Moving Text from Word into Composer

There are several ways to get text only or text AND formatting from other programs such as Word into Composer:

The easiest way to transfer text and formatting is to copy from Word and paste into Composer.
- You should be in regular shape pointer mode when pasting into Composer.
- Composer will put up a font substitution dialog box. Click OK to accept the defaults.
- Paragraphs of text with automatic line breaks come through as individual lines of small text
- If you have different fonts, sizes and bullets, it will bring those over but each text style becomes its own separate block of small text. You might have to slightly adjust the location or point size of the lines of small text.
- If you want to change fonts or bullets for volumes of text, it is easier to do so in Word and re-paste into Composer.
- If you have text in a table, it will bring the text and table from Word into Composer but you will have to select the text and move it down slightly to get it back into the table. But it sure beats re-entering and reformatting the text!

If you want to get text only with no formatting, copy the text from Word and bring up the small text or Composer text dialog box and paste the text into the dialog box. The text will be generated using the settings from the dialog box. You will get messages about missing characters but the text itself will come through.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

We are in the sign business, so we all know that showing pictures only enhances the overall message we are try to communicate. Extending that a bit, we come to the concept of display pieces and samples to sell your output. Here are some extremely easy ways to make your sales approach extremely easy:

1. Take a picture of every job you sell. Put the best pictures or pictures of the types of jobs you want to sell in your shop near the entrance. Keep some of the pictures with you in your vehicle for mobile selling opportunities.

2. If you are printing a job, use some of the extra material space to print some sample decals at a smaller scale. These can be used as display samples for your shop or to give to your customers as a small thank you gift.

3. Create a simple "before and after" or "job upgrade" sample to show how a blend, fade, shadow or photo can improve the impact a sign has. Be sure to get a higher price for the extra effect!

4. Be sure your own vehicle graphic and company sign make customers want what you have.

5. Check with equipment and material manufacturers/suppliers and Sign Associations for marketing tools and publications. For example, GSP sell printed brochures at cost to aid in the sales from sign shop to sign shop customer. Call GSP customer service at 1-800-222-7446 for ordering details and see an example at http://www.gspinc.com/literature/pdf/End%20User%20Literature/EDGE-VehicleGraphics.pdf . The United States Sign Council (USSC) http://www.ussc.org/publications.html sells two brochures that explain the value of "signs" as an advertising medium.

These ideas may sound basic, but they really can make a difference in your sales efforts.

For more information on this same topic see http://www.gspinc.com/customercorner/mtsfyi/pdf/Vol3-FiveSellEDGEGraphics.pdf

My How the Network Grows!

I am simply amazed by the number of people who have mentioned this blog to me already. I am even getting feedback from end users. Maybe this blog stuff is on to something!

Helpful Clipart

I am always looking for a quick way to add a graphic element or replace a logo. As I am no artist, I certainly cannot draw, so I rely on clipart. Two of my favorite sites are listed below:

http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/
http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/

http://www.brandsoftheworld.com has thousands of searchable company and other logos in scalable eps vector format. To get these logos into Composer, I find the log I want, download it, then import into OMEGA using the GSP eps import filter.

http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/ is a quick way to add scalable wmf files to my designs. I have rarely been disappointed at this site even when looking for stranger clipart. To get the clipart into Composer, I find the clipart piece I want, then copy the piece and paste into Composer. Sometimes I reassign the colors because these WMF files use non-color-managed RGB colors that convert strangely once they get into Composer, but the color assignment only takes a moment.

As is always the case, be sure to read the licensing agreements to be sure you are using the artwork legally and can resell the output. You may need to get additional permissions. Of course that gets into another discussion about copyright laws, but we'll leave that for another blog!

These sites are great timesavers that I truly enjoy using!

Welcome to Visitors from Far Away

We were fortunate enough to have had a visit last week from Stephen Woolley and his son Shane from Computastyle Signs (Tauranga, New Zealand). They were in CT last week on vacation and visited GSP.

They spent time with Chaz from and got an overview of Omega 2.0. They are current 1.56 users and saw the benefit of the upgrade. They are a Gerber shop dating back to the 4B and currently operate an Edge/plotter and Omega software. Stephen started as a hand painter and incorporated GSP equipment as he has built his business.

Thanks for stopping by!