Category: Printing

Top Print Trends to Watch For in 2025
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Top Print Trends to Watch For in 2025

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“How will the printing industry survive the digital age?”  “Isn’t print dying”?  “Do commercial print shops still exist?”  These are a few of the questions facing the printing industry over the next decade.  Technological advancements, customer’s changing preferences, and concern over the environment have all contributed to the digital print industry needing to pivot to meet future challenges.

To offer sustainability to clients, print manufacturers have turned towards eco-friendly products and hardware offerings.  Newer inks that are “Greenguard” certified have made their entrance to the industry.  These inks meet some of the world’s most rigorous and comprehensive standards for low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into indoor air.  Along with eco modes to control power consumption, today’s commercial printers have the environment in mind while blazing trails across the page.  It’s just good business not a political statement.

Speaking of statements, commitment to customer satisfaction is foremost at the top of the print industry to-do list for the future (as it always has been).  Changing client preferences affect how projects are printed, when jobs are budgeted, or even customer costs going up and down.  Today’s economy fuels these changing preferences but are not the only driver of customer requests.  Custom designs, large format printing, small format printing, and custom substrates are just some of the customer requests that the industry has to keep pace with. 

While technology waits for no one, the printing industry embraces technology daily.  The advancements in A.I., robotics, and 2.5Gb internet have shifted thinking across many industries.  Printing has had it’s share of growing pains but stands ready to meet the next tech wave.  Faster computers, printers, and scanners are the smallest leaps forward.  New software packages are also contributing to the tech wave by increasing the speed to preflight, process, and render (in batches) the largest print projects.

The rise of digital media and the challenges of surviving through the COVID-19 pandemic have left the print industry reeling but not as you might expect.  Statistics show that the print industry is actually growing steadily despite these setbacks.  The overall volume of print has decidedly declined since the internet but this means print shops have to adapt.  Adapt to the changing needs of clients, streamline workflows, and do more with less.  Innovation is the key to success for most print shops today.  Innovation, experimentation, and vision are the keystones to a great print shop.  Seeing the trends before being pushed into them.

Our favorite print industry trends set to reshape the digital print industry are A.I. or Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Print-On-Demand, 3D Printing, Smart Factories and Devices, and (of course) Digital Printing. 

Artificial Intelligence

AI is the latest new buzzword streaking it’s way across minds. For some, it conjures up images of The Terminator and SkyNet taking over the world. For others, it is just a tool like any other that we harness to advance the species. However you see A.I., it is here and here to stay.

The print industry is leveraging machine learning in many ways by enhancing efficiency, creativity, and customization. To enhance efficiency, automation programs get much needed upgrades to refine print workflows. Instead of manual intervention, AI-driven automation allow the machines to “know” and “see” what projects need priority, where the breakdowns are, or streamline resources and inventory purchases. Being able to monitor real-time performance of printer equipment is a game changer. Notifications by text that your printer needs attention, diagnosing the issue before you even get there, increase productivity and minimize downtime.

AI algorithms can analyze customer data, ordering preferences, or input data from other sources to create personalized experiences. Custom generated print materials from a personalized experience allow print businesses to expand engagement and create brand loyalty. The internet revolution demands businesses learn or die. Brand loyalty and customer engagement is the future of business. Print shops that have survived this long already know this.

AI-powered image capabilities expand the universe of print creation immensely. Allowing color matching like never before, machine learning image processing allows the printer to automatically adjust colors on the fly, change image resolutions between jobs, and create new images from text. Creating images from text may be the biggest jump for creators in decades but for print shops to be able to design high quality images on the fly. For clients, it allows small shops to add dollars to the bottom line by branching out into design work that makes a difference.

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Data Analytics

Data analytics can mean many things to many people but the essence is the ability to analyze massive amounts of data from any source to arrive at logical conclusions. In short, using data to gain customers and keep them is the goal of most businesses. They allow a business to drive growth through web forms, emails, mail-outs, or other advertising methods to collect the customer data. They further optimize processes by filtering, sorting, and understanding what you have collected then outputting into a readable format summarizing the data. This workflow gives insight into what print shops need to make sound business decisions for them and their customers.

Monitoring performance metrics through analytics gives the printer action items to improve performance, costs, or customer satisfaction.  Further analyzing the newest market trends and customer behavior helps print shops identify product improvements or growth in their marketplace.  Predictive analytics can advance the ball even more.

