Fundy Designer Tips

How to Order Albums, Wall Art, Cards and More

December 16, 2018

Ordering printed product isn’t the easiest thing in the world. It seems like every lab in the world has their own ordering process and none of them look the same. Here at Fundy Software, we try to take out as much pain as possible.

 

Fundy Designer allows you to order some products directly from the software at the same prices and specs that your lab may charge. We only support direct ordering through a few labs, but even if your lab isn’t a direct lab, we help prep the files and help to make sure you avoid costly mistakes.

Before we get into ordering, let’s touch briefly on file sizes and the yellow warning triangle. Some album companies can print an album 14 inches wide. That means they are printing a 28 inch wide spread. We multiply that by 300 and that’s a 7400px wide photo if you are putting one photo on a spread. So even the biggest megapixel cameras may need some help upsizing. Here at Fundy Software we like to let you know that we’ll be upsizing your photos and we use the same methods that Photoshop does, so you’ll be pleased with the result.

If you see a yellow triangle, just hover your mouse over it to see how much it will be upsized. If the number is under 300% go ahead and submit the order. If it is over 300% we recommend doing a test export and then open it in Photoshop and choose View at print size to make sure you feel comfortable with the upsizing. To see what a great job Fundy Designer does, take a look at this blog post that has a side by side comparison with Photoshop at a 400% upsize.

Ordering Albums

You can order albums directly from Fundy Designer or export for print and order through your lab.

When choosing your album company and album size, you’ll notice a small star next to them. This indicates that you can order this album directly from Fundy Designer.

And even when you go to export for print, we remind you when an album is available to order direct.

If you enter the direct cart and you don’t see an option available (maybe the lab introduced a new cover material we don’t support yet), you’ll want to exit the cart and order through the lab.

 

When you are ordering your album through your lab, the first thing you want to do is export the design for print.

There are a few instances when a book might be required to be submitted as single pages. Some press books are like this. Your lab will have this information. If this is the case, choose export for splits.

After exporting, open up your labs ordering software or ordering page on their website. After importing the print exports, they should automatically appear in order, we number the pages specifically so computers auto detect the order. But, if the pages or spreads are not in order, you’ll most likely be able to drag them around and re-order them.

 

The key to remember when designing is that you’ll choose your cover materials, imprinting etc during the ordering process, not the design process. The only time you choose anything cover related in Fundy Designer is when you choose a photo cover, like a metal cover, acrylic or cutout cover, etc.

 

Ordering Wall Art

Ordering wall art is similar to ordering an album in that you can order it direct or export for print and order it through your lab.

Ordering direct makes wall art very easy. Wall art can be tricky to make sure that you get your exact crop and upsizing. When you order direct, we take care of that for you.

When ordering through your lab, click export and we upsize any files for you. We also change the file name to include the size it should be printed at. This can help avoid costly mis-orders.

 

 

Ordering Cards

Ordering cards direct and through your lab is simple. To order cards direct, just click order and in the Fundy Cart you can choose the quantity and shipping information.

When you export for print, we export the print-ready files that you can bring into your lab ordering system.

 

Ordering Prints

We don’t currently offer direct ordering for individual print items. So you’ll want to click the export button for any individual prints, canvases, etc.

Just like wall art exports, we size and name the files for easy ordering.

 

Ordering Other Items

Fundy Designer’s IPS tools allows you to sell anything and everything. And if you sell digital files or a box of matted prints then you want to be able to export those with any retouching applied. You also want to be sure you order the correct items.

 

To export any “other” item for print, navigate to the “other” section of the client order panel and click the export button.

Now you’ll have a folder of images ready to send off to your lab.

 

Summary

It’s possible to design and sell any printed product in the world with Fundy Designer. We hope this information helps you use the program to its full potential.

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