How quickly can I get something printed?

The short answer is: sometimes within the hours!

If your artwork is print ready, some printing can be turned around within a couple of hours. Many of the digital products we produce at Ganda are available same day or next day as standard.

But there is a difference between how quickly something can physically be printed and how late you should leave it before ordering.

We have been producing print for long enough to know that urgent jobs are rarely as simple as putting a PDF into a machine and pressing a button. Artwork, paper stock, finishing, quantity and even how the finished print gets into your hands can all make a difference.

So if you have a deadline, here is what you actually need to know:

If your artwork is ready, printing can be very quick

The first question we ask on an urgent job is usually about the artwork.

If we have a print-ready file and the appropriate stock is here, we can often fit digital work into production within a couple of hours when something is genuinely urgent.

The phrase print ready matters, though.

Some of the most common problems we see are:

• artwork without bleed
• files supplied at the wrong size
• RGB artwork rather than CMYK
• booklet artwork with the wrong number of pages
• files that still need editing or setting up before they can go to print

None of those necessarily means the job cannot be done quickly.

We can often fix or rebuild files, or explain what needs changing so you or your designer can resupply them. It just needs the time to be allowed for when working out a realistic deadline.

In fact, if you know a job is going to be time-sensitive, we would much rather see the artwork early.

It does not have to be the finished PDF. Send us what you have. We can often spot something like an incorrect page count, unsuitable dimensions or a potential finishing problem before it becomes a last-minute headache.

Can I get printing done the same day?

For many products, yes.

A lot of our products are routinely available on a same-day or next-day service, so quick turnaround does not automatically mean paying an express surcharge.

For products marked as same day, ordering before noon will often mean they can be collected from us in Brighton towards the end of the same day.

Exactly what we can do will depend on the job and how busy production is, but customers are often surprised by how much we can produce quickly.

That includes things such as:

• booklets
• flyers and leaflets
• posters
• stickers
• menus
• tent cards
• other digitally printed marketing material

Finishing can sometimes be the part that changes the timescale rather than the printing itself.

Cutting, folding, creasing and many other processes can be handled quickly in-house. More specialist finishing, particularly processes that need to go to an external supplier, can take longer.

This is why it is worth telling us the finished result you want, not simply that you need 500 pages printed.

A recent example: workbooks needed the following morning

We had a customer call us on a Friday morning needing workbooks for an educational camp taking place on Saturday morning… in a field … miles away … any they were leaving for site at 5pm!

There were two problems. Firstly, the deadline was obviously very tight. Secondly, the artwork was a PowerPoint file rather than something we could simply send straight to print.

Our artwork team worked with the customer to turn the PowerPoint into a proper print-ready document. We then printed the workbooks, bound them and had the completed job ready for collection at 4:30pm that same day.

That is a good example of why speaking to us can be more useful than simply looking at a published turnaround time.

On paper, the customer did not have a print-ready job. In practice, there was a perfectly workable route to getting them what they needed.

Another example: laminated variable-data tent cards in three hours

Another customer needed matt laminated tent cards with variable data on them, again for use the same day.

We printed them digitally, laminated them, creased them and applied the tape required to make them up.

The completed job was ready within two hours.

That is not a turnaround we would blindly promise for every job of that type, but when something is urgent we can look at the entire production process and work out what is achievable.

Digital printing is usually the answer for urgent short runs

If you need a relatively small quantity quickly, digital printing will generally be the best production method.

It is much faster to get into production than litho printing and is ideal for shorter runs.

The trade-off is that the unit price can be higher than litho as quantities increase.

Modern digital printing quality is extremely good, to the point where for most applications there is very little practical difference in quality. There are still exceptions. If you want a true traditional uncoated finish, for example, wet-ink litho still has an advantage.

That does not mean an urgent litho job is impossible either.

There are express litho options, and sometimes the best solution is to divide the job.

If you needed a large run for an event, for example, we might digitally print enough copies to get you through the event and put the remaining quantity through litho afterwards.

You get the print you actually need for the deadline without unnecessarily producing the entire run using the more expensive method.

Stock is not normally the problem people expect it to be

We hold a range of commonly used stocks, so for most everyday jobs paper availability is not an issue.

