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New: Online Print Shop!

2nd August 2018/in Business cards, Buy printing online, Compliments slips, Letterheads, Posters, Printers, Printing, Printing services, Stationery /by Mark

At Southside Print, it’s not only about high quality printing, great value, fast turnarounds and excellent customer service, but it’s about convenience for our customer’s too. With that in mind, we’re very pleased to announce the launch of our new online shop. Here, you can order our most popular print items right here on the website, then pay for them using a credit or debit card from the comfort of your home or office. As part of your order, you can request design and artwork for a small additional charge, or simply upload your own if you have a print-ready PDF at the ready. You’ll also see exactly when your printing will be ready at the time of your order. How’s that for convenience!

Buy Your Printing Online!

At time of launch, you can order business cards, letterheads, compliments slips and posters but we’ll be adding more products regularly. Imminent additions include brochures, leaflets and flyers — so watch this space!

Convenient Shopping from Home or Office

The beauty of ordering online is that there is no delay while you wait for quotations, emailed responses and confirmation of specification choices — it’s all here waiting for you on the website. Simply choose from your preferred options (for example paper weight, finish and lamination if needed), confirm your desired quantity and the price will automatically update itself there and then on your screen — instantly.

When ordering online, you’ll also see two dates; a ‘collect by’ date that’s correct if you wish to collect from our print shop in Tabard Street in London SE1, or a ‘delivery by’ date, which is the date your printing should be with you if you decide to request door-to-door delivery to you. You can even see how many hours you have left on the day of your order before the completion date changes. So, all in all, you’ll know exactly where you stand on every detail when you order online from Southside Print’s new web shop.

Buy Business Cards Online from just £27.20*

If you’d like to order your business cards online, they’re available single-sided or double-sided in full colour. Additionally, you can choose to have them laminated in matt or ‘soft touch’ lamination or to keep them ‘natural’ with either an uncoated finish or a silk coated surface. You can also choose to order from 1 to 4 ‘names’ at the same time and this really saves you money from a unit cost perspective. Order from as few as 100 business cards, with prices starting from just £27.20 + VAT at time of writing. Order business card printing online here.

Buy Stationery Online; Letterheads from just £83.75* & Compliments Slips from only £43.75*

The new web shop also allows you to order letterheads or compliments slips online. You can also simplify ordering via our combined letterhead and compliments slip packs, which start from just £127.50 + VAT for 500 of each. Stock options include 100gsm paper and a thicker, smoother 120gsm paper for those looking to give their stationery the ‘wow’ factor. Order letterheads, business cards and stationery bundles online here.

Buy Poster Printing Online, from just £6*

You can also buy poster printing online. Size options include A4, A3, A2, A1 and our enormous A0 posters. During the ordering process you can choose whether you’d like lamination (matt or gloss available) and whether you’d like your poster(s) mounted to 5mm Foam-x, which is a light weight board with a foam core, suitable for indoor applications. Buy poster printing online here.

Pay Online

Our new web shop allows you to pay online easily and quickly. Most credit and debit cards are accepted.

Collection or Delivery

If you’re close to our physical print works in London SE1, you can save a little bit of money by collecting in person once your job is ready. For those further away, choose to have your printing delivered speedily to you when checking out and

Digital Printing for St George the Martyr, Borough

25th July 2018/in Booklets, Borough, Brochures, Business cards, Case studies, Digital printing, Flyers, Leaflets, London Bridge, Perfect Binding, Posters, Printers, Printing services, SE1, South London /by Mark

Southside Print have been producing a huge variety of digital printing recently for St George The Martyr, a church just down the road in Borough High Street in London’s SE1 district. Having selected us as their local printer some years ago, we’re delighted to say that they’ve remained a very loyal and regular customer and, as such, we’ve printed rather a lot for them in recent months!

