For Valentine’s Day, they have released a video to promote the Red Blooded notebook which has been recently added to the Field Notes standard product line.

The notebook becomes a love letter and is a very inspiring and beautiful example of the power of creative books and print.

It’s physicality.

No matter what people may say – print is not dead, and it never will be. The tactile learner within us needs it.

We store books, we stack them, we design furniture to showcase them, and we design room interiors around them.

You’ll never get that with an eBook.

In the same way that bar codes don’t have to be boring, quick response codes can also be creative. Thanks to a 30% tolerance in readability, you can have some real fun with clever designs. Besides looking good, this can also make them more successful.

“Designer QR codes are not only a way to make your 2D barcode stand out, but they also add a more human element to the otherwise cold and techie appearance,” says Patrick Donnelly, QR code designer and expert. “This could be the difference between someone scanning your code or not.”

Take a look through the image gallery for 15 brilliant designs created for a range of businesses from big names such as Disney, little names such as local restaurants and even conceptual ideas. Let us know in the comments if a clever design would make you more likely to scan a code.

Click on each image to see larger.

If you need a flyer designed, a logo made or a website programmed CQ’s graphic design service can assist. We have an in-house designer but also work with specialists in website programming, multimedia creation and photography in order to provide you with the best skills in the business.

Design
Our designers are trained on a wide variety of programs (both Mac and PC based). They are available to prepare your next brochure, design your company logo and turn your ideas into reality.

Multimedia
From a powerful Powerpoint™ slideshow all the way through to an interactive product portfolio CD-Rom, our multimedia contractors have done it all and have the awards to show for it.

Photography
Our photographer has a full digital studio setup that will allow quick product photos to be taken for incorporation into your brochure or website.

Image Library
We have a large image library with stock photos and clipart to help you create that professional and stylish presentation. 

When you visit our designers feel free to ask about this library as it’s a great tool to use as inspiration for a design brief.

Are you fed up with the look of your boring garage?

Just stick a new decal on your garage door!

You should see the looks on the faces of your neighbors …!

Click on each image to see a larger picture.

Here are photos taken from the last four weeks showing the new offices taking shape. Hover over the photos for comments and click on them to enlarge.

Mid May:

Early June:

Making Print Fun:

Until recently most people did not look at business cards as interactive elements that can be made of different materials, textures and shapes, going far beyond what most people consider as standard practice.  Lets take a look at 50 extremely creative and original business cards and design tutorials that really help push the boundaries and show the extent some people go to set themselves apart in this competitive marketplace.

