Samples, samples, samples!

A pile of paper samples from various printers

I'm now back home for Christmas and am feeling much better after having a horrible cold (one of the worst I've ever had!). One of the things waiting for me (apart from family of course) was a pile of post - sample packs from printers I've requested. In this post I'll be listing my thoughts on what was included, the design, but not the price (because I'll have to have a deep and comparative look at those a bit later on if I decide to order!).

Company 1: SoloPress

The second 'booklet' included in the sample pack

Inside the second booklet

The main booklet of samples

Sample goodies...

As a fan of graphical things, I found the samples from SoloPress quite graphically impressive. There was A LOT included in the booklets (there was a lot of options to chose for from their website in the online request form), and its definitely looking like a company I may use (depending on the prices of course!).

They even included a pack of Haribo!

The package it came - space-age bubble wrap

 Company 2: Moo Print

Playful sample 'envelope'

The samples included were all vegetable/food related

Moo was the second sample pack I looked at, and again I was impressed with the graphical presentation - the envelope helps to keep all the separate samples together - a problem perhaps with the samples from Solo. I'll definitely be taking a look at their prices (they offer a student discount too!),

Moo - price brochure

Company 3: VistaPrint

Vista are a company I knew about before University. Their sample pack was animal themed, which is alright, if slightly unoriginal (?). There's little to say - there wasn't that much to look at, and the graphic presentation was neat, if not slightly dull.

Company 4: Peanut Print

Cover of sample booklet

Sample booklet

Paper samples

Peanut Print, despite having an interesting name, didn't have that interesting a sample pack... It was less visually appealing than VistaPrint, so there's even less to say! However - the brochure featured in their booklet, when unfolded and flipped over, is a year planner for 2013, so I'll definitely be using that!

Company 5: Overnight Print

Overnight print samples

Overnight print - very little I can say about their samples. I will check their prices, but I wasn't overly impressed - there was no 'house' theme, though the quality of the things themselves was fine.

I'm still waiting on some things from Vista - I've ordered some 'free' (free meaning having to only pay for postage, not the things themselves) things - a pen, a self-inking stamp, and some business cards, just to see what the quality is like. Overall I'm quite excited about finally getting to order something from a company - I'll have to start a printing fund...