Predictive analytics help business forecast future demands.  Business can begin to predict, to some degree, how the market is going to react to a new product, what the opportunities for expansion there are, or optimize inventory for seasonal business flow.  These “predictions” are not infallible but they offer print shops decision making tools they never had before.

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Print-On-Demand

Print-On-Demand is exactly what it says. Print. On. Demand! In today’s fast paced world, no one wants to wait for prints, of any kind. Photos, letters, or signs all demand fast turnarounds. Print shops must adapt and overcome like the Marines. Delivering top-notch quality printing in today’s timeline meets the print shop “need for speed” in record time. Print equipment has jumped into lightspeed giving over 100 pages per minute prints in the best quality possible, in many sizes.

The shift to Print-On-Demand includes digital advancements, equipment advancements, and changing customer preferences.  Each item has been a game changer in it’s own right but harnessing the technology comes down to the excellent employees that understand the changing industry.  That is where Print-On-Demand gets it’s biggest boost.  Employees in print shops everywhere manage the jobs, equipment, and write the code necessary to advance the print world.  The real game changers.

3D Printing

3D printing is often misunderstood but is actually genius in it’s simplicity. Building a 3D printer, managing the software necessary, and creating great 3D prints is not easy. If it were, everyone would do it, right? 3D printing has definitely revolutionized the print industry. It offers those adventurous enough to grasp the opportunities the medium provides through innovation. As this next phase of printing takes root, no longer is 3D printing confined by small projects or only prototypes of larger products. Now those products are being made from concept to distribution using 3D printing. Businesses can now produce end-use parts for equipment, promotional items in house, and all with precision.

In the next phase of 3D print development, new custom designed products will reach the masses completely created through these methods.  Think custom furniture, in your color, on your back porch while you sip cocktails from custom designed glasses on a 3D printed deck!  The complex customization of 3D printing is the future of so many products.

Advancements in materials structure is giving 3D printers more unique options including metals, plastics, or bio-materials that are compatible with the environment around them. Housing crises may be a thing of the past once 3D printing hits it’s stride.  That is just the tip of the iceberg they say in 3D printing.

Smart Factories and Devices

What the heck is a “smart factory” anyway? The single most asked question about smart factories, I am almost positive. Smart factories are places where technology has taken over. They drive efficiency, innovation, scalability, and the ability to adapt to changes in daily production environments.

Automation and robotics are what most people think when you say smart factory like Detroit automakers using robots to build cars.  Today’s smart factories are so much more though.  For print shops, automated systems streamline printing workflows on the production floors, reduce manual intervention, and increase production throughput overall.  Meanwhile, networked devices communicate through the internet to monitor real time data, increasing production at every turn.

In print shops, smart factories can also mean smart devices and smart software to control them.  Document scanners that remove staples automatically, scan the documents, and then reassemble them again are already here.  Commercial High-Production Printers that can process multiple projects at one time into separate output trays are already here.  The future is already here.

Digital Printing

Digital printing is a simple term for printing on modern equipment. What is special about digital prints, and why it made it onto this list, is the speed, versatility, and quality that traditional print methods cannot beat. Since everything is digital nowadays, printing is moving more and more towards digital prints.

Digital printing gets rid of time sucking processes like setup and preflight for many project types. This enables quick turnaround times for Print-On-Demand.  Digital printing means that print shops can maximize inventory costs while minimizing waste to produce short-run prints cost-effectively.  Digital printing also allows print shops to have variable data printing runs.  This opens up more avenues for revenue growth organically. Combined with the newest inks and laser toner cartridges, digital printing systems deliver on their promise of quality vs. speed.

While many other opportunities for print shops to expand growth in the industry exist, we believe that these trends are the future of print.  At The Document Group, we follow the latest news and reports from the industry.  We are not the definitive authority on printing, but with over 19 years in business in the Houston Downtown Area, we might know a thing or two about it.

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The Incredible History of Printing...Short Version
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The Incredible History of Printing...Short Version

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Printing...At The Beginning

The history of printing is ancient, diverse, and bloody.  There is no other invention so integral to the advancement of mankind than printing.  Think about it for just a minute. What other invention lets you express yourself to the masses of the world without ever having to leave your neighborhood?

