Happy St Georges Day     






Yes today is the day to celebrate our great country, I think we all forget how good this place is and what we have achieved, so be proud today that we gave the world football and cricket, and we invented the first suspension bridge and the train as well as the Sunday Roast Dinner and Fish 'n' chips.


We are a nation that gave the world the television, The 1st light bulb was built by Humphry Davy (an Englishman) in 1809 and the first flushing toilet ( Sir Thomas Crapper )and also gave the world Jedward and TOWIE.

Through our history we have legends such as Winston Churchill, Henry V and Robin Hood. We are a country of entrepeneurs that are unmatched. So lets celebrate whats good about England and  stand up and sing 'Jerusalem' all day long.


Happy St Georges Day

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Garlic-fed cows combat global warming

Sometimes its nice to bring you a story thats not related to print but we still like to bring you news on how to help the environment, so here's one for you.

Reducing farm animals’ wind by adding garlic to feed could substantially reduce greenhouse emissions, according to research by West Wales’ scientists featured by Euronews.

An organosulphur compound obtained from garlic kills off methane-producing bacterium in the digestive system of cows, according to Professor Jamie Newbold, who heads up a €5 million-research programme at Aberystwyth University.

Cows eating feed enriched with the garlic compound — called Allicin – release 40% less gas without interference to their normal digestive fermentation, according to the research.
Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and agricultural emissions constitute approximately 18% of global greenhouse gas production, Kenton Hart of Aberystwyth University told Euronews.

The scientists said cutting methane emissions by cows by 40% would substantially curtail global warming.

David Williams from Neem Biotech – which manufactures Allicin – said that supplying a quarter of the UK’s cattle herd would require five-and-a-half thousand tons of garlic a year, which he told the channel could be “very, very big business”.

The only negative is that Allicin appears to taint the taste of milk and other dairy products. So the researchers – who are also experimenting with sheep and other livestock – are looking at other kinds of garlic metabolites which would achieve the same effect, without the downside.


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Cheap Printing - really?!!

Theres an old saying you get what you pay for and when it comes to printing this is usually the case. On the radio lately there are 2 separate global printers, one which is online and the other has a number of outlets throughout the world that can produce business cards for less than £3.00 same day and the other one does it for free.

So with interest I thought I would check out to see what you actually got for your money, The first one I went into was the  outlet and  I enquired about the business cards. I got a lot of erms and arghs from the assistant who didnt know to much about the offer, so I explained that I had heard on the radio that you were doing same day business cards for less than £3.00 and it said to come on in - so here I am.

I got passed over to somebody else who then informed that I had to go online and look at the catalogue of logos I could use and then type my information where relevant and then send to print which emailed them to print it. So I did, I went home and after an hour fiddling with my new design I emailed it to them.

I then returned to the outlet in anticpation 2 hours later that it would be there waiting for me. The assistant then informed me that their server was a bit slow and they hadnt received the email yet  so I was told to give it 5 minutes, 20 minutes later and still nothing. 30 minutes, 40 minutes, he then checked his junk mail and found it in there - great.

He then proceeded to make my card fit several times on a sheet which took an eternity to get right and then printed them on a colour copier which when they came out felt like they had been printed on toilet paper they were that thin, so I put this question to him and said what weight is this on as its a bit flimsy and he barked back 'its a business card board that everyone has - its a 200gsm', I kept my knowledge to myself at this point as I was nearly laughing at him and wanted to scream at him as well and just replied OK.

He then went off to cut them out and when they came back they were about as straight as a banana.

I went to pay for my £3.00 business cards thinking - is this really the future, because if it is I want out, there was No service, No Knowledge, No Quality, and definately NO satisfaction.

So if you really want cheap printing, thats has no quality about it and will represent you or your business then email me and i'll give you their phone number gladly.


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Winners

http://bloggerschoiceawards.com/#winners


Just found out  we won Best Blog Design 2011 at the Blogger Choice Awards, so would just like to thank everyone who voted for us and to everyone who enjoys reading our posts.

We try and keep it informative and relevant to you all but if you have any suggestions for articles then email us at hello@freshdps.co.uk


Thank you all once again

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What the F!!!?

We recently had to produce some copying for a client and couldnt help notice that it was a presentation to a very large corporate client, and the title was somewhat explicit but abbreviated to WTF which we were all flabbergasted by.

We then read the pitching document and was even more astonished that it carried on the inside as well. Call us old fashioned but how on earth do they think they are going to impress people with this sort of rhetoric. Yes, we are all for designers being creative and pushing barriers but this just seemed irresponsible to even let it get this far to be in front of their prospective client.

I havent heard if they won their pitch but perhaps they were going for 'The pitch that would be remembered the most vote'. Im sure they got that award but hopefully not the business otherwise we are going to have to rethink our pitching techniques.

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ULTRA-FRESH - ULTRA SAFE     

We are not renowned for being a carton or a box printer, but over the last few months we have been producing the boxes for a company called Ultralife whose products can be found in all the major supermarkets.

We thought we would showcase what we have been doing as its not often that something unusual comes along and we can tell you how we produce it.

For all the boxes you can see in the pictures there is a lot of processes involved to get it to the client.

From the moment the artwork arrives it gets flightchecked to make sure all the fonts and pictures are as they should be, the customer will then receive a digital press proof to ensure they are happy with how the print will look.

Once approved, the plates are made for the press and  on the press  they all get checked to see that the printed carton matches the press proof the customer has already seen.

Once off the press and  we have allowed the ink to dry for 24 hours the cartons are then what we call die-cut with a specific machine. This is where a tool is made to the exact specifications of the carton and how it is to be cut out and is checked that it correctly goes together and the image of the box is still as the customer has seen.

After it is cut out, it then goes to a silver foil blocker who then adds his magic touch to enhance the look of the box where another specific machine sticks and cuts the foil to the box and is checked again to make sure it meets the customers requirements.

After this process the cartons are then put on a glueing line where the tabs are glued and the box ready to be made up into what it is designed for.

The last part of its journey is for one more final quality check before its gets lovingly put into its own box ready to be delivered to the client.

Who would have thought a simple box would have so much attention to detail and work gone into it, so next time your picking up something from the supermarket shelves have a little thought of what went into it to look the way it does.

If you want to find out how Fresh can help your business then email us at hello@freshdps.co.uk or call us on 01296 489998 or 01442 345088

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That Friday Feeling

Theres always a great satisfaction at the end of the week that it has been a good one and you can sit back and try and relax on friday afternoon.

I recently read an article on how much business is done on a friday afternoon and it came out that it came second to a wednesday morning.

Now I for one agree with this because I feel more relaxed on a friday afternoon so I expect my clients do to, therefore they have more time to spend chatting to you and are more welcoming.

I suppose its not rocket science really but its worth noting this small detail when you are next following up on quotes or wanting to talk to a client.

So Happy Friday Afternoon Everyone, lets do some work.

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