles to allow the flags to wave, and leave room for growth in case you want to install bigger flags later on.

There are two types of halyard systems, or rope and pulley systems, for raising and lowering a flag. External halyard systems are located on the outside of the pole. In this type of rigging, the flag is attached to a rope, which is looped through a truck, or wheel, at the top of the flagpole. The rope is wound around a cleat at the bottom to lock the flag in place and prevent it from moving up and down the flagpole. The problem with external halyard system is security: it is too easy for someone to cut the rope.

For higher security and durability, choose an internal halyard system, in which the rope or cable is located on the inside of the pole. It is accessible with a special winch through a hinged door compartment near the base of the shaft. And choose a revolving truck, so that the flag will not become wrapped around the pole when the wind changes directions.

When it comes to choosing a commercial flagpole material, you can’t go wrong with steel. Steel flagpoles are the strongest poles available, and require absolutely no maintenance.

For a more classic look and feel, choose a bronze alloy. Bronze alloys are mainly used for national and historical architectural projects. A flagpole made of this material will darken with age.

Commercial flagpoles come with a flash collar, which fits over the ground sleeve and bottom of the pole to protect it from the elements and gives the base a finished look.

Flag poles Info provides detailed information on flagpoles of all types, including telescoping, fiberglass, commercial, residential, aluminum, tailgating, wall mounted, in ground, flagpoles for sale, and more. Flag poles Info is affiliated with Original Content Web.

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