Print Examples

Here are just a few examples of print work that we’ve recently supplied:

A series of stunning business cards were printed in full colour on our digital presses before being ‘soft touch laminated’ to both sides. This protects them and gives them a lovely velvety feel to the touch. We printed the cards on 450gsm silk coated stock and the finished result is superb. Note the beautiful imagery that features on one side of each card (see main image above).
The ‘Quest for Community’ poster/leaflet was printed in full colour, both sides onto 170gsm art paper, which has a beautiful gloss finish. This was part of the St George in Southwark Festival back in April 2016 and we rather like the graphics!
More recently, we printed a series of leaflets for the 2018 version of the same festival. Again, these were printed on our digital press, in full colour, once more using 170gsm glossy paper.
Another item that we printed recently for St George The Martyr is the A5 folded ‘New Home’ leaflet/brochure shown in one of the photographs on the right. Like the other leaflets and programmes mentioned above, these were also printed onto 170gsm paper stock except, this time, they had a silk coated finish rather than gloss.
Last but not least in our featured printing for St George The Martyr is a very interesting, perfect bound, 64 page A4 book. This details the history of the church and its surrounding community (see below for further details). The book features 340gsm covers and 170gsm ‘Arcoset’ internal pages and is printed digitally.

St George the Martyr

Today, as an integral part of the local community, the church is open most days and offers regular religious services and a Sunday School along with a varied array of inclusive programmes and events. These include anything from lunchtime concerts to Easter festivals. The church also runs a food bank, hosts The Dragon Café (the flagship project from ‘Mental Fight Club’) and offers a wide variety of additional opportunities to meet other people, get advice and to offer or indeed receive help of one form or another. The church also has a close relationship with its own school, St Jude’s Church of England Primary School, whose pupils sometimes sing at the services. Visitors to the church are always welcomed with open arms including those who would simply like to see the beautiful building itself or to take a look inside.

For some historical facts about St George the Martyr, please see our previous post from October 2015. That touched upon the Medieval and Roman structures uncovered during restoration works, the location originally being the site of a Norman church and the church’s links to Charles Dickens and Marshalsea Prison — it’s quite fascinating!

St George the Martyr’s Heritage

As mentioned above, St George the Martyr has produced some very interesting new booklets which detail the church’s history and that of the surrounding community. It provides a fascinating insight into the ever-changing area around Borough High Street. The lovely new books are available for sale from the church office.

The Church’s Lunch Club

During the summer holidays, St George the Martyr will be running a lunch club for local children and families who may be facing food poverty over the long holidays, particularly in the absence of free school meals during that period. The lunch club will provide a hot 2 course meal, free of charge, along with some fun activities for the children. The club will take place on Tuesdays, from 11am –1pm, between 24th July and 28th August 2018.

The club organisers would love to hear from any volunteers who may be able to offer help including assisting in the kitchen, serving meals, helping with the children’s activities (they are of pre-school and primary age). The church would also be happy to receive any food donations or financial contributions towards the running costs from any willing parties. Please see the contact information below if this is of interest.

Anyone interested in the various activities or projects is welcome to get in touch by

Direct Mail – The Golden Opportunity is NOW

21st June 2018/in Borough, Direct mail, London, London Bridge, Mailers, South London /by Mark

One of the biggest ramifications of the new GDPR legislation is that marketing departments are going to need to re-think the ways in which they contact prospects and customers. In view of this, we believe that there will be a significant increase in the use of direct mail in the coming months and years. In fact, an incredible marketing opportunity exists right now for those who act fast, ahead of the competition.

Direct Mail

In complete contrast to digital and online marketing, Direct Mail is a marketing approach that uses physical, printed promotional materials, which are posted to clients and prospects through the mail. Such marketing pieces can include anything from leaflets, postcards and newsletters to brochures, catalogues and even boxed samples. They can also include personalisation, for example showing the recipient’s name within the actual printed content, creating added impact.

The key steps needed for a typical direct mail campaign include:

Developing a customer database and/or purchasing a mailing list of prospects;
Copywriting, designing and artworking the mailing piece itself;
Printing the mailing piece;
Stuffing envelopes, addressing or labelling and/or otherwise assembling the finished components of the mailer, as applicable;
Dispatching the direct mailer to the customers and prospects. This can be door-to-door or posted to individual addressees …

Then crucially, of course, you need to be ready to handle any responses when they come in. Analysing the results is also extremely worthwhile so that you can learn from the data and improve things in your next direct mail campaign.

