Graphicsland - Press Releases

press releases

August 14, 2008 - Tinley Park, IL

NEGATIVE POLITICS IN BUMPER STICKERS

Statistics show overwhelming "negative sentiment" in bumper stickers

With the presidential election around the corner, more people than ever are finding ways to express their political opinions, and makestickers.com offers customers an outlet for their views. Recently, many customers have chosen to express themselves through political stickers, including custom McCain and Obama bumper stickers. As more people invent their own political messages, an overwhelming trend in "negative tones" has been noticed. Data collected over a ten day period at makestickers.com shows that 68% of phrases used in custom ordered political bumper stickers are "negative", meaning they showed "support" through insulting or mentioning wrongs in opposing candidates. According to the data, approximately 72% of stickers mentioning Obama were negative. Surprisingly, very few of these "anti-Obama" stickers followed through to include a line which showed support for McCain. This suggests that people may not be in support of a certain candidate as much as they are against the ideas of another. On the other hand, 62% of the stickers mentioning McCain were positive, but were overall much less popular than those talking about Obama. Data was also recorded on "pro" and "anti" party stickers. Most of the Anti-Republican stickers revolved around criticisms of George "Dubya" Bush. Not surprisingly, both were much more likely to have "negative" messages: 84% of the Democrat stickers and 75% of Republican stickers follow this trend. This data was collected during July 2008 by employees of Graphicsland Inc., operator of MakeStickers.com, MakeSigns.com, and MakePins.com. For more information, contact Marty Groark, Graphicsland, 8061 W 186th Street, Tinley Park, IL 60487, 1-800-347-2744.

July 25, 2000 - Tinley Park, IL

Graphicsland and MakeSigns.com Announce Support of SunMicrosystems StarOffice

Graphicsland and its MakeSigns.com subsidiary today announced support of the Sun Microsystems StarOffice(tm) suite. Users will be able to send their StarOffice files to Graphicsland to be output to 35mm slides, color overheads and color posters. Graphicsland is a leading supplier of custom color output from popular graphics applications. According to Jerry Feil, Graphicsland's President, customer demand prompted their decision. "StarOffice is being used widely in the academic and research community. These are the same customers who are the primary users of Graphicsland's output services. Scientific posters are being used increasingly at medical and research conferences," he said.

Users will be able to order color slides and overheads from their StarOffice Impress files at www.graphicsland.com. Poster output will be handled through Graphicsland's MakeSigns.com online sign, banner and poster service. (www.makesigns.com) MakeSigns.com is the world's first interactive, online design site for paper and vinyl signs. MakeSigns.com users can choose from hundreds of design templates and create signs and banners for personal or retail use. The online design technology was developed for the site by Graphicsland. Now StarOffice users will be able to design signs and banners using their favorite platform.

Users are now able to upload their StarOffice files directly through their web browser without the need for additional software. According to Feil, an office suite designed from the ground up to be used online is a perfect match for an online service bureau. "The cross platform design of StarOffice ensures that Linux and UNIX users will now be able to have access to quality color output at reasonable prices," said Jerry Feil.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, and StarOffice are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries (Nasdaq: SUNW)

For more information, contact Jerry Feil, Graphicsland, 8061 W 186th Street, Tinley Park, IL 60487, 1-800-347-2744.

July 20, 1999 - Tinley Park, IL

MakeSigns.com Allows Users to Design Signs Interactively Online

Graphicsland^®, a computer graphics company in Tinley Park, IL has launched a new web site, MakeSigns.com where for the first time, users can interactively design and order their own signs, banners and posters online. Users choose a starting template from the hundreds available and customize it with their own words, fonts and colors. They then see a WYSIWYG preview of their sign. They can go back to make changes in the design, or proceed to order the sign. Signs are printed on heavy paper and shipped in a mailing tube.

Congratulations Signs MakeSigns.com website has templates for personal and business use. Popular personal signs and banners are "Happy Birthday", "Happy Anniversary", "Congratulations", etc. Business templates are available for real estate, retail and trade show use. In addition, MakeSigns.com has a Corporate Template Program where templates for specific companies can be stored online and password protected, allowing branch offices or franchise locations access. Using this method, a store owner or manager can customize a sign for a specific local promotion, yet the logo and color scheme for the sign are pre-approved by corporate marketing.

Users can also upload their own graphics files to customize signs with photos or logos. There is no extra charge for signs containing an uploaded graphic file. Once the company logo or photo has been uploaded to the MakeSigns.com system, it's available for future use without having to upload again.

Real Estate Signs If none of the hundreds of available templates fill the bill, users can design their own signs using Microsoft PowerPoint or Corel Presentations, or they can send a bitmap for a giant photo blowup.

Standard output consists of heavyweight matte paper which is water resistant. Optional water resistant glossy paper is available for a slight extra charge. Another media choice is outdoor banner material with grommets for hanging. Plans are being made for additional media options such as cling-on clear vinyl, and additional finishing options such as laminating and mounting.

The base price for signs ranges from $12.95 to $39.95 depending on size. Discounts are given for additional copies of the same sign. Sizes range from 16" by 24" to 36" by 72". These prices are a fraction of the cost of traditional wide format full color output, due to efficiencies achieved by fully automating the MakeSigns.com system.

Graphicsland has been developing the MakeSigns.com website and its related behind the scenes software system for over one year. Jerry Feil, Graphicsland president, headed the development project. Mr. Feil is an electrical engineer with 25 years of experience in the graphics business.

Franchise Signs According to Feil, store owners and managers have been very receptive to being able to design and order window signs online. "Anyone who owns or manages a retail store knows they spend most of their waking hours at that location. It's really tough to leave the store to go to shopping for a sign place. Now a store owner can shop online 24 hours a day from the comfort of their own office or home, when the local sign shop might be closed.", he said.

For the trade show road warrior, MakeSigns.com provides an easy solution for quickly needed convention and trade show signs when on the road. If a quick sign is needed for the next city on your whirlwind tour, simply go back to the hotel room, pop open the laptop, and go online to MakeSigns.com. Order a sign for the next city, and they'll send it FedEx to that location. Having a corporate template online means your logo and color scheme will be correctly reproduced.

Happy Birthday Banners In addition to business use, the MakeSigns.com system opens up an entire new market for wide format printing: individual consumers celebrating an event or occasion. Signs celebrating specific occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, graduations are finally available at a reasonable price. Traditionally, full color wide format output ranges in price from $9 to $15 per square foot, meaning that a 2 by 4 foot "Happy Birthday" banner could cost $120, a little steep for most consumers. At MakeSigns.com, the base price of a 2 by 4 foot banner is only $22.95. Templates can be customized by the user. For example, if you wanted a sign for your son's baseball team, you can change the name of the team, the uniform colors, and even the numerals on the player's jersey.

The signs produced by MakeSigns.com are designed for temporary use. According to Feil, Graphicsland is not trying to compete with established sign businesses who create permanent signage for your business. "Our goal is to fill a niche in the marketplace for quick, inexpensive signs for short term use.", he said.

Free output is available for editors and writers of qualified publications who wish to test the service. Call 1-800-347-2744 to request a coupon for free output. For more information, contact Jerry Feil. Graphicsland (www.graphicsland.com) is located at 8061 W 186th Street, Tinley Park, Illinois. 1-800-347-2744. Graphicsland is a wholly owned subsidiary of Feil Productions, Inc. MakeSigns.com is a trademark and Graphicsland is a registered trademark of Feil Productions, Inc. PowerPoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Corel Presentations is a trademark of Corel Corporation.