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Experience Piles on at Universal Printing

Bob and Sandi MouraUniversal Printing is Durham’s most respected and reliable resource for graphic products like banners, printing and mailing. Over the past 33 years Bob and Sandi Moura have recruited a versatile team of graphic professionals who provide fast, reliable results from the heart of RTP. So it’s no surprise to learn that even more experience has recently joined the Universal team.Reagan Register joined our roster this summer as as Account Manager. Like Fred he has a heaping helping of experience in the print industry and all of it right here in the triangle. Reagan is a graduate of Wake Tech, and spent a few years in mechanical drafting before that spun off into a printing career – now 24 years and counting. If you haven’t met Reagan yet be prepared for some knowledgable and courteous service… with a big smile.  If you’re lucky, you’ve already had the Reagan Registerpleasure of working with Reagan. One thing’s for sure, we’re mighty lucky to have him on our team.

Reagan has also been mentioned in the people section of the Triangle Business Journal.  Just one more addition to the deep well of experience and know-how that is Universal Printing. Next time you need printing, banners, posters, envelopes, mailing or just about anything ink-on-paper, contact us or give us a call. We’re right around the corner.

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Graphic Design Tips: Copyrighted Images vs. Royalty Free Images

We’ve said it before, and will probably say it again:  Technology changes EVERTHING! This is especially true in the field of Graphic Design.  The growth of personal computers and desktop publishing software made EVERYONE an amateur graphic designer. Now, the internet has become a wealth of knowledge and resources; especially for people looking for photos. This brings us to a VERY important topic: Image Use and Copyright Law.

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Commercial Printing Tips: Understanding Ink Coverage

Here at Universal Printing, we love “Good Design.”  Thank You Mr. Puppy, for helping us underand Total Ink CoverageNot only do we have our own talented Design professionals in-house, but we’ve been fortunate to work with a number of amazing Ad Agencies and Independent Designers from around the country. Everyone has their own style and work habits, but almost all of them have one thing in common: They always want tips, suggestions, and feedback from their Printing Partner. 

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Commercial Printing 101 – Yes… you have time to bleed!

Say what you want about the movie Predator, it’s consistently rated on MANY lists as one of the best SciFi/Action/Adventure/Bang-Bang-Shoot-Em-Up movies of our time.   It also features on of the best movie quotes of all time (in my humble opinion.)

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Why In the WORLD would I go to a Printing Company for Graphic Design?

Universal Printing takes great pride in offering the best of all graphic communication worlds: Award Winning Graphic Design, G7 Master Printer level digital output and commercial printing, and the latest in Direct Mail, featuring variable data and cross-media marketing solutions.  Over the years, we’ve worked with a lot of clients and companies who find themselves getting into a 2- or 3-prong approach with their projects: One company for design, another print, and sometimes even a third to handle the mailing.  Not a very efficient process, in our opinion.  WE always want to focus more on what is in the best interest of our clients.  Here’s a few reasons why a “single source solution” makes sense.

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Tips & Tricks for your Graphic Design Portfolio | InDesign Columns

Adobe InDesign continues to refine and improve it’s tools. The video below is a review of the Column Splitting and Spanning feature, which helps eliminate the need for multiple text boxes.  This is ESPECIALLY handy for magazine and newsletter layout, where you might have multiple headers and the potential for far too many text boxes.  If you’ve been doing Graphic Design and Page Layout for very long, you’ve no doubt already dealt with clients or editors who’ve made very substantial changes, maybe even massive re-writes, which requires a major amount of reflowing and rearranging of your layouts.   Life will be so much easier if you use this simple and handy technique to eliminate unnecessary text boxes and keep things neat, tidy, and easy to rework if needed.

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Tips & Tricks for your Graphic Design Portfolio | Coils and Spirals

Adobe Illustrator has also been the Graphic Designer’s “go-to” program for creating and manipulating vector based artwork. It’s withstood the test of time, and each release keeps getting better and better.  Granted, some people will always defend their personal preference (Like those die-hard, loyal CorelDRAW fanatics, who are convinced their program is the best.)  Personally, I actually enjoy illustrating with Flash because I think Bézier curves are a bit archaic and Flash handles line art in a more fluid and hand drawn manner…. but that just MY opinion.

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