Happy Valentine's Day!

What to Cook, Bake, or in General to Make Wednesdays

This is a great sweet treat for your Valentine! We've made these for various "Big Red" events, and they're always eaten. (recipe from allrecipes.com)

     Easy Oreo Truffles 

Ingredients;
1 (16oz) package OREO cookies, divided
1 (8oz) package Cream Cheese, softened
2 (8oz) packages Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

Directions;
1. Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag, using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter.
2. Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (any left over chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
3. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

Tips;
*How to easily dip truffles - Place truffle ball in melted chocolate to coat; roll if necessary. Lift truffle from chocolate using two forks (this will allow excess chocolate to run off) before placing on wax paper.
*Variation - Instead of coating in Baker's chocolate, use white almond bark, mix with food coloring, to make your truffles red and pink for Valentine's Day! (Sprinkles are also a fun touch.)

Converting Text to Outlines – A Must for Press-Ready Files

Many times fonts can cause problems when files are sent to the press. This is why it is essential that you convert the text in your documents to outlines before sending us your files. Even if you are sending a PDF of a document you have created in a different program…make sure to outline the text in that program before saving it as a PDF.  The reason that fonts need to be outlined is because if you have used a font that we don’t have, the document will not print correctly.

How to Convert Text to Outlines in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign*

Select/select all (it is okay if both graphics and text are highlighted)

Go to Type > Create Outlines

(Above) Top: No Outlines, Bottom: Outlines

How to Convert Text to Outlines in Microsoft Publisher*

Page Setup > Printer > Paper Tab

Select your PDF Printer

Properties > uncheck “Do not send fonts to “Adobe PDF”

*Before converting your text to outlines, make sure to do a save as (ex. ABC – outlines). You want to do a save as because once you convert the text to outlines and save the document, you will not be able to edit it. Therefore keep the original file in case you need to make changes to it in the future.

How can you check to see if you have successfully outlines your fonts?

If you open the PDF and can highlight the text as you would in any text editing program, the fonts have not been outlines.

Why Superbowl Commercials Stick

“A sticky idea is understood, it’s remembered, and it changes something." – Chip and Dan Heath

With Superbowl Sunday only a couple days away, we’re all waiting in anticipation for the commercials! (And the game if you are a diehard Cheesehead from Wisconsin like I am!) Companies spend millions of dollars on commercials, how can they manage to make their 10 to 30-second message stick in our minds?

Chip and Dan Heath’s book, “Made to Stick,” offers some insight on why ideas, such as Superbowl commercials, stick in our minds! The reason these commercials stick in our heads is because all sticky ideas have one or all of the six principles of a sticky idea. These sticky principles are simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotion and stories.

I have briefly summarized the principles of sticky ideas below, but to help you get started, I recommend that you read the book “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath. Also be sure to check out their resources online at: http://heathbrothers.com/resources/. The book is full stories and a wealth of information about the six principles of stickiness!

Principle 1 – Simple

Find the core message you want your audience to remember and keep it simple by using prioritization and analogies!

Principle 2 - Unexpected

You need to keep people interested in your idea by teasing or flirting an idea and making your audience want more.

Principle 3 - Concrete

Use sensory language and paint a mental picture with your idea.

Principle 4 - Credible

Remember the old saying, “You have to see it to believe it!” Help your experience your idea. Another way of adding credibility to your idea is to use statistics. According to Dan and Heath, you should focus on the relationship, not the numbers.

Principle 5 - Emotional

Use your idea to play to people’s emotions.  Emotional ideas will make people feel something and care about your idea.

Principle 6 - Stories

Tell your idea with a story. Stories are memorable and will help people personally connect with your idea.  Stories cause mental stimulation.

Now that you know the six principles of sticky ideas, get started and get your ideas to stick in the minds of your customers! As you watch the Superbowl commercials this weekend, see if you can see which principle(s) the advertising is using to make their idea stick!

Item of the Week: Promotional Sports Schedules

Have your customers thinking about you all season!

Big Red gives clients complimentary Husker football schedules every season!

You can have business size schedules or larger size magnetic schedules made with your logo on it! It’s a great idea to make your customers think about you each time they pull out their schedule to look up the game time of their favorite team!

High School, College, or Professional sports, you can make a schedule for all of your favorite teams.

What to Cook, Bake, or in General to Make Wednesdays

This is a recipe we found on "All Recipes.com" We made it for one of our Big Red Printing birthday parties, and everyone loved it!

Caramel Brownies III

Ingredients:
1 (14oz) pkg individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
2/3 c. evaporated milk - divided
1 (18.25 oz) chocolate cake mix
3/4 c. butter, melted
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a heavy saucepan, combine caramels and 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the cake mix, melted butter and 1/3 cup evaporated milk, until dough holds together. Press half (or a little less) of the dough into the prepared pan, reserving the rest.
3. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips, pour the caramel mixture evenly over the chips. Crumble the remaining dough over the caramel layer and return to the oven.
4. Bake for an additional 15 to 18 minutes. Cool in refrigerator to set the caramel, before cutting the bars.

Enjoy!

All About Logos - Guidelines

To follow up on our post last week about photo guidelines, we thought we would post some guidelines on how to send us your logo as a 'print-ready' file.

• Scaleable vector file (.ai, .pdf, .eps). The easy way to tell whether or not your file is a vector image is to try and 'blow it up' in any graphics program and print it out. A vector image will stay clean and crisp no matter how big or small you make it, but a raster image (usually .jpg) is just going to look like a bunch of blocks.
• High resolution raster file (.jpg, .tif, .eps, .psd)
• Not from the internet (usually .gif)

If you have any questions on how to make your logo 'print-ready,' give us a call and we would be happy to walk you through it or help you restore your logo!