Tidy Business Award is an annual award scheme with three award levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold.

The aim of the scheme is to raise the awareness of local businesses about methods of containment, storage, collection and disposal of their waste, promoting litter or recycling initiatives to the public and schools, enhancing local community environment and to drive up standards in general.

Working for a clean, green, sustainable Shetland, the awards also focus on waste minimisation strategies for local businesses and we are proud to be involved in such initiatives.

Customer: Aith Garage, AMS Mechanical Services, Burra Motors, Brae Garage,  Central Garage, GMS, JRJ Shetland Ltd, J. Burgess, Leask Motors, Tingwall Garage, Nicolsons.

Customer Feedback: Participating companies have informed us that they can directly link new business and new business enquiries directly back to their page promotions in the leaflet.

Size: The 12pp, A5 fold out format works well to incorporate and display all the contributors’ promotions whilst at the same time making use of a popular layout.

Our Recommendation: 12pp, A5 folding out to A3 can be more cost effective than a producing a stitched booklet of the same pagination.

Materials: This 130gsm gloss art is perfect for flyers and leaflets that have multiple folds.

Our Recommendation: Choosing one of our recycled ranges of papers will benefit the environment and currently do not add much, if anything in some instances, to the cost of production.

Printing: Full colour throughout gives the option to highlight certain services or products and make any special offers eye-catching, drawing potential clients into your promotion.

Our Recommendation: Don’t advertise “everything” your company has to offer on your A5 page. Choose a maximum of two services/products/offers as this will allow you to monitor the level of feedback and gauge if this marketing tool works well for you.

Finishing: This manageable and popular format is tactile and the perfect size for taking out shopping, keeping in the car, on the coffee table or pin-board in the homes of your potential clients for future reference.

Our Top Tip: Our 8pp or 12pp fold out formats are cost effective options provide flexible layout and design choices that work well. For 16pp promotions we recommend the saddle stitched booklet option.

Customer: Individuals/families/friends, sports groups and associations.

Customer Feedback: Orders from 2004 through to the present day proves how popular an offer this is.

Size: 12pp plus cover, A4 portrait with backboard, ring bound at the top and includes a metal hanger.

Our Recommendation: A4 portrait doesn’t take up too much room when hung and displays photographs to their full potential.

Materials: 170gsm matt art paper work well as this stock allows you to write notes, appointments or special dates on the calendar block with an everyday biro or pencil (some offers may be produced on photographic paper which makes this more difficult).

Our Recommendation: 170gsm is the most suitable calliper for calendar leaves.

Printing: Full colour throughout – this will display your photographs to their full potential.

Our Recommendation: Set your camera to its highest setting and supply high resolution images to get the best end result.

Finishing: We will include a dust cover with an appropriate image chosen by you. The calendar will have white metal wires and a hanger along with a stiff backboard to give it a professional finish. It will definitely be a gift worth giving.

Our Top Tip: Choose your photographs wisely and supply only the ones that are sharp and in focus as any that are not will stand out (for all the wrong reasons!!) and may spoil the overall finished look of your calendar.

Elsewhere, Jordan Ogg catches up with novelist and poet Kevin MacNeil, the editor of a new collection of poetry from Scotland’s islands entitled These Islands, We Sing. No less than 20 of the 60 poets featured in the book have some sort of connection with Shetland.

Photographer Chloe Garrick contributes a gallery of pictures of Shetland’s climbing enthusiasts from a recent club outing to Burra and one of its weekly training sessions at Clickimin. The centre-spread gallery is a series of shots of Shetland in winter from Bristol photographer Jerome Lorieau.

There is a two-page feature on In Passing, the new album from singer-songwriter Donald Anderson and his backing band, guitarist Alan McKay, (councillor) Rick Nickerson on bass and drummer Duncan Kidson.

Motor enthusiasts are sure to enjoy the second of two articles about George Jacobson’s slow and painstaking restoration of his 1936 Calthorpe motorcycle, written by Ryan Taylor.

Marsali Taylor delves into the past to find out the history behind reports of apparitions and mysterious happenings at Busta House. Also looking back in time is Douglas C Smith, who examines the enormous improvements in living standards that took place in Shetland over the course of the 20th century.

