We support the work of Riley Hospital for Children through producing these wonderful holiday cards.

One of the delights of being an Indianapolis commercial printer is that HardingPoorman Group gets to become involved with area businesses and organizations that we find truly remarkable. Riley Hospital for Children is one of those. We are proud to help support Riley Hospital through its fundraising arm, Riley Children’s Foundation.

For over 80 years the Riley Children’s Foundation has secured enormous support for Riley Hospital for Children, Camp Riley, and the James Whitcomb Riley Museum. As part of their annual fundraising effort, the young patients at Riley Hospital are encouraged to create seasonal artwork that can be printed as holiday cards and sold to individuals and companies to help support the foundation.

Prior to working with SPG Graphics, a division of HardingPoorman Group, Riley Foundation staff members took phone orders for these holiday cards, then packed and shipped the orders themselves. HPG had a more efficient model in mind that saves Riley Foundation time and money. HPG donates a portion of the printing costs to Riley, and uses an online ordering system to ship the cards directly from our facility.

The results are colorful, creative, and cost effective – helping Riley do what they do best, providing state of the art healthcare for children who need it.

There are times when HPG customers need commercial printing that is as close to “real life” as possible.  Often needed for highly detailed catalog printing and upscale magazines, Stochastic (pronounced “stow-cast-ick”) technology allows HPG to print vibrant, near-photographic quality images. The colors are richer and the textures are sharper than conventional commercial printing, even better than standard printing at higher resolutions.

Stochastic screening allows for crisp, real life images

This highly precise screening process reduces what we in the printing trade call variation in “dot gain,” “wet trap” and “color contamination.” Dot gain and wet trap variations occur naturally in commercial printing as red, yellow, cyan and black are ink jetted in a regular pattern of dots, onto the paper. As these colors set, they spread just a little bit before they completely dry and some of the ink is absorbed into the paper. When viewed as a whole, some crispness in photographs and complex images is lost.

Outdoor Indiana magazine features lots of nature pictorials and is a perfect candidate for HPG Stochastic printing.

This variation does not occur with Stochastic printing because the screening process varies the placement of the dots. For darker color, it uses more dots per area, or a higher frequency of dots. Because there are no regular patterns of dots it also reduces the risk of misaligned halftone screens. Images are sharper, colors brighter, textures more pronounced. It truly produces near-photographic quality.

The end result? As beautiful and crisp as nature itself. Next time you need sharp, crisp printed detail, ask HPG about Stochastic printing.

It’s easy to pull together a mission statement for a business, frame it, and hang it on the entrance wall. What’s better is to have a purpose that those in your office not only see and understand, but feel every day.

At HPG, our purpose is to “make a meaningful difference in the lives of our employees.” We make it our business to put this into practice every day. How?

Here are just a few of the ways:

• We have fun and boost employee moral by scheduling several events throughout the year, “just for the fun of it.”  Many of the events are not only for our staff members, but for their families as well!

• We offer our employees continual learning opportunities. Our “HPG University” is a program where employees can take classes taught by an IUPUI professor right here at the HPG facility. We also have a college tuition reimbursement program that all staff members qualify for.
• HPG makes a practice of promoting from within. We truly believe we have the responsibility of mentoring our future industry leaders:

• We encourage our staff to support United Way and other local nonprofit groups, because it’s the right thing to do for our community.

It really boils down to a philosophy that comes from the top, down. Give back, help your co-workers and those in our community, and have some fun while you are doing it. At HPG, we think that’s the right way to run a business.

A pharmaceutical company wanted to produce and mail more than 225,000 4-page brochures packaged with a DVD. Generally a project like this would require multiple sub-contractors to complete the DVD replication, machine or hand DVD insertion, commercial printing, and mailing. But this company preferred to streamline the process and develop a turn-key solution from just one organization if possible.

HPG UV printed 225,000 of these, complete with safely sealed DVDs for mailing. A turn-key solution, indeed!

