When Reading based design company Oculus needed to come up with 60 full colour PVC over board ring binders, they turned to local specialist Evans Graphics for the answer. The original brief was calling for a short quantity of high quality, different from the norm, PVC ring binders to house a very important tender presentation. The snag was though that if the project was to be a winner, there would only be seven days to bring the whole matter to a successful conclusion. Initially there was just 22 binders of one sort, but by the time the project had been finalised, there were three editions over two sizes, and the quantity had increased to 60 in total!
Four of the working days were to be taken up with the design concept and artworking necessary to prepare for the print production, which left Evans Graphics with just three working days to manufacture the very special ring binders and ensure that they were delivered on time to the client, who still needed to insert all of the printed matter for the tender presentation. Once we had received the all important artwork files we began the exacting process of printing a digital image directly onto a 350um white roll stock which would be suitable for the outer covering of the PVC over board binders. Using our specially calibrated Mimaki JV3 inkjet we carefully printed sufficient square metres of the PVC to ensure we had enough copies for each of the three versions.
The digital print was then overprinted with a very thin clear lacquer coat to aid with the welding process and to also add a level of scruff protection to help prevent the binders from looking tired from constant handling. Once this part of the operation was complete, the covers were then trimmed to a suitable sheet size and transferred to our Ringwood plant for the next stage of the manufacturing process. The digital covers were then carefully aligned and welded together to form the individual binders. Great care had to be taken with the alignment as the printed detail ran exactly between the ladder welds running up either side of the spine, one slip and the binder would have been spoilt. With just the ring mechanisms to be fitted before the final inspection process, the job was almost ready.
We had started the order on the Friday morning at 10.30am, and by Tuesday morning the following week we had successfully delivered the finished job by 8.15am! The end result was superb, and the finished quality was appreciated by all. The file copies of the order now have a special place on our showcase as befits a winning job. Once again, Evans Graphics pulled out all of the stops to produce a superb result! |