University student and writer Roseanne Watt answers this month’s 21 questions, while regular columnists including Vaila Wishart, Jimmy Stout, Louise Brewer, Bryan Peterson and Sandy Nelson are all present and correct.

• Available Friday 7th October from all good newsagents, priced £2.30.

Benefits of producing professional menus:

When selling food items it is particularly essential to create a good first impression and give consumers instant confidence in your business and its produce. Having a professionally produced menu plays a part in achieving this and we can design, layout, print and finish your menus to help showcase your products.

Customer:

Various including, The Great Wall, Flames, KGQ Hotels, Sarmile, Phusiam, Da Muckle Café and Scalloway Hotel.

Customer Feedback:

Frequent re-orders for many of the menus provides positive feedback that the formats chosen work well and our clients’ tell us there is a strong and constant demand for their takeaway menus in particular.

Size:

Pagination will depend on the amount of items you wish to include on your menu. Formats vary widely from A5 single sided, 6pp or 8pp 1/3 A4 through to 4pp A4 depending on usage. There are various other format options too which can be discussed and we have a selection of samples at our factory for clients to view.

Our Recommendation:

6pp or 8pp 1/3 A4 menus work well for takeaway menus.

Materials:

From 80gsm coloured uncoated papers through to 300gsm uncoated, silk or matt art boards, we can help you choose which will be most beneficial dependent on our clients’ proposed usage.

Our Recommendation:

For in-house/table menus we suggest using one of our heavier card options.

Printing:

Your options are varied and will depend on usage. Single or two colour suits a variety of formats but full colour can provide that extra eye-catching edge.

Our Recommendation:

If your in-house menus are changing on a regular basis, get us to print a generic “template” with your corporate details and “menu” strap-line. This will allow you to overprint the menu content whilst keeping them looking professional.

Finishing:

We provide the option to gloss or matt laminate menus which creates a protective coating.

Our Top Tip:

If you want to get your menu out to the majority of potential clients within Shetland, call us for information on our “Shetland – Town and Country” distribution option. We insert 9700 copies of your menu into an issue of The Shetland Times newspaper which cover the majority of the islands.

Benefits of producing a Directory:

We have brought together 40 local companies working within Shetland’s fishing and aquaculture industry to create an informative and useful guide.

It provides potential customers requiring information, products or services from within this sector, relevant and up to date contact information alongside short company profiles. It allows them to locate and place orders with the most suitable local Shetland business that can best meet their needs.

Distribution of the directory at trade shows, exhibitions and similar relevant fishing/aquaculture events will help reach our target audience directly and enhance the exchange process.

Customer:

From Associations through to Zetland Marine Services

Customer Feedback:

The project is supported by 40 local companies whose vision of combining forces to promote the industry together was seen as a positive and beneficial step.

Size:

Each company was allocated a half page entry from a choice of six sectors. Multiple entries were also accepted for those who worked in a variety of areas. The directory is a 40pp A5 booklet format.

Our Recommendation:

Choose a format that enhances the content of your project and that still allows “white space” in the layout/design.

Materials:

150gsm gloss art paper worked well and the decision to use this stock was made to ensure the bright and vibrant colours of logos and photographs reproduced as sharp imagery.

Our Recommendation:

Choose the type of paper or board to enhance the content of your project. Gloss, matt, silk or uncoated stock all have benefits depending on the final effect you want to achieve.

Printing:

Full colour throughout allows contributing companies to promote their corporate image and product/service content to its full potential and leaves those reading the directory with a more memorable impression.

Our Recommendation:

Statistics show that people are 85% more likely to buy a product which has been promoted in full colour – the choice is simple!
Source: http://www.agidc.com/pdf/20WAYSCOLOR.pdf

Our Top Tip:

Work together on projects to promote your industry as a whole and reap the following benefits:

Hassle free – we can project manage your next production
Cost effective – production cost is split equally between all businesses
High impact – visually eye-catching and well produced promotional product
New contacts – Reach new and potential customers

We offer direction from design to finishing the printed piece while advising on the do’s and don’ts of preparing a programme for printing. This is a good way to raise funds for your organisation, whilst at the same time create an archive of historical information and images for your particular sport or event. A programme can help raise your organisation’s profile and further increase interest and possibly even participation in your sport.

