MegaPrint, Inc. Wishes you...

We are here and ready to print for you!

Wishing You Happy Holidays!

MegaPrint Inc. celebrated our annual Christmas party at The Six Burner Bistro in downtown Plymouth, NH last night. We had a traditional Yankee swap, fun, and food. Company outings and parties are part of the team building that we do here. We have a great crew, and we just want to say, from our crew to yours, we wish you the very best for the Holidays! Here's a picture of the fun and festivities.

First Impressions with Trade Show Graphics

We got a phone call from a customer today who wanted to price shop for graphics for a trade show booth. Price is always a concern, especially in today’s market, but I would caution those trying to skimp on their graphics for a trade show. When you go to a trade show you are putting your company on display, and the first thing people see are your graphics. Those speak volumes about your company, how healthy it is, and your attitude about quality. There's always somebody less expensive, but they rarely give you great quality for less.

The cost of renting space, travel and hotels, and shipping your booth will usually dwarf the cost of good show graphics. A few hundred dollars spent to create a good first impression are usually well spent.

Thinking of using last year’s graphics? A lot of people are doing that now, and without a doubt it saves you money. Remember, though, that part of what you are trying to do at a show is to differentiate your company from your competition. Crisp new graphics can set you apart as the company that is up-to-date and successful.

ISO Posters

Are you in the process of ISO registration? Our posters can help you communicate the goals of your program. ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is about continuity and communication. ISO.org is their website.

We have a standard set of ISO posters that help you keep your employees informed about the program. We can modify the posters for ISO 9000, 9001, etc. We will put your logo on them for no extra charge.

These posters are perfect for wall instructions, charts, and color photographs. We can create a custom poster for your company, or you can create it in any common graphic design program.
Not only do these ISO posters help you bring the highest quality from your processes, but also by complying with ISO standards you can attract new business.

Enlarging Photos?

We can do a photo enlargement from a slide, film negative or the actual photo. Digital photos of two megapixels and larger can also go up to poster size with very good results, and of course more megapixels is better.

Photo enlargements of your company in the past add a lot of personality to your tradeshow booth, and are fun to hang around the office too. You can put up pictures of your products, buildings you have built, customers- you get the picture.

We have lots of tips on how big your picture can get before it looses quality, and scanning tables to give you an idea of what settings to choose when you scan your photos.

Here's a picture of our shop, with lots of examples of pictures we have printed! Our graphic designers, armed with the latest graphic design programs, can touch up old photos and remove blemishes before we run your print. You'd be amazed what can be done these days- we've changed the model number on a picture of a machine (so they didn't need to take a new photo) and put legs on a photo of Willy Nelson so we could do a cutout of him. You'll realize that a photo is not proof of anything anymore!

We had a visit from the seven dwarves!

These are some figure cutouts we recently sent on a fairytale adventure. We had a rush order for 12 full size cutouts. Within two working days they were out the door and on the way to a corporate event. It was a lot of work to get done in only two days, but we thought they were a lot of fun!

Each of the dwarves had the face of someone in our customer's company. We are told the lady paying the bill was on the Evil Queen, and that makes us a little nervous. But, probably not as nervous as the guy who's face was on Dopey!

Car Magnets

Recognition is one of the keys to having a successful business. Car magnets are a fun and easy way to do that! We print your image or logo on our 3.5-mil adhesive vinyl with UV safe inks, and then mount it on our 30-mil magnet material.

They look great and wherever you go, you are advertising your business! This is one of the least expensive ways to get your business name out to a larger customer base.

The magnet will stay on through car washes and fast trips down the highway, but are easily removed when you buy that new set of wheels!

It is important to make your advertising work for you every minute everyday. This is just one more way to do that!

Tips From Our Designers on Research Posters!

We've been printing posters from PowerPoint for nearly 15 years, and we were trained by the creators of PowerPoint. That gives us a unique understanding of how to make a great poster, and how to do it easily. Our graphic design team members gathered some tips on common problems with PowerPoint files to help make your poster making experience easier.

Tip #1 – Create your PowerPoint on one platform and one version. Switching back and forth between PC and Mac, or even moving between multiple versions of PowerPoint can cause a number of problems, such as:

a) Text reflowing and flowing out of boxes
b) Images dropping out of boxes
c) Fonts and symbols can change or disappear

If you and a colleague are stuck with a Mac-PC interchange, we suggest you do all the design on one machine and send pdf files to the other person for proofing.

Tip #2 – When designing your poster and resizing images, always remember to hold down shift key while dragging the image from the corner. This will keep your images in the same proportions. If your people or pictures start to look scrunched, be sure you are holding down the shift key.

