Friday, November 28, 2008

First Blog- Breakin' her in...

So here's the first entry into the Slick Pix blog. I've never used a blog and honestly don't really care for them. But I think it would be cool a few years from now, to go back in time and see what was going on in this period of time.

I thought I would start my first blog by posting kind of a review of a new-ish album company that has partnered up with Smug Mug. The album company is called MyCanvas.

The design software was great. It was all done online and the options were mind blowing. The software could use a few updates, such as organized picture pools, and used-photo memos. But the layout designer was really professional looking and feeling. You can pretty much do anything with it.

I designed the first album as an anniversary gift for some friends. I opted for the 8"x11" hard-bound Leather cover, and 25 pages total.

It arrived 15 working days after I submitted the order. Roughly 3 weeks total, which isn't bad, but could be better. They require 10 working days for printing and binding, and 5 days for shipping. It arrived in a media-mail fitted cardboard box via UPS.






The Album itself was shrink-wrapped in plastic.
The leather feels soft to the touch and smells nice.





















The front cover has metallic gold letters on them. They're not embossed, they are either printed or screen-printed on. I'm not sure how they get them on there...








The prints were decent, and the paper is kind of thin, but it has a quality look and feel. If you look close enough, you can see the dots from the printer, or the DPI.

























I was disappointed by the thinness of the book, as the photos on their website show thicker books. They must be using sample books with at least 100 pages in them. The pages are thin, but have a nice feel and sheen.












If you open the book up wide, you can see the stitch-binding done in the gutter. Not a big deal, but it does look kind of cheap.


Overall, I was pleased with the book, but I would not be happy if I had to sell it to clients.
They do have a "Premium" line, but it costs as much as some other High-Profile wedding-book providers who have much higher quality.
Stay tuned for an update soon. I Just got some new gear I want to blog about.
Lates

P.S. I don't know what's going on with the spacing and stuff on the layout. It's whack. Hopefully the next one will be cleaner.








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