Production of the Professional Presentation

Over the last month I have been prioritising the production of my Digital Photography magazine for this unit. I spent the day yesterday making final adjustments to the layout and copy, and then uploaded the magazine to Blurb and placed an order of two copies. I needed to get this done as soon as possible as the products ship from America which takes some time.

The Blurb Book Creator plugin is very helpful at this stage. It checks for missing source links and other important things throughout the document before it uploads, so you can be sure that the magazine will print as it should.

If everything is okay with the document, it will pass the preflight process.

Before sending it off, I showed the PDF to a couple of people so they could check for spelling and grammar mistakes. It is quite easy for the person who created a product to miss errors after spending so long on it.

I ended up calling the magazine ‘Final Thirty’ as its main purpose is to showcase the final 30 images I took for the unit.

What next?

The main part of my professional presentation of final images is complete and on its way to me. I now plan on putting together a couple of final materials to go with the magazine. This includes some packaging (a box or wallet), and maybe some branded stickers or other promotional material. I purchased some cellophane bags today that the magazine will fit in to make it look like a professional, shop-bought product.

I will be updating this post each time there is progression on the professional presentation.

UPDATE (13/04/16): PACKAGING ARRIVES

I found and ordered some boxes from Amazon. The dimensions inside are 227mm x 325mm so one of them should hold the 220mm x 280mm magazine nicely.

I also managed to find a small stamp set in Tiger which will be great for adding some character to the packaging. I want the branding to feel very personal and engaging, which is why I wanted to assemble and print onto the box myself.

Before printing onto the box I have been practising on paper using words that I may use on the final packaging.

UPDATE (14/04/16): POSTCARDS ORDERED

I wanted to include something else in the final package, and I wanted it to be something that the consumer could keep & use. At the same time I needed it to be a product that would promote my work.

I conducted various internet searches for the best personalised print products at reasonable prices. A lot of sites only offered products in large quantities, and after spending a fair amount on this project already I couldn’t really afford to make another big purchase. In the end, I found Moo, a print and design company that offers a fairly wide range of customisable print products. I placed an order of 10 postcards with 5 different designs. I was happy that this came to under £10. It was the best price I could find.

The postcards are due to arrive on 22nd April. I really hope they come before the deadline for this project, but there is nothing I can do if they don’t. The magazine has always been my main priority.

UPDATE (15/04/16): ALMOST THERE

The magazines were delivered today, which I was very excited about. They arrived around lunchtime and since then I have been working on the final package. All I need now is the collection of postcards I ordered from Moo.

Here’s what I did today:

Sealed one magazine in a cellophane bag, which I trimmed to the correct size
Burned the final 30 images to a disc
Stamped ‘FINAL THIRTY’ to the disc’s packaging for consistent branding
Created and personally signed a welcome note for the package

UPDATE (21/04/16): POSTCARDS ARRIVE, PACKAGE FINALISED

The postcards were delivered a day early which was a huge help and relief. I had planned on creating packaging for them to make sure they weren’t loose in the box, so the early delivery gave me time to do this.