If you want something particularly unusual, we can normally get specialist stock quickly, often for the following day.

When the deadline is more important than the exact material, we can also suggest an alternative that we already have in stock.

This is another reason to tell us what you are actually trying to achieve.

There may be three perfectly good ways of producing the job, one of which can be finished considerably faster than the others.

Finishing can make a big difference

Printing a sheet of paper is often the quick bit.

What happens afterwards may determine the real turnaround.

A booklet needs collating, folding and binding. A tent card may need laminating, trimming, creasing and taping. Other jobs might need folding, mounting or more specialist finishing.

Some specialist processes, including die cutting, specialist laminations and foiling, may need more time or be handled externally.

If your deadline is tight, tell us about the finish you want as early as possible.

Please do not get everything ready for an urgent job and then mention at the last minute that it needs a complex specialist finish.

There may still be something we can do, but knowing in advance gives us far more options.

What if I need a large quantity urgently?

Larger quantities naturally take longer to produce, but quantity is not always an all-or-nothing decision.

If you need 10,000 items but only need 1,000 of them for tomorrow morning, tell us. We may be able to produce the first batch quickly and complete the remainder afterwards.

That can also apply to the production method. A smaller quantity might be produced digitally to meet the immediate deadline while the balance is produced lithographically.

The important thing is to work backwards from what you actually need and when you actually need it, rather than assuming the entire order has to be produced in exactly the same way at exactly the same time.

Do I have to pay extra for urgent printing?

Not necessarily.

A lot of what we produce is same-day or next-day as standard, so there is no additional charge simply because you need it quickly.

If a product normally has a longer lead time, contact us.

We can look at the available options and explain any cost implications before doing anything. Sometimes an express production method will cost more. Sometimes a dedicated delivery will add a cost.

And sometimes we can simply squeeze the job into production without charging anything extra.

It depends on the job.

Do not confuse the fastest possible turnaround with a sensible deadline

We quite often get asked:

“What's the latest I can order this?”

That is a harder question than it sounds.

We might know that we can physically print a particular job in a few hours, but that does not mean we would advise ordering it a few hours before you absolutely need it.

Artwork might need changing.

A machine can develop a problem. It does not happen often and we have safeguards in place, but printing equipment is still equipment.

Then there is delivery.

We use couriers we trust, but every courier can occasionally have delays. Once a package has left us and entered a courier network, we have considerably less control over what happens to it.

If your print becoming a day late would make it completely useless, build in some contingency.

Collection can be the safest option for a genuinely urgent job

One advantage of using a Brighton printer is that local customers do not necessarily need to put an urgent job through a national courier network at all.

You can collect directly from us.

Local deliveries are also generally less risky because they do not need to travel through the same sorting-hub network as national parcels.

If the deadline is absolutely critical, we may recommend collection or arrange a dedicated delivery. That might sound over-cautious, but if you need something for an event starting at 9am tomorrow, a parcel arriving at 3pm tomorrow is not merely late. It is worthless.

What should I do if my deadline really cannot move?

Talk to us.

Tell us exactly what you need, how many you need, what finish you want and the point at which the print actually has to be in your hands.

Then let us look at the options with you.

We can help get the artwork print ready, work out the fastest sensible production method and decide whether collection, local delivery or another delivery option makes the most sense.

We will also tell you if it cannot realistically be done.

We would rather be honest about that at the beginning than promise something we do not believe we can deliver.

Our advice: leave some breathing room if you can

We are very good at producing print quickly. We have rescued plenty of last-minute jobs over the years and we will always try to help when somebody has a genuine deadline.

But our advice is still not to leave printing until the last possible minute simply because it can sometimes be produced that quickly.

Allow some contingency where you can.

And involve your printer earlier than you might think.

If your designer is unsure about preparing something for print, ask them to speak to us. If you have early-stage artwork, send it over and let us take a look. If you are considering an unusual stock or complicated finish, tell us before the artwork is finished.

A five-minute conversation a week before the deadline can sometimes save several frantic hours the day before it.

And if you have already reached the frantic-hours stage, give us a call anyway.

We probably have a way of getting you out of trouble!