No, this didn't really happen, but don't you wish it did?

It was a busy Saturday in the Forest City. As usual there was no shortage of things to do in this fine city we call Cleveland. But there were two events we were particularly excited about.

Today, Crain’s Business Journal reported that bicycle usage in the Cleveland area is up 280% over the past ten years, so it’s no surprised that the  Cleveland Metroparks Zoo was jam packed for their first annual Wild Ride At The Zoo. Riders from all over the area convened at the zoo to take a joyride through the exhibits at this sold out event.

Across town at the Tri-C Hospitality building on Public Square, Cleveland’s most talented baristas battled it out with a latte art competition. For The Love Of Latte Art was put together by CLEbrews, Cleveland’s newest league of coffee geeks who have come together with the unified purpose of strengthening the region’s coffee culture and community through knowledge, sharing and cooperation. This daylong  event included a latte art workshop for both amateurs as well as professionals, and culminated with the Latte Art Throwdown Competition. The best part is, all the proceeds went to support the Asogarbi Mudslide Relief Effort.
We take pride in our hometown and we love being involved in so many events that make this community thrive. There’s never a dull moment, and for that Cleveland, we thank you.

Meanwhile, we were also doing our thing on the west coast. Over the weekend we were also in the LA arts district for Mindshare 50. This three day event featured fascinating speakers, musicians and performers centered around a full day of inspiring talks, entertainment and art. If TED and Burning Man had a lovechild that went to MIT and became an artist, you’d have Mindshare.

Earlier in the week we were also present for the NARM 2012 Music Biz Expo. It was the place to be for those that call music their business. Music professionals from all over gathered to learn new tricks of the trade, network and receive vital info from top influencers in the industry.

CLEBrews · Cleveland · For The Love Of Latte Art · Jakprints · Wild Ride At The Zoo

President & CEO Vera Stewart started Very Vera in her kitchen in 1984. She would bake cakes for her friends and family and quickly started filling mail orders. From there her business continued to grow, exploded in the 90′s and has continued to attract national attention from the likes of Oprah and The Food Network.

Through Very Vera, you can order her famous cakes as well as gourmet food to be delivered right to your front door. It’s pretty awesome. The attention to detail she’s known for with the presentation of her food, definitely carries over to their print collateral.

Our mouths were already watering when we saw some of the great designs that Very Vera was printing with us.  In fact we thought the postcards they printed (designed by Leonard Zimmerman Jr.) were so good that we pulled them out of the stack and showcased them on the Jakprints Tumblr.

When a Strawberry Lemonade cake and a Carrot Cake showed up at Jakprints, compliments of Very Vera, the mouth watering continued.  Needless to say they tasted incredible. Thanks Vera!

Full Color · Jakprints · Very Vera

Instagram has clearly taken the Social Media world by storm. Well on it’s way to 100 Million users, this simple but addictive app has changed the way we document our lives. You know a social platform is big when it’s name becomes a verb. For many, you don’t just take a picture of something, you Instagram it. It’s no surprise that Facebook recently snatched up Instagram and it’s staff of nine, for the price tag of One. Billion. Dollars. No, that was not a typo.

Take a look at this great info-graphic detailing the rise of the little photography app that could. And if you’re not already, make sure you follow Jakprints on Instagram! Our username is, well, Jakprints.

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Apps · Instagram · Jakprints · Photography · Social Media · Tech

Let’s face it, it’s the future. While we may not have our hover boards yet, technology has been advancing in leaps and bounds as of late. Augmented reality, Siri, and yes even power laces (almost) are just a few of the marvels of our era. As we move forward and objects like CD’s, encyclopedias and the card catalog, heck even libraries themselves begin to become obsolete, it begs the question: What’s to become of the print industry?

E-books are starting to replace physical books, blogs are replacing magazines and newspapers, google maps are replacing the atlas, websites are replacing catalogs and the list goes on. But the truth is, we’re not worried. Humans will always need to connect physically to something. We’ll always need something in our hands, something genuine and authentic. A first edition Catcher in the Rye or even the first issue of The Lake Erie Monster in our hands does something to the way we feel on the inside that a PDF file just can’t elicit.  While CD sales are down, vinyl sales are way up. And studies show, college students are starting to prefer physical text books again because they find their attention strays to quickly on their iPads.

Prototype design for what a desktop "un-printer" could look like.

While all these paperless options may seem scary to some in the print industry, there’s no arguing that these advances are a good thing for our environment. The less waste, the better. Jakprints has always been extremely mindful of the environment and we go to great lengths to be responsible environmental stewards (read more: Jakprints Plants a Tree For Every Order), so we were pretty stoked when we read about this. Apparently, researchers at Cambridge have developed a reverse-printer that will remove, or to get nerdy about it, vaporize the ink from the paper so you can re-use it. Pretty awesome right? Check out this article from Fresh Books to read all about it. Pretty awesome right? Check out this article from Fresh Books to read all about it.

Eco-Friendly · Jakprints · Printing · Technology

If you were anywhere in Cleveland this weekend chances are, you saw multitudes of cyclists at every turn. Friday night was Cleveland Critical Mass followed by “Respect the Bike,” a party at The Greenhouse Tavern that was equal parts bike themed art show and rooftop concert. And Saturday was the return of the now infamous Fantastic Cleveland Tweed Ride.

More than 75 bike and mustache enthusiasts gathered downtown with their “steeds” in turn-of-the-century garb for a joyride through a number of Cleveland neighborhoods. Rainy cold weather wasn’t a deterrent and almost added to the British feel of the event.  The ride began at Mall C and made it’s way to East 30th, back down to East 4th for a pitstop at Erie Island Coffee. Riders than cruised over the  bridge to Ohio City, continued down West 25th, Market Ave. and Bridge St. until they reached The Happy Dog.

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Bicycles · Bikes · Cleveland · Events · Tweed Ride

One of the new features here at the Jakprints blog is the monthly wrap up. We understand that you get busy and you may not have the time to hang on every word we type, so here’s a recap of all the awesomeness you may have missed in a tidy package just for you.

Graphic Design Round Table – Typography

One of our favorite posts of the month featured a handful of very talented and accomplished graphic designers sharing their two cents about the current state of typography. Click here to read what Jeff Finley, OKPants, Brian Jasinski and Ted Barnes had to say.

Lake Erie Monster – Horror Comic

We started the month off with a feature about John G and Jake Kelley’s new Cleveland based horror comic The Lake Erie Monster. We were there for their release party at Blue Arrow Records. Check out the video we put together highlighting the creation and release of The Lake Erie Monster and see the original blog post with pics from the event here.

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employee spotlight · Jakprints