Colour Prints. As the name suggests, this is a company that began as a specialist in quality colour prints. However, today’s technological wizardry has led Colour Prints into exciting new domains, where the range of imaging possibilities is virtually unlimited. Serving customers worldwide, Colour Prints offers its clients a gamut of services: photo finishing, digital imaging, electronic retouching, hi-res scanning, layout, assembly, mounting, lamination, dyecutting, custom fabrication and delivery of collateral.

Located on Vanderhoof Avenue in Toronto, Colour Prints’ headquarters is a colourful, 23,000-square-foot modern facility with one of the largest electronic imaging areas in Canada or the United States. With more than a dozen high-end imaging computers, and state-of-the-art printers, the organization is able to rapidly serve customers with the latest in quality collateral. From its airy, relaxed facility to its personnel, Colour Prints exudes a warm and friendly approach to the business of imaging.

‘We have remarkably resourceful specialists who are both established leaders and innovative experimenters in their field of expertise,’ says Colour Prints president Ron Benson. ‘Our goal is to understand our clients’ unique needs and deliver results that go beyond their expectations.’

Those results can include trade show images, POP materials, window displays, event signage, huge murals, counter cards, pop-ups, travelling exhibits, museum displays, theatre/movie background sets on a range of materials such as Duratrans, Duraflex, laminated posters and awning material.

Colour Prints has created a strategic partnership with Kodak, which continues to forge new alliances with such forward-thinking companies as Colorspan, Durst, Microsoft and Adobe. This gives Colour Prints a special window on the latest imaging developments and advanced printing solutions. The company also has established its own research and development group that is constantly pushing the boundaries of imaging to new levels of creativity.

Along with state-of-the-art imaging systems, Colour Prints’ capabilities are made possible by the latest in photo and digital printing equipment. Ink-jet imaging produces brilliant digital images up to 53.5-inches wide by any length. The permanent inks drench outputs in rich colours with UV stability. Duraflex, Duratrans and mural prints can be up to six feet wide and 24 feet in one piece – or any size a client wants when panels are seamed. Three-dimensional Dynamic Imaging, which allows text and images to magically appear and disappear with a turn of the head or a blink of an eye, is an area Colour Prints continues to invest in.

‘Extraordinary technological breakthroughs in the communication arts have given us the tools to express new visions in this new world of imaging,’ Benson says. ‘Ours is a business that shuns the status quo and embraces change. In the global market, only a unique blend of creative vision, technological wizardry and talent can ensure a business the opportunity to not only compete, but to succeed.’

Colour Prints’ clients include corporations such as Clinique, Estee Lauder, Calvin Klein, Sears, Winners, Mercedes Benz, Hoffman-LaRoche, RCB Dominion Securities, Expo Systems, pharmaceutical companies, The Royal Ontario Museum, Labatt Breweries, Toronto Skydome, The Bata Shoe Museum and a range of Canada’s topnotch ad agencies.

Benson says that since he bought Colour Prints three years ago, he has made customer service a top priority. ‘Building a relationship with the client is very important,’ he says. ‘One of our strengths is communication between our sales people and clients and between management and clients. Communication is key in understanding what a client needs and making the appropriate recommendations. Follow-up is also important as is letting clients know of all the services we offer. We try to go that extra mile for our client and deliver on our promises.’

Although energetically serving customers, meeting deadlines and keeping pace with the rapidly changing world of technology is a challenge for Benson and his crew, the benefits are many.

‘At the end of the day, it’s very rewarding to see the completed project, whether it’s viewing a huge mural, like at The Ontario Jockey Club, or seeing display images at the airport while travelling to New York or Los Angeles,’ Benson says. ‘Also, it’s great to get positive feedback from clients. For example, we’ve gotten calls from cosmetic clients, saying, `Thanks a lot for jumping through hoops for us. You did a great job on the product launch and our sales went up X per cent.’ That’s very gratifying.’

Besides, says Benson, ‘We like to be the best at what we do. However, we also like to have fun while doing it.’

The Beauty of Imaging

In the world of cosmetics and fragrance, image is everything. From Clinique’s pastel green colours to Estee Lauder’s trademark model Elizabeth Hurley, capturing the right look with unforgettable images is essential to attracting and keeping loyal customers.