Professional Help

Southside Print can help with many of the steps above. Once you’ve supplied us with your mailing list or database, we can turn that into printed labels or, indeed, use a kind of ‘mail merge’ process to personalise envelopes or the direct mail pieces themselves, so that they’re ready to pop straight into the postal system.

With our own in-house graphic designers, we can also make sure that the design and artwork of your marketing piece really looks the business and conveys your promotional message in the best possible way. Clearly and speedily communicating the right message is, after all, just as important as snazzy graphics.

Southside Print are primarily commercial printers, so we can ensure that your printing looks attractive and professional and uses the most appropriate materials, finishes and weights. The weight of your direct marketing piece is crucially important, in fact. Should too heavy a paper or card weight be used, then you might find that your postage costs suddenly escalate. This factor requires careful consideration in terms of not only the thickness and weight of the paper, but also the size. Being a millimetre or gram over a certain threshold can add extra postage costs. When you are sending thousands of direct mail pieces, even just a few extra pence of postage on each item can cost you a small fortune in extra charges, particularly if your recipient database is significantly large. Care needs to be taken and this is one of our great fortes at Southside Print.

Response Rates

So, what kind of response rate can you expect from a direct mail campaign? Well, it all depends upon factors like how closely suited your mailing list is to your product or service and how good your marketing ‘offer’ is in the first place. Also, of course, it depends upon whether you are mailing a ‘house’ list of existing customers (who will be more likely to respond) or an entirely new prospect mailing list, for example one supplied by a professional list provider.

All in all, though, the traditional wisdom is that the average response rate from a direct mail campaign falls typically into the 1% to 5% range, with “an attractive cost per acquisition” according to the Direct Marketing Association (‘DMA’). According to a recent report by the DMA, direct mail significantly outperforms all digital channels, by a long shot. This may, indeed, become even more true now that the GDPR data rules have come into full play. ‘House’ lists usually glean a 5.3% response rate while ‘prospect’ lists typically result in a 2.9% response rate. In contrast to this, digital response rates are significantly lower in comparison (online display advertising 0.9%; email 0.3% [prospect list] to 0.6% [house list]; social media 0.6% and paid search 0.5%). Quite a difference! Cost per acquisition with Direct Mail was shown to be favourable too. However, direct mail was not an outright winner in this respect, being outperformed for that metric by email and social media marketing campaigns, which makes sense given the economy of using those platforms, at least until now — the fortunes of email marketing in particular may soon change now that the new GDPR legislation is in force. Indeed, recent reports from the Royal Mail and other direct marketing associations show that a combination of direct mail and email usually results in the very best results for sales and marketing promotions. So, it makes more sense than ever to integrate both into your marketing strategy.

Direct Mail Formats

Another DMA report showed some very interesting and useful data in respect of formats, with oversize envelopes coming in top position with a 5% response rate. Postcards came in second place with a response rate of

Southwark Dynamos Score with Southside Print!

30th May 2018/in Borough, Digital printing, Football, Large format printing, Litho printing, London Bridge, Official sponsor, Printers, Printing, Printing services, South London, Southside Print, Southwark /by Mark

A new football club, the Southwark Dynamos, recently reached out to Southside Print for a possible sponsorship deal. We were more than happy to help and are now proud to announce that Southside Print is the club’s official sponsor for the next two football seasons. Our contribution will help the new club with expenses for training equipment and football kit and our logo will feature on both home and away kits.

A notice on the club’s website made the announcement:

“We are delighted to welcome Southside Print as our Official club sponsor for 2018/ 2019 Football season. Thank you believing in our vision from everyone at the club.”

Caroline Nicholson, the Club Secretary of Southwark Dynamos Football Club, also said:

“Everyone at Southwark Dynamos Football Club is extremely delighted and welcomes Southside Print as our Official Sponsor.”

Southside Print’s Rob Phillips confirmed:

“We are delighted to take up the opportunity to become your title sponsor …. it’s great to be involved”.

