Web

Over a year ago we ditched our ecommerce platform. You can read about that decision here, but let’s just say Woo wasn’t cutting it. We promised that if we found a solution that fit our business, we would implement it. Well, that time has come. Our new system has been created and fine-tuned for the custom printing business.

In the coming days we’ll be launching a new system. [update: it’s live at shop.kkpdc.com] Once implemented there will be 3 basic options for getting print projects into production with us:

1. Design your own products — business cards, cards + invitations, t-shirts, etc. — using our new online design tool (either from a template or from scratch, depending on the project)
2. Upload camera-ready art, properly sized and with 0.125″ bleed and trim areas if applicable
3. Work with one of our in-house graphics pros to get your layout perfect

Obviously if you elect to use 1 or 2 above, you will save money. And in doing so you’ll free us up to work with customers who need more hands-on help.

We’re looking forward to ironing out the process with you all!

We’ve upgraded our support system to include a better chat platform as well as a full-featured Q&A knowledgebase. Click the icon in the lower right corner to contact us. If we are available to chat, you can get an immediate answer to your inquiry. For you self-help folks, there is also an interactive FAQ. You can search and find answers to common questions using keywords and categories through the dialog box or you can find all of the support content here.

We’ll be adding more content as the questions come in. Hope it is helpful to you!

After a bit of research we decided that Pinterest would be a good fit for showing off some of the work we do.

The plan is to take photos of various projects and post them on our “Recent Projects” board. Some will be jobs designed by us, others will be designed elsewhere but printed here. The idea is to give some visuals on the vast array of projects we are able to complete right here in our studio in Cady’s Alley.

Recent Projects Board

Check it out!

Well, we finally ditched our e-commerce platform. After several years of growth in transactions conducted entirely through our website, we analyzed the most important issues surrounding web-to-print with our business and decided to make a change.

What we found is that web-to-print brings the potential to produce weak customer satisfaction numbers. Poorly designed art, the wrong colors, incorrect materials … basically bad customer choices. It wasn’t that our customers were unhappy with their projects. It was that we weren’t able to help improve them. They could have been better. The e-commerce process essentially took our staff OUT of the design/print process, and this impacted overall job quality enough for us to make this change.

So for now we’re going to wait and see what happens with e-commerce and web-to-print. Until someone comes up with a better system — a system that incorporates all the paper stocks, weights and finishes that we carry; one that properly prices design time, custom sizes, unique finishing requirements, etc.; and one that helps each customer choose the right materials and configuration for their specific needs — we’re going back to assisting each customer directly with their unique projects. Yes… interaction and collaboration has beaten out automation, for now.

We can still do all the back-and-forth online — requests/files/inquiries can be sent to info@kkpdc.com or you can even open a chat session to start the process — but to get a project finished here you’ll have to deal with us humans for the foreseeable future. Of course you can pay online but you’re stuck with getting personalized service!

Your odds of creating a great project actually just went way up. Sorry!

It isn’t easy moving a business. Ours was in the same Tenleytown location for 25+ years, so as you might imagine, we had gathered many things that either had to be organized, packed and moved, or packaged and disposed of. Plus, since we’re in the printing business, those things that were definitely coming with us — printing presses, finishing equipment, materials and technology — were a bit on the “big” side.

But somehow we did it. The move was certainly tiring and at times frustrating, and there were some injuries! But we were able to keep our business operating throughout the transition from Tenley to Georgetown, during which time we continued to pump out on-time jobs. There was some juggling, of course, but our clients depended on us to finish jobs as promised regardless of what was going on in our world. In some cases we had to print portions of projects in Georgetown, cut them in Tenley, then score and fold them in Georgetown… and then deliver these jobs throughout the Metro area. Yes, all on the same day. When something needs to get done by a certain date and time, our team just does what it takes to make it happen.

We’ve completed the physical move but there are still a lot of things to organize and configure in Georgetown. And after 10 days operating in our new space, a few common issues have arisen that are worth mentioning here.

Finding our Shop

Some customers have had a hard time trying to find us. Since we are in a new place, that’s understandable. But, please trust me… our shop is really easy to find. Even if you don’t know where Cady’s Alley is, if you know where Key Bridge is you can easily find us. 34th Street is the last left turn before Key Bridge as you head West on M Street on your way out of Georgetown. Plus, if you take 34th Street south from anywhere (such as from Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park), if you keep heading south on 34th you’ll eventually end up at our front door. Cross M Street as you go south and within a half block, you’ve arrived.

Parking

When you do end up at our front door, you’ll see that we have 2 reserved parking spaces in the pad right out in front of our shop. It’s actually easier to park at our shop in Georgetown than in Tenley, with what became an UBER parking lot in the courtyard at 4000 Wisconsin. Plus, there are no time restrictions at our new place. Come and stay as long as you like! We’ll have a pot of coffee and snacks ready for you.

Unfortunately, some of our customers had trouble trying to find us and park in Georgetown. Hopefully they’ll read this post and decide to give it another try.

Service

Nothing about our service has changed. All of our staff and all of our equipment made the move with us, so we can handle everything in Georgetown that we handled in Tenley. We are still the only full-service, boutique graphic design and print shop in DC that does everything in-house, fast. Plus, we are happy to deliver — FOR FREE — to our clients in Tenley, Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Glover Park, AU Park, Palisades, Friendship Heights, etc. who used to be very close to us and either can’t or don’t want to come see us in Georgetown. We know you’ll come around eventually!

Signage

In May 2015, we earned the right (after being a loyal Kwik Kopy Printing franchise for 25 years) to re-brand ourselves as “KKP”, so that’s what you’ll see on the signs here as well as in our collateral and our advertising. We’re still part of the Kwik Kopy Printing franchise network, but we prefer KKP because it doesn’t limit the impression of what we do or are capable of. You can call us whatever you like, just please continue to call! We appreciate your business!

Some customers complained that they weren’t notified about our move. And although we did alert our many mailing list members about our impending move back in October, we did avoid conducting any outreach that might be considered SPAM because, quite frankly, that is a problem WE are sick of dealing with. To turn around and do that to our customers didn’t make sense, as we figured word would travel soon enough — and many of you will find a postcard or other hardcopy notice in your mailbox.

Oh, one final note. We’re in the midst of a big equipment upgrade. On December 21^st, a fabulous new press plus a new cutter and other neat equipment will be delivered to Georgetown, and they’ll be coming into our second floor production center VIA CRANE, through a window! They’ll need to close Cady’s Alley for a few hours for this.

If you’re in the area, it might be worth a visit just to see that happen. Please say “hello” if you do come.

Hope to see you, and to continue serving your needs.