Tip #3 – Sizing: The default setting on your PowerPoint is “onscreen show” which is 7.5” x 10” and scales up to a 36” x 48” proportionally. However, if you want something bigger than a 36” x 56” you must set it up at half-size due to the limitations of the program, i.e. a 48” x 60” would become a 24” x 30” which we will print at 200%. Or you can use one of our handy templates.

Tip #4 – Stick with Times New Roman, Arial, and Symbol for fonts. These fonts are installed by default on both PC and the Mac, and Symbol has nearly all the Greek characters you'll need. If you have a stylish font on your computer, and one of your collaborators does not, he will be totally confused by your poster because his computer will substitute Times New Roman for the font you used. It will change the text box sizes and cause all sorts of goofiness!

If you have gotten a template from a colleague, you may not have a font they used on it. To check, go to Home> Replace>Replace Font in PowerPoint 2007, and Format>Replace Fonts for PowerPoint before 2007. The drop down Replace Fonts box will show you what fonts are used in the PowerPoint document, and if there's a question mark in front of it, that means your document uses a font that is not installed on your computer.

Remember that we are always here to help. Our phone support is free at 800-590-7850.

Wallpaper We Are Proud Of!

More and more people are buying our custom printed wallpaper! Here are two a fun jobs we did recently. On the right, a customer wanted to put up wallpaper of historical company photos in a sales room. They are very pleased with the results! Below, a design studio wanted to jazz up their office space.



Our vinyl wallpaper is installed just like any other wallpaper, except that it is not pre-pasted, because the paste would gum up our printing equipment. We stock wallpaper with a suede-like surface texture that reduces glare from overhead lighting, as you can see on the photo.


People often ask "How do I put the wallpaper up?" To hang your custom printed wallpaper just use a premium quality heavy-duty clear pre-mixed adhesive. Apply the recommended adhesive to the back using either a pasting machine or a paint roller. Whether you are a novice or a pro, it goes up easily!

Big Checks? We can do that!

At MegaPrint Inc. we print lots of big checks! They are a great way to recognize a contributor, and newspapers love to publish them. We can create special designs to include company logos, special backgrounds, watermarks, and we have even made big gift certificates! Here are a few examples of big checks we have made.

Remember that custom sizes are not a problem for us. If you don’t see the size you want on our site, just give us a call 800-590-7850 or email us, and we will be happy to give you a quote and take your order over the phone.






We can laminate your check with gloss plastic, and you can then use dry-erase markers on it. Order a blank big check, and use it over and over again!

How We Operate

MegaPrint Inc. has been around for almost 15 years. We have printed tens of thousands of research posters, trade show booths, banners, life size cutouts, and much more.

There is a great deal that goes on behind the scenes of an online, wide format print shop. It all starts at the order desk, where your orders are received and assigned to a graphic designer for review. We have eight graphic designers in-house that look at every single file we print, to check for layout errors and color issues. If we see a problem, we'll call you to work things out. Our promise is that you'lll get something that is right.

Your print then goes to our finishing department, where they handle cutting out those life size cutouts, mounting, and laminating. Last but not least our vinyl department does solvent printing of banners and wallpaper. Solvent printing is waterproof and stable for 3-5 years in sunlight.

Each of us play a part in getting your print out the door fast and looking great! From the sales desk, to the shipping department where Cindy and Joyce make sure your prints are getting shipped to their proper destination, we treat each order as if it were the only one in-house. Just take a look at what others have to say about the work we do.

Election Day- Yay!

The presidential campaign lasts a long time here in New Hampshire, and boy are we going to be glad when all the attack ads are over! Hopefully we'll have 6 months or a year of rest before it starts all over again.

One of the most fun jobs we've done in years was life size cutouts of all the presidential candidates, which we did for a photo shoot by a major magazine. Here's a picture of them before we shipped them. We made an extra of Barack Obama, and he still lurks at the back of the shop. It gives me a start when I forget he's back there!

It really is pretty fun having the first in the nation primary, and many of us have had the chance to meet several of the candidates. I had a nice talk with Bill Richardson this time, and got to ask John McCain a question at a town hall meeting four years ago.

Happy Haloween!

The season is upon us for ghosts and gouls, candied apples, and hot cocoa! Tonight children large and small will dress-up and scare our socks off. We thought we would share some of our scary moments here in the office!

Here's Jim (designer)answering your questions in his straight jacket.



Ethan's (designer) preparing your files in style!