Colour Prints, specialists in prestige cosmetic accounts, uses its knowledge of the beauty industry, creative expertise and sophisticated shipping systems to meet the demands of such companies as Sanofi Beaute (Oscar de la Rente, Yves St. Laurent), Prescriptives, Lancaster Coty, Calvin Klein, Estee Lauder and Clinique.

With accounts such as Estee Lauder and Clinique, Colour Prints handles all the mounting of collateral for Canada and gets involved with special promotions.

‘Whenever there is a special project with an exclusive retailer, like Holt Renfrew, we would do all of their work in terms of production of photographic pictures,’ explains Michelle Burley, Colour Prints’ Director of Corporate Business Development. ‘We would work directly with Holt Renfrew on Clinique or Estee Lauder’s behalf, producing Duratrans, posters, blowups, prints for stores across Canada.’

On other occasions, Burley is called in to the retail store to look at the space available and help develop a concept or design to provide the strongest visual impact within a designated budget. ‘That might include special dye-cut gift boxes or pop-up displays,’ she says. ‘What I would do is ask all kinds of questions – to find out about how long the display is going to be up, other competition in the mall, what they like or how dramatic they want the display. We work with the client to fulfill their needs.’

Gary Bain, V.P. of Sales and Education for Estee Lauder Canada confirms that Colour Prints is an essential component to the success of the company’s promotions. One recent project Colour Prints managed for the company’s Pleasures for Men fragrance was a 10-by-12-foot photo mural installed like a billboard at West Vancouver’s Eaton’s Park Royal.

‘They are really our right hand in our retail accounts, assisting us to look extra-special at the point of sale,’ says Bain. ‘They’re outstanding to work with because their sense of quality and their sense of timing is very much what Estee Lauder demands. There are so many new items, so many programs, promotions. Colour Prints is a highly professional company that understands that we have to move very quickly. Everything is different year after year and they are very flexible with us. They are with us every step of the way.’

Kelly Dauson, Clinique’s Manager – Sales Administration, agrees. ‘Colour Prints is very familiar with the cosmetic business and understands our requirements and needs. Basically, they are given the tools and they make it all happen.’

In the world of fashion and beauty, the benefits of Colour Prints’ advanced computer imaging systems include the ability to get a colour just right, dramatically alter a photo or upgrade a substandard image. ‘A photographer might have an excellent shoot, but the lighting is off or there might be a flaw in the clothing or the model might not have posed quite right,’ explains Burley, whose previous experience includes eight years with Clinique in sales and marketing. ‘Previously, we would have had to try and retouch that right on photographic paper, whereas now it can all be corrected much more efficiently on the computer.’

Colour Prints also works closely with the New York offices of Calvin Klein, producing large format Duratrans. Another client, Sanofi Beaute requires Colour Prints to regularly recommend the right medium for their various products and carry through with murals, posters and Duratrans production. ‘With the rapidly changing technology, there are so many different ways to advertise through print,’ states Burley. ‘We have to consider different factors such as the quantity required and the costs before recommending a particular medium.’

To meet the demands of a range of cosmetics clients, Burley says an emphasis on customer service is key. ‘There aren’t very many labs that can handle the volume of work that we do and what we do to keep those clients with us is really get to know them. Our company is creating a niche in the industry where someone like me will work very closely with the client – to the point where I feel I am working for that company. I’m not interested in quoting a price and going into a bidding war with the competition. I want to get to know the company, understand their products and give them exceptional quality and service.’

It helps, of course, to have the Colour Prints’ infrastructure and spirit of innovation behind that dedication to personal customer service.

‘We are leading edge and we have state-of-the-art equipment,’ adds Burley. ‘It’s a fascinating business. We’re always researching and testing, trying to stay two steps ahead – and we share that knowledge and our enthusiasm with our customers.’

Sears: Innovation + Imagination = Transformation

When Sears decided to renovate nine of their Greater Toronto stores last August, they were looking for a whole new look – a contemporary, customer-friendly decor that would have a strong visual impact. It was a huge graphics project that initially was to be completed in two months. When Colour Prints got the go-ahead, however, they were left with only about three-and-a-half weeks to supply close to 1000 images.

‘The volume and magnitude of the project was incredible,’ says Michelle Burley, Colour Prints’ Director of Corporate Business Development. ‘We took it from start to finish – from the administrative side to photography, to final production to delivery of the graphics to the nine Greater Toronto stores.’

To answer Sears’ call for striking fashion images, Colour Prints sprung into action by hiring well-known Canadian photographer Yuri Dojc, who worked on location with Sears for three weeks, and produced approximately half the photography used.

