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Custom Notepad Printing
Simply put, notepads are printed white paper pages held together with a card backing page by a specially formulated padding glue. As each page or form is used, it can be easily detached from the pad without any damage. The card stock back adds stiffness to the pad and a rigid surface to write on.
Benefits of padded forms
Above all, padding keeps pages well organized and allow easy to store. The can also serve as an informal tally of how your business or practice is doing. For instance, if you have pads of 52 referral forms, one for each week of the year, you will easily see if you are ahead or behind in that goal.
Take advantage of the Laser Sharp difference!
Unlike most print shops who offer notepads with 20, 25, or 50 pages, we leave the number of pages to you! Just choose the size of the notepad you want to order, enter the number of pads, and then the number of pages in each pad.
You are welcome to choose the standard number of pages, to make comparing prices easier. Then custom make your pads to suit your need. For example, a pad of inspection forms may have 12 pages to accommodate one year of monthly forms, or 52 for a year’s worth of weekly forms. True custom printing means getting just what you need!
How does notepad pricing work?
At Laser Sharp, notepad pricing is based on the paper type, pad size, colour, number of printed sides, and total number of press sheets required to do the job. To elaborate, we get 2 letter sized pages on a press sheet, four 5.5″ x 8.5″ pages, and eight 4.25″ x 5.5″ pages. Consequently, smaller pads cost less than larger ones.
In addition, the more pages printed, the lower the cost per page. In this way, each form will cost more in a pad of 32 forms than they will in pads of 78 forms.
Paper Types
We offer basic, plain paper, in two weights for notepad printing. 2olb office paper is thinner and costs less than our standard 28lb paper. 20lb is the most common note pad paper on the market. 28lb pages are stiffer and have a quality feel. They are better for double sided prints.
Pad Depth or Thickness
As a point of reference, a 40 page pad in 28lb paper is about 1/4″ thick. A 20lb page pad will be thinner. This doesn’t affect the price, but it may be an important consideration for you when ordering.
Page Size
We offer 3 page sizes at Laser Sharp:
- 1/4 letter, or 4.25″ x 5.5” – ideal for appointment pads and receipts
- 1/2 letter, or 5.5″ x 8.5″ – referral pads
- Full letter, or 8.5″ x 11″ – memos, incident reports, planning forms
Your pad artwork can be in portrait or landscape. Contact us for a quote if you want a custom size.
Colour Printing
With our premium digital press, colour printing costs more than black and white. Unlike offset printing, where the price varies by the number of colours, we have only one price for colour and another for black and white.
If you select colour, you can have as much or as little colour as you want. The price is the same for a little coloured dot as it is for full coverage of the sheet.
The cost of colour printing is spread across the press sheet, so you will notice the difference in price more significantly on larger products since there are fewer of them on each press sheet.
Every pad size comes with full bleed, so your colour can extend to the edge of each sheet. Finished pads are professionally trimmed to size.
Number of Printed Sides
Naturally, double sided pages add to the cost. Likewise if the second side is black and white (4/1) or colour (4/4).
Number of Press Sheets
Finally, notepad pricing is based on the number of pages that have to be printed. As explained earlier, we get 2 letter sized pads per press sheet and 8 quarter letter pads. In other words, for eight 25 page pads, quarter letter size, 25 press sheets are required. Logically, for eight 25 page pads, letter size, 100 pages are required.
Obviously, the cost for 25 press sheets will be lower than the cost of 100. However, due to the volume discounts applied to printing, the cost per sheet for 25 will be higher.
Notepad Artwork Design
We offer artwork design support for customers who have a great idea but no computer file to print. Artwork should be created in the size of your finished form pages, with a 1/8″ bleed around each edge for cutting.
It is important to understand that the proportions for a letter sized page do not easily scale down to a half letter size. Plan ahead and design your pages in the correct size.
Artwork Errors to Fix
No Bleed
The most common artwork error is no bleed. From Wikipedia:
In printing, bleed is printing that goes beyond the edge of where the sheet will be trimmed. In other words, the bleed is the area to be trimmed off. The bleed is the part on the side of a document that gives the printer a small amount of space to account for movement of the paper, and design inconsistencies.
Please make sure to add that little bit of extra background. A 1/8″ bleed makes a huge difference in the finish quality of your products.
Pixelation
Files that are saved as image files – .jpg, .png, .tiff, for example – are made up up tiny boxes called pixels. In a low resolution file, there are fewer pixels dots) per inch. Fewer pixels mean that the boxes are larger. Large pixels are visible when printed with our ultra high resolution digital printing press.
Pictures that you download from the internet are typically 72 dots per inch (dpi). For print, however, an image should be 300dpi. This is a huge difference. A 72 dpi image may appear fuzzy when printed, even if you have saved your project in high resolution.
How can you fix pixelation?
Select images that are high resolution (300 dpi) to use in your artwork. Vector images (.pdf, .svg, .eps for example) are even better. Save your final design as a pdf or high resolution image.
If you use an online design tool, make sure your final download is for printing. Many online tools assume you want artwork for a website and default to 72 dpi.
Small Fonts
Use fonts that will be easy to read on your pages. This is particularly important for referral pads that may contain a lot of important information and choices. Make referring to you easy.
Content in the Safe Zone
Because finished prints are trimmed along the crop lines (through the bleed), the space close to the edge is called the safe zone.
In simple terms, this just means to make sure you don’t put any important text, images, or other content close to the edge. Give yourself about 1/8″ from each edge as a no go zone. The safe zone ensures that nothing important gets inadvertently cut off.
Some Cool Ideas for Your Notepads
Watermark Logo
Add a large version of your logo to the middle of your pad artwork in about 90% transparency. The effect, when printed, will be a “ghost” image or watermark of your logo across the page. This is a great way to enhance your brand and it will not interfere with the writing space.
Make Referrals Easy
For referral pads, it is wise to remember that the person who will be referred to you is a new client and may not know how to find your office or clinic. Put a map on the back of the form. Help them find you.
Practical Promotion
If you attend trade shows, employment fairs, flea markets or any other such event where you have a booth, notepads can serve two purposes at once.
Print your company name and contact information on the pages of the pads. Do a short run, if necessary, getting only enough for a particular event and include the event branding in the design.
Keep a supply of the pads with you, as well as your flyers and brochures. When you are meeting people and need to jot a quick note for them, draw a map to your location or a diagram to explain something, you will have paper to do it. In addition, the note you give them will have your company information on it.
Use our Flexible Ordering Strategically
You know your business better than anyone. If you get an average of 10 referrals per month from doctors, for example, then give them referral pads of 30 sheets, an average 3 month supply.
Doctors who run out early are your best supporters. Find ways to recognize that.
Doctors who don’t run out may need a bit more orientation to the benefit of your practice. It is not very scientific, but its easy.
How Long Does Notepad Printing Take?
Digital printing is fast, but it does depend on how many pads you are ordering and the number of pages in each. The padding process takes time. Padding glue needs to dry, and several applications are required to keep the pages together.
Still, our rush service moves jobs up in the queue, and priority service is available if you need them in a real hurry.