Adding Design Services to Your In-plant
Graphic design has become an important and popular service for in-plants to offer. Already 73.7 percent provide design services, according to a recent IPG survey. Those who don’t oversee design may be wondering, “How did they bring design into their in-plant?” To find out, we talked with four in-plant managers who did it. Read their stories and then figure out a way you can do this in your shop.
Deborah C. Berlo
Director
Brown University Graphic Services
Providence, R.I.
Mike Brower
Documents and Media Manager
University of California
San Francisco
Wes Morgan
Print Manager
Progressive Group Alliance
Richmond, Va.
Mike Schrader
Printing and Publications Manager
Mercury Marine
Fond du Lac, Wis.
How did you do it?
Mike Brower: In 1997 our operation could not generate the revenue needed to support the two in-plant designers we had. We reorganized and had to let them go. We turned to buying out design work from local design firms and other freelance designers.
In 1997 the Medical Center at UCSF merged with Stanford Health Services to form UCSF Stanford Healthcare. By 1998 this new partnership helped bring in additional business for personal office stationery. The increased revenue this generated allowed us to hire a full-time typesetter and an additional part-time designer as needed for any related work that didn’t fall into the general business stationery package.
Due to financial reasons the merger was dissolved in 2000 but by then the academic side of the University had rolled out a new identity package for the entire campus. Working closely with the Public Affairs department allowed us become the primary provider for any printed materials displaying the new identity, including the entire stationery package of the university.
This further increase in revenue allowed us to hire an additional typesetter, allowing our existing typesetter to assist with design work, and our part-time designer position now became a full-time position.
Thanks to the increase in business stationery orders over a two-year period, we were able to once again have an in-plant graphic design team.
Mike Schrader: When I was offered the job of manager of Printing Services, I was the supervisor of desktop publishing, so I was very comfortable with the technology and processes. The previous manager was not as comfortable. It was easy to make a business case that the two should be together because I firmly believed it. And because I knew so much about both departments it was an easy sell.
We are a manufacturing company, so few departments even want the responsibility of managing graphic design. When I proved I knew what I was doing and expressed interest in it, management was happy to merge the two.
At that time our marketing department also had one graphic designer, but soon after that she left the company and I proposed to them that we could take over the workload. They agreed to do that in the short term while they looked for a replacement, but it worked out so well that they never did replace the position.
Deborah Berlo: Graphic Services at Brown had one FTE and a part-time graphic designer when I arrived in 1992. General fare consisted of business cards, letterhead, two-color 8.5x11˝ brochures—in general, small work. Overall the in-plant was failing: equipment was outdated, the mission was unclear, and most damaging was the fact that university clients had lost faith in the in-plant’s ability to produce.
My job was to evaluate the in-plant and determine what should stay in place and what should be out-sourced. I believed the design group was the key to any future success of the in-plant. It’s where ideas became jobs. Once the designers became motivated, they motivated the printers; they wanted to see their work produced. Our motto was, “Win them over, one client at a time,” and that’s exactly how Graphic Services at Brown began to change direction.
Wes Morgan: Design & Print Services houses both a design team and a print team. In the past, both of our departments operated as separate profit centers. After a number of years working like this, it was determined that this might not be in the best interest of our departments, company or our customers.
In 2006 we merged, combined budgets, dropped the Progressive Group Alliance Printing name, and are now known as Design & Print Services. It has been a very easy transition because both departments [design and print] saw there were more pros to this merger than cons. We were also under the same division and had been working together, but separate, for years.
Our internal and external customers have now experienced the benefits—instead of having to make two phone calls, they only need to call us once to cover both design and print needs. They also are working with the combined team through the entire process, and because of this we can help eliminate many design-to-print pitfalls, identify better ways to make the final printed pieces more impactful. And for this department it makes perfect sense to be one. It creates a better team environment, eliminates duplication of efforts, improves the final product and provides a more efficient process.
When did the in-plant start offering design?
Brower: We began marketing our design services to the campus community at UCSF five years ago.
Schrader: We had design when the in-plant started back in the ’50s, and it was part of us until the early ’90s when it was decided that the technology would be better managed under different management. It came back to Printing Services in 1999.
Berlo: We’ve had design services for 10 years but expanded about 4 years ago. We initially had two designers and upped to four. Revenue went up as a result.