Because of an incredibly tight schedule, Colour Prints contracted out about 20 per cent of the work. ‘From Yuri’s work and that of another local fashion photographer, we produced the majority of the graphic requirements for the nine stores,’ says Burley.

Collateral for the project included Duratrans, mounted posters and a variety of photographic material in various sizes, some of them as large as eight-feet square.

The graphics in the stores serve to draw customers into a rich atmosphere and create continuity between departments. ‘It’s all very well-presented and eye-catching,’ says Keith Markey, Display Co-ordinator and Photographer for Sears. ‘Colour Prints had a lot to do with that. The majority of the graphics are lifestyle shots that make up the decor throughout the store and really welcome customers into the department.’

The graphics, which includes signage that identifies brand names and large lifestyle shots, also serve to easily identify the various departments. ‘Compared to the competition, Sears created a very organized consumer-friendly environment,’ says Burley. ‘It’s a very clean look and the graphics are positioned so that if you are walking through the store and you’re not sure where you are, the imaging allows you to easily identify if you’re in the lingerie department versus women’s casual wear, or men’s versus boys, or men’s active wear versus suits. You can look up and see beautiful images and know exactly where you are.’

In creating this contemporary look, Sears’ visual presentation department provided Colour Prints with suggested layouts. However, the Colour Prints team had creative freedom to do cropping and assembly. ‘They provided us with the frame size and they wanted a collage of different looks so we would assemble and crop on the computer to proportion accordingly,’ explains Burley.

While the photographs are posed model shots, photographer Yuri Dojc shunned the catalogue look and instead went for fun, unconventional poses and treatments – that highlight not the models but the merchandise. For example, collateral for the jewelry department include shots of models wearing watches and rings – but their faces are ghosted out, making it crystal clear that the jewelry – not the models – is the star attraction. In other departments, playful shots highlight lingerie; collages comprised of various-sized images feature the latest women’s fashion; and a striking, stylized black-and-white collage of travel-related images flag the luggage department. Colour Prints also assembled a series of hanging graphics that vividly highlighted the uses of the Sears catalogue.

‘It was all very well presented,’ says Markey. ‘ They did a very good job on the graphics. It went well beyond the photography – Colour Prints did a lot of computer work. Some of the images were blown up really large, and it looked like a normal photograph. I was shocked. You expect something that is eight feet square to be grainy and distorted but it was amazingly clear.’

‘We had a lot of creativity with this project,’ adds Burley. ‘We did a lot of work on the computers, doing retouching and carrying the theme throughout the whole project.’

With the renovations completed on the nine Greater Toronto stores, Sears is now moving forward on plans to similarly re-fit their retail outlets in other parts of the country. And Colour Prints will be there, applying their organizational, imaging and creative expertise to the new venture.

‘This was a huge project,’ says Markey. ‘And we really put Colour Prints under the crunch. There was so much work, and many changes. They were always great to work with even though they were under a lot of pressure and tight deadlines. Now we can go forward with renovations in Montreal and Vancouver, and it will be even better after this experience.’

Taking on Technology

In the world of photo imaging, the earth is spinning rapidly. Processes that even a few short years ago required manual manipulation are now computerized – and the results can be dazzling. From giant backlit Duratrans to colourful outdoor banners, the boundaries of imaging are being pushed into uncharted territories. Those involved in the business are living on the edge – adapting, analyzing, experimenting – and developing new ways to take advantage of the spectacular world of digital technologies. Although computerization has promised to make our world simpler, in the realm of imaging and printing, it has opened the door wide to such a variety of possibilities – and variables – that it is anything but simple.

‘It’s far more complex than it used to be,’ says Stephen Shaw, Colour Print’s Supervisor of Imaging. ‘Everyone, no matter what field they are in, is going through a change from an analogue to a digital world.’

Cary Washimoto, Supervisor of Ink Jet printing, wholeheartedly agrees. ‘Every day is a learning day and the future is very fluid,’ he says. ‘What is a rule today, is not tomorrow. As technology changes, everything changes.’

And in this high-pressured, leading-edge business, expectations are higher than ever. ‘If we simply output images, we’d be in trouble,’ says Shaw. ‘We do a lot of digital retouching, colour correction and layout and design. Because computers are so fast and what they accomplish is so amazing, people are taking it for granted and often don’t realize the intricacies in producing whatever is needed,’ says Shaw. ‘Turnaround time is fast and of course we have to get a very good result. So, it is our responsibility to ensure the expectations of the client is met.’

