AFF Luggage tags - some ideas

[mm472]

I think the idea of Printing ourselves, is a great idea,

Also , printing at W, could be an option to get a couple different ones done , to see how they look

either way, I would be interested in getting some tags for sure, at least 2 but up to 4 i think

 

[prozac]

I might try printing one at W but feel that the colours might blend into each other too much on printing. Is it possible to give it a little more contrast and post it up here?
Also can the IATA city codes be removed?

Has anyone seen the stunning contrast on the everest tag on the BagTags site here - Luggage Tags - Bag Tags Inc.

 

[samh004]

And then we can all earn some more QFF points for our purchase of tags-magnificent.

We’d have to buy at least 4 each at their prices to earn points

Has anyone seen the stunning contrast on the everest tag on the BagTags site here - Luggage Tags - Bag Tags Inc.

That is a little cringe worthy!

 

[newformula]

And if you haven't guessed already, I am not a commercial artist or designer and I have never had to prepare a publication for professional printing. So:

• Can someone give me some preparation guidelines so that the design can be handed off to a printer easily?
• Does anyone have any other suggestions for design? Can we confirm a design? (Does anyone want me to make some other proofs?)
  In particular, size is something which is a bit hard for me to gauge. Of course, what you see on the screen must fit to something probably not bigger than a standard business card. Take this into consideration when you see the size of the AFF logo and the AFF motif in the lower right hand corner.
• Can anyone suggest, give some advice or general cautionary advice about colours, fills, designs, etc. with respect to when it will be printed, so that we don't end up with a mess?

I know I am jumping in late to this conversation, but I'd consider posting a design project on www.elance.com. I'd imagine you could find a designer there for $50-$100 willing to take the concepts you've already produced, neaten/tighten them up for print and send back in the correct format - especially if you're planning on doing funky things with silver.

I'd also suggest getting a final spec from the proposed printer in terms of what he needs, and giving that to the designer to work with, alongside your designs produced so far.

Your printer may have someone to recommend do this too; but likely to be a bit more expensive if done locally (Elance bidders tend to be talented individuals elsewhere in the world).

PS - I don't work in print production (online instead); but the process is familiar.

 

[djfuzz]

And then we can all earn some more QFF points for our purchase of tags-magnificent.

Hmm - I thought Big W photo stuff was excluded from EDR/QFF points earning? I've managed to do it at **** Smith, but never bothered with Big W due to those terms. But a nice side benefit in any case.

That's one simple idea - even munitalP's first pass tag (see the first few posts of this thread) would be a good idea in light of this comment. A more complex tag is certainly not necessarily the best.

Please don't take this as a criticism of your designs - I think they're great. I was merely surprised that a really basic pared down one, along the lines of QFF tags, hadn't been tossed around as a concept - something like this I would imagine:

Again, it's perhaps too basic, but simple and consistent as far as luggage tags go.

 

[Flashback]

Hmm - I thought Big W photo stuff was excluded from EDR/QFF points earning? I've managed to do it at **** Smith, but never bothered with Big W due to those terms. But a nice side benefit in any case.



Please don't take this as a criticism of your designs - I think they're great. I was merely surprised that a really basic pared down one, along the lines of QFF tags, hadn't been tossed around as a concept - something like this I would imagine:

Again, it's perhaps too basic, but simple and consistent as far as luggage tags go.

Simple but effective, I like it.

 

[munitalP]

I think the general consensus however was a luggage tag that identified each other to each other.

I like the arrow in the logo, but like far less splashing FF across the tag - it detracts from what it is about. We are not advertising the site, we are advertising ourselves

My few cents worth

Mr!

 

[samh004]

If choosing to do a basic version with nothing but the logo and/or words, I think the logo should be bigger.

I went to the Big W site and tried the online card maker. Took a while to find the right section as it’s not a very well laid out online site, but to print with Big W the design can’t have rounded corners, otherwise you get whitespace on the online design.

I do reckon professionally made cards anywhere but Big W would be the way to go, unless the Big W cards came out high quality.

 

[djfuzz]

I think the general consensus however was a luggage tag that identified each other to each other.

I like the arrow in the logo, but like far less splashing FF across the tag - it detracts from what it is about. We are not advertising the site, we are advertising ourselves

My few cents worth

Mr!

Seems like a pretty subtle difference, but fair enough. If that's what you're after, in the same vein, why not something consider something like this then -

Personally, I prefer the former design as it's less brash, but that's just me. Again, these are just pie in the sky ideas, since there haven't been too many simpler designs being considered.

If choosing to do a basic version with nothing but the logo and/or words, I think the logo should be bigger.

I went to the Big W site and tried the online card maker. Took a while to find the right section as it’s not a very well laid out online site, but to print with Big W the design can’t have rounded corners, otherwise you get whitespace on the online design.

