A new company has been set up to cater for the design needs of the signage, digital print & offset print industries - and their end users.
Called The Pickle Factory, it has been started by Karen Childs who has over 15 years’ experience of providing production-ready files.
When asked, why the Pickles Factory, she replied “I started out in 1991 as a showcard and ticketwriter, pumping put point of sale ads with a brush and nib. Not long after, I moved into vinyl cutting, then wide format and offset. The experience you gain from actually working in production makes a huge difference to the quality of your artwork files. Anyone who’s ever had to re-create a vector file because the original is ‘all over the shop’ will understand what I mean.
"There seemed to me to be a fairly large gap in the design world. Not everyone is able to afford full ad agency services, and oftentimes customers are just looking for someone who can take on a job with minimal fuss and at reasonable rates. When the owner of a reputable Brisbane sign shop told me ‘it’s about time someone found this hole in the market and filled it’, I knew I was doing the right thing.”
Karen’s ‘good old fashioned service is an absolute must’ philosophy is reflected in the lack of mark-up for production.
“Customers can go to any producer they choose, and we’ll send files to those producers or straight back to the customer. I’ve copped some comments that I ‘must be mad’ not to just handle production and make extra money out of it. But really, I’d rather customers deal with whichever production company they prefer. And if they don’t have one, they can take a look at the links on my site and make enquiries with companies I’ve dealt with myself. Honest advice has always been important to me and I believe customers appreciate that.”
So, why establish The Pickle Factory now?
“I took a couple of years off from the industry to explore marketing on a professional level. What I found was, those marketing positions still involved a lot of design work – from floor graphics to cinema screen still shots to uniforms and all sorts of things. And considering it was those aspects that gave me the most joy, it just seemed natural to return to what I love and do best – design for signage and print.”
The Pickle Factory’s website http://www.thepicklefactory.com.au/ features a gallery of past work and details on process and pricing. Enquiries can be made online, or by email or phone.
The Pickle Factory
http://www.thepicklefactory.com.au
