The #[insert person, town or cause name]strong hashtag has become a commonly used social media/community call to action in recent years. Remember those yellow LIVESTRONG rubber wristbands that everyone was wearing in the early 2000s? That started the “strong” craze, which is still going . . . well, strong.

While all of us at Tactive believe in finishing strong, whether that be our business or personal endeavors, what we’re talking about specifically here is the importance of print finishing. With new technology, like our in-house HP 5900 Indigo Press, mind-blowing print finishes are within reach, and finishing strong is more affordable than ever.

Finishing. What the heck is it?

When we talk about “print finishing” in the printing industry, we’re talking about the services that are applied after the ink hits the paper. There are both inline (before the project comes off the press) and offline (after removal from the press) finishing operations. Examples of print finishing services include:

•    aqueous coating
•    binding
•    collating
•    cutting and trimming
•    die-cutting
•    embossing/debossing
•    foil stamping
•    folding
•    laminating
•    uv coating

For the cost-conscious, many of these options, like die-cutting, embossing and fancy-pants coatings were off the table. It was no fun telling our customers how much those services cost back in the day. We really enjoy printing colors, but we really don’t enjoy watching color drain from our customers’ faces when they realized their dream brochure would remain just that.

Today, however, the story is different. Technology has made huge strides in the printing industry. Drop-dead cool presses like the HP Indigo that we have right here at Tactive make what was impossible, possible. What this press can do is truly impressive, like makes-you-want-to-buy-it-flowers-and-take-it-out-to-dinner impressive.

Quality. Let’s take it up a notch.

Talk about vibrant! With Indigo, we achieve an offset press look and feel, creating a uniform gloss with a thin ink layer that maintains the texture of the substrate (you know – the paper underneath). Colors explode, too, with up to seven ink stations and use of spot colors allowing for 97% of PANTONE colors (we know, right?). Add to that the ability to print less than one point font size and you’ve got incredible sharpness. And color. And quality. All for a price that allows you to keep the color in your face.

Pearl paper. PVC. Canvas. Paper boards. Textured paper. Say goodbye to boring papers and hello to creativity. The Indigo is certified for 3000 media types. Yep, that’s 3000. Which means if you come in with a wild and crazy marketing idea, chances are we can create it. Making your pieces stand out from the crowd and be true attention-getters is more possible than ever.

Strides have been made in other print finishing options that make them more affordable as well. Our finishing experts are more than happy to talk to you about what’s possible. Like for hours. You can’t even ask them if they’re finished talking — just winds them up even more.

Ready to #finishstrong?

The continued evolution of the digital press allows our customers the freedom to innovate and grow their business. We’re on the forefront of these technologies and are able to affect results for our customers that previously would have been out of their budgets’ reach.

When you’re ready to blow the dust off those dreamy ideas that you’ve shelved as out of your reach — like dating a super model out of reach — give us a shout. We think you’ll be surprised at what you can afford to do with print finishing options that take your marketing pieces to the next level.