I do reckon professionally made cards anywhere but Big W would be the way to go, unless the Big W cards came out high quality.

Logo size - fair enough, though I think that would probably vary from person to person, as a larger logo draws more attention to it - kind of the opposite of what munitalp was suggesting - and eliminates empty space, which makes it more cluttered.

As for rounded/not rounded - again, I think that comes down to personal taste. Was a rounded tag something that was chosen for a specific reason?

As for the quality - we're not going to know until someone tries it. For all we know, the Big W ones could be just as good. FWIW, I've found a lot of stuff I've printed at D!ck Smith to be of far higher quality than I had anticipated. But at the end of the day, it's more a convenience - allow people to print their own at their leisure, rather than have someone print them in bulk and post them off to everyone else.

 

[samh004]

Logo size - fair enough, though I think that would probably vary from person to person, as a larger logo draws more attention to it - kind of the opposite of what munitalp was suggesting - and eliminates empty space, which makes it more cluttered.

I assumed he meant more so that he didn’t want the words frequentflyer so prominently featured. The words are easy to understand, the logo is only recognised by those who know it.

I direct your attention to the FT tag. (not a good photo sorry)

The logo is big, underneath it mentions it’s the world’s most popular frequent flyer community in smaller letters. Perhaps something similar, with a big logo and small note of frequentflyer in the corner would be adequate.

As for rounded/not rounded - again, I think that comes down to personal taste. Was a rounded tag something that was chosen for a specific reason?

The rounded corners of the template are that way because the template was for the same design as QFF tags, from the same company that makes them.

What I was trying to say was when I went onto the online order form to design and print a card on the Big W site, their corners were not rounded. So I had to zoom in and lose surrounding gfx close to the edge or I got whitespace at the corners.

If you wanted to try printing a design at Big W, you’d need to get a design without rounded corners or you’d run into the same problem.

 

[djfuzz]

Sorry to double post - again, to play the W's advocate for a second, if a high res image were settled on and made available, a workflow could be written to guide members through the process - basically this is the screen where it asks you to place the image in the rectangular tag:



And if the image were of high enough res, the zoom option would also give members some flexibility as to how large they want the logo etc.

Just sayin.

The rounded corners of the template are that way because the template was for the same design as QFF tags, from the same company that makes them.

That's very strange - QFF tags are rectangular like the Big W ones, not rounded. The only difference is the round hole for the plastic cord, which is rectangular in the Big W design.

 

[samh004]

The design you have there in that screenshot actually looks really good. Too bad it takes ages for them to print and mail the actual cards. I want it now

 

[djfuzz]

The design you have there in that screenshot actually looks really good. Too bad it takes ages for them to print and mail the actual cards. I want it now

Haha if only - I couldn't figure out how long it actually takes for delivery. Most things are pretty quick, but I imagine these might be made elsewhere and delivered. And the sample is way too low res to use - I guess the high res image will depends on what design people settle on here.

 

[munitalP]

Here's another simple design

A few points to remember folks...

If we use a printer, the colour selection is CMYK - a bulk printer will use a screen print and fades and shadows are very difficult. The final draft must have at least 5mm bleeds around all edges and be a minimum of 300DPI

Remember the white used will be the card stock, so white on white wont work very well...

The template supplied at the front of this thread is approx size, the edges don't take account for bleed etc. Once decided on a design, it will get reworked to be printer savy - don't loose sleep over rounded corners, square corners or anything else, try and settle on a design

Mr!

 

[anat0l]

djfuzz, you've got PM.

munitalP, that looks good! Although I must admit a partiality to dark blue, not light blue (or at least the dark blue used in the AFF masthead).

 

[samh004]

Haha if only - I couldn't figure out how long it actually takes for delivery. Most things are pretty quick, but I imagine these might be made elsewhere and delivered. And the sample is way too low res to use - I guess the high res image will depends on what design people settle on here.

You had to click next a few times and get to the checkout. Takes about 10 days to post, free post but there’s an additional handling fee of $4.95 or so.

Here's another simple design

I like, what’s with the silver and gold at the top though?

 

[anat0l]

I like, what’s with the silver and gold at the top though?

I was guessing a distinctive feature of sorts.

And in some cases gives some of us a reminder of what we aspire for :mrgreen:

 

[Ric]

If going towards printing at a Big W, is there any way for the overseas based members to get it printed whilst not in town?

 

[munitalP]

djfuzz, you've got PM.

munitalP, that looks good! Although I must admit a partiality to dark blue, not light blue (or at least the dark blue used in the AFF masthead).

I gathered the CMYK settings for the header, but somewhere in creating a low resolution image to post here in .jpg format instead of .psd all the colours changed slightly - hence the CMYK code attached

cheers

Mr!

 

[Keith009]

*raises hand* 2 tags for moi please.