Customer:

Various including Shetland Junior Inter-county Association, Shetland Interclub, Shetland Football Association and Shetland Volleyball Association.

Customer Feedback:

“We raised funds from the sale of our programme and our own feedback from player and spectators on the design and content was very positive”. KS – S.V.A.

Size:

In general pagination will depend on your budget, the size of your event, the amount of programmes you can sell and of course the final content you decide to publish. With this in mind we produce programmes from 4pp upwards.

Our Recommendation:

A5 portrait booklets work well for sporting events. Let us advise on the most economical number of pages prior to sending you a free quotation.

Materials:

130/150gsm gloss, silk or matt art paper work well and the decision on which one to choose will mainly come down to personal choice rather than any obvious technical benefit.

Our Recommendation:

Choosing one of our recycled ranges of papers will benefit the environment and currently do not add much, if anything in some instances, to the cost of production.

Printing:

Full colour throughout – it provides better value for your potential customers or supporting advertisers and is what the majority of purchasers expect.

Our Recommendation:

Get your job printed using the lithographic process on a commercial printing press for the best reproduction. Avoid poor digitally printed substitutes if possible.

Finishing:

We saddle stitch the majority of A5 booklets and trim to the finished size on our binding line before packaging them ready for delivery.

Our Recommendation:

Produce a “self-covered” programme with the same weight of cover as is on the inside pages. This is the most economical format.

Our Top Tip:

It will help if you initially take time to approach relevant companies that are in some way connected to your sport or event and offer them the opportunity to advertise in your programme.

Set a sensible price per full page or half page advert. This will provide enough revenue to help pay for the production of your programme – the cash raised from the sale of the programme is clear profit for your funds.

Our “Stationery Pack Special Offer” was implemented to give start-up businesses, be they micro, cottage, small or medium in size, access to professionally produced corporate documents at an economic rate.

Costs include creating your artwork and we have extended this offer to include businesses who wish to rebrand or redesign their current stationery too.

Ordering this special offer for your initial stationery order is more cost effective than ordering each of the three individual items separately.

The public face or corporate image of a business is vitally important. Creating a positive first impression can be crucial when trying to win new work or contracts. This pack ensures your business cards, compliment slips and letterheads have a positive visual and tactile impact.

Customer: Various including, Centre for Nordic Studies, Smiths of Lerwick, Lerwick DIY, Shetland Wind Power Ltd, Shetland Maritime Ltd, A. M. Saunders and Co, GB Design and Consultants to name only a few.

Customer Feedback:

We receive re-orders on a regular basis which is a good indication that this popular offer continues to work well and provides good value.

Size:

All items are industry standard sizes with business cards 55mm x 90mm, compliment slips 99mm x 210mm (1/3A4) and letterheads 210mm x 297mm (A4).

Our Recommendation: Stick with industry standard sizes these will allow your business cards to fit in storage wallets and letterheads are suitable for lever arch folder etc.

Materials:

Business cards are on 350gsm matt coated with the compliment slips and letterheads printed on 100gsm bond.

Our Recommendation: There is an option to choose one of our recycled ranges of papers. Let us know if this is your preferred option and we can discuss the possibilities further.

Printing:

There are three packs to choose from to best suit your organisations needs; single colour, two colour or full colour options. Call us or drop along to see which one is most suitable and we can show you samples of previous jobs printed, paper samples and prices for the various options.

Our Recommendation: Your choice will be partly decided by your company logo – ie if it is a line drawing or simple font, single or two colours would suffice – if it is full colour this would be your best option to keep continuity running through your corporate image .

Finishing:

We provide plastic business card storage boxes free of charge with your order and will complete your job to meet pre-arranged delivery dates.

Our Top Tip:

Order this stationery pack and make a great value saving on your initial order.

Shetland, it emerges in an article by Charlie Simpson, had its own tall ship in the form of the Dorjoy. This three-masted schooner was owned by Mrs Anne Robertson, wife of “probably the most dynamic and energetic Shetland businessman of his generation” John W Robertson. He was county convener and Lerwick’s first Guizer Jarl in 1906, and by 1927 he ran a huge conglomerate of marine-related enterprises.