The Southwark Dynamos

Southwark Dynamos is an exciting new football club based in Rotherhithe, Southwark, and has the London FA as their governing body. Currently, the club is preparing for the new football season in the South East London & Kent League. As the club says on its website, their aim is ‘to develop and train talented young footballers for tomorrow‘. They help young people take their skills to the next level, preparing them for top-level competitions which will see them playing in front of football professionals. Possible opportunities arising from that include scholarships and even semi-professional or professional football contracts.

The club is family run within the Southwark community and encourages young people – both male and female – to develop their football skills as well as to simply enjoy the sport. Training sessions help to build on skills, strength, agility and stamina as well as facilitating the fabulous opportunities mentioned above. Programs are also run with local schools and youth clubs and include summer football camps.

Staff are fully trained and vetted, with all the requisite safeguarding policies in place at the club. Indeed, all training certification is approved by the FA and other local football associations affiliated with the club.

The Southwark Dynamos train just two-and-a-half miles away from Southside Print at Bacons College Sports Ground in Timber Pond Road, London SE16 6AT (nearest railway station: Rotherhithe). Pre-training and development currently takes place every Saturday between 12 noon and 2pm and the next session is on Saturday 9 June at time of writing.

If you are under sixteen and an avid football player, the club is currently looking for additional players to strengthen its U16s squad ahead of the 2018/2019 football season. So, do get in touch with them if this if of interest. You can call them on 07760 955 978, email them or simply go to one of their Saturday training sessions. More details are available at www.southwarkdynamosfc.co.uk.

Southside Print

Southside Print is based in Tabard Street in London SE1, close to Borough and London Bridge stations. We’re commercial digital printers, large format printers and graphic designers and also offer additional print-related services like in-house digital foiling, perfect binding, gloss, matt and soft-touch lamination and, of course, litho printing for those who need spot colour or particularly high volumes of printing.

Southside Print primarily services

Our New Digital Foiling Service vs. Traditional Hot Foil

16th May 2018/in Borough, Digital foiling, Digital printing, Foil blocking, Foiling, London, London Bridge /by Mark

If you see printed material that has a mirror-like metallic imprint on it, it’s likely that you’re looking at the printing process known as ‘foiling’. Foiling really gives your printed items an added ‘wow’ factor — any foiled areas will catch the light in a way that other printing processes simply cannot accomplish. Foiling is a great way to set your printing apart from that of your competitors, giving it an extra dimension and almost jewel-like detailing. Foiled areas will glint in the light and give your printed pieces a feel of real quality.

Digital foiling is one of several new services that are now available at Southside Print, courtesy of our Vivid Matrix 530D digital foiling facility. While hot foiling is always available, the new digital foil service offers several benefits over its more traditional counterpart. Here we’ll take a look at the differences, benefits and any limitations of each process.

Similarities

Both processes can accomplish an attractive metallic printed finish to logos, text and graphics, as desired.
Both processes offer a variety of finishes including a mirror-like shine or more muted satin and matt effects.
Both processes offer a variety of colours including anything from the traditional metal colours like silver, gold, rose gold, and copper to more standard colours like blue, green, red, pink and white.
Both processes can also accomplish holographic effects within the metallic coating. These are rather like you might find on a banknote or high quality voucher.
Both processes can also replicate spot varnish effects through the use of clear foils. However, for those looking for the ultimate in high gloss, real U.V. varnishing will accomplish a much higher gloss than is possible using foils.

