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.

Rock Hall Fever

With all the deserved hype and coverage surrounding the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony earlier this month, we got in on the action and put a slightly different spin on the festivities in Cleveland. Read our Ten Bizarre Things About Rock Hall Induction Week In Cleveland.

We Announced Our Newest Green Initiative

Being environmentally responsible is something we’re quite proud of. To us, being green isn’t just a marketing angle, we’re always looking for new ways to improve our eco-friendly practices. That’s why on Earth Day we announced that we plant a tree for every order placed! Read all the details here - Jakprints Plants One Tree With Every Order.

Building the Animal Builder

Read this cool story about how Jakprints helped author Kate Schrute bring her ideas to life.  The Animal Builder is a colorful, inquisitive book about a giant anteater who creates animals out of things he finds in nature.

Concert and Movie Posters

Two posts this month featured some inspirational designs in both the music and film world. We put together a gallery of minimalist movie posters including Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Check out the original post Design Spotlight – Minimalist Movie Posters. We also found a great collection of concert poster art at the GoMedia blog. View our highlights  - Concert Posters – Text, Fonts and Rock & Roll.

Jakprints at The Green Dream

Jakprints returned to The Green Dream again this year. The Green Dream is Ohio’s largest eco-friendly expo and it’s put on by teens at Beachwood High School! Check it out. 

Jakprints Spotlight – Emma White

And last but certainly not least, we learned a little more about Emma White in Customer Service & Sales for this month’s Jakprints Employee Spotlight.

Well that’s it for this month. Keep checking back for new content, and if there’s anything you’d like to see featured or talked about, please let us know!

The Animal Builder

Kate Schruth and Jakprints build The Animal Builder.

The idea behind The Lake Erie Monster spawned from a series of 70s era fictional movie posters that the two worked on previously and decided to bring to life with a full narrative. The story certainly does come alive on the page. The vibrant 36 page, full-color book features two gruesome stories and a handful of illustrated ads that capture the spirit of the old-school horror comic.

A number of the Jakprints crew were there at the release party, where we mingled with other local art enthusiasts, had punch and snacks, browsed through some choice vinyl and picked up our copies of the debut issue, all while listening to WCSB’s John Neely spin Cleveland/Ohio punk tunes. Jakprints is proud to be a sponsor of this new endeavor and we can’t wait until the next issue arrives. See below for some photos from the event and an exclusive behind the scenes video of the conception and production of The Lake Erie Monster.

The Lake Erie Monster – A Cleveland Horror Comic from Jakprints, Inc on Vimeo.

SXSW 2012 Recap Part II from Jakprints, Inc on Vimeo.

Jakprints SXSW Tradeshow from Jakprints, Inc on Vimeo.

At Jakprints, we’re proud of our environmental stewardship and green printing initiatives. Thanks to our customers, we recycle 400 tons of paper, save over 2.6 million gallons of water and conserve 156,000 gallons of fuel every year. Special thanks to Recycling Solutions for allowing us to film at their facility and educating us even more on the process.

Every one is busy with life and work, the gals at Vegan Sweet Tooth are no exception. Co-owners Tiffany and Becca have their hands full with starting a new business, shopping for organic ingredients and creating new, tasty vegan recipes. Long time friends, they both fulfilled their dreams by working in the food industry, one as a food photographer and the other at culinary school. They stayed in touch during their time away but eventually reunited in Cleveland with a vegan vision.

Combining their love of food and healthy living, Vegan Sweet Tooth was proofed. We were thrilled when they came to our shop, not only for the great print projects but for the introduction to some of the best vegan cupcakes around. Thank you Vegan Sweet Tooth for choosing Jakprints and making us your one-stop printer.

Find out more about Vegan Sweet Tooth.

And, he’s as well known for his genre-defining illustrations in the music scene as for his politically-charged, fine-art works. Strhess Clothing, Hess’ apparel line, has been consistently fashion forward with its use of lush illustrations and creative print locations long before either was standard.

Working with Derek for over 6 years has kept us on our toes and fostered the creation of new products. When he came to us with his long overdue book, Black Line White Lie, we were stoked and ready to dive in.

Hess decided on a combination of three different book bindings and we thought that this would be a great opportunity to show a behind-the-scenes look at the artist, the process and the final product.

It’s hard to top ourselves but we found a way with Vegan Sweet Tooth: Create Yours Now™ Cupcake Packs! We put together custom packages with cupcakes, frosting and sprinkles. Included were hand-signed thank you cards from the client’s Account Rep.

Our clients are so important to us — we hope to keep working together till we’re old and sassy, like our beloved Golden Girls.

See More jakprints.com
Eat More vegansweettooth.com

Vegan Sweet Tooth is a specialty sweet shop providing completely vegan and Kosher desserts. Specializing in cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, and muffins they use local, seasonal, and organic products when available. Destroying the myth that vegan means it won’t taste good, their treats will melt in your mouth and make you think twice about what you eat.

Words: Jeff Wiesenberg - Apparel Production Manager • Video: LT Magnotto - Apparel Separator

This past weekend, a couple of Jakprints apparel production employees jumped in a rental and drove to Manhattan to check out the Agenda NYC trade show.  This is the first year the Agenda trade show was in NYC, so we could not pass up the opportunity to check out the things going on.

As expected, the show did not disappoint.  Held inside the history Chelsea Art Museum (CAM), the Agenda show is a street wear & action sports trade show “with a strong emphasis in style, art, music and culture”.   The show included such notable companies as Vans, Obey, Alpine Stars, The Hundreds and Crooks & Castles, each displaying their summer/fall lines.

A good amount of time was spent looking through racks of shirts, keeping a close eye on on print quality and separation technique.  We ran into some old friends at the show while also making a few new ones.  After spending a couple hours checking everything out, we stopped by the Capsule show which was being held directly next door.  Although the Capsule show focused more on the actual manufacturing of higher end apparel, it was very neat to see that whole side of the business.  We spend so much time with our noses in presses, we do not get a chance often to see how what we are printing on gets made.

Later that night, we made our way to the newly opened House Of Vans in Brooklyn.  Thanks to our good friend and artist Jay Croft for hooking up the good times.  I can’t think of a better mix than free skating, pizza and Tecate!  Its amazing how you can travel hours or even days away and you always happen to run into someone from back home, what a night!

The following day, we were invited by the good people of Ulano Corp, an emulsion manufacturer, to tour their production plant located also in Brooklyn.  Lets just say we have a much higher appreciation for emulsion than we did prior to walking in.  We were amazed by the amount of chemistry and testing involved in a product once thought of as “dyed Elmers glue”.  I am positive any print geek, such as myself, would have similar feelings.

Thanks to everyone we met along the way and old friends not seen for a while.