High resolution inkjet printers and laser printers are now affordably priced. High labor costs and high volume requirements of traditional print houses also act as a disincentive if you are looking to get color prints in low quantities for company sales promotion materials.
By having an in-house print set up for these requirements you save a lot in costs. It can be as simple as a computer system and an inkjet or a laser printer. A computer operator who is familiar with basic design fundamentals can come up with pleasing layouts that take very little time to set up and print out. In an hour you have the final printout in your hand, proofed, spell checked and corrected! This is one of the best ways to reduce printing costs.
To further reduce costs try to understand how an inkjet or a laser printer works. An inkjet or laser printer will have four color cartridges—black, magenta, cyan and yellow. Combining these colors produces a full colored output. The black cartridge is usually separate. The other 3 colors are combined in one unit with different inkwells. The same goes for laser cartridges where black is separate and other 3 toners are in one unit.
Black cartridges are cheaper compared to the color cartridge. To reduce costs and make the cartridges last longer you could consider the following options in color copies costs reduction:
When designing literature for the company, make more use of black for fonts and borders. Graying the borders would result in less consumption of black ink. Keep borders and fonts thin and not very thick where you will again consume less ink. Use smaller and thinner fonts rather than big bold black fonts. If you have to use black bold fonts try to make them grey. Use less intense graphics in the entire lay out with a simple border, combination of fonts and a medium sized photograph or image. The company logo can also be reduced in size.
Where color is to be used, try using lighter shades and sparingly too, which will result in reduced consumption of color inks. The effect nonetheless will be pleasing. One does not have to use intense black backgrounds and strong colors to impress. There can be points of deep colors but these can be kept small in size. Keeping graphics in small size will also reduce ink consumption. One other way to further reduce cost is to print at a lower resolution of 150 to 300 dpi which will reduce ink consumption further without detracting too much from the final result. The lower the resolution, lesser the ink consumed.
These are the options available in reducing color copies costs. Make wise use of them. Having a designer/computer operator understand the finer points will enable you to reduce costs and still come up with impressive outputs.