The vanguard world of imaging technology is evident beginning with the way Colour Prints receives its creative pieces. ‘We have traditionally done printing of photographic negatives, but now there is more and more printing from digital files rather than negatives,’ explains Shaw. ‘Before we had a negative supplied to us or pieces of reflective work that had to be made into negatives. Now we are supplied with files (usually on disk) from miscellaneous sources. We scan those images and they are converted to digital files. We manipulate those files and assemble them on screen to get the best quality product.’

Applications used in the imaging world, such as Quark Express, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photo Shop, Page Maker and Corel Draw, have virtually changed the way designers, typesetters, photographers and printing experts do their jobs. However, because the software is still new and there are such a variety of applications, Colour Prints acts as an expert troubleshooter in the area of compatibility.

‘We have to have a number of programs – and different versions of a program – on hand here in case a client sends us a file in a particular program,’ says Shaw. ‘Recently, we even had to go in and change the actual coding of the program in order to deal with a particular file. So it is very complex. What happens is, when a big manufacturer releases a piece of software, they come to us to find out how they can improve it because we’re the ones using it in the field.’

With photographic images prepared in all kinds of environments, going through different computer systems and different stages of production, achieving vivid, accurate colour and top-notch resolution are key for Colour Prints’ imaging department.

‘Colour management is probably the most challenging thing we deal with,’ asserts Shaw. ‘We have proprietary systems that we have developed specifically to deal with colour. Because someone plugs in a particular value of CMYK or RGB, it doesn’t mean it will be produced that way. It needs to be interpreted and modified to print correctly and meet our standards.’

‘It’s a much more complicated issue than it used to be,’ says Washimoto. ‘There is a wider range of colour that is reproducible and every medium will emulate a colour differently. People’s expectations in the marketplace are that you produce exactly what is in their logo or in their mind, irrespective of the media involved.’

Resolution, or the quality of images, is another area where computer graphics have opened up a new world of possibilities and complexities. ‘It’s a key issue,’ says Shaw. ‘We work with our clients and try to educate them on what we need to successfully achieve the end result they want. Often we are supplied files that are very small for an end use that is very large or vice versa. We resize large files down or re-scan files that are substandard. We also do a lot of redrawing, particularly of corporate logos. If something is in bad shape or is a poor rendering of a logo, we can draw it on the computer and keep it in our archives.’

Although the work is exacting, the deadlines tight and the rules in flux, Shaw says there is gratification in being a pioneer in image technology. Retouching, an area that involves a lot of creativity and can magically transform images, he says, offers up challenges and excitement daily. Not only can flaws be corrected and colours altered, but images can be moved or replaced; a stern model can suddenly have a wide smile; a print ad file can magically transform a piece of cake into a piece of pie or add an extra wing to a building. ‘It’s incredible how quickly this area of technology has moved,’ says Shaw. ‘Things that astounded people a few years ago are very common place today. There are so many things we can do today, it’s amazing.’

Pioneers in Printing

If electronic imaging has taken Colour Prints into a new world of possibilities, electronic printing is taking them to a new planet. In digital printing, new technologies are being introduced at a dizzying speed. At Colour Prints, the latest ink jet equipment have extraordinary implications for colour, ink stability, resolution and output size.

There are challenges to working on the frontline of technology that is so new and innovative. First off, in procuring the best machinery for Colour Prints, Cary Washimoto, Supervisor of Ink Jet printing, is required to do first-hand research. ‘There are so many options. Suppliers know what they sell but they don’t know what else is out there,’ he explains. ‘So we really have to do our homework. We are constantly doing research and upgrading, looking for better quality. Searching for the right piece of equipment is very important to us. Then we do our own testing here.’

Colour Prints’ research, along with new printing techniques and the latest techniques in lamination and mounting, have allowed Colour Prints to broaden its horizons and move into the areas of outdoor collateral such as banners.

‘With photo, you’re limited to a handful of media. We don’t have those limitations anymore with ink jet printing,’ says Washimoto. ‘We can print on paper, plastic, fabric.

‘That’s what is exciting for me – I did testing and figured out how to print on awning material with excellent results,’ continues Washimoto. ‘We’ve done some very successful jobs printing right on awning material with the Colourspan equipment. It uses a pigment-based ink in a wax carrier, so it will stick on the waterproof awning material and we don’t have to worry about drying time – and it produces well with strong colours.’

