SS Graphics Inc.

New - California Yard Sign Design Available for 2006 State Primary Elections

There are 120 state legislature seats in the state of California up for election in 2006.  This design has the candidates information imprinted over the California state silhouette.  Political campaign yard sign design for the California Primary Elections on June 6, 2006 and for general elections in November.  Ready made sign design can be ordered online at www.SignOutfitters.com   This sign is available in a weather resistant poster board version and also in a corrugated plastic version.  State of California theme based bumper stickers and Car Magnets are also available at a reduced price when ordered with yard signs.

Customer Service - We all make mistakes ...

SignOuffitters.com is a "stand-up" company.

This is an actual email trail between one of our customer service representatives and a political yard sign customer:

Dear SignOutfitters,

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I appreciate your commitment to customer service. Having been in small business for 15 years, I certainly understand how these things can happen.

I just wanted to express my frustration, but please know I appreciate all you have done to make the best of this situation.

With appreciation,

Political Yard Sign Customer

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Dear Political Yard Sign Customer,

I understand your frustration. We made a big mistake. It is my understanding that once we were notified of the problem, we have made arrangements to print and ship your signs the very next day. Also, we are paying an exorbitant amount of freight to Overnight these to you for a Friday delivery.  As I'm sure you would understand, we process hundreds of sign orders per week. Once in a while, there is a mistake or problem. The best we can do once the mistake happens is to step up and fix it as best as possible. I believe, in this case, we have done that and demonstrated that SS Graphics is a "Stand-up" company. I would hope you would appreciate this and consider us for future orders.

Thank You,

SignOutfitters Customer Service

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Subject: Complaint

Dear SS Graphics, Inc.

I just wanted to voice my displeasure with the recent mishandling of our order. We had bids with three other sign companies and they could not promise timely production and turnaround time. Thankfully, your company (Sign Outfitters) assured us that we would receive the signs yesterday (Wednesday). It is particularly important as it is a small, local election on May 16. The candidates were officially announced yesterday, and we had intended to put our signs out on that day.

When we called yesterday to inquire as to the status of our order, they told us, basically, it had been delayed because of a formatting error. Why did they not notify us of this...and better yet, why did it delay the order by almost a week? What would have happened had we not called. Very disappointing.

Our investment in these signs is greatly diminished. As you can imagine,  in a small political campaign, time is of the essence.

I was hopeful my experience with your company would be positive.  Unfortunately, it has not, and the company has done little to make us feel likely to do business there again.

Thank you for listening.

Current Production Times

Production Time as of April 27, 2006 

Current production time for all SS Graphics Inc. companies (after proof approval):

• 24 x 18 & 18 x 12 Corrugated Plastic Yard signs is 3-4 business days.
• 22 x 28 Weather Resistant Poster Board is 3-4 business days.
• Large Corrugated Plastic Yard signs is 10 business days.
• Full Color Yard Signs is 10 business days.
• Poly Bag Yard Signs is 10 business days.
• 3 x 11 Bumper Stickers 5 business days.
• Lapel Stickers 10 business days.

Remember, production time does not include shipping transit time.

Pixelation - A Visual Guide

Pixelation is not good!

Everyday, SS Graphics receives screen printing requests accompanied by artwork that is not acceptable for printing.

What is pixelation?  In its most simplest terms it is an effect caused when a bitmapped image is enlarged to a size such that individual pixels become visible.  Pixels are the small square building blocks of bitmapped images.

Aspiring graphic designers please take note; most clip art is very low resolution bit mapped files (tiffs, jpegs, etc.), and should not be used for professional design purposes.  Images that are used for web graphics are typically 72 dpi (dots per inch) very low resolution and are not acceptable for any type of professional printing.

Below is an example of an image which is acceptable for website usage:

Look what happens when we scale the image for large format printing.  (Please note that this image size  was only increased by a factor of 3.)  This is pixelation.

Typically the next response we get from our client is, how much will it cost to have it made into a usable format?  In this example that may not even be possible or may be cost prohibitive.  The top image is too small to accurately trace and the bottom image is too pixelated to accurately trace.  In order to recreate this logo for large format printing it would have to be completely redrawn from scratch.

At SignOutfitters.com we require all bitmapped images to be provided as a digital file with 300 dpi of resolution at finished size.

I will leave you with this, when you are creating designs - Get the Jaggies Out... Think Vector!  More to come...

Check out this link for more information on pixelation.

New - Alabama Yard Sign Design Available for 2006 State Primary Elections

There are 140 state legislature seats in the state of Alabama up for election in 2006.  This design has the candidates information imprinted over the Alabama state silhouette.  Political campaign yard sign design for the Alabama Primary Elections on June 6, 2006 and for general elections in November.  Ready made sign design can be ordered online at www.SignOutfitters.com   This sign is available in a weather resistant poster board version and also in a corrugated plastic version.  State of Alabama theme based bumper stickers and Car Magnets are also available at a reduced price when ordered with yard signs.

Political Campaign Notices and Disclosures

Please remember that it is the political candidates responsibility to notify their printer of any political notice or disclaimer requirements.

State and federal laws vary with regard to notices which must be printed and identification of those responsible for purchasing, publishing, or distributing political advertising.

Remember to advise your printer of your requirements.  Your notice or disclosure should be on your proof prior to approval.  If it is not on your proof it will not be on your yard sign.  Please check your proofs closely.

Current Production Times

Production Time as of April 19, 2006

Current production time for all SS Graphics Inc. companies (after proof approval):

• 24 x 18 & 18 x 12 Corrugated Plastic Yard signs is 2 - 3 business days.
• 22 x 28 Weather Resistant Poster Board is 2 - 3 business days.
• Large Corrugated Plastic Yard Signs is 10 business days.
• Full Color Yard Signs is 10 business days.
• Poly Bag Yard Signs is 8 business days.
• 3 x 11 Bumper Stickers 5 business days.
• Lapel Stickers 10 business days.
• Static Cling Decals 10 business days.

Remember, production time does not include shipping transit time.

Easter Holiday Schedule

In observance of the Easter Holiday, the SS Graphics Inc. Sales Offices wil be closed Friday, April 14th.  Sales will re-open Monday April 17th at 9:00 am EST.

There will be Yard Sign Production on Friday, April 14th.  All first shift Poster Board and Corrugated yard sign production emplyees should report at normal times.

The Definition of Halftone

Halftone:

An Image in which details and dark and light tones are represented by dots of varying sizes in relationship to the tones and shades which they must reproduce.  Small dots form light tones and larger dots form darker tones.

Plastic Sign Letter Visibility Chart

This chart can be used a a guideline when trying to determine the minimum required sign letter height by viewing distance. 

Please use this chart as a guideline only.  Your specific circumstances may require a variation to this chart.

This letter visibility chart has been made for you based on information provided by Gemini Incorporated (a source for plastic sign letters), the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, Penn State University, and the United States Sign Council (USSC). c1998

These calculations are based on externally (or naturally) lit sign with all upper case Helvetica letters utilizing optimal negative space.  Factors that may affect required letter size are:  color scheme, font selection, traffic and weather conditions, or sign standoff.  Please refer to the complete study for additional information.  For further details visit the United States Sign Council website.