Morgan: January 1, 2006 was the first official date of the merge, but once again we have always worked together, just as separate departments.
Number of designers on staff:
Brower: We have a total of nine staff in our design team. The group consists of the design manager, one senior designer, four other designers, one typesetter and two Web developers. The manager is actually the designer we brought in back in 2000. Our senior designer serves as our photographer for stills and video, and our typesetter handles the video editing duties. All our designers are cross-trained and are able to help in multiple roles when needed to get the job done.
Schrader: Two designers.
Berlo: Graphic Services has four full-time graphic designers who perform an array of services in addition to print design. They design for wide-format [printing] for exhibition displays such as awards dinners, bookstore display windows, building banners and medical illustrations. We offer Web design services, custom framing, artwork selection and installation for building interiors. The group administers the university building signage program for Facilities Management and design for licensed speciality products.
Morgan: We have two full-time senior graphic designers and use two regular freelance designers that have become part of our team. We also have a traffic coordinator to help manage all our jobs and designers. We have a department manager who also works as the AE for all our customers, a print production manager that handles both internal and external jobs, as well as a print coordinator.
How the parent organization benefits:
Brower: An in-plant design team allows us to maintain the design standards set for the university. We are able to provide quicker turnaround on jobs, because everything is under one roof, and the workflow is seamless. An in-plant design team also allows us to build closer relationships with our customers, since we are able assure them that we are in control of their jobs from start to finish. There is also the additional benefit of eliminating unnecessary paperwork when generating purchase orders for buyouts of design work.
Schrader: We have created a one-stop shop for our customers; they come to one order point to order all design, print and fulfillment services. This makes it easier for them to coordinate the whole job, which ultimately saves time and money. It also gives the customer a higher confidence level in our abilities because we are all ingrained together as one entity, and we can be more responsive to their needs because we control the whole process.
Berlo: It’s the one-stop shopping concept; any individual at Brown can come to Graphic Services for design, printing and mailing. We make our services convenient to the client. Along with the Public Affairs and University Relations departments, our designers have helped to maintain a consistent visual identity for publications at the university. There’s a visual identity program at Brown with a university-wide standard for stationery ordered online and produced at Graphic Services. The Brown design group has developed a reputation outside of the Brown community and in the last year assisted several local writers and artists publish their books.
Morgan: At this point we are seeing an increase in revenue versus our combined separate revenue in 2004 and 2005. We have worked together in first quarter 2006 to create strong offerings that we have not offered in the past. This will not only help our revenue stream but give our internal and external customers stronger offerings to help grow their businesses.
How the in-plant benefits:
Brower: It provides us with a better line of communication through the entire process. Planners have access to the designers and the designers have access to the press operators. This improved communication benefits the customers by providing a one-stop shop for their jobs. We can plan their job. We can design their job. We handle direct-to-plate production in-plant. And then their job is off to the press. Our customers can be confident that we will be able to deliver their job as requested. They also know that if any last-minute design changes come up, we have the skilled personnel to take care of their job.
Schrader: The designers have a closer contact, through continuous communication, with printing, bindery and mailing, which gives them an increased awareness of how their work affects the rest of the process. It is much easier to resolve issues when we are all one department. It is also very beneficial having team members that understand the software and hardware technologies because they can provide valuable insight into issues and fix them before the jobs get on press, which saves time and money on rework.
Plus, having designers on the team gives us an idea of what is coming into the printing schedule much quicker; with outside designers the file usually just shows up when it is completed without us even knowing it is coming.
Berlo: Well, for one thing we don’t design in Publisher or Word or get text heavy in Photoshop. Seriously though, the designers do drive production volumes.
Morgan: It allows the designers and print team to work together and communicate better on most projects from the conception. By doing this, it ensures a much improved final printed piece. It allows the designers to describe their vision and, with the feedback and print expertise from the print team, it gives the designer many more options, and lets them know if there might be any obstacles to their design concepts.
It also gives us a better understanding on where a job is in the process, based on our weekly traffic meetings and the close relationship our traffic coordinator has with our print production manager. We also have become better at sharing ideas, creating new offerings and taking advantage of the synergies that this merge has created. The design team has helped create no-charge marketing materials needed for the print side of our business, and the print team has reciprocated with offering us pro-bono print services when design is in need. IPG