Slim Kyle (designer) is being snappy and snazy in his custom costume.




Okay, so they really aren't scary, but we thought we would let you in on the MegaPrint world, and extend our wishes for you and yours to have a Safe and Happy Haloween.

Snow Flurries and Trail Signs

After all, it is New Hampshire, and we like to hike! We've just introduced vinyl signs for outdoor applications like trail signs. They are durable and affordable, but the best part is that they are easy. We can print them from any of the common programs, even Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Send us your files, and you'll have your signs back in less than a week.

The fall weather, with winter close on our heels, has made us all appreciate the crisp fall air and the amazing leaves we have had this season. Today we had our first snow flurry in Holderness, NH. It was just a dusting, but enough to get our skiers excited.

Graphic Design Tips of the Week!

When you are setting up your files for us, here are some tips from our design team:

1. Image quality must be a minimum of 72dpi at full size, and doesn’t need to
be higher than 100dpi at full size.
2. When using InDesign and Quark, remember to do a “collect for output” and
create a sitx file for upload.
3. Photoshop files should be flattened unless we request otherwise. Saving as an LZW compressed tif will reduce the size of the file to be transmitted, often by as much as 2/3. Some Photoshop effects are lost by flattening, however, so proof carefully!
4. Outline all fonts in InDesign and Illustrator
5. Save PDF’s as “press quality” as this produces a high-resolution image. Some of the newer versions of Acrobat give you the opportunity to choose a resolution, we suggest 100 dpi.

Alternatives to Framing

When companies want a display that will line their halls for more than a year, we usually print with UV ink, mount on gatorboard, and we often add our edge trim.

Edge trim protects the edges of a gatorboard mounted print and gives the look of a thin frame. It can be substantially less expensive than framing, which for large prints can start at $150. We can also add the wire at the back for hanging. In the end you have a print with a frame and a hanger wire for less than the traditional frame would cost you.

At the right is a menu we printed on gatorboard with matte laminate and edge trim. This particular job also featured channels so that the customer could slide in new items and prices when they changed.

Retail Displays That Say Something!

Retail displays are a great way to bring attention to your store. We do displays from small signs for countertops to large vinyl banners for outside the building.

Every business is unique and we understand that signs representing your company need to be as unique as your business. Some of our favorite jobs have been those where we have designed something unusual just for a special store.

Our graphic designers have wide experience in graphic design, art, and performing arts! The individuality of the designers makes our team stronger and a lot of fun.

You may want to check out this article about window displays. It makes some excellent points to think about for any retailer.

Going Green!

MegaPrint Inc. is going green! Our soy based inks, and partially recycled paper; along with our group effort here in the office to recycle everything we can, has made us all more conscious of how we are impacting the planet.

Here are some images of the recycling we are doing, and our team members having fun doing it.

On the top, Stacey loads up paper bundles and lunchroom recycling. On the bottom, Joyce drops a paper bundle down the recycling hatch at the Plymouth recycling center.

We understand that it is important to be conscious of how we impact the earth, and we are doing everything we can to keep it clean.


Here is a link to a great site for recycling tips for home and the office.

New Retractable Banner Stand Passes the Test!

To retract or not to retract, that is the question. With a wide variety of banner stands out there today it is hard to know which will be:

1) Easiest to use

2) Lightest to carry around and ship
3) Most durable.

4) Easiest to change out the graphic

We offer two banner stands, basically Cadillac and Chevy versions. Both work well and have a poly film banner that will not curl or "canoe" like vinyl banners because the material doesn't stretch. Both are very easy to set up and take down.

Our premium stand uses a light blocking poly film that will not show the shadow of the pole, our economy stand uses a thinner material. We can send you a replacement banner for our premium stand, and you can change it out. We will need our economy stand back to change the banner. Finally, our premium stand is a battleship, the economy stand is, well, an economy stand. It is lighter and easier to carry around, though!

Window Cling

Window cling is one of the new items here at MegaPrint Inc. Our opaque vinyl window cling is great for storefront windows, glass case displays, or any other smooth-as-glass surface.

Shown is a window cling we printed recently for a retailer. The great thing about cling is that it comes off the window cleanly and can be used over and over.

The trick for applying window cling is to spray the window with water (or Windex), and then start at one end wiping it flat. The water allows it to slide a little on the glass, and you'll be able to get it flat with no bubbles at all.

Beautiful in Boston

I spent the weekend in Boston, watching the Head of the Charles regatta and doing a little shopping in Harvard Square. There, big as life at the EMS store were a number of prints we had done for them. It's always fun to see your work out there in the real world!