Because the company had worked with HardingPoorman Group before and knew we could come up with creative solutions to unusual requests, they turned to us again. Besides printing the brochure, the pharmaceutical company required a seamless package to keep the DVD secure during mailing.  The only option other printers could offer was to place the DVD on a foam hub –which left the disc open to falling off the foam in transit, breaking, or creating a very bulky mailer.

HardingPoorman Group created an ideal custom solution for the DVD mailing.  Because we have so many resources under one roof, we were able create the requested “streamlined, turn-key solution.” Not only did we UV print the brochure and mass duplicate the DVDs, but because one of our corporate divisions had recently developed a process of “sealing” vinyl to paper, HPG was able to smoothly, mechanically seal the disc into the mailing.

All of that – plus the large run — all completed on time, and from under one roof. The end product is exactly what the client (and we) had in mind!

Mulling over a multi-step commercial printing project? Let us know what you are thinking, and let’s see what solutions we can come up with, together.

Event planning is not for the faint at heart. The infinite details involved in the organization of the program, from the menu to the speakers’ PowerPoint presentation, take a lot of coordination and just as much patience.

Although HardingPoorman Group doesn’t do event planning, we print quite a lot of event signage and related collateral for trade shows, grand openings, speaking engagements, awards presentations, and the like.

Large format banner brings attention to the topic at hand: Healthiest Employers of Indiana

The Healthiest Employers of Indiana Awards is a good example of our work. Presented by the Indianapolis Business Journal and featuring Mitch Daniels as Keynote Speaker, HPG produced a total of 13 signs for the event at The Westin, downtown. Most, like this one, were printed on standard matte paper and mounted to 3/16” rigid foam core board. The signs are also grommeted so they can be hung up to maximize visibility during the event.

Because HPG has so many printing resources available under one roof, we were pleased to be able to save the event organizer time, money and follow-up by also printing event notepads and evaluation forms. The more we can take care of, the better for the event organizer. We were able to produce, print and deliver everything precisely and efficiently, and ahead of schedule.

HPG is efficient and organized and our printing team makes a point to deliver print communications on or ahead of schedule every time. Our track record on this speaks for itself – 99.8% of our projects were produced on time. Knowing that may help your next event go just a little bit smoother, too.

You wouldn’t think that embracing such a small thing as UV printing would unlock a vast amount of creativity and flexibility in commercial printing, but that’s precisely what’s taking place.

“We’re doing things that people only talked about prior to UV availability,” says David Harding, President of HPG. “We’re working on some truly imaginative UV projects — printing on all kinds of unusual substrates and uncoated stocks – and getting amazingly brilliant results that are knocking the socks off our clients.”

Here are some of the materials HPG has successfully printed on with UV inks:

• Holographic stocks
• Vinyl, flexible and rigid, up to 40 gauge thick
• Polystyrene
• Polypropylene
• Magnets
• Adhesive-backed paper and vinyl
• Nylon
• Canvas and cloth
• Foil, and much more

The key to successful UV printing is in exposing the UV ink to enough ultraviolet light to set the ink while not breaking down the substrate in the process. The HPG team works hard to test each substrate prior to printing to determine its characteristics. We began using this technology several years ago.  We have indeed become experts at this technology!

Got a creative brainstorm? HPG can help you bring it to life!

Some of us remember the old days of typesetting in print houses. Paste-ups were done for clients with tools like “Exacto” knives, hand-stripping lines of copy into place. When a letter, word or spacing change was made in a brochure, sign or an annual report, entire paragraphs needed to be reset. Tedious doesn’t even begin to describe the process!

Digital print communication – the method of storing, processing and transmitting information through electronic pulses – has simplified and freed up printing. It’s also made it less expensive, more reliable, more flexible, and compatible with other digital systems.

That translates to immense project flexibility when it comes to printing your project. And because HardingPoorman Group has wide format digital presses and the ability to print on an huge variety of materials, your communication choices are virtually endless.