One of Colour Prints latest pieces of equipment is a state-of-the-art ink jet printer that is five times faster than an ink jet machine purchased three years ago. ‘Ink jet machines work well to give outstanding colour, and they provide colours that can’t be produced photographically,’ says Washimoto. ‘The inks are water-based and they have some U.V. stability, which allows for short-term outdoor applications. They also handle small type well.’

The quality of resolution that the latest ink jet technology can produce is something Washimoto says is ‘astounding. Two years ago, it was amazing to see a 36-inch print come off with 300 DPI. Today, I have 60-inch prints that can be however long we want. Cameras inside the machine calibrate themselves up mechanically and give me an apparent 1200 DPI. It’s photo quality and holds up to very close scrutiny. This technology is taking us well beyond our former limitations.’

Colour Prints sets the pace at Ontario racetracks

Colour Prints has been splashing colourful images across the walls of the Ontario Jockey Club’s facilities – with some spectacular results. How spectacular? Grace Polsky, Director of Advertising for the Ontario Jockey Club says of one full-wall mural, ‘The reproduction is so good, you want to just snuggle up to the horse and pet its nose.’

As part of its ongoing efforts to revamp, update and beautify its Woodbine, Mohawk and Greenwood racetracks, the Jockey Club hired Colour Prints for a variety of visual displays, including larger-than-life, life-like murals, a project that was designed by Waplington, Forty & McGall graphic designers. The stylized images of horses, sulky drivers, trophies, jockeys and other racing paraphernalia were wallpapered to the walls at both racetracks – some as big as 20-by-40-foot.

‘These things are huge and they cover more than a dozen walls,’ says Colour Prints Visual Marketing Consultant Allan Ross. ‘We produced in 30-inch panels, each with a protective plastic face on them. Then we arranged to have them wallpapered up with a special adhesive. It’s quite impressive.’ Polsky agrees. ‘The customers love them. The murals incorporate part of our history and represent what’s happening at the facility, with a lot of colour and texture. They really capture the romance of horse racing.’

At Woodbine, Colour Prints also created huge 3-D collages, by close-cropping a myriad of images and mounting them on masonite. Boxed wood frames were used to bring the images out from the wall and give the display a layered, three-dimensional look.

‘We used this in building locations where we wanted to have a more dramatic look,’ Ross says. Notably, some of the large, 3-D cutouts are used in the escalator wells at Woodbine. ‘It is quite inventive,’ says Polsky. ‘It gives it a sense of dimension and changes what would be a normal boring ride up the escalator into something exciting.’

At the new Greenwood Off-Track Wagering facility, Colour Prints is working on a 125-foot-wide mural for behind the betting wickets. Already in place are two 20-foot-wide murals that, Polsky says, ‘Give lots of colour to the space when you first walk in the door.’

The Ontario Jockey Club plans to continue adding pizzazz to its decor and is currently working on visual displays of all kinds with Colour Prints, including murals and banners.

‘We have worked with Colour Prints over a number of years on different projects and they are wonderful to deal with,’ says Polsky. ‘They come up with great ideas and do a great job in terms of turnaround, production and service. The proof is that we have so much of their work up on our walls and our customers think it’s terrific.’

Colour Prints goes show biz

Some of Colour Prints’ work has been getting maximum exposure lately on stage and television as the company’s bold imaging expertise is being called upon to dress the sets.

Colour Prints has produced background sets for William Shatner’s Tek Wars, for CTV Sports, for Netstar Communications’ TSN and Discovery networks and for The Outdoor Life network.

‘One of the main things we do for television is backdrops for sets,’ says Colour Prints’ Visual Marketing Consultant Allan Ross. ‘It’s a very economical way to use the same studio space while giving each program a new look.’

For TSN, Colour Prints created a range of Duratrans for the network’s studio programs. ‘On a lot of our sets, almost everything remains consistent,’ says Michael Managhan, Graphic Supervisor for Netstar Communications. ‘It’s very common for us to use the same set and just change the Duratrans backdrop.’

TSN does just that for its TSN Control programming, which is the wraparound program that conducts pre- and post-game commentary and interviews around a major sporting event. ‘We use the same set and vary the backlit imagery depending on the event,’ says Managhan. ‘We have a different Duratrans for hockey, basketball skiing and so on. The backdrops we use usually consist of a montage of different images, with graphic material, titles and logos worked in.’