Our prints are great for retailers, and you see a lot of beautiful large format work in today's retail environment. The tricky part is how will they be fixtured, and we can help! We have a complete selection of hangers and other doodads to help you. Best of all, you can call us and we'll walk you through deciding what will work best.

Odd Jobs

Sometimes we get jobs in that are very different from the usual research poster, full-size cutout, or trade show booth. One such odd job was an oversized jigsaw puzzle we did in 2007.

The puzzle was 5’ x 15’ and each piece was somewhere around 5” x 6”. Our entire crew had to pitch in to help with finishing. It was a paper print on gatorboard with a glossy laminate on top, plus all that cutting, trimming, etc. The total puzzle piece count was 509.

One of the things we try to do at MegaPrint, Inc. is print quality work fast. This job took us about 5 days with all 19 of us working on it. We created the pattern over the picture that The Grand Canyon University provided. Here is the puzzle.


The puzzle was created as a teamwork project for The Grand Canyon University. 509 people gathered and each person got one piece of the puzzle. It had become a teamwork project for us as well. Just as we had worked together to create it, they worked together to reconstruct this enormous puzzle.

Menu Boards

Menu boards are one of the exciting things that we do here at MegaPrint Inc. Our talented team of graphic designers create menu boards for a number of companies including Team Disney, several Universities, and corporate lunch rooms. Here are a few that we really had fun with.

Plymouth State University recently asked us to create a custom design for their vegan menu.

This board has insert pockets for weekly changes or specials!

This one is being used as a banner over the vegan station!

*****************************************

This is one we did for L.L. Bean Corporate.

Menu boards can be mounted on a number of materials, although gatorboard is one of our most popular options due to its lightweight, and durable construction. Crystal laminate, or matte laminate are both excellent options for laminating your menu board to protect it from the elements, and eliminate glare from lighting. Custom designed menu boards are a great way to make your company stand out!

Peak Foliage Season in NH

One of the things that we enjoy most about living in New Hampshire is fall foliage season. It's peak right now, and we have just had one of the nicest Columbus Day weekends in memory.

We thought we'd share a few stunning pictures taken by Bob Misuraca, one of our graphic designers, who is also an accomplished photographer. The top picture is Holt's Ledge, the bottom picture is taken at Wellington State Park on Newfound Lake.

If you ever have the opportunity to come to New Hampshire, do it in the middle of October! Stop by and see our shop, too. We are right off I93 about an hour north of Concord.

Crystal Laminate and Trade Show 101

We often get phone calls about updating trade show materials. One of the items we recommend using, and generally get the most questions about, is Crystal Laminate. Crystal Laminate is a heavy laminate that has a textured “pebble” like surface. The benefit of this textured surface is that it eliminates glare from lighting in a tradeshow setting, but allows the colors to pop in the same way a gloss laminate would.

We use this laminate for pop-up booth panels, for graphics that will velcro to the carpet face of show booths, and for tabletop displays. Crystal laminate is heavy enough to be durable, but still flexible enough to roll for shipping and storage. The Crystal Laminate will protect your print, and be beautiful in your trade show booth!
Visit our site to read more about Trade Show 101, tips for those new to trade shows.

We Have Wallpaper!

Wallpaper is an exciting new addition for us. Our wallpaper has a suede finish that breaks glare and gives you a durable, attractive installation. We have done lobbies that show off a company’s products, a sales room with historical company pictures, even a large display of student art in a school. Our solvent printed wallpaper is attractive and a durable as any store-bought wallpaper. Many people call us and wonder how they put it up. Applying our wallpaper is as easy as applying standard wallpaper, although it is not pre-pasted.

Big Outdoor Vinyl Banners

This is an example of the dramatic results that can be achieved with full color printing of outdoor banners. This one is currently outside of the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, which is doing an exhibit of the photographs of AMC photographer Ralph Larrabee.

We also printed several large format displays of the photographs for the exhibition. Historical photos are wonderful! We can print them in either black and white or sepia tone, and we can convert a black and white to sepia if you want that look. We produce large format photos on paper, and typically dry mount to board for framing. The photos for the exhibition were matte laminated and mounted on black gatorboard. They are stunning!

Fun with Figure Cutouts

We do a lot of full size cutouts of people. During the New Hampshire primary last fall, we did cutouts of all the presidential candidates for a national magazine, and it was a hoot! To the right is a picture of several of them. We had even more fun when we made an extra one of Barack Obama and left him lurking at the back of the shop. Visitors did a double take thinking he was visiting us!