Gold Line Provides Successful Getaway

It looks like public transportation is finally getting a foothold in car-addicted Los Angeles. The L.A. Times reported this morning that two robbers who swiped a cell phone made their getaway on the Gold Line, the new Eastside leg of the Los Angeles rail system. The theft took place in a restaurant at Central Avenue and 2nd Street. From there, the thieves fled toward the Little Tokyo/Arts District where they boarded the Gold Line train heading for Union Station. They apparently made a clean getaway.  If the trains are reliable enough for robbery getaways, they can probably get people to work and back -  no problem.

In an unrelated story in this morning's Times, the City of Claremont has suspended its recently launched trolley service for lack of riders. I guess there will be no quick getaways in Claremont!

Is "www" Still Needed for Printed Stationery?

Recently, we have had some customers request that the "www" part of their web site be omitted when printing up their business cards or letterhead. The assumption is that having ".com" or ".net" or ".org" at the end clearly indicates that this is a web site and therefore the "www" is not needed.

There are two schools of thought on this. One says that the "www" is unnecessary, and redundant, like putting the word "phone" in front of the phone number. People of this mind say everyone knows what it is and the extra letters are graphic clutter. The opposite view says that there are still some people who won't recognize it as a web site without the "www." If you are only marketing to the young and savvy, they say, no problem. But if your target market is broader than that, you still need to add the "www" to insure that the web address is recognized as a web address.

What do you think?

Americans Prefer Print Media for Reading

A recent survey done by Harris Interactive shows that the majority of U.S. adults think that printed media is easier to read than its digital equivalent. Adults report that they are more comfortable when they have something on paper. 64% of workers said they prefer words on paper, to words on a screen when it comes to reading. An even larger percentage, 70%, of workers in technology and telecommunications agreed that reading in print was easier than reading online. See Reuters.

This does not mean that online documents won't continue to grow in number, replacing a shrinking number of printed documents. But it does mean that print media has a value that needs to be understood. Businesses that have marketing and training requirements should recognize when print will give them the results they are looking for and digital media, by itself, won't.

Gas Station to Become Vineyard

The Westlake Village Inn will turn the former gas station site on the corner of Agoura Road and Lakeview Canyon Road into a vineyard. See: Hotels. The economics of this conversion are interesting. It is an axiom of real estate that property should go to the "highest and best use." In economic terms that typically means the use that provides the largest return on investment, or ROI.

It is hard to imagine that an agricultural use like a vineyard would produce a greater return than a gas station. I don't remember any lines of customers forming up at vineyards in the past. But, clearly, this is a whole new day. For the Westlake Village Inn, the vineyard may well be a more valuable asset to their property than a gas station or mini mart. Staying at an Inn near a vineyard is a more attractive prospect than staying at an Inn behind a gas station. The property will also provide a venue for wine tasting and weddings or other gatherings.

Perhaps it is also a harbinger of fundamental changes in the economy to come. Places that are attractive for people to gather or view do not always produce the maximum ROI for their owners. Political battles are often waged to keep property owners from turning their attractive property into a less attractive commercial enterprise. Here, an unattractive commercial enterprise will be supplanted by an attractive place - a garden, more or less. If we can have economic success by making our communities more attractive, then everyone wins.

Painting it Black

Back when Henry Ford said you could have any color you wanted as long as it was black, he assumed, rightly, that the color of his Model T was not terribly important to anyone. He might be surprised to hear some of the names car makers have for “black” today. There is Onyx Black, Jet Black, Black Pearl, Black Sapphire, Black Ice, Obsidian, Charcoal Black, Midnight Black, Ebony, even “Black,” and a whole host of others. Today’s car buyers can see and appreciate subtle differences in these colors.

Likewise, when Ben Franklin was in the printing business, “black” ink was only important for legibility. Only the density of the pigment mattered. Not so today. The Pantone Ink Color Guide recognizes 6 different blacks in addition to process black. These blacks are numbered 2 through 7 and each has a slightly different tint, based on the pigments mixed into the ink. Savvy designers know how to use black and they know which black to use.

In addition to the Pantone blacks, there is process black. Process black is one of four colors, the “K,” which make up the CMYK used in color printing. Process black can be altered in subtle ways by adding additional ink colors to it. By adding Cyan, the blue or “C” in the process formula, you get a “Cool Black.” Adding Magenta, the red ink or “M,” gives you a “Warm Black.” And both C and M added together yields a “Rich Black.”

Unfortunately, I can’t illustrate these nuances of black here because computer monitors use RGB instead of CMYK. And that is a whole other topic. But differing shades of black can be used by a skilful designer and printer to great effect in a printed piece. 

For a sample of our printed newsletter, send email to: ed@crprint.com