Digital Foiling

Digital foiling requires no ‘die’ (a bespoke metal stamping block) but requires an additional printing pass compared to traditional hot foiling.
Digital printing can be accomplished almost instantly, whereas traditional hot foiling requires a larger amount of set-up.
Fine detail is possible with both types of foiling, however finer detail can be held using digital foiling.
Because it is not indented (indeed it may even be very slightly raised), digital foil may not catch the light and glint quite so much as the hot foil process, which is stamped hard into the paper or card, causing the indent. However, it’s only a subtle difference.
Supplying a one-off foiled printer’s proof is totally viable with digital printing. With traditional hot foil it would usually be cost-prohibitive on all but the highest budget jobs.
Digital foiling is accomplished entirely in-house, so usually offers speed and cost savings over traditional hot foil, being particularly cost-effective for short to medium volumes of printing.
While digital foiling can accomplish holographic effects, they are limited to just a few options including glitter and rainbow patterns. Unlike with traditional hot foiling, it is not usually possible to have bespoke holographic effects with digital foiling, which is limited to off-the-shelf holographic patterns.
The digital foiling process can use special foils that are printable, meaning that you can print black or coloured graphics over the top of the foiled areas. That is particularly useful if you want the entire background of your job to be foil (e.g. glitter foil) with graphics printed on top of the metallic surface, for example on product packaging.
If your job requires foiling on top of an area already printed with ink, it will have to be laminated first (unlike with traditional hot foil). However, this is not always the case, for example if the printed ink doesn’t meet the foiled area and if the job is printed in a particular order.

Traditional Hot Foil

Traditional hot foiling requires a metal die, which costs more the larger it is. This die is heated and pressed into the paper under high pressure so as to make the foiling film adhere to the paper or card.
The pressure used during the hot foil process causes the underlying paper or card to become indented/debossed. This can be quite attractive, in fact, as it can cause the foiled area to glint and catch the light more readily.
While both digital and traditional hot foiling techniques can ‘print’ in a variety of metals, colours and finishes, traditional foiling has a wider range available.
Traditional hot foiling can use totally bespoke holographic effects e.g. you might want your logo to appear in the holographic ‘image’. As well as adding a unique and attractive feel to the printed piece, such bespoke holograms are also used as security devices because they are harder to copy. However, the added cost needs to be factored in.
Unlike with digital foiling, you never need to laminate your sheets if you don’t want to. Foiling can take place on top of any printed ink when you use the traditional hot foiling process.
Although more expensive than digital foiling for small and medium print quantities, traditional hot foil can save money for particularly large print volumes.

Using Foiling in your Printing

Foiling adds a high quality feel to key details on printed pieces like packaging, stationery, business cards, annual reports, brochures, book covers and wedding stationery and is also a perfect addition for security detailing and top-end bespoke design work. Foiled jobs automatically sell themselves as high quality sales or marketing pieces — almost effortlessly. So if you’re looking to stand out from the crowd and add quality to your brand, we can thoroughly recommend metallic foiling as an option.

If you

Printing for ‘Venice in Peril’, London SW6

18th April 2018/in Borough, Business cards, Case studies, Digital printing, Flyers, Graphic design, London, London Bridge, Postcards, Printers, Printing, Printing facilities, Printing services, Putney, South London, Southside Print, Stationery, SW6 /by Mark

Southside Print has recently had the honour of being the chosen London printer for a charity based just a few miles away; the Venice in Peril Fund. We printed the A4 flyers/postcards shown below, right, as well as some DL sized flyers, A5 flyers and stationery that included various business cards. The A5 postcards shown below were printed on 190gsm White Essential Offset card. This wood-free paper stock has a trendy, uncoated feel, offers great value for money and gives a superb printed result on our digital and litho printing presses. The DL flyers were printed on the same material and publicised some of the charity’s spring lectures last year.

The charity has also used Southside Print to print onto ‘Favini Alga Carta’, their very own recycled paper that was developed from algae, originally from the Venice lagoon but more recently from other marine sites. You can read more about this innovative paper, along with the incredible idea behind it, here.

About Venice in Peril

Anyone who has ever eaten a ‘Veneziana’ pizza at a Pizza Express restaurant will have already heard of the Venice in Peril Fund. A small discretionary donation, included with every Veneziana pizza order, has raised over £2 million for the charity since the partnership began in 1975.

The Venice in Peril Fund came into existence following the terrible floods of 1966, which severely damaged both Venice and Florence, Italy. Initially called the Art & Archives Rescue Fund (IAARF), the fund-raising activity for the Florence region had served its purpose by 1967, so the focus for fundraising was redirected solely towards Venice and the organisation was re-launched as The Venice in Peril Fund that we know today.

