The Issue of Line Length in Variable Print
We’ve written a number of posts over the past few months talking about the power of using variable print and variable targeting in your direct marketing efforts. These are powerful tools that can really help you connect with your customers and prospects in an insightful and meaningful way.
In this article, I would like to return to that subject and consider the very important relationship that exists between copy and design (or layout, if you prefer), which must be carefully considered whenever you’re doing a project involving variable print. That relationship revolves around line length.
As we have mentioned previously, part of the power of using variable copy involves being able to include targeted marketing information directly within the copy of a piece. For example, we might have some copy like this (wrapped in a simple design that I whipped up really quickly):
Notice that both the individual’s name and company name are included within the body of the copy itself, making use of the whole concept of personalization. This works well enough as a mockup, but in real world situations, things could potentially get a little dicey.
Why? Because not everyone’s name is Jon. Nor does everyone work for the fictitious SomeTech. Names vary (thus the term “variable”). Even more importantly, the relative length of names also varies. So, while the surname Jon works quite well here, what would happen if the piece were addressed to a Christopher or Alexander, or someone with an even longer name?
Assuming that the variable print technology that your printer will be using can accommodate for paragraph wraps, here’s one example of what can happen:
Doesn’t look so great does it? The longer first name changes the way that the paragraph wraps, forcing the company name down onto another line, and totally messing up the balance and spacing of the design!
If your printer’s technology doesn’t accommodate paragraph wraps, other strange things can also start to happen. Take this one for example:
Instead of wrapping when the name becomes too large for the space provided, the size of the type is reduced in order to be able to actually fit all of the text. Again, this is not something that you really want to see on your finished piece! Undoubtedly, there are probably some other issues that could crop up too.
Of course, it gets even worse if there is a long first name and a longer company name:
In this instance, the design is totally messed up, and the prospect or customer who receives the piece probably won’t be all that impressed with the sender.
So what can you do to circumvent these line length problems? Here are some simple steps you can take:
Talk to Your Printer
The very first step that you need to take is to initiate a discussion with your printer. Talk to them about their software and learn about how it accommodates for longer or shorter strings in variable text. This information is absolutely critical, because it can actually have a direct impact on how you choose to design a piece.
For example, if the printer’s software does have the ability to force wraps within a block of text, then you can just build substitutions into your paragraphs, and know that all the wraps will happen exactly as you plan them (the key word there being plan).
On the other hand, if your printer’s software doesn’t accommodate for proper wrapping, that’s something that you are definitely going to have to take into account in your design, making appropriate choices to help prevent things from going very wrong.
Analyze Your Data
Because variable print is driven almost entirely by your data, your customer or address file can actually provide you with some really important information that can help you with the overall design process. We’ve already seen how the length of certain fields can have a negative impact on the appearance of a poorly designed variable piece, so that’s a good place to start.
Run some tests to determine the longest value for every field that you will be using for substitution purposes. Armed with this information, you can actually carefully structure your design in order to ensure that there is adequate room for the longest values that need to be printed.
Don’t just look for the longest data, though. You should also look for missing data. Though it may not be quite as impactful in terms of pushing content outside of the margins and boundaries of a design (as seen above), it’s still an important exercise. Not only will missing data have a profoundly negative impact on your copy, it can also leave gaping holes in the overall design of the piece.
Always try to be aware of your data and build your designs accordingly.
Test, Test, Test
When working with variable print, it’s also always important to test your work. Even if you’ve talked to your printer and analyzed your data, you’re really just asking for trouble if you don’t take the time to actually run some tests and make sure everything works out properly.
In my experience, there are two main forms of testing that I do.
First, there is manual testing. When I’m doing this kind of testing I basically just insert a number of different variables into the design by hand, just to see how everything comes out. Obviously, it’s a labour intensive process, and I’m somewhat limited in how much testing I can actually do. That being said, however, it’s still an effective form of initial testing that I think is essential to any variable print project.
Also, this kind of testing is even more effective if you’ve taken the time to analyze your data, since you can actually take the longest strings in your database and specifically test those.
The other form of testing comes directly from the printer. Every single time we do a variable print job, one of our stipulations is to receive and review a PDF containing several records (usually at least 100). This allows us to go through the pieces and check them against the data file, to make sure that all the substitutions are working correctly. It also gives us the opportunity to check and make sure all the wrapping and placement is working as expected.
On simple jobs, we usually find that the first 100 records provides a reasonable sampling. However, on more complex jobs, or jobs where we have concerns about wrapping and character length, we may ask for very specific ranges, based on our data analysis. This allows us to have a look at particular sets of “worst case scenario” records. If they look fine, we know everything else will too.
Conclusion
Variable print is a wonderful technology, and one which we always endorse (assuming that a budget can afford it). That being said, however, it’s very variability does ultimately make it a bit more complex than regular printing, and their is certainly more opportunity for error. Some of the shots we saw above are perfect examples.
This certainly doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t use variable print. It simply means that we must be somewhat more vigilant in the way that we approach it. For every project, we need to consider all of the different factors that will be effected by the variability, like the relationship between line length and copy. Then, it’s just a matter of taking the appropriate measures to ensure that all possible mishaps are effectively prevented.
Hopefully, this article will help you do just that. As always, if you have any questions or concerns about this, or any other mailing related issue, please do not hesitate to contact us.
