Millers Blog : Press

New Arrival

Julie Brown — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:05:00 GMT

Check out our newest arrival at the Columbia lab -- a new Kodak NexPress. This very large piece of equipment is used to print Miller's Press products. It's the fourth NexPress we've installed at the Columbia location, and as you can see, it's settling in nicely.

New Referral Card Templates Available as Free Downloads!

Julie Brown — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:27:00 GMT

Looking for a way to spread the word about your studio? Ask happy clients to help out by giving them Referral Cards. We just added five new Referral Card templates, available as free downloads to the Miller's site. Each bundle includes a 5.5x4.25 Greeting Card template and a coordinating Wallet template. Use the Greeting Card template to create a general Thank You Card through Miller's Press. Take the Wallet template, and customize it with your studio information, a special offer, and a favorite portrait from each client’s session. When placing your client’s print order, add the finished design to the order as a set of Wallets. Combine the customized Wallets with the Thank You, and you’ve created your very own set of Referral Cards that clients can hand out to all of their family and friends. View Referral Card Designs!

Accordion Wallet Books -- 2009 Professional Photographer Magazine best new product!

Jason Becking — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:42:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce that our Accordion Wallet Books have been chose for a 2009 Hot One Award. Hot One Awards are given by Professional Photographer magazine to the "best new products" for professional photographers each year.

Accordion Wallet Books, available through Miller's Press, are not only a great addition to current Wedding, Children, and Senior portrait packages, but can also be used as a studio marketing piece. They're offered in two sizes (3x3" and 2.5x3.5"), have 17 different colorful cover options, and 4 paper type options (Smooth Cover, Linen, Pearl, and Watercolor). The books open to display either individual panel images or panoramic spreads.

WPPI Kodak Nexpress Photo Book Contest

Jason Becking — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:50:00 GMT

You've likely seen this in advertisements, publications, or WPPI materials, but also want to post it here
to make sure you're aware of the Kodak NexPress Photo Book Contest. Enter one of your Press Books,
printed by Miller's, for a chance to win $1,500, recognition at the WPPI 2009 Awards of Excellence
competition and promotion in the Spring 2009 issue of Rangefinder. Three finalists will also receive $500.

The contest deadline is December 31, 2008.

The above information is also on the WPPI site here.

Information on how to label your book, per Rule #4 above, is here.

Album & Book Options

Jason Becking — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:47:00 GMT

I was giving a tour of the Columbia lab this afternoon and ran into two Flush Mount album orders in process. Both happened to have the Etched Aluminum cover. It's simply cool! I'm also a big fan of the Brushed Copper cover. I realize it's not the cheapest item in the world to try on a whim, but they are cool.

Similarly, an order came through the lab a few days ago that caught our attention. At first glance, it appeared to be a case of duplicate orders. Each were 8x8 LayFlat Books with identical cover choices (Baby Blue leather with Silver Foil Stamping, including identical wording). Upon inspection, though, the books were each slightly different for the different family members -- one for dad, one for Grandpa #1, and one for Grandpa#2. At least that's what we guessed. Without many changes, they were able to use basically the same layout and order three different fantastic finished products.

We knew the idea of 'companions' had merit, especially for parent wedding albums. It was great to see someone using a slightly different twist, which was presumably made easier by ordering with our Remote Studio software.

The hardest thing at the moment when ordering an Album or Book is figuring out which of the many, many options we now offer I want to try. (And I hope you're having similar problems, but are ordering one of each to sort it out!).

Just Announced at WPPI

admin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:14:00 GMT

It's an exciting first day in Las Vegas at WPPI in the Miller's booth with the announcement of our latest additions to the Miller's line. All will be available with the next release of Miller's Remote Studio in April. They include:

Eighteen new cover options for our Flush Mount Albums. Choose from a variety of colors, as well as Etched Aluminum, Brushed Copper, and Brushed Aluminum.
LayFlat Albums and LayFlat Press Books. Order at a discounted price when added to your Assembled Album order, or order them separately at full price. Select from fourteen cover choices and four different square sizes (5 x 5, 8 x 8, 10 x 10, and 12 x 12).
Twenty new cover options for our existing Hard Cover Press Book line. We're offering a number of new colors in both leather and cloth, as well as Printed Canvas, Printed Glossy, and Printed Metallic.
Boutique Packaging. Select this option and we'll wrap your order in our special upscale packaging.
Accordion Wallet Books. Available through Miller's Press, our Accordion Wallet Books will come in two sizes -- 3" square and wallet sized.

These are just a few of the many new products we'll be adding in April. If attending WPPI, be sure to stop by the booth to see samples. Stay tuned as we roll out more details in the very near future.

Julie Brown

Praise for Press

Jason Becking — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:15:00 GMT

I would like to throw a little praise at the Miller’s Press team. The past three days have each been the largest days since we started the Press product line. Kristy, Stephen, Brittany, Dan, Kylie, Lindsay, Chris, Chris, John, and David are each to be commended for their commitment to completing the work every day, despite the large volume of last minute orders... and I mean LARGE volume of last minute orders!