Shetland’s more tragic side of maritime history is recalled in Marsali Taylor’s article about whaling ship Diana, trapped in the Greenland ice in the winter of 1866/7. The story of the loss of many young lives – one Shetlander was only 14 – is summed up by a quote from The Scotsman on the ship’s return: “A ghastly ship, the main deck a charnel house”.

On a more topical note Chris Cope features bands due to perform during the Tall Ships visit, and editor Malachy Tallack writes about controversial cinema and music venue Mareel. Why is so much ire directed against it? He personally does not “do” sport but does not suggest leisure centres should be bombed. Mareel received £6 million of external funding, so is the prejudice simply machismo or xenophobia?

Equally hard-hitting in its support for the venue is music promoter Bryan Peterson’s article. He takes a swipe at the licensing board, and at Lerwick’s nightlife. If you don’t like the Thule followed by Posers (stuck in a hellish musical timewarp) or Flint’s and Da Wheel you’re stuffed, he said. And look out for a Wubbie cartoon from Shetland’s cultural attaché battling to justify Mareel.

Columnist Vaila Wishart writes about trade unions. Although they were right about a failure to have public discussion about cutbacks, they did not complain when more council staff were taken on with a wage bill of £80 million per year. So the magazine has lots of controversy but other features besides. Louis Johnson writes an unusual article in dialect about the work of the hands of Shetland’s oldest person, and the Past in Pictures slot has fascinating information on the premises in da Street around the Grand Hotel. Eileen Brooke-Freeman gives some interesting insights into place names – Hillswick, Gulberwick, Haroldswick and Otterswick were all named after men. There is a dialect article from Mary Blance and a gallery of photographs from local people, plus some mouthwatering puddings from Ann Prior. These recipes – for summer pudding, brown bread ice cream and more – are “cheating”, she said, because they are so easy but still delicious.

With sudoku, wordsearch, crosswords and competitions, Shetland Life, on sale today, has something to offer all ages.

We will advise and take care of all the technical issues involved in publishing a book including fonts, font sizes, formats available, providing ISBN numbers and barcodes etc. Distribution will also be taken into account and The Shetland Times Bookshop povides a perfect outlet for selling this type of product in the shop on Commercial Street, Lerwick, Shetland, or online at www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/shop.

Please contact us to for an initial consultation to discuss your ideas and content.

Customer: Various.

Customer Feedback:

• Shetland – A Love Story – “…a nice book but your input has made it into a lovely book”.
• Hamefarin – From Old Rock to New Life – “I am most grateful to you for the superb quality of your work, and particularly value the helpful service you provide”.
• Bright Pebbles – “…We are delighted with Bright Pebbles. It is a beautifully presented and produced book”.
• The Isle of Vaila – Volume 1 – We are delighted, many thanks for your excellent support and assistance”.

Job Description: Project managed, designed, produced artwork and printed books to client’s rough layout using text supplied as a Microsoft Word file and images supplied as suitable high resolution jpeg or tiff files. Artwork created using InDesign software.

Size/Materials: Pagination and format vary to best suit the authors’ content, and subject matter. The majority of books we print are printed on 130gsm/150gsm quality matt or silk art stock including our recycled paper options.

Design/Prepress: Designed, produced artwork on Apple iMac desktops using InDesign software to client’s rough layout using text supplied as a Microsoft Word file and images supplied as suitable high resolution jpeg or tiff files. Images output to metal plates on Agfa Galileo Computer to Plate (CTP) system. Job proofs were supplied in PDF or hard copy digital format on Xerox Docucolor 250 / 7335 Digital Printers. Pressproofs for colour matching output on Epson StylusPRO 7800 Colour Proofing System.

Printing: Full colour process (and machine sealer on some projects) throughout on our Komori S29 commercial printing press. Sections printed work and turn/tumble and colour profiles for job content sent directly from prepress to Komori’s automated ink management system, facilitating precise colour matching.

Finishing: Job folded on our Stahl folder. Gathered, on our Linotype Trimstitch binding line, perfect bound or sewn with hardback or paperback covers. Covers generally matt or gloss laminated one side on Orion industrial thermal laminator to provide a protective coating.