How we do it

Account management

To us, service is at the core of our business model. It’s not just a word – we live and breathe the ethos. That’s why we’ve built up a great team of account handlers and business development specialists to work with you every step of the way. All of our customer account management team come from print-related backgrounds and they understand how a quality product can be produced even under the stresses and strains of a seriously tight deadline. They are qualified to advise and support and will keep you fully updated at every stage of your project.

At First Colour, we believe a dedicated account manager is essential to ensure the smoothest running of your print work from start to finish.

Our experienced account managers listen, advise, consult and commit to providing excellent customer service and communication.

Our clients receive:

• Project advice
• Quarterly business meetings
• The latest technology options
• Value added solutions
• A confidential working environment

We’re specialists in:

• All company stationery – letterheads, business cards, compliment slips, envelopes
• Brochures and booklets
• Flyers and leaflets
• Postcards and newsletters
• Invites including gilt edging and thermography (raised ink)
• Books and manuals
• Presentation folders

The benefits of using First Colour:

• Amazing turnaround times without any compromise on quality
• A competitive price comparable to ‘out of town’ printers
• You’ll be dealing with a printer who has environmental considerations at the
  heart of the business – we use no chemicals in our printing process
• Above all else we’re nice to deal with and will always go that extra mile to achieve your aims.

Traditional Print

A commitment to quality.

Lithography

Lithographic printing – or put simply, real ink on a traditional printing press, is still the main means of production for high-quality medium to high volume requirements. ‘Litho’ can hit exact colours consistently and accurately, over any length run, which makes this process ideal for corporate stationery.

For the technically minded we operate the following press equipment:

• 5 Colour Heidelberg B3 Press
• 2 x 2 Colour Heidelberg Presses
• Heidelberg Metal Plate system

Print finishing

Getting the job printed is only half the process as most jobs require extensive finishing. We have all the facilities in place to cut, laminate, bind and stitch, fold or crease, drill or die cut. It’s all here under one roof in the centre of W1.

Special finishes available:

• Embossing
• Laminating
• UV varnish
• Special folds
• Gold or silver foiling

We make our own metal plates in-house using absolutely no chemicals and print using only bio inks.We’re pretty clean operators.

All the finishing equipment needed to keep everything in-house and provide a rapid turnaround. Including folders, booklet makers, guillotines, creasers, laminators and numberers, are located at our W1 production centre.

Our presses are often rolling for18 hours a day depending on our
workload, and no deadline is too tight for the way we work or our production methods.

"Just a quick note to say a BIG ‘thank you’ to the staff at First Colour for all the hard work involved in getting our documents away, on-time and on-budget. Your flexibility and good humour, in the face of some extremely tight and ever-changing deadlines, was much appreciated!"

Transport for London

Digital Print

Cool, calm and collated.

Digital printing and document production/management

Brilliant print quality is now not enough. Central London businesses need print suppliers who can respond immediately and work within same-day
deadlines (or shorter!).

Digital printing is now a major part of our business, thanks to its production speed and flexibility in terms of the volume we can print and the quality we can achieve.

The Digital Print advantage

• Comparable quality to litho
• Instant production, no printing plates,
• No ‘press make ready’ – same day delivery
• Suits shorter runs and individual document production
• Print on paper up to 350gsm and A3 size
• Print straight from your files via disk, web or e-mail

First Colour is the supplier of choice to many Central-London-based PLCs, government departments and training companies for small and large scale document production.

"I just wanted to drop you a quick line to say how much we appreciated your help today. You got us out of a very difficult situation on what was a really urgent job for us, so thank you so much, and sorry for the stress!"

Nur Energie Ltd

Finishing

For document production First Colour offers a full range of bindings:

• Booklet saddle stitched
• Wire binding
• Comb binding
• Velo Binding
• Perfect binding (book binding)

With over 4,500 sq ft of printing space, First Colour has enormous digital capacity. Our production machines of choice are Xerox who provide a two-hour maintenance response on our eight digital presses, so we’re never short on digital print fire power.

Thinking bigger.

Display graphics – large format printing of posters and banners

Display graphics is the term used to describe all of the larger printed products generally used to promote business. This incorporates everything from an A4 poster up to full exhibition graphics and ‘pop up’ signage.

First Colour has a dedicated large format printing department located within our W1 premises. Our large format staff are experienced and knowledgeable. Most services are completed same day.

If you want to create high impact, high quality posters or banners that will stun your audience, First Colour will work with you to create the highest quality product with vibrant colours and razor sharp images.

We have three large format HP and Canon ink jet printers ranging in width from AO to 1.7m. These machines are extremely versatile in terms of the materials they can print on and are able to process very large graphic files.

Our wide format printers will print any length poster or banner at a photographic quality on the following material:

• Photo satin, matt or gloss
• Backlit
• Canvas
• PVC matt film
• Clear acetate
• Vinyl (incl. adhesive backed)
• Tyvek
• PVC matt film

ANY SIZE
ANY QUANTITY
(ALMOST) ANY MATERIAL

UV inks are an available option for products exposed to daylight.

Printing the material is generally only half the story – the finishing of the printed product is completed totally in-house and includes:

• Lamination and encapsulation in gloss or matt
• Mounting onto foamboard – any size or shape
• Show cards

"Thanks so much for all of your help over the last couple of days. You have made everything so much easier for us, and your efficiency and professionalism were first class."

Creative Partnerships

A service that really clicks.

Our website
The First Colour web site, www.firstcolour.com has been designed as a fully functioning business tool.

Estimate Requests
An easy to use form that prompts you for all the right job details, available to use 24 hours a day. You will receive a same day response, usually within a couple of hours.

Customer Portal
The Customer Portal allows you to log on to a password controlled ‘mini site’.

You will be given your own ‘document library’ within the First Colour website where all printed work can be stored for reference or re-print, at no extra cost. Here, you will also be able to view proofs, send a file, place orders or request estimates all in an easy-to-navigate environment.

FileTransfer Facility
Many FTP (file transfer protocol) sites are cumbersome and difficult to operate. However, First Colour’s web site has an extremely easy-touse, but super powerful, facility. Our customers have found this extremely useful and love the easy-to-navigate method of this secure and confidential file transfer tool.

Customers routinely transfer up to 100 MB files through the file transfer centre and over 50% of our customer files come to us this way. This eliminates file size restrictions and corruption problems associated with e-mail.

Adobe PDF Job Ready
Eliminate 90% of your file problems when accepting files and simplify your ordering with Adobe® PDF JobReady™.

First Colour are an Adobe partner which means our customers can download this Adobe utility free from our web site and install it on their computers as a print driver with one-step ease. Adobe® PDF JobReady™ then works like any other printer on your office network, except when you ‘ok’ the file to go to print, it creates a pdf and  sends it to us.

This means you don’t have to worry about the software you use and its compatibility with us – although we do accept just about everything!

Versadoc
This brilliant utility allows you to enter your information into templates of commonly ordered documents such as business cards or postcards. Once you submit an order, we receive a pressready file. You will be able to proof your own work online, which will speed up the whole print process and virtually eliminate any mistakes.

"Wow!You guys are quick! Thanks very much."

ReConsulting

"The client was extremely pleased with the job and the efficiency in which it was delivered, especially under such tight time constraints. Great work guys!"

February-London Design

"Hi there to the lovely people at First Colour, just a little note to say thank you so much for getting those business cards organised so quickly, the girls got them into the press kits and out the door for the post that evening and the business card looked fantastic!!!Thanks again for your wonderful help."

Emobi Swimwear