Venice in Peril has its UK headquarters just 7 miles West of Southside Print in Putney, London SW6. The registered charity has been in existence for over forty years, during which time it has raised millions of pounds, primarily for the conservation of buildings, monuments and works of art in Venice. The city remains under constant threat from the surrounding water, rising sea levels and pollution but the charity goes much further than helping to fight only those threats. Along with its conservation work, the Venice in Peril Fund pays for studies, events, education and advocacy for, and about, the region. In support of this work, Venice in Peril also promotes a deeper understanding of Venice – its complex history, the contribution it has made to world culture and the challenges it faces today – to encourage responsible and informed engagement with the city.

Spring Lecture in aid of the Venice in Peril Fund

On the 24th of April, the 12th Kirker Spring Lecture will be taking place at the Royal Geographical Society in London SW7. The lecture is by award-winning restaurateur, writer and broadcaster Russell Norman. Russell operates and co-founded several restaurants under the POLPO banner in London and elsewhere, has won several major awards for his books, presented a six-part prime-time documentary (The Restaurant Man) for BBC2 in 2014 and has been recognised by Debretts as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK. His lecture is entitled “The Food of Venice and the Lagoon: how its culinary traditions are as important as its people and its stones” and is being held in aid of the Venice in Peril Fund. Doors open at 6pm with a reception followed by the lecture itself at 7pm. Tickets are £20. More detail about the event, along with ticket purchases, is available here. You can also click the thumbnail image of the A5 postcard/flyer published for this lecture, shown on the right, for more information. The flyer is one of several marketing pieces printed for the charity by Southside Print in London SE1.

The Venice in Peril Fund is at 11 Hurlingham Studios, Ranelagh Gardens, London SW6 3PA and can be contacted on 020 7736 6891. Alternatively email info@veniceinperil.org or visit www.veniceinperil.org for more information. Those interested in becoming a member of the charity can also learn more or sign up here.

Printing Services in South and Central London

Southside Print has traditionally offered its litho, large format and digital printing services primarily in and around the London Bridge, Borough and South East (SE1) region of London. Now under new ownership, we’re beginning to extend our print and graphic design services to a wider South and Central London audience, including Victoria SW1, Clerkenwell EC1, The City and EC2/EC3/EC4/EC5 postcodes, amongst many others. Of course, we can supply printing and design services to anyone, anywhere (not just London), and this will be especially true in the near future when we introduce a full online ordering service to the website. You’ll soon be able to order and pay online, then

Some exciting news to share with you…

3rd April 2018/in 10% Off, Borough, Borough High Street, Business cards, Compliments slips, Corporate identity, London, London Bridge, Printers, Printing, Printing facilities, SE1, South London, Southside Print, Southside Print London Bridge, Special offers /by Mark

It’s Alan here from Southside Print, with a rather special announcement. What’s more, it’s exciting on several levels as it’s a win-win (… win) for you, me and a lovely couple, who I’ll tell you more about in a minute.

So, what’s happening?

Well, after 35 years in the printing industry, I’ve decided to hang up my printing apron, grab my slippers, put the kettle on and spend more time at home with my lovely wife. You’ve guessed it … I’m retiring!

It’s been amazing working with lovely clients like you over the last 35 years and I wanted to say a massive thank you to each and every one of you before I went off into the sunset. So, “thank you” — you’ve done us all proud over the years and I wish you all well for the future.

Which brings me back to that lovely couple …

I’d like to introduce you to Robert Phillips (‘Rob’) and Sarah Codd. As well as being recently married and rather lovely, they are now also the proud new owners of Southside Print. They’re print veterans too, having worked in the industry for almost 31 years. So, they really know their stuff! Rob and Sarah will be taking over from 30 March 2018 and will join the existing team of Matt, Aidan, Paul, Eve and Linda, so you’ll still see the same familiar faces as well as the two new arrivals.

