Mailing oversized postcards works... but make sure you get your proportions right. You could pay a lot more for postage if the aspect ratio isn't appropriate. What's an aspect ratio, you ask? Well, it happens to be the dimension of a mailpiece expressed as a ratio of length divided by the height -- that's the direction parallel to the address line. For example, a postcard 5-1/2" long by 3-1/2" high has an aspect ratio of 1.57. An aspect ratio between 1.3 and 2.5 is required for automation compatibility. For some First-Class Mail, aspect ratio is used to determine whether a nonstandard surcharge applies. When mail is outside the appropriate aspect ratio, you lose discounts on your mailing and that effects your bottom line. Far too often, companies simply allow their designers to create pieces without thinking about the many pitfalls of mailing. Only after the design of the piece has received everyone's OK did anyone think to check with postal regulations. You could be giving up hundreds of dollars simply because a mailer was a 1/4" too tall. Unsure if you're getting everything out of your mailing? Check with us. Color copies are better than ever. Have you seen the latest technology that allows for customization of your printwork? One-to-one marketing is what everyone says they'd like to achieve, but few actually do. Why? Because for so long, the best you could create was something akin to a Publisher's Clearing House piece. However, today's dry ink technology allows for better reproductions and for inclusion of a whole host of features that improve your prospecting. Customize graphic images (photos, artwork, product images, etc.) as well as whole blocks of text, even customized to geography, gender, income -- that's all dependant upon your data base. Even the most basic data bases can be customized. If you create invoices (and who doesn't?) you can make dynamic printing work for you. Still unsure? Contact one of our sales representatives for examples of how others are putting this to work. Itís trade show season... are you ready? Sometimes if feels pretty daunting to discover how much work needs to go into getting ready for your next big show. E-mails, mailers, marketing materials and more -- not to mention the actual booth! Let EGX Design help you craft the right message, build a better booth and even help you get customers and prospects to your booth. How? Our integrated services bring together all the tools you need to make this year's show your best. We sit down with you and isolate just what's needed and discuss your expectations. Build more traffic? Isolate prospects? Improve brand awareness? All of these are achievable. Talented designers, copywriters, production specialists and programmers can put each piece of your particular puzzle together in a consistently branded effort. And, you might be surprised how quickly it can all come together. It's not too late to see your vision realized. Call EGX Design right now: 414-771-7822. Not unlike the famed search engine which brings so much to your computer screen with a quick word search, our searchable text OCR service can do the same for your office. From scanning a single box of documents to an entire corporation, we can help you manage your paper storage and retrieval with precision. Our staff of document pros run special scanning and filtering software on your documents and format them onto a standard CD-ROM. The best part is that you don't have to invest in special software or training to retrieve just the documents you need. Everything you need is on each CD. Further, download that CD into your server and you can get access to every document you put through our service. Any company that generates or controls a large amount of paper documents will find this service to be invaluable right from the very start. Want to see a 5-minute demo? Contact our sales rep for an introduction to this exciting technology!     Milwaukee Poster Series No. 3