HPG can design your project, print your project, or install your project… or any combination of the three. That goes for:

• Outdoor signage
• Vehicle graphics
• Signs and banners
• Trade show displays
• Interior/exterior business signage
• Posters
• Wall & floor graphics
• Corporate and marketing brochures

When it comes to digital communication, HPG is one of North America’s leading digital commercial graphics providers. We want to be your go-to source for digital communications.

Brains are funny things. Sometimes you can have highly specific visual ideas about a particular project and other times you need a little help in bringing a project into focus. In either case, HardingPoorman Group can be a helpful resource for your business.

Our sales team frequently meets with clients to find that with a trade show looming, their company has a theme, corporate logo and some product photos, and not much else. They need help!

HPG makes your exhibit, banner and signage ideas come to life!

After asking the right questions and doing some brainstorming of our own, the HPG creative team enjoys the process of recommending visuals, fonts, slogans, banners, signage options and/or exhibit solutions. Because we work with so many agencies and corporations, we have a pretty good idea of what works — in a multitude of staging arenas.

Of course, there are plenty of other times when our clients know precisely what they want and how it should be communicated. These projects are fun for us, too. We can often find quality materials and digital printing methods that make the end product more durable, more visible, or less expensive to produce.

The creative juices are flowing at HPG. Let’s put our heads together and come up with a turn-key solution for your next project!

Several months back, HardingPoorman Group was given an interesting digital communications project. Our client wanted to create an interactive introductory product presentation for their employees. The object of this interactive presentation was for the employees to learn about a brand new product that was expected to become a global brand. Appropriately, the presentation focused on traveling around the world. Employees were encouraged to “travel” the presentation to learn details about the new product.

3-D custom map and accompanying digital communication exhibits

Our assignment was to create several trade show signs and something special: a three-dimensional interactive world map, made to resemble a puzzle. In effect, we were to create a large, 8’ x 4’ self-standing puzzle, sturdy enough for multiple visitors to attach puzzle pieces without knocking it over.  Most importantly, our client wanted the map to become a permanent piece of art in the new product area, so the piece had to be functional and compelling as well as artistic.

After numerous brainstorming sessions, the HPG team decided the map base would be mounted to ½” thick Styrene. The 3-D map outline and triangular map puzzle pieces would be mounted on slightly lighter Styrene, all carefully hand-cut with a jigsaw. The new map was beautiful but very heavy, so the next design problem would be how to frame it.

The signage team mulled over many ideas before deciding upon a rolling frame, similar to the portable black boards used by teachers or coaches, but heavier and more durable. A design was drafted, and with the help of our Maintenance team, a custom frame was welded, sanded and painted.

The result was a 3-dimensional global puzzle mounted inside a sturdy, portable frame. It was indeed a piece of art, as well as a working display model, and it worked with the other display signage. The client was ecstatic!

Got a wild communication idea? Chances are good HPG can create a wild and wonderful solution!

Ever noticed how many in the business of communicating are often not really effective at communicating? Even though we have more ways to communicate than at any other point in history, we may utilize the technology, but fail to communicate on a level that contains intent, ideas, meaning and emotion.

At Harding Poorman Group, before we place any digital communication order, we ask about the intent or end result of the communication. We feel strongly that for any communication piece to truly function, it has to have a mission. It must clearly communicate an idea, a feel, or an emotion behind the words and images.

More times that we can count, when the right questions were asked before the signage was produced, changes were made that helped the signage communicate more strategically, and more effectively.

Yes, HPG designs, prints and installs:

• Banners
• Vehicle graphics
• Outdoor signage
• Vinyl lettering
• Trade show displays
• Business signage
• Posters
• Wall graphics
• Floor graphics

We also challenge the HPG team to produce every one of these projects with forethought, insight, intent and creativity – so every project that comes through our doors truly creates lasting impact.