Read more to check out our inspiration posts and practical tips for postcards in the past; then, scroll down and find out how you can win free printing of up to 500 postcards!

Custom Printed Postcards Inspiration Roundup, and Free Postcard Printing!

Design Inspiration:

• 27 Artistic Promotion Postcards’ Designs
  
  Postcards that are out to promote don’t have to be all about sales pitches, as you’ll see in this collection of beautifully creative and promotional designs.
• 15 Tree Postcards’ Designs for Arbor Day Inspiration
  
  We wouldn’t be running a business if it weren’t for trees. To celebrate Arbor Day, as well as Earth Day and other environmental causes everywhere, we’ve collected these tree postcard designs for eco-friendly inspiration.
• 15 Vacation Postcards’ Designs and Photos for Inspiration
  
  Ever been to a vacation so amazing, you forgot to stop and take pictures? We hope this post will make you remember to get clicking at least occasionally next time!

Direct Marketing Ideas:

• Recipe Postcards for Marketing: 5 Uses and Ideas
  
  Put unique and delicious recipes on high-quality postcards, and you’ve got potentially powerful promotional materials that can connect you with your audience in brand new ways. Here are five ideas for five different industries on how you can go about using this idea.
• Bright, Sunny Ideas for Your Own Summer Postcards
  
  So you’ve got a direct mailing campaign ready, or you’ve simply decided to send postcards to your friends to keep in touch – and you don’t have an idea yet on what to put as your custom postcards’ design. Since it’s summer, this post just might give you that inspiration you need!

Here Comes the Contest!

What’s Up For Grabs:

Free postcard printing! Specifically, full color offset printing of 4″ x 6″ postcards on premium, 14 pt. glossy card stock, on both sides. One grand prize winner will get 500 postcards, and three others will get 200 postcards each.

This giveaway is open to US residents only! You have to be 18 or above to enter.

What to Do to Win:

• Blog about this contest, and link back to this post! You can simply tell your readers the details of this contest, or better yet, add details on why you deserve to win. Post an image of the postcard photo or design you want to print, tell everyone about your last postcard printing experience with Digital Room, or go into a story about a unique experience with postcards in general. (If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, check out the resources we’ve listed!) The more interesting your post is, the better your chances of winning!
• Once your post is live, leave a comment on this post with a link back to your published post.
• Promote this contest with us, on Twitter (please include your tweet in the #giveaway trending topic), social bookmarks, blog networks and the like.
• Leave the links proving you’ve promoted this contest via comments on this post; you can link to them all in one comment or through several. It’s the number of times and/or ways that you’ve promoted the contest that we’ll be counting, not the number of times you’ve left us comments.
• Your cumulative score (blog post quality + promotion efforts) will be tallied by our blog team and compared to the other contest entrants’ entries. Once we decide on the grand prize winner and the three other lucky winners, we’ll publish another update announcing the results!

We’ll be running this contest for one week, so deadline for entries is on August 11, 2010, 11:59 pm PDT. There’s not that much time left, so hurry and start making your awesome postcard-inspired post – and remember to subscribe to the Digital Room Blog before you go!

Edit: We’re changing the deadline to August 18, 2010, 11:59 pm PDT to give more time for interested bloggers to make the best post they can write. This is the last extension we’ll be making though, so make that winning post as quick as you can!

Update: THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED!

The results are in! The Digital Room Blog team has decided to award the grand prize to DJ of Crummy or Yummy; her post on Yummy: Recipe Postcards has some really cool ideas on what else to do with recipe postcards not covered in our own post.

Runner-up winner is Cathy Parker of Psychic Mama Indigo Child; her post here contains some fascinating information about the history of postcards, as well as some beautiful image examples!

Winners, please wait for the email that will confirm your win, as well as instruct you on how to get your prize. Thank you to everyone who participated, and watch out for more contests from the Digital Room Blog by subscribing now!

For email subscribers, please unsubscribe from the old provider and switch over here.

Let us know if you encounter any problems with the switch. Thank you so much for your continued support!

Brochure Folding

• Half Fold – Standard brochure fold

• Trifold – this is similar to the style of folding you might use when sending a letter.

• Z-Fold – Your brochure will open up like a Z, providing plenty of space for your designs and images

• Accordion fold – Similar to a Z fold. This makes your brochure open up like an accordion, giving you ample space to work with

How to decide

• Half Folds will be good to endorse a single program, you can have lengthy paragraphs and staff photos spread throughout the inside folds with your logo on the front and back covers.

• Trifolds are great if you anticipate leaving your brochure in a rack or on a counter. This way, customers can pick up your brochure and open it for information on specific programs or exercise equipment you may have in your gym.

• Z-Folds give you lots of space but in slim sections. This is great if you have a series of bullet points discussing the many aspects of your gym. For example, bullet points or a small table detailing your scheduled fitness classes would be great paired with an image on top of the text.

• Accordion folds allow you the opportunity to be more image conscious. With so much space to play with, use images of gym members in action, or small snapshot staff photos to highlight the best parts of your gym.

Where to Print

The Digital Room is equipped to meet your gym brochure printing needs. Our design professionals are standing by to upload and proof your brochure designs before you are ready to print them. We can even offer you assistance in the design preparation phases of your printing job. If you are considering building a brochure for your gym, take a moment to browse our brochure design templates, or call us at 866-266-5047!