Chef Burger

Creative Business Cards — Chef Burger

Plastic Business Cards – Lined Paper

Creative Business Cards – Plastic Business Cards – Lined Paper

Interrobang Design

Interrobang Design

NetPlus ID

Creative Business Cards – NetPlus ID

Rumble

Creative Business Cards – Rumble

Couples Therapist Card

Creative Business Cards – Couples Therapist

Orderin.Ca

Creative Business Cards – Orderin.Ca

Accentuate

Creative Business Cards – Accentuate

The Photography of Nathan Jones

Creative Business Cards – The Photography of Nathan Jones

Reflections Dental Care

Creative Business Cards – Reflections Dental Care

Joanne Foltran

Creative Business Cards – Joanne Foltran

Blue Bird Design

Creative Business Cards – Blue Bird Design

Nation Builder Pop Up

Creative Business Cards – Nation Builder Pop Up

Edible Business Card – Head Hunter

Creative Business Cards – Edible Card – Headhunter

Chris Colhoun

Creative Business Cards – Chris Colhoun

Sandrine Abraham – Du Bout Des Yeux

Creative Business Cards – Sandrine Abraham – Du Bout Des Yeux

Corvus Design Studio

Creative Business Cards – Corvus Design Studio

Stretchable Personal Trainer Card

Creative Business Cards – Stretchable Personal Trainer Card

Impact Ideas

Creative Business Cards – Impact Ideas

DreamTen

Creative Business Cards – DreamTen

Chuck Tingley

Creative Business Cards – Chuck Tingley

Richard E. Smith Circles

Creative Business Cards – Richard E. Smith Circles

Artams

Creative Business Cards – Artams

Taste Chocolate

Creative Business Cards – Taste Chocolate

Retro Sports Inspired Business Cards

Creative Business Cards – Retro Sports Inspired Business Card

Blooming Designer

Creative Business Cards – Blooming Designer

Egil Paulson Easel Card

Creative Business Cards – Egil Paulson Easel Card

X3 Studios

Creative Business Cards – X3 Studios

Mineral Spring Water

Creative Business Cards – Mineral Spring Water

Dallas Laser Printing

Creative Business Cards – Dallas Laser Printing

Matilda Jane

Creative Business Cards – Matilda Jane

Becka Viau

Creative Business Cards – Becka Viau

Digitopolis

Creative Business Cards – Digitopolis

Mattson Creative

Creative Business Cards – Mattson Creative

Jared Andrew Schorr

Creative Business Cards – Jared Andrew Schorr

Emerson Taymor Pop Up

Creative Business Cards – Emerson Taymor Pop Up

Mark Ramadan

Creative Business Cards – Mark Ramadan

Genie Alisa

Creative Business Cards – Genie Alisa

Mix Tape Generation

Creative Business Cards – Mix Tape Generation

e Aqua

Creative Business Cards – e Aqua

Wedding Television

Creative Business Cards – Wedding Television

Colorburned

Creative Business Cards – Colorburned

Ben Webster

Creative Business Cards – Ben Webster

Max Steiner – Everyday Hero

Creative Business Cards – Max Steiner – Everyday Hero

The Alembic

Creative Business Cards – The Alembic

Tutorials

Making a Print-Ready Business Card Using Only Photoshop

Business Card Tutorial

Design a Print Ready Business Card for Designers

Business Card Tutorial

Making a grungy business card

Making a Grungy Business Card

Design an Abstract Business Card

Business Card Tutorial

Creating a new Web 2.0 Business Card

Creating a new Web 2.0 Business Card

Seen a font in use and want to know what it is?

Submit an image to WhatTheFont to find the closest matches in their database.

It’s a great tool for designers.

They even have an iPhone app! Ever seen a great font in a magazine ad, poster, or on the web and wondered what font it is? Whip out your iPhone and snap a photo, and WhatTheFont for iPhone will identify that font in seconds! Features Snap a photo right within the app Choose saved photos from the Photo Library In-phone image processing optimizes upload for speed and accuracy View font details in Safari or e-mail a link to yourself

More and more business people are looking to import business card information into their databases. So until bar-coding like QR Codes and Microsoft Tags become a standard feature on business cards, people are using some form of business card scanner with OCR technology.

Whether with an OCR mobile app (see below) or a flatbed scanner, OCR can drastically simplify the process of transferring contacts from paper to your contact management database.

But even the best OCR business card reader technology has limitations.

Cards with certain design features simply don’t scan well. And as scanning becomes more common, this is something that business card designers should keep in mind if they don’t want to use bar-coding. That contact was important enough for you to give your business card to; you need to make sure you make it easy for them to accurately add you to their contacts list.

So here are some helpful hints for creating a scannable business card.

Don’t:

• Use fancy fonts. These easily confuse OCR software, especially on letters like “c” and “e”. A clean font like Helvetica may seem boring, but it is easy for OCR to translate.
• Combine your name and title. Names and titles separated by a comma on a single line (such as “Nancy Nally, Editor”) don’t translate correctly in OCR.
• Overlay text on a pattern. This is too confusing for OCR.
• Angle text. Currently OCR scanning doesn’t translate text that isn’t parallel to the edges of the card.
• Mix orientations. Keep all the text oriented in the same direction.

Do:

• Keep it big. If you get squinty looking at your card, so will OCR software.
• Give text breathing room. Keep letters nicely spaced so that the OCR can distinguish them easily from each other.
• Keep it light. Cards with dark backgrounds seem impossible to scan (even those with high-contrast white text).
• Put your company name somewhere in text. OCR can’t translate stylised logos, so make sure the company’s name is in text somewhere too.
• Keep it on one side. Scanners only read one side of a card, so keep all the critical contact information on one side.

This last issue is a very common problem with many cards. Double-sided printing is becoming very “trendy” which creates the temptation to spread the critical contact information on both sides of the card, making it inaccessible to card reading technology.

Ideally, you should have contact information on only one side of the card, and then use the other side for a logo or mini sales brochure. Here at CQ we have the ability to print a different back on each card in a set, offering the ability to get very creative with a card back’s promotional uses. Meanwhile, the front of the card can hold all of the traditional contact information in a clean and simple (scannable) format.

The sheets are available already perforated and creased.

They’re then printed full colour on both sides and the edges trimmed.

The perforations are punched out and creases folded.

A bit of double sided tape and Voila! Ready to hold a CD!

So high quality CD cases can now be made very quickly. For a quote email Viviana on quotes@cq.co.nz 

Other pre-cut products will be coming soon, so stay tuned!