About Us
Design and implement Print and Business Promotion Projects. WarnFnel@msn.com Family-owned and operated since 1973 AD.
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Award-winning Graphic artist designs a Letterhead with matching envelope 2 colors 500 each $329 plus tax. All print and business promotion projects
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Imagine, if you would of your darkest time in your life, just briefly. Recall the happenings that brought you back to being "yourself". Live those moments again and the future will look brighter. Your memories and your recall and replay of them can be the vehicle bringing good feelings of great...
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Imagine, if you would of your darkest time in your life, just briefly. Recall the happenings that brought you back to being "yourself". Live those moments again and the future will look brighter. Your memories and your recall and replay of them can be the vehicle bringing good feelings of great joy. Share your memories with those that are interested. Communicate gently, but exuberantly, with your family and your friends. Keep smiling even though your face hurts. Use sentences that do not have the word "I" in it. Me said, "Wait, wait, things could be better". Sure enough, me waited and things got better.
Look for a well-run "successful" business. They likely have a budget amount for all designing needs.
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Look for a well-run "successful" business. They likely have a budget amount for all designing needs.
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Author retains all digital and hard-copy rights. Cannot be reproduced without specific consent of Author. Our Christmas Story By Warren B. Funnell
Finances were going to be slim again this Christmas. There had been just four Christmases previous that we had celebrated the meager-est of...
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Author retains all digital and hard-copy rights. Cannot be reproduced without specific consent of Author. Our Christmas Story By Warren B. Funnell
Finances were going to be slim again this Christmas. There had been just four Christmases previous that we had celebrated the meager-est of times in many years. Flo and I formed a partnership with a co-worker and his wife, and on Labor Day Weekend in 1973, we ventured into business for ourselves. The 1973 Christmas was the least we ever had, financially, since we married in 1957. This was not any simple task, this new business, and this new experience—working hand-to-mouth with another couple. The dreams of a perfect entrepreneurship, of being our own bosses, soon went the way of the seven-hour workday. Our partnership was dissolved four years later. The business never reached the stage of being easy. The concerns of each partner garnered minute discomforts which grew to irreconcilable differences. Finances were always a struggle. Now, without the tasks of a partnership, my wife and I went on to face the world, with less cash, and hoping for better times. It was on a Christmas Eve, a few years before we went into business that I was an employee, having to work right up to the final employable minute of this special night before Christmas. Vowing that if I was ever in a position in my own business to make the final decision, I would be sure there was a half a day off on Christmas Eve. Being the notorious last minute shopper, determined mostly by situation, and cash flow, this would be an appreciated benefit for me, if no one else. So it was that our employees had this afternoon before Christmas off. Because of our three children: Lynda, Julie, Jarett, we always tried to make it a special time with special gifts to celebrate this special time of the year. Flo had the ability to make the dollars and the credit cards stretch, so that our children were satisfied with their share of the gifts. This Christmas was to be monetarily tighter than any past Christmas.
Flo submitted a wish list of items she might want, and I would be racing around the night before Christmas trying to get one or two of them for her to open on the special morning. Back at our shop, all were headed off to celebrate with their family and their Christmas Eve. It was up to me to shut the shop down for the two days. As I was turning off the equipment, there was a knock at the door. I had locked it behind the last person leaving, as I felt there was no chance of any more customers. I opened it and let him in. “Can you set me some type?” asked the well-dressed man. “Well, everyone has gone for the day,” I stated. “I really need this type set,” he said. “Can you help?” “Let me see what you need,” I said, realizing that my shopping time would be shortened by the extra-curricular activity. The task was not formidable. Actually it was only two paragraphs. Because I was self-taught on the typesetting equipment, there was no problem setting the job. As I worked on the project, I pondered what I was going to charge for it. Our minimum charge was $15, which should cover about 15 lines of type, which is what this was. It took about 20 minutes to set, process the film, and proofread. As I pondered the situation, the Christmas Shopping Spirit entered my head. There were visions of dollar bills, dancing in amongst the sugar plum fairies. “I am going to charge this guy fifty dollars. Yes,” I said to myself out loud, “Fifty dollars!! Yes!!!” The decision made, I waited for the customer to return. I was spending the fifty dollars in my mind, buying two of the best things on Flo’s Christmas wish list. I waited and waited, and I thought and thought, “Maybe I will charge him only twenty-five dollars. After all, it is Christmas. Twenty-five would buy at least one of the better gifts on her list.” The customer knocked on the door, I opened it, and let him in. I presented him with the typesetting. He proofread it and checked it over. “Looks great. How much do I owe you?” he asks.