Netstar’s Discovery Channel has its own selection of Duratrans for such programs as Discovery@.ca and Animal Tracks. ‘It’s very convenient. We have a light box structure with fasteners and we just velcro the images on,’ says Managhan. ‘In a matter of minutes, we can replace one graphic image with another. They provide a good way to instill a lot of imagery and colour and to customize each set. Otherwise, we’d be into a lot of elaborate set pieces.’

Colour Prints also produced a demanding project for La Femme Nikita television show. The graphic, a mammoth 40-foot-by-16-foot cityscape is a backdrop for the main character’s apartment, depicting the highrises, office buildings and blue sky supposedly through the balcony’s glass doors. To produce the graphic, Colour Prints made two eight-inch-by-10-inch optical negatives from a four-by-five-inch transparency. The film was then exposed onto panels of Kodak print paper, each approximately four-foot-by-17-foot. Because of the size and use of the image, special lamination techniques were required.

‘We printed 10 or 11 panels,’ says Colour Prints finishing supervisor Chris Barking. ‘Then they were matte laminated to take off any glare the studio lights would create. To make one big 40-foot-wide photo, we spliced the panels together with a film splicing tape.’

For Tek Wars, Colour Prints produced Duratrans that acted as the characters’ computer monitors as well as large backdrops on photographic paper. Recalls Barking: ‘One backdrop was about 20-by-30 feet and depicted a (sci-fi) prison where prisoners were trapped in suspended animation.’

Not quite as unusual, but at least as demanding, Colour Prints also produced Duratrans for more than a dozen pinball machines for the Canadian and European stage production’s of The Who’s Tommy.

Flying high at the airports

Colour Prints is giving jet setters across the country some striking images to focus on while they’re waiting for their flights at airports across the country.

The company is involved in airport signage on behalf of a wide range of clients, including hotels, beverage and automotive corporations and banking institutions such as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

‘We do backlit Duratrans of various sizes for airports,’ says Colour Prints President Ron Benson. ‘With so many airport expansions, we are doing a lot of the graphics in the new facilities. We’re also noticing a particular interest in airport signage in Western Canada.’

One of Colour Prints airport signage clients is Padulo Advertising, which takes care of the airport images of CIBC Aerogold.

‘We have their images in airports from Vancouver to Halifax,’ says Padulo’s Production Manager Nick Toth. ‘CIBC Aerogold is very quality conscious. They go first class all the way and then we add another layer of demand for our own satisfaction, so quality is important.’

Colour Prints usually begins with a 35 mm or 4-by-5 transparency. Through digital imaging, the colour and resolution is manipulated to create the best possible image.

‘Some of these are as big as 6-feet by 160 inches,’ says Toth. ‘When you look at them from a foot away, they are photographic quality. It’s an unusual environment in that if you try to scrimp on the production, you’re going to look pretty bad. I have taken a tour through Toronto’s Terminal 2 looking at various posters. The ones that are trying to get away with silk screen, for example, don’t stand up to the scrutiny. When put up against some of the quality graphics that are out there, they just don’t compare. They come to an expensive party shabbily dressed.’

It’s not only sharp, quality images that count, however. Getting the images to the right place on time is key. With its sophisticated delivery system, Colour Prints also takes responsibility for shipment.

‘We sometimes run 100 to 200 images in major campaigns,’ says Toth. ‘We have to ensure that there is consistent quality throughout and Colour Prints takes on the additional grunt work of making sure they get to the right markets on time. Often we work on a very short turnaround, so we rely on Colour Prints almost exclusively in this niche.’

Terrific Trade Shows

When it comes to large-scale trade shows, making sure your company stands out amidst the many sights, sounds and activities can be a true challenge.

ExpoSystems Canada makes it their business to create the best possible images so that its customers get maximum exposure with indelible images. In fact, with a slogan like ‘Your image is our Business,’ ExpoSystems Canada has a lot riding on the visual material it produces for conventions and trade shows.

‘When we portray our clients’ images, it has to be first class,’ says Ron Gooch, National General Manager of ExpoSystems. ‘It’s not an overstatement to say that we couldn’t conceive of working without Colour Prints. ‘There are a lot of houses out there that are cheaper in every respect, but we won’t sacrifice on quality. They are a strong partner and they bend over backwards for us.’

