One of the most important steps for any project is the first step. Decades of experience in the publishing industry has taught us that just the act of getting started and gathering your thoughts and ideas can be one of the hardest things you do. So for anyone who has a vision for a new product, and needs a little guidance for what steps to start with, we’re gathered these tips for you.
Define your product
Gathering your ideas is the first step toward turning an idea into the real deal. A good place to start is to look at other similar products like the one you are about to create. Determine what you like about them such as size, number of pages, fonts, colors, type of binding, and any other special treatments. Then take those ideas and incorporate them as you plan out the details for your product.
Watch product videos
A great place to get ideas and see how things look in real life is by watching the videos on the Vervante Video Vault web page. The videos spotlight a variety of products close-up and in action, narrated by our CEO, and showing ways to create and elevate your products. Currently there are videos for binders, planners, journals, card decks, calendars, custom printed boxes, greeting cards, stickers, book cover treatments, and more. We’re always adding something new, so be sure to check back often for lots of ideas and inspiration.
Find useful guides on our blog
Our blog is absolutely packed full of information, updates and how-to’s for all of the products and services we offer. Here are just a few examples that can prove very valuable for illuminating and guiding you through your project:
Order samples
If you’re unsure how some thing will look in person, we offer samples that can be ordered to try out. We have a Samples Page on our website filled with products you can order to help you make your final decision. Our newest and most popular sample is the Paper Sample Notepad that includes eight of our most popular paper options. We also offer samples for books, book binding, calendars, card decks and greeting cards, posters, binders, printed boxes, pocket planners, newsletters, notepads, certificates and more.
Get a free quote
Finally, did you know that you can get a free quote estimating your printing costs before you are ready to print? This will help you plan for budgeting and costs as you design your product. All you need to know to get a quote are general specifications. Here are a few examples:
Books: Size of book, number of pages, hardcover or soft, binding type, color or b&w
Card decks or greeting cards: Size of cards, number of cards, color or b&w, packaging
Planners or journals: Size of planner, number of pages, page size, tabs, covers, binding, etc.
To request a quote, go to the Vervante website home page and click on “Get a Quote” at the top, right of the page. Fill out the required information and we will send you an email response with the quote information.
We hope this helps you to avoid that “I’m not sure where to start” feeling. And we’re excited to help you create and share books, planners and products that you’ve always dreamed of. For questions or ideas, you can always reach us at [email protected].
Many of our clients use the online graphic design program called “Canva” to create planners, journals, and other products. Once your designs are ready for printing, it’s important to note that margins, bleed and crop marks must be applied for us to print.
If you are using Canva for your next project, here is how to apply bleed and crop marks.
Bleed
Bleed helps to avoid having unsightly white gaps when you want your design to print to the edge of the paper. It is for a design intended to have color elements all the way to the edge of the page.
Click on “File”
Select “Show print bleed.” A border of broken lines will appear close to the edges of your design. This margin is fixed and cannot be adjusted.
If you see white gaps around the design edges, adjust your background and design elements to cover the white spaces.
Crop Marks
Crop marks show the printer where to trim (or cut) the paper or card for your product. The size for crop marks is fixed and cannot be adjusted. The time to add crop marks is when you’re ready to download your design and send it for printing.
After you add bleed to your design, click the Download button on the toolbar.
On the File Type dropdown menu, select PDF Print.
Click the box next to “Crop marks and bleed.”
Click Download.
For more details and information about preparing your files for print, be sure to refer to this article “How to Prepare Your Files for Printing” on our blog.
Why are bleed and crop marks important?
Missing bleed and crop marks seem to be the most popular reason for rejected print files. If your PDF has edge-to-edge printing, then you need bleed. This means the image should be slightly larger than the finished page size so that when we trim to the crop marks, we will cut through the image so that the printing actually prints edge to edge. Without bleed, your page/cover/document will have a white border all of the way around and the color will not print to the edge of the sheet. Print file preparation is extremely important, so even if you're not ready to start printing just yet, be sure to save these instructions to help you down the road.
A few weeks ago we shared a step-by-step guide for creating a daily planner. Dates and deadlines for creating one for the year 2022 were provided, but our tips will work for any date, and even undated planners. Feedback was great, so we wanted to dig in a little deeper to discuss the steps in detail.
Step 1 was understanding your timeline. For instance, if you are planning to launch a planner for 2022, the final date to submit your files for printing is Oct 15, 2021.
Moving on, today we wanted to talk about the next important steps – deciding how your planner will look and function. A really great planner should provide the perfect mix of attractiveness and functionality. Your customers want it to look good and help them achieve their goals, so this step is very important. Find that sweet spot and you’ll create fans who keep coming back for more.
Choose Your Topic
There is an unlimited potential pool of ideas for daily planners. The sky is the limit when it comes to topics and types. Ask yourself: Who is your audience and what type of planner would best serve their needs?
Next, you’ll want to decide on the size and specs for your planner, starting with cover and binding. We’ll outline some options below, but please also check out the Vervante Video Vault where we highlight many different options for planners, including size, binding, and types and treatments for covers.
Binding options
Metal wire-o
Metal spiral
Plastic spiral
Custom printed 3-ring binders (any page size)
Case binding
Punched for Disc Binding
Concealed wire-o
Cover options Hardcovers (for wire-o, spiral or case binding): For a 12-month planner we recommend a sturdy cover that will hold up to daily use. Our most popular cover is a hardcover with either a printed design, faux/vegan leather, or linen treatment. We have color charts on our site for faux/vegan leather, linen, and customer favorite LaCreme vegan leather that feels like suede.
Laminated Covers: Another durable cover, and a great option for a 12-month planner, is our laminated covers. These can be wire-o, spiral bound or punched for disc binding.
Board Covers: These are a 2-ply softcover that creates a board-like cover option. These are sturdy and will hold up to daily use for 12 months.
Softcovers: If you have a short term planner such as a 30-60-90 day planner, a softcover would be fine. We also offer a poly plastic overlay to help protect the covers.
Foil Stamping: We offer a wide variety of foil stamp colors that you can see here. We can foil stamp hardcovers (printed, faux leather and linen), board covers, laminated covers, and softcovers.
Metal Corners: These are a popular add-on for hardcovers. They are available in gold metal.
Elastic Strap: These are a very nice addition to a hardcover planner or journal.
Ribbon Marker: We can add a ribbon marker (or two, or three, or more) to your casebound planner or journal.
Helpful website links
You can see all of the color choices and other options on our website, here:
Design & Functionality
Design matters. If you want to do it yourself, you can use programs like Canva or InDesign to create your planner pages. Or you can hire a professional graphic designer. Just make sure your planner design is both beautiful and functional for a high-quality look and feel. Be sure to watch our videos about creating planners and add-on options on the Vervante Video Vault page.
Are you ready to create and sell your own daily planner? We can help you make that dream come true! Here at Vervante, we believe in living an intentional, productive, and beautiful life – and we’re proud to help people like you make the world a better place. Email us at [email protected] or schedule a call using the link on our Contact page for questions, quotes, and any help you need.
One of the most important steps for any project is the first step. Decades of experience in the publishing industry has taught us that just the act of getting started and gathering your thoughts and ideas can be one of the hardest things you do. So for anyone who has a vision for a new product, and needs a little guidance for what steps to start with, we’re gathered these tips for you.
Order samples
Many of our clients use the online graphic design program called “
A few weeks ago we shared a