PRINTsprokit is an online brand management tool that allows your communications team to instantly achieve brand uniformity and supervise the overall brand presentation in real time across all of your institution’s print materials and collateral.

It does this by automating the design and production process for routine publications that have historically consumed so much staff time and energy. It allows any departmental staff member in any unit to customize and produce professionally designed, brand-compliant materials in minutes, right from their desktops and without requiring time or resources from the central creative team.

The design director initially creates a library of branded templates in the formats that departments will need for their marketing communications, from letterhead to business cards, fliers to full-size posters, tri-fold brochures to 8-page newsletters.

The program works seamlessly with standard design programs and processes. So the designs are created in software such as InDesign, Photoshop, or Illustrator, and simply imported into the PRINTsprokit platform.

The design director can then add “hotspots” as needed for custom titles, headlines, body text, unit-specific photography, logos, and contact information so that each department can tailor the publication for its own needs. The design director always maintains control of the layouts as well as the type fonts used, color palette, imagery, and the headline and copy length and copy placement.

Your approved institutional logos, branding graphics, and high-resolution photographs are housed in the PRINTsprokit library, and easily placed into “image hotspots” by departmental users, when needed. These design elements can be designated as “common assets” accessible by any departmental user, or they can be limited to only selected individuals, offices, and departments. A special set of photographs, for example, for the exclusive use of the distance education division.

Departmental users log onto the PRINTsprokit tool from any web-enabled computer and choose the type of publication they need, then pick one of the approved design templates for that publication. No special training is needed, and even non-designers can easily work within the intuitive template system. Since this is a web tool, users can access the program 24/7 from anywhere in the world.

Users tailor the templates with their department name, title, headline, and unit-specific content. They can even place custom images from the approved library to reflect their location, focus, and customer characteristics.

PRINTsprokit allows any office or department to produce professionally designed, branded materials on demand. It eliminates internal bottlenecks and frustrations and promotes collaborative marketing.

Once the departmental user is done, the finished template is automatically submitted for approval. The communications director can approve, reject, or request revisions for any departmental materials prior to production. Different permission levels can be set for each department or user, so that accomplished users can operate with more latitude, while those who need more supervision can receive greater oversight.

Once the publication is approved, the departmental user can print a few copies of the high-resolution PDF output to their own laser printer or send to a local printer of their choosing, or they can print thousands of copies at a designated high-volume external publication house.

The communications director has ability to oversee the entire process, track projects, and send and receive messages on each project.  The director can manage brand quality and consistency to a degree never before possible. Changes to the graphic identity or creative framework can be rolled out to the entire organization instantaneously.

PRINTsprokit replaces traditional graphic guidelines with the interactive application of working brand tools to manage the use of logos, headlines, typography, images, and design templates. It allows departments to produce high-quality, consistently branded materials without requiring central staff time and energy. The design team can devote more of their energy on the really important projects that result in big impact.

Visit the website for more information on PRINTsprokit and its capabilities.

You can also join us for a FREE webinar to learn how PRINTsprokit can make your work as a higher education communicator easier and more effective. Click on the time below that best fits your schedule. We will be giving away two one-year subscriptions to PRINTsprokit to registered attendees (we will randomly draw one winner from two of the webinars listed below) – you must be present in the webinar to win.

• Tuesday, June 7, 2011; 12:00 – 1:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time; Intro to both PRINTsprokit and SOCIALsprokit.
• Wednesday, June 15, 2011; 11:00 – 11:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time; Intro to PRINTsprokit only.
• Monday, June 27, 2011; 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Intro to both PRINTsprokit and SOCIALsprokit.