My print… my way…

Are you a print buyer? Well, we all are… in some or the other. Now personal printing options are not limited to wedding or other ceremonies, but have gone beyond it. The prominently used personal printing options include stationery, photos, greetings, calendars, and more. Smita Dwivedi explores this ever growing concept in conversation with Bollywood personalities and all time personlised print buyers – Poonam Dhillon and Dabboo Ratnani.

Printing companies are providing customers with more than just prints; they are now offering complete printing solutions. Personal printing pens opportunities for buyers to be creative and dynamic in responding to their needs. The commonly ordered personalised print items include: flyers, letterheads, mouse pads, greeting cards, invitations, photo cards, postcards, calendars,  pet clothing, to name a few.

Poonam, a beautiful actress of 80s is an avid print buyer. She has a unique passion of printing her cherished memories in form of photographs for the last 30 years. Even in the age of digital, she prefers printed pictures. “Since a physical touch of a printed paper expresses and gives you much more than seeing it on screen. What’s more, one can see it whenever and wherever in albums or otherwise,” she added. To start with, Poonam explained that if she has to count the numbers of pictures she has printed, it would be impossible…as the numbers are so huge. “Once I told my friend that I have some of her rare photographs and she instantly asked me to email, but I rather printed it and gifted her,” she shares.

On asking about the print size, she said, “I mostly print 4×6-in as it fits into most of the photo frames.” Her consistent love for photography has finally made her designated photographer in all her friends and family gatherings. She has been clicking photographs of her children from the day they were born. “My kids are the one, who get irritated by this, but I know they are the ones, who cherish these prints the most.” Her print buying needs are not just limited to photos only. There’s lot more to it and the top in the list is personal stationery. As per Poonam, “Personalised stationery printing is more than just about vanity. It tells something about one’s character, and projects the personal image. In fact, it reflects one’s personality through the use of images, text, and font styles. I am very particular about my communication material. I get it designed and printed under absolute surveillance,” adds Poonam, who also runs an event management company. Poonam is very particular about the printing quality in terms of colours, shades, etc. “Once I saw a beautiful card and I wanted the same for my personal birthday party under the theme ‘Paint the Town Red’, but I wanted everything to be perfect. However, on not seeing the colour of champagne upto the mark in the card, I went to the printer’s facility to supervise till I was satisfied with the final output,” recalled Poonam.

Another Bollywood personality, Dabboo Ratnani, ace photographer, feels that communication material is quite important. Dabboo has in-house studio where he burns midnight oil to get the perfect design and follows his job till it’s perfectly printed. “I personally look after all my prepress activities and only the best goes into print.” Dabboo is distinctively known for his annual calendar, which is a hit among celebrities ever since its first publication in 1999. A rage amongst the bollywood celebs, all celebrities want to be featured in it.  “My calendar goes to who’s who of the Indian cinema, fashion and other allied industry professionals, so overall quality is very important. Once the artwork is done, next most important step is printing, which is printed by offset,” said Dabboo.