QR Code Promotions
QR codes are becoming increasingly common on everything from retail print ads to point of purchase displays and catalogs. Shoppers are scanning the codes to get discounts, watch videos or product demos, or even make purchases. QR (short for Quick Response) codes are a specific matrix barcode readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background.
QR code added to a promotional product are a great way to target younger, social users – college students, 20-somethings, and those who have active digital lives – but they aren’t just for the young and fashionable. They can be used in professional environments, not only replacing business cards for contact-sharing during busy conferences, but also as a way to set up virtual meetings or create limited-duration special events of all types with a single scan of a cell phone.
The QR code provides end users with a seamless bridge between print, online and mobile content and allows one-stop access to information and promotions.
Contact us to find out how your business – large or small – can use QR Codes in a number of innovative ways.
Vector Art: A Must-Have
If you’re a new client placing an order for a promotional product with us, you’ll hear us ask for a “vector art file” of your logo. With this file, we can reproduce your logo in any size from the dome on a ballpoint pen to the side of a building – always giving you crisp and clean reproduction that will burnish your image with your clients and be consistent every time it’s used.
But what is vector art?
Vector art is composed of continuous lines and shapes. It’s made using mathematical equations, which remain sharp and clear regardless of the image scale. Its Evil Twin, Raster art, is composed using pixels. When a pixilated image is increased in size, the individual pixels become very prominent. This results in blurred, low quality images and unacceptable results.
So by definition, a vector image is different from the very beginning. That is why a raster image cannot be “saved” or converted to a vector image. If the image was originally built in Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator, then we’re home free! This would create one of these file types: .eps, .ai, or .cdr (although not all eps files are vector art). The only way to tell is for us to open your file and examine it. If a raster image was placed in Illustrator and saved as an eps – it won’t be vector and it won’t work.
These file types are raster art, and we won’t be able to use them: JPEGs, GIFs, BMPs. PhotoShop or TIF files may work for a full color imprint if they are built to the size of the image area or larger.
If a raster art image is all you have, we can work with a skilled artist to recreate your logo as a vector image. Your account manager will be happy to quote a one-time cost for this and manage the details of getting it done. We’ll archive it for use on all your orders, and provide it to you as well.
And we’ll have what we need to produce that pen with the dome logo, or the graphics for the side of your building.