Multiple benefits for you …

I mentioned at the start that this would also be a ‘win’ for you, as a customer. In fact it’s a multiple win! First, Rob and Sarah will be bringing with them some snazzy new equipment, so you’ll be able to get even more out of Southside Print. Just one example is a new digital press that can print on sheets up to 1.2 metres in length and will allow us to make a 16 page A5 booklet out of just one sheet. That’s going to be great for speed and economy!

Secondly, you’ll soon see the benefits of a new, significant investment into software that’ll allow you to track your work during production — and much, much more. You should see this introduced around Autumn 2018 and we’ll give you more detail nearer the time.

Last but not least, save 10% on stationery printing

As a welcome gift from Rob, you can save 10% off the price of business stationery for the next two weeks. That includes business cards (minimum quantity just 100), letterheads, continuation sheets and compliments slips etc. Simply mention “ROB’S WELCOME OFFER” at the time of your order and you’ll receive the saving (valid until 17th April).

So it’s farewell from me …

My last day at Southside Print was the 29th of March so, from the 30th, I left you in the very capable hands of Rob and Sarah. That just leaves me to wish you a very happy, healthy and successful future and to say a huge ‘thank you’ once again for keeping me so busy for all of these years.

My very best regards to you,

Alan Garelick
Southside Print.

Wishing You a Very Happy Easter!

29th March 2018/in Borough, Borough High Street, Digital printing, Flyers, Leaflets, London, London Bridge, Postcards, Printers, Printing, Printing facilities, SE1, South London, Southside Print /by Mark

A very happy Easter to all our customers, neighbours, suppliers and readers. This year, instead of sending out Easter cards, chocolate and Easter eggs, we donated a charitable food box to the local food bank located at Saint George The Martyr church. This will help to distribute much needed food to those who cannot afford to buy it themselves at this time. Saint George is based in Borough High Street (SE1 1JA) and boxes of nutritionally balanced food are given free to those who are in crisis, who have been going hungry or who are in poverty for one reason or another (see this link if you would like to learn how to obtain a food bank voucher). The food bank is part of a network of food banks supported locally by Waterloo Foodbank and Nationally by The Trussell Trust. We sincerely hope our donation of food and goodies helps some local people enjoy Easter more than might otherwise have been possible.

Easter at Saint George The Martyr

Saint George The Martyr has a full itinerary lined up over Easter, starting on Maundy Thursday (29th March), through Good Friday, Palm Sunday and Easter Monday (2nd April) — there is a lot going on! See their website for programme details. On the right, you can see some related printing that we recently printed for Saint George. One leaflet and a matching poster publicises the ‘Holy Week and Easter’ events at St George for this Easter. The other leaflet was printed to publicise ‘St George in Southwark Festival’, which is a free festival of art, poetry, theatre and music that will begin in mid-April. Everything was printed in full colour on our in-house digital presses at the SE1 print shop in Tabard Street.

Call us on 020 7378 6754* if you have any digital, litho or large format printing requirements and we’ll be delighted to help. We’re conveniently close to London Bridge and Borough stations and also offer full graphic design and print management services. Watch this blog and our social media profiles for even more services, which are coming in the near future.

Easter Opening Times at Southside Print, SE1

* Southside Print will be closed for the Bank Holiday from Good Friday (30th March) to Easter Monday (2nd April) inclusive. We will re-open again on Tuesday 3rd April. If you have any printing requirements over the Easter break, please feel free to send us artwork or quotation requests and we’ll be in touch the moment we’re back on Tuesday and have taken a look.

Happy Easter!

We wish all our customers, friends and neighbours an enjoyable and peaceful Easter break. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

Brochure Printing in London Bridge, SE1

16th March 2018/in Booklets, Borough, Borough High Street, Brochures, Digital printing, Litho printing, London, London Bridge, Printers, Printing, Printing facilities, South London, Southside Print /by Mark

Brochures are a priceless marketing tool for just about any business or organisation. Akin to a mini shop window or store front they will work hard to silently market your product or service to your target market, especially if written, designed and printed well. That’s helped still further if they also include professionally generated photographs or illustrations to showcase your products or services in the best possible light. With a well executed brochure, all your key sales and marketing information will be available anywhere, all distilled down in a handy, portable format. Unlike a physical store, they can be perused at your prospect’s leisure, whether mailed in the post, distributed from dispensers, left at coffee tables and receptions or handed out face-to-face.