Colour Prints uses a range of photographic and digital processes and a variety of media for the trade show business, the results of which range from portable Duraflex pop-up displays and large, folding Duratrans panel systems to laminated posters and colourful banners.

‘Recently, we did four huge banners for CI Mutual Funds for the Financial Forum,’ says Gooch. ‘The images were of the company’s colour logo. We do some imaging work in-house on logos, but we can only do solid colours. There are a lot of companies using graded colours for their logos these days. So whenever we get into anything complicated, like graphics with graded colours or different tones, we go to Colour Prints.’

Having produced tens of thousands of images over the years for ExpoSystems, Colour Prints remains ExpoSystems largest supplier.

A banner job

One of Colour Prints’ newest areas of expertise is producing banners on awning material, for gorgeous images that can survive the outdoor elements. It’s a growing niche for the company, one for which they’ve already received accolades – from the president of Malaysia.

Dana Stanley, general manager of Pioneer Tent and Awning received an eleventh hour call from a public relations firm to put together a huge cityscape banner of Kuala Lumpur. The president of Malaysia was giving a presentation in Ottawa at the Multimedia Super Corridor Conference and two banners – 20-foot-by-14-foot, another 14-by-6-foot – were needed pronto. He called Colour Prints.

‘The key was we had to get the graphics applied to fabric that had to be industrial, not just cotton,’ says Stanley. ‘I was relieved to find out that Colour Prints uses the same type of fabric that we do in this industry and that they have the technology to print on it. So we took the images on disk and transferred them to the awning fabric. They were printed out in panels, which we sewed together to make the banners. Then we stuck a tube in the top and bottom.’ But that wasn’t the end of it. After the Malaysian President gave his speech with the large banner behind him, he decided he liked it so much, he asked that it be shipped back to his home in Malaysia. So, says Stanley, ‘We got it back from Ottawa, rolled it up and now it’s on a slow boat to Malaysia.’

Not only that, he says, the P.R. firm was so pleased with the banner and the speed with which the project went, they wrote Pioneer Tent and Awning a congratulatory thank-you letter, something Stanley says, ‘doesn’t happen too often.’

Colour Prints has also worked with Pioneer Tent and Awning to print sporting graphics on awning material for games at Canada’s Wonderland. ‘We had to take these really nice prints and put them on weather-proof material to make 10-by-10-foot backdrops for the games where you throw a ball or shoot a puck at a target,’ explains Stanley. ‘When I went to Colour Prints, they knew their product and the printing business upside down and sideways, which sometimes is not the case when I’m dealing with different people. They were quick and did a very good job.’

Colour Prints uses special pigment-based ink in a wax carrier, which allows printing on waterproof awning material and gives good colour saturations for rich images. Another client for which it has used this procedure is the Royal Ontario Museum, manufacturing 15 banners for its Chinese Exhibit.

‘At the ROM, they wanted to use awning material because they were reproducing Chinese paintings, and the awning material gives a texture and feel that is appropriate for the paintings,’ says Supervisor of Ink Jet Printing Cary Washimoto. ‘We’ve done a lot of research in this area and as we learn more, we discover there is more and more we can do.’

Colour Prints adds pizzazz to Pizza Pizza

Colour Prints has many retail clients who depend on their sharp imaging to highlight their products in-store. By displaying the product in its absolute best light, retail outlets are stimulating sales and helping with the sometimes-difficult buying decision. As an added bonus, the right in-store imaging can go a long way to brighten up a location and create a pleasant environment for customers.

To that end, Colour Prints takes care of all the backlit Kodak Duratrans images in all 260 Pizza Pizza outlets in Ontario. ‘Anything you see in their stores we have produced,’ says Colour Prints’ Visual Marketing Consultant Kevin Gallagher. ‘We do large image murals for their walls, menu board images and in-store advertising visuals.’

Pizza Pizza has been in expansion mode recently and now has outlets at Ontario universities and has opened outlets in grocery stores in rural parts of the province, so that hungry customers can munch while they shop. The company has installed light boxes at these various locations and regularly changes the Duratrans to highlight different menu items or special promotions.

‘Pizza Pizza supplies us with original images and then we do the photo manipulation on the computer in our imaging department,’ explains Gallagher. ‘There might be a shot of a slice of pizza, a can of coke and some chips and we would do computer assembly and put that all together into one image.’

Colour Prints has produced hundreds of such mouth-watering images for Pizza Pizza.