With the words of “Silent Night” ringing in my head, and knowing that Flo would be satisfied with a couple of the mediocre items on her list, I said, “What’s it worth to you?” “How about $300?” he asked. I do not know if he saw the look in my eyes, or heard the gasp of my breath, or saw me shudder in disbelief. When I said, “Sure. That is good with me if it is with you,” I wonder if he saw the lump in my throat, or the tears in my eyes. It was like speaking with a Santa Claus in a two piece business suit. Reaching into his wallet, he counted out fifty-dollar bills: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and handed them to me. I don’t know if he saw my sweaty palms, or my shaky hands, as I accepted his generous payment. Then, with a wink, wink, nudge, nudge, he grabbed another $50 bill and said, “And here, this is for you. Merry Christmas.” Holding back my feelings of comfort and joy, he departed, happy with his envelope of typesetting that was so important to him. I expected, but was disappointed, that there was no sleigh with eight tiny reindeer, and he would fly up and shout a rousing, “And to all a good night!!!” It took a little time to comprehend that in that little short span of time, this unknown person had given our family a special Christmas in our tough times. In all my previous business dealings, I had never met this person, and to this day, thirty-four years later, have not seen him again. So I went shopping!!! That night, after the midnight service at our church, Flo and I wrapped and stacked the gifts for our daughters and son. I secretly wrapped all of Flo’s gifts, and inserted them amongst the other gifts. Flo received everything on her list that Christmas morning. And there were a few extra surprise gifts for our children. When my oldest daughter sat back and looked at the stack of gifts, for her and her mother, brother and sister, she looked over at me with her angelic face, and big brownish eyes, and said, “Gee, Dad, I thought we were poor.” warnfnel@msn.com
In the days of yore, our typography clients would request type from us for their projects. Years ago, in the previous century, we had an order to set one word, in Helvetica extraBold Italic. We invoiced $1 per character: Microsoft = $9. The customer complained about the charge and deemed it...
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In the days of yore, our typography clients would request type from us for their projects. Years ago, in the previous century, we had an order to set one word, in Helvetica extraBold Italic. We invoiced $1 per character: Microsoft = $9. The customer complained about the charge and deemed it exhorbitent. It was the normal charge for "headline" type, kerned discriminantly and exact. With this line of type, the Graphic design company went on to charge the client in the range of $50,000 for their design, which ended up being a minute section of the S was removed, Was the value of the logo agreed to by the customer because it was billed by a prestigious Graphic Artist, or was it so impressive, design-wise? --Warren Funnell, typographer (No not maps. Look it up in an old dictionary.) warnfnel@msn.com
a) The fear of an enormous cost at the end of the project. b) The inability or refusal to recognize "design" in the final analysis, when the product is put to work. Being a printer and selling graphic design as a product, a customer, a lawyer for instance, would give us a file (rarely .pdf)...
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a) The fear of an enormous cost at the end of the project. b) The inability or refusal to recognize "design" in the final analysis, when the product is put to work. Being a printer and selling graphic design as a product, a customer, a lawyer for instance, would give us a file (rarely .pdf) boasting that "I designed this myself and it only took me three hours." In reality saving three hours of my company time at $100 per, but giving up three lawery-ng hours at $300 to $500+. And it was usually an outlandish conglomeration of unrelated type styles and sizes.
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We were a Mom-Pop-Daughter-daughter-son business for 46 years. 1973 to 2019. As parents, we tried to teach by good example, and as "bosses" we delegated responsibility and assumed employees would learn and perform to their job description, by allowing them to learn and succeed on their own. As...
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We were a Mom-Pop-Daughter-daughter-son business for 46 years. 1973 to 2019. As parents, we tried to teach by good example, and as "bosses" we delegated responsibility and assumed employees would learn and perform to their job description, by allowing them to learn and succeed on their own. As employee, your commitment is to do the task to the best or better of your ability. Being a daughter and an excectional employee is a yeoperson's task, but s++
After 45 years in business with my wife, from my experience here is what I would try: Ask the two customers for a recommendation for you to help a friend or relative. Branding will get you a load of bills to pay. Our best customers came to us from recommendations because we did a great job and...
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After 45 years in business with my wife, from my experience here is what I would try: Ask the two customers for a recommendation for you to help a friend or relative. Branding will get you a load of bills to pay. Our best customers came to us from recommendations because we did a great job and delivered the print projects as promised. Tell prospects that is what you do and just do it. WarnFnel@msn.com
"40 years to Life" A personal story of a hapless printer and his wife, telling the stories after purchasing a small shop in Seattle in 1973.
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"40 years to Life" A personal story of a hapless printer and his wife, telling the stories after purchasing a small shop in Seattle in 1973.
everyone enjoys getting a greeting card in the mail. If the Greeting was Thank You!!! and held a gift card for beverages or quick treats, your "Brownie" Points would multiply and the process would be complete. See your local Printer and Graphic Designer for a Custom Card. -warnzwords at WESTERN...
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everyone enjoys getting a greeting card in the mail. If the Greeting was Thank You!!! and held a gift card for beverages or quick treats, your "Brownie" Points would multiply and the process would be complete. See your local Printer and Graphic Designer for a Custom Card. -warnzwords at WESTERN TYPE & PRINT. warnfnel@msn.com
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