Brochure Formats

Typical brochure formats include:

standard ‘saddle-stitched’ brochures;
wiro-bound brochures;
perfect bound brochures;
hybrid brochures e.g. that may have extra fold-out sections;
brochures that double up as folders, for example with pockets for inserts at the front or back.

Shapes & Sizes

Most brochures are based upon the ‘A’ sized paper sizes, for example A4, A5 and A6 etc. Such sizes can be presented in portrait or landscape mode, although portrait format tends to be most common as it’s more cost-effective to produce due to the way it uses standard stock sizes (less waste).

Aside from the standard ‘A’ sizes, there are also a few other brochure shapes that are quite effective, including:

Square brochures (typical sizes include 210mm square and 148.5mm square) — these have a certain charm about them;
6-page format (like a wide gate fold);
‘DL’ sized mini brochures (most often portrait in format, being H210mm x W99mm, which is easily accomplished simply by folding an A4 sheet into three).

Each of these sizes and formats will give your brochure a different feel which will, in turn, affect that all important first impression — important because your brand, product and service are all at stake. If your brochure looks poorly conceived and underwhelming, that is inevitably how your product, brand or service will also be perceived, so it’s important to take everything into consideration and to get it right.

Printing for Bikecation, a Cycling Holiday Company in Borough High Street

22nd February 2018/in Borough, Borough High Street, Business cards, Digital printing, Display graphics, Large format printing, London Bridge, Marketing Collateral, Posters, Printers, Printing, SE1, Southside Print /by Mark

Just like the organisation featured in our last post, our latest case study is for a customer based in Borough High Street. This time it’s the turn of a dynamic cycling holiday company, aptly named Bikecation. Located just a stone’s throw from our print works in SE1, it made good sense for them to try the services of a local printer and we were very pleased to help. Print jobs included some eye-catching posters, which were printed on 200gsm ‘photo satin’ stock, along with some promotional business cards, which were printed on 300gsm silk coated stock. Bikecation supplied the design and artwork files and, as you can see, the design is striking and contemporary. Production was turned around very fast, although the customer didn’t really require them for about a week — we just like to get ahead at Southside Print!

Take a look at some of the A1 posters:

About Bikecation

Bikecation started life after a conversation between two cycling enthusiasts; Rob Penn, formerly a City lawyer, and Jamie Paterson, a businessman. Both were keen advocates of the simple pleasures of bike riding and enjoyed travelling. Bikecation turned their shared dream of starting a custom cycling holiday company into reality. As well as being a tour guide for the company, Rob has a best-selling book ‘It’s all About the Bike: the Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels’ which has been translated into nine languages and has been made into a BBC documentary called ‘Ride of My Life‘.

Bikecation offers a wide range of custom cycling holidays including leisure cycling holidays, road cycling holidays, a more adventurous style of guided cycling trip called Rob Raids (personally guided by Rob Penn), bespoke mini breaks, cycling training camp breaks, cycling sportives and even ‘Watch & Ride’ breaks where you can watch famous bike races like the Tour de France whilst also getting the chance to ride the course yourself before the actual event.

Included amongst the cycling breaks on offer are corporate tours, private guided holidays and even organised charity events. Destinations include a wide range of beautiful locations in the UK as well as Europe and it’s up to you whether or not you’d like to be accompanied by a Bikecation cycling guide on your particular trip. Bikecation also moves your luggage for you, so you are free to enjoy the cycling and the stunning views. So, whether you’re into slow-paced family cycling along gentle routes in Wales, island hopping in Croatia, doing wine and food tours by bike in Bordeaux, or really going hell-for-leather up classic cycling climbs in the Alps, Bikecation has something to suit you. The range of options is outstanding! What’s more, all hotels are checked and pre-vetted to suit cyclists and sports enthusiasts as well as being hand-picked so they’re perfectly located along the very best cycling routes.

As the company says: