BIG Images receives the coveted 2008 Best of San Luis Obispo Award in the Printers category by the prestigious and well-known U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)

The U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) was kind enough to inform BIG Images that it has been awarded the prestigious “2008 Best of San Luis Obispo Award in the Printers category.” Yeah! Go BIG Images!

Actually, the USLBA just wants to sell us a plaque for $79.94 that says we won an award. An award that they appear to have made up :) The fun thing about this is they allow anyone to customize the text that appears on the plaque. So, in celebration of BIG Images winning this best-of printers “award” I am giving you, the reader, a chance to use our access key to print your very own best-of award. Just go here and fill in the form. If they ask you for an award code just type in 9A27GKC. Then, on the next page, note the “corrections” you want to make to the plaque. In moments your very own “2008 Best Of…” award will be on its way to your doorstep! Hehe...have fun :)

Just for fun, here is the “official” press release announcing BIG Images award.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Big Images Receives 2008 Best of San Luis Obispo Award

U.S. Local Business Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., November 20, 2008 -- Big Images has been selected for the 2008 Best of San Luis Obispo Award in the Printers category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)

U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Local Business Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Local Business Association
Email: PublicRelations@USLBA.net
URL: http://www.USLBA.net

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Tags: about us, business, newspaper, team

Ben Lawless is published in Screen Printing

If you pick up the latest issue of Screen Printing from ST Media Group, you’ll find an article by our very own Benjamin Lawless nestled on page 48. The article is actually a reprint of his “7 Steps to Effective Large-Format Graphics series” combined with his article, “Image Size and Resolution.”

Screen Printing is a monthly trade magazine that covers all types of screen printing technology, as well as related print methods such as wide-format digital printing, which just happens to be BIG Images’ specialty. Celebrating it’s 55th year in print, they’ve become a trusted source of information for the screen printing industry.

So, pick up the latest copy of Screen Printing today, and check out Mr. Lawless’s column. That would make his mom very proud.

Tags: ben lawless

Static Cling Window Graphics

Entice new customers and enchant passersby with big, bold and colorful Static Cling Window graphics, available with full-color printing services from BIG Images. Static Window Cling is temporary, safe and quite affordable. Companies like Gap and Express have already realized the benefits of temporary window cling graphics. If big-box retailers are using quicker and less expensive marketing tools, why can’t you? Set the trend amongst your competition instead of following it.


In this shifting economy where the old methods are beginning to lose their magnetism, smart retailers and point-of-purchase marketers are looking for the next trends. It’s easy to see the baby boomers are ebbing out and the Millennials are on their way in. Now is the time to find new marketing solutions and get the attention of this new generation of customer, and Static Window Cling is a perfect
Read the full article...

Tags: outdoor, indoor, window, media

A big image for Hope Worldwide

While not exactly a big image in BIG Images’ traditional sense, this past weekend Jon Beebe helped create a big image for Hope Worldwide.

The big image (mural, actually) is the work of Beebe Hargove. In 2006 she design and helped Hope Worldwide execute a large mural at Garfield Elementary in Santa Ana. They liked it so much she was invited back to create another :)


Beebe Hargrove, along with a group of volunteers, painted this new mural on a 12’ x 16’ handball court at the school. If you want to see more pictures check out Jon Beebe’s time-lapse of the mural creation, as well as his gallery of the day.

Tags: outdoor

File size requirements for large format printing are a bit different than for small format. And, like most things, acceptable standard files are different from printer to printer. Here at BIG Images, although we accept many file formats, there is one kind of file that tends to work very well with our workflow, and that's the incredible TIFF.

The standard file we accept is

• a flattened TIFF
• saved at 150 ppi (lower ppi will work depending on size of the graphic and distance the graphic will be viewed from)
• embedded with the Adobe RGB 1998 color space
• saved with LZW compression
• saved at the physical size it'll be printed

I know, I know; that's a lot of details, acronyms and geekiness, but that's just the biz. A major reason we accept files this way is because… Read the full article...

Tags: tips, tiff, design

Here is how you create your personalized birthday banner

When we released the Birthday Banner Creator a couple of months ago, we had a feeling it’d be pretty big news. After all, we’ve never found anything similar so easy to use. Saying Happy Birthday in such a big way has also never been so light on the checkbook.

Just to show you how easy it is, we made a quick three-step guide to birthday banner bliss!
Read the full article...

Tags: birthday, bannerworks

Announcing Over the Street Banners!

BIG Images’ over the street banners are the perfect way to spread excitement about your upcoming event! They’re a great solution for announcing:

• Festivals
• Concerts
• Local Fairs
• City Events
• Farmer’s Market
• Theater Productions

Over the Street Banners garner the attention of drive-by and walk-by traffic. As a proximity-marketing tool they raise the public awareness of your event and keep it top-of-mind.

Benefits of Over the Street Banners

• Naturally wind-resistant
• Naturally weather resistant
• Bold & vivid full-color graphics

BIG Images’ street banners are created specifically for the outdoor environment. They are waterproof, capable of withstanding rain and dew. They are also bright and vivid, staying colorfast even in the harshest sunlight.

Our mesh banner is naturally wind resistant. This offers a few benefits: increased safety because wind can pass through the entire surface area of the banner, and better readability because there are no wind-slits interrupting the image.

BIG Images’ years of experience and industry contacts allow us to quickly and inexpensively produce banners that meet the strict sign regulations of your city.

Gallery of BIG Images street banner media

Tags: media, outdoor, solutions, banner, products

Set your business apart

When most people think of the marketing tools BIG Images offers they think of posters or some other form of eye-level marketing. But the world of large-format marketing is much broader than the customers’ eye-level. If you really want to make an impression you have to look both up and down.

Most customers use BIG Images’ products to market at the eye-level. Posters, banner stands, window graphics; all these get displayed at the eye-level. But this is a very competitive space! By making wise decisions about placing marketing materials, you can inexpensively remain at the forefront of every potential customer’s mind. Read the full article...

Tags: media, outdoor, solutions

The Think Plaid team, from Danbury, Connecticut stopped by while on their Plaid Nation Tour.

The Plaid Tour is a two-week road tour, where Plaid travels from market to market and visits brands, bloggers, fans and other agencies. The tour is meant to be a rolling demonstration of some of the latest social media tools and a celebration of creativity. In most markets, they schedule "tweet-ups," gathering together social media, marketing and internet workers from the area for a (real world) social gathering.

Today they stopped by, explained their use of media and the social internet, showed us their rig, and spent the afternoon soaking up the San Luis Obispo sun at Firestone Grill.

Tags: social

Those superstars of imagination over at iii design have moved in with us at 767 Francis Avenue, and it's a nonstop design and printing party!

BIG Images and iii design have worked on several projects before, so it was a natural fit for us to work in the same space. Much like Voltron, our combined force is unstoppable.

So if you walk into our shop and find yourself facing six more people than you were expecting, along with a bunch of plants and a Webby, don't be alarmed. We're just being totally awesome.