Keep the Theme of the Catalog in Mind

Is there a picture that will single handedly capture the theme? Often times, designers will focus on a central theme. For example if you are designing for a speech or keynote, you should probably show a defining picture from the subject’s life. Think about what colors might represent the event or product you are designing the catalog for. Schools usually have colors associated with them, so it should be easy to come up with a color theme from those. Most companies have colors already in their logos you can draw from for inspiration. These colors are like flags that hint at what’s in store for the audience.

Conceptualize your design

If you don’t draw it out on paper, you may not know where to place the elements of your layout. Acquainting yourself with the space on paper is the fastest way to get the design part down. Be very clear with where you will place the title, the company name and any images that will make up the background. If your cover will span the entire catalog, make sure you measure that out on paper.

Look for Inspiration

Just like Stephen King will tell writers their best teacher is someone else’s work, so it goes for Graphic designers. There is an awesome archive of catalog covers for design inspiration on the net, and with some searching you can find them on Flickr as well. Follow top design blogs and take notes! If you surround yourself in great designs, you will produce brilliance.

Get professional printing and binding

It’s next to impossible to get DIY binding and printing to look as good as a printing house can make. Most printing houses will even take care of book binding, saving you time and headaches. Always get your design proof, even if they only give you a PDF. Proofing insures you know what you are buying into. Remember that books don’t come in one standard size, so will your printing house allow you the opportunity to print custom sizes? These important details are the finishing touches on your book cover design.

If you want solutions for your catalog printing needs, The Digital Room has you covered with simple file uploads, support staff (including live chat) and affordable prices. When you are ready to bring your catalog to life, call us at 1-888-888-4211, or simply visit the Digital Room site!

Lovely Catalog and Booklet Designs

Inspired to create your own catalogs and booklets? Call Digital Room now at 1-888-888-4211 or visit our catalogs page to learn more about our catalog printing services. We offer catalog and booklet printing available in 8.5 x 5.5”, 8.5 x 11”, and 12 x 12”. You can even choose from Saddle-stitch or Wire-O binding to keep the pages of your catalogs in place.

So, what do you think of these lovely catalog and booklet designs? Let us know by leaving a comment on this post.

4 Lucky Winners of Business Card Printing from Digital Room.com

Jesse will use the 250 business cards to promote her ballet studio. She can now market her ballet studio further with her new sets of business cards.

Arlene needed the 250 business cards for her charity work dedicated for seniors in nursing homes. We’re sure you’ll be able to reach more generous souls with your full-color business cards.

Carmen wanted to win the business cards for her husband who is trying to play more paying gigs. Congratulations for winning an early Christmas present for your husband!

Bambi M thought of a great idea to use the business cards as Mommy (and Daddy) cards. Exchanging contacts will now be easy with the 250 business cards she won from Digital Room.com!

Congratulations to all the winners! We will contact you via email to give you additional information. Thank you all for participating in our first Business Card Giveaway! Hope you’ll support us on our next giveaways.

Ben Harper Halloweenabaloo Tickets

To learn how you can win tickets, please visit YouTheDesigner.com!

Really Exciting Business Card Giveaway from Digital Room

Directions:

1. How to Enter (Enter up to 3 times!)

a) Leave a comment and tell us how you would use the free cards!
b) Blog about this giveaway and link to it. Then come back and leave your blog post URL as a comment for another entry.
c) Tweet the giveaway and include #giveaway trending topic.

2. We will select the ideas and stories that we think are the most creative and creative. On October 21, 2009, we will announce the winners of our contest and notify them by e-mail. Please use a valid e-mail address when leaving a comment.

Giveaway Prize:

250 business cards each for 4 Lucky Winners (Free UPS Ground Shipping in USA)
Sizes: 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (skinny card)
Paper: 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock
Specifications: Full Color Both Sides; Offset Press; 3 Business Day Printing

Thank you for dropping by our blog! Please check out our many blog posts and leave us comments!

Contest Closed

Fantastic Deals on Poster Prints with Digital Room

Offset or Digital

We produce your posters digitally if you need 50 prints or less. Digital printing is quick to set up, and convenient if you want to customize each of your posters. That means every printed impression made on the paper can be different.

When you need more than 50 poster prints, that’s where our offset printing presses come in. Offset printing offers consistent high-image-quality. Your images are sharper and your text, clearer. And the last print will be just as high-quality as the first, no matter how many prints you need.

Glossy or Matte

Digital posters can be printed on semi-gloss or high-gloss photo paper. Semi-gloss coating offers fade and water resistance, including a soft sheen. High-gloss coating means brilliant, high-definition posters, and superior resistance to tough weather conditions.

Offset poster prints can arrive at your door either glossy or matte. Glossy offset posters are vibrant, yet avoid glare in lighted areas. Matte posters have a dull satin finish that has a more subdued, but classier feel.

Want those 25% Off Too?

Right now we’re knocking 25% off offset poster prints, including custom sizes and eco-friendly stocks. You can order as low as 50 8.5 x 11” prints, and that’ll just cost you a little over $20.

But hurry, because this promo expires on July 31, 2009. Our customer service personnel are more than ready to take your orders today!