This picture was taken about 45 minutes ago. Shows a small percentage of the incoming work orders to be completed today (so arrived yesterday evening or today). Go Press Team!

Miller's Press Quick Order -- It's ALIVE

Jason Becking — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 02:33:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce the newest addition to our Online Ordering ordering applications. “Miller’s Press Quick Order” is designed for the user that does all of their creative work in PhotoShop. (Page design guide files are available for download.) This is a web-based application so it works with both PC and MAC.

It is the fastest and easiest ordering method if you do your image composition ahead of time. As with any flattened image, color/density adjustments are limited to global corrections for the entire page. It’s as simple as this:

Choose your product category.
Choose the specific product.
Choose the product options.
Upload your images.
Transmit your order.

No templates, no cropping, no designing - just point, click and go. It couldn't be easier. The introductory release offers our most popular products. Because it was designed to be the fastest way to order press products, some options and products are not available at this time. (Page counts in hard cover books are limited for now to 20 pages (40 sides), soft cover books are set at 12 pages (24 sides) including cover.) If simple straight forward ordering is what you're after - now you have it.

After you login to www.millerslab.com, you should now see both "Millers Press" and "Millers Press Quick Order". We're happily accepting orders through either of these web-based programs and through the Miller's Remote Studio stand-alone application. Happy ordering!

Press Quick Order testing

Jason Becking — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:19:00 GMT

It’s internal testing time for the Press Quick Order program that Paul has mentioned previously. Internal testing is an interesting time as those who have spent much time with the software run head-on into those who are looking at it for the first time. Things that are obvious seem not so obvious, in every direction. The first several questions are always along the lines of “is it supposed to….?” Most commonly, that answer is yes, but we always find a few unusual things as well.

My opinion, the best thing about the Quick Order program is its ability to complete an order quickly! Sounds silly, but that was Goal #1 of the project and I believe you’ll be happy with that. You’re not going to use this ordering method for layout, you’re going to have your product designed already, and you’re going to be able to fly through the entry part of the orders. During my testing earlier this week, I was able to fully order approximately 20 products in about an hour. While checking e-mail, noting anything I had questions on, and dealing with whatever else was happening. Pretty quick!

Assuming all goes well today and over the weekend we plan on releasing this Monday.

Miller's Press Sample Kits

admin — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:59:00 GMT

Finally!! You (the customer) have been asking for this and after much discussion (heated at times) and plenty of opinions (solicited and unsolicited) we (customer service) have all agreed on what should go into a Press Sample Kit. So…

Starting today Miller’s Press Sample Kits are now available. The kits included the following samples (each paper type is represented in the sample kit, each product’s text indicates which paper was used):

Single Fold Menu/Brochure
Tri-Fold Sale Sheet
10-panel Accordion Card
Bi-Fold CD Cover
Business Cards-Regular and Folded
Bookmark
4×6 Postcard
4×6 Promo Card
4×5 Vertical and Horizontal Greeting Cards
5×5 Greeting Card
5×8 Vertical Greeting Card
Playing Card Sample
4×5 gold foil envelope

Not only do you get all of these products, but each one has been fully customized to give you different ideas for press products to get your creative juices flowing.

To order a kit, click here or call in and ask for one. The kits are only $10.00 plus shipping. For an online view, you can see our press product offering here.

Tracy Eichhorn

French Bulldogs

admin — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:47:00 GMT

I am in a unique position here at Miller’s. I get the chance to be involved with special projects both for the lab and for customers. The lab projects can be anything from software testing to helping pick the next paper offering through the Press. On the customer side I have been involved with several noteworthy projects recently and I want to share one of these with everyone.

Michele Copen, photographer and long-time loyal customer, recently published a beautiful 256-page coffee table-style photography book featuring lifestyle photos of the French Bulldog breed. Michele’s book is scheduled to be released this September and she will feature lab products at her booth, along with her book. She is offering matted and framed linen enlargements. Michele will also offer her favorite press products such as cards, backpack notepads, and playing cards, all featuring images from photo shoots of French Bulldogs. She has already kept us very busy with orders for backpack notepads, which all her clients already love.

“Thanks again for all your hard work on my account. I am proud to be showing off all of the Miller’s work at my show/booth. The book will be debuting along with all the prints, cards, press items at the National French Bull Dog Club of America event in Colorado for the week of Labor Day.

“I am so excited for the book launch. People are dying over the cards and pads right now. Can’t wait to see how everything will look in the booth!”

Michele Copen

As I was writing this I received another email from Michele with some fantastic news. Her book has been selected to be displayed at the International Book Fair in Germany in October.

It is very exciting for me to share in our customers’ milestones and accomplishments. It reminds me that we’re partners with our customers—more than just their “lab”.

Michele and her pup.

Congratulations, Michele! I wish you all the best. You can check out Michele’s website at www.michelecopen.com.

Tracy Eichhorn