Of course, we all live in a digital age now.  It is a wonderful time to live with the technology available. However, without printing  to paper all of the books of history, before the computer, could man have built upon the knowledge of others to even invent the telephone?  I doubt it.  If we did make it, it would have taken a lot longer.  While many cultures and civilizations had forms of writing down by hand, things really got moving with the press.   

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Movable type printing started making it’s mark (so to speak) around the year 1450.  That is when Johannes Gutenberg, the print industry’s most famous founding father, invented the first printing press, although there was dispute over it.  There was even a lawsuit at the time between Gutenberg and his partner, Johann Fust.  Gutenberg lost.

Ever since, the printing press has been credited with inspiring ideas, fomenting revolutions, and toppling governments.  Printers have celebrated murder (and condemned it), changed hearts & minds across the globe, and have sparked imaginations around the world ever since.  Yet the printed page is so much more than what you find by the physical contents of the binding and paper.  

Printing contributes to man’s greatest intellectual heights with shared ideas, abstract thought, and collaboration from afar. Are we not still able to read H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, or Jules Verne even after their deaths so long ago?  And we do not have to decipher some ancient handwriting to do so.  Printing has also led some to utter depravity, despicable wretchedness, or lady justice. How did printing accomplish all of this?  By dragging literacy rates through the roof and leading to the Enlightenment, among the rich and ruling classes.  

Literacy did take time to gravitate downwards to the average man or woman, and still does today for some parts of the world.  However, that did not stop printers from expanding their talents into different typesets, inks, and more.  Printing the word to the page took hold like a python and circled the globe.  While China and others had printing to paper long before Gutenberg, it is the movable type printing press which revolutionized printing for everyone.  We owe so much gratitude to those print masters that came before us.  Those people that risked their lives throughout history to pass down stories, facts, ideas, imagination to the public. 

When Paul Revere created his image of the Boston Massacre to rile up public sentiment against the British, he knew his life might be forfeit.  As a printer himself, Benjamin Franklin knew the printing press was the only way to inspire his fellow countrymen to think, and be aware.  Duty compelled both men (and many others) to inform the public, raise awareness for unfair taxes, and strike out a new path for a new country. 

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We love helping our clients present their case. Whether it is in the courtroom, or the boardroom, The Document Group can make the difference in how you are noticied.

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Our foamcore or gatorboard presentation signs are special. A 36" x 42" board with your message, facts, or media on them with, or without, a glossy shine can make attending eyes pop with interest.
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Prior to the press...

Before Johannes Gutenberg started creating commercial products for the Catholic Church on his press, creating a manuscript, or book, by hand was painstaking work that not everyone could perform.  These hand-made books were truly works of art and needed a special person with a steady hand.  The calligraphy captured in these old tomes is exquisite to behold for sure.  However, very few people saw them.  Written-by-hand texts and scrolls existed long before Gutenberg, but few people were literate enough to read writing of any sort.  It was also not thought of as a needed skill for the majority of the public in most countries.  Back then it was good to be the king.  We have come a long way in a short time. 

Today, we use electronic computer boards, integrated circuits, and a whole lot of wire to get our “printing press” humming.  No need to crank the screw to bring down the typeface.  Everything is digital, electric, and fast.  Today’s production printers print over a hundred pages per minute, in color, both sides.  I would say that is a long way from Gutenberg.  

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Mass printing may have started with Guttenberg and his press.  Recording our history for posterity has been a human trait since we learned to think.  The first “artists” drew their masterpieces on rock walls in inks we would probably not want to know about today.  Later came their descendants using carved tools upon rock tablets.  First needing to make the tool, then producing a message for history upon their tablet.  For all time, right?  Think of the Rosetta Stone.  A message passed through time allowing us a glimpse to an ancient history we may have missed without it.  The ability to pass along our history, our truth, is priceless.  We should all embrace our own unique history.

As printers ourselves, The Document Group loves talking the history of printing, or anything printing really.  We love the thought of our small contribution to this wonderful industry.  We invite you to join us in honoring those printers who came before us, printed a new road through the wilderness of civilization, and shined the light of knowledge upon the world.

Why Use Print On Demand Services For Book and Paper Printing
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Why Use Print On Demand Services For Book and Paper Printing

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Why Use Print On Demand Services For Book and Paper Printing

You don’t need to be told that producing a book or research paper is a very time and research-intensive process. From penning the first outline to approving the final copy, creating something that will benefit those who read it is a very worthwhile endeavor. This is why it’s important to present your creation in the best way possible. After all, presentation is almost just as important as the content itself.

This is why affordable print-on-demand services so valuable for authors.

book in field open to page

Advantages Of Print On Demand Services

Using a professional print service in Houston to print your book or paper has its advantages. First, you don’t have to worry about doing a massive print job all on your own. Commercial printing ensures high-quality copies without any hassle to you, the customer. Just bring in your files, and the print shop takes care of the rest.

Another advantage to using a local professional print service is that you’re dealing with a print shop in your neighborhood. You don’t have to email your files to an online printer, only to receive printed copies that have some sort of error or defect. You can deal with the printer directly, see the proof in person and make changes on the spot, have your order fulfilled onsite, and best of all get your order faster instead of waiting impatiently by the mailbox.

Lastly, commercial printing ensures a certain level of professionalism in your work. Unsightly DIY errors like low DPI, “bleeding” colors, and misaligned type aren’t a problem in copies created by a truly professional print service. When you have your copies created by a professional printer, it shows. This is especially true since the printer will want a satisfied customer to come back to them for future business.

Trust A High-Quality Houston Print Service to Print YOUR Book

Purchasing materials, printing, and binding your own copies can quickly become an overwhelming ordeal, and it can also add to the stress of your upcoming debut or presentation. Not only that, but when it comes to quality, home printing machines simply can’t compare with the efficiency of a commercial printer. With a professional commercial printing service, the difference will be clear. Color pictures and illustrations are sharper and more defined, the paper quality is higher, and the copies will be more uniform.

At the end of the day, a professional Houston print service will give you a book or published paper that you will be proud to present to your recipients. Best of all, establishing a relationship with a local print shop ensures you know who to turn to next time you have a big publishing job.

To learn more about fast, affordable print on demand services for paper and book publishing, contact The Document Group in Houston, Texas at (888)316-4670 or (713)343-4005.

Cool Marketing For This Season’s Trade Shows
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Cool Marketing For This Season’s Trade Shows

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Prepare for Your Trade Shows Today!

trade shows in action distant view promotional

With The Document Group digital print department, you can be prepared for your trade shows be it this year or next.  As the season ramps up, you may already be thinking about preparing your booth for next year’s schedule (or trying to catch up with this year’s). If you want a fresh look for the fall shows, you may have already dismissed getting another booth, given the costs involved. Refreshing your collateral marketing materials and the look within your booth is quite another matter. By updating banners, signs, presentations, and brochures, you can make a major change in appearance for a reasonable cost.  At The Document Group, we excel at providing those materials on time, every time! 

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Why Refresh Your collateral?

Maybe your company has made changes in its logo or added a tagline to its branding. Maybe you have launched a new product or service. Or maybe you just need a refreshed look. By replacing your back wall banner on the booth, adding exhibit stands, or even adding technology to your display, you can add new life to the display.

Many companies have multiple sets of marketing collateral to accommodate different shows they attend. Even if your company hits the same shows every year, alternating collateral changes things up. If you have three or four sets of graphics, that means that you only display a particular set once every three or four years. Even the most seasoned tradeshow attendee is likely to be vague on details of what they last saw three or four years ago.

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Finding The Right Printer

Once you decide you want a new look, you may want to get your marketing consultant or at least a photographer into the mix to design and get any needed photos. Once your materials are prepared, you next need to find a company that can print the small format and large-format and who is equipped to make other products such as brochures, presentations, training materials, ect. In Houston, that is The Document Group, experts in printing graphics of all types, and providers of many related services.

TDG can also supply you with collateral marketing materials you take to the show to distribute to attendees and, if your company is presenting a workshop or seminar, they can even print other materials such as brochures, information packets, presentations, and banner or signs. Many visitors to shows want to travel home light, so what you have to show need not be complex or expensive. Trifold brochures, one sheets, and other easily transportable materials that introduce your company can be enough to trigger interest.

When preparing for tradeshows, having the right promotional products that fit your company’s image and your budget is a part of show planning you do not want to take lightly. These days, quickly ordering cheap ballpoint pens and other cheap giveaways may not be as valuable as putting more thought and money into the process. Cheap and useless items end up in the back of people’s drawers or are given to their kids to play with, not kept on a potential buyer’s desk. Since personalized giveaways imprint your company name on an attendee’s mind, you want a printer who can produce your lowball message in small but readable type so that it has impact.

Whether you are looking for new tradeshow graphics to enhance your group or printed materials or promotional items, call us today at 888-316-4670.

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How The Top Legal Printing Service In Houston Supports Your Law Firm

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The Document Group was founded by litigation support experts with over 20 years of experience; today the Houston commercial printing company is renowned for exceptional litigation support services. The Document Group offers comprehensive and tailored litigation support services, from legal printing service in Houston to trial preparation.

Litigation Copying From The Top Houston Printing Company

While electronic records have become the norm, paper and ink are still extremely valuable in organizing litigation cases. When you need litigation copying done, The Document Group provides safe, secure, and accurate services.

All of our projects are personally processed by our trained Account Managers or Customer Service Representatives, who ensure that your instructions are followed to the letter. We back up our work with over 150 years of combined experience in the field, and the industry best quality control practices. We do everything in our power to ensure your originals and copies are returned to your firm on time.

Fast, Accurate Document Scanning

Of course, document scanning is still one of the most common services for litigation support that we see at our Houston commercial printing company. We offer comprehensive scanning services; in fact, we even have mobile equipment that we can bring to you. Our team also works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in order to meet rush jobs that cannot wait.

Transforming Your Lawyers Into Tech Experts With Electronic Discovery Services

You are the experts in litigation and we are the experts in electronic discovery; we work hard to provide your lawyers with all the benefits of top-of-the-line electronic discovery services. Our core services focus on providing what you need: comprehensive discovery, customized reporting, cost effective eDiscovery, complete confidentiality, and industry best practices for digital security. Our professionals investigate every electronic source of information from emails to web browsing activity while finding evidence of file tampering and unlocking password protected files.

Targeted Database Hosting Solutions

Not every law firm has a dedicated IT staff that can create and manage information databases. Having electronic information that can be accessed, sorted, and used efficiently and quickly out of a database is a blessing for organizing complex cases. The Document Group provides turn-key database solutions in addition to all of our Houston printing services.

At The Document Group, we are more than a commercial Houston printing company. We help our clients get the most out of their printed materials to pursue their cases to a satisfactory conclusion. Contact us today for a free quote!

Safety And Security – Houston's Record Retrieval Company
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Safety And Security – Houston's Record Retrieval Company

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Your legal staff is extremely busy preparing for trial, so let The Document Group handle your record retrieval needs with our safe and efficient retrieval services. We’ll handle all your record retrieval needs whether it is from people, businesses, or government agencies. Plus, we use all of the latest technology and best practices to maintain the strictest confidentiality.

Safe And Secure Record Retrieval From The Top Houston Printing Company

Our experts know all of the regulations and laws protecting sensitive information, and we treat all of our clients’ requests with the utmost importance. We work hard to guarantee everything we obtain is completely admissible.

Every employee at The Document Group signs a HIPPA agreement to keep all of the records obtained so that they remain confidential. We work with clients from a wide range of industries who need confidential records retrieval, from law firms and insurance agencies to information brokers and investigative agencies.

How The Document Group Provides Exceptional Records Retrieval Service

Records retrieval can be an art all onto itself, especially with older records and items that haven’t been digitized yet. We leverage our knowledge of civil rules and procedures, plus the latest retrieval technology and procedures, to get the information that our clients need in a timely manner. Our company has established long term relationships with many records custodians which enable us to get exactly what you need, in the format that you need it. If you utilize our professionals for records retrieval, you will quickly see why we offer a superior product.

Five Easy Steps For Record Retrieval

Getting the information that you need doesn’t have to be a hassle. There are just five easy steps between you and the records that your company needs:

  1. Submit your request through email, over the phone, with a fax, or through the form on our website.
  2. The requests are issued to the providers via authorization request or subpoena request.
  3. We run all of the follow-up, and provide you with an up-to-date status of each order; we understand why many requests are so time sensitive.
  4. After retrieval is complete, our document intake department checks the records to ensure completeness and accuracy, and will work to correct any issues found before returning the records to you.
  5. We deliver the final product on paper or through electronic media. Everything is handled by secure courier and is password protected. We can even take the records and directly convert them into presentations or graphics for use in trial preparation and in the courtroom itself.

At The Document Group, we are more than a commercial Houston printing company. We help our clients with all of their litigation needs from records retrieval to trial preparation. Contact us today for a free quote!