This week Ivor Solution signage was taken down from their Islington London N7 printing plant and in its place Print Evolved was born. A striking new brand reflects a company that continues to set the pace in web to print solutions and fulfilment and which has seen its turnover rise from £4.3m in 2014 to £5.1m last year with ambitious plans to double output by 2020 .

Next week Print Evolved will launch a bright and accessible new web site to match the new look which will allow its primarily corporate customers, 75% in print management and office supplies, easy access to print services.

Many of its clients use the Print Evolved web to print solution Cognitu, licensing it and creating bespoke portals that allow their customers to order print which is then fulfilled by the Islington plant, or their chosen print output supplier.

Spencer Slee, managing director of the newly branded Print Evolved, explains: “We had outgrown our identity. We remain a technology-driven company which is innovative, creative and responsive. We enable print management companies, dealers and resellers to offer an easy to use web to print portal and fulfil those orders with digital, wide format, Direct Imaging and litho technology as well as extensive finishing including foiling, embossing and thermography. “

The background graphic to the new logo is a series of interlocking rectangular patterns combining low key black and grey with more striking green and blue. This reflects the company’s combination of old and new technology, platens to latest generation digital printing, but also how it uses strong teamwork and lean working practices closely combined to maximise efficiency. Work is tracked through a barcoding system, each job bundled together into one tray, and the production flow measured to ensure speedy turnarounds are achieved and deadlines met.

The word print in the new logo is embraced by angled brackets (>and <), widely used on the Internet (in html coding) and the Replica fount is frequently used on screen. Print Evolved embraces the Internet, regarding it as a tool and not a threat to print.

Ivor Jacobs, who founded the company and who remains as a consultant, was an early adopter of the Internet and led the creation of the Cognitu software (originally known as CardCorp). Spencer Slee joined the Limited company two years ago and, as managing director, will lead the company into the next stage of development. His background in office supplies (he joined from Staples) brought a fresh pair of eyes to the printing operation.

“This company has been the best kept secret in print for 20 years. Now it is time to evolve and build on our heritage by further harnessing technology and the multi-media environment to offer even more printing services to the modern business and print user,” says Mr Slee.

April 2016

For further information please contact

Diana Thompson, Plus Point PR Ltd, on 01494-817178

Or

Spencer Slee, Print Evolved Ltd, on 020 7566 5070 or 07976 721239.

A software developer and printer has created a print academy for print sales training courses for people and groups including trade associations.

The academy in Islington, London, opened its doors last month and targets people involved in print but who are often not from the industry or those who have a good print background but lack technical expertise.

Ivor Solution founder and projects director Ivor Jacobs said: “We are a hybrid business, producing our own software and marrying it to print. In the main our customers are trade: resellers of print, print managers and stationery companies. Many are not geared up to understand the ramifications of printing and software. Young people don’t always understand the difference between a digital, litho and a platen press or that a duplex job on a litho has different deadline implications to 100 A4 sheets on digital kit.”

Jacobs said clients could also use the academy to hold sales meetings with their customers, who in turn could learn about Ivor Solution.

Managing director Spencer Slee said: “Many customers lean on us to support them, which we happily do. But that has been in an unstructured manner, helping out as required. However, this is quite costly and ineffective. A better way is for us to provide them with the tools to give them the confidence to do it themselves.”

Slee added: “This is especially true with the introduction of Ivor Solution’s new Resellers Gateway website for print ordering. Customers opting to take on the Gateway and introduce it to their clients will be encouraged to attend seminars on the changes print can now be priced, designed, ordered and administered.”

The typical office-products dealer, for example, was fast becoming the destination for customers’ printing needs in addition to general office consumables, he said.

“We are looking at ways to support this activity with minimal investment. This can be by training their existing customer service and selling teams, supporting them throughout the sales cycle. An established office products dealer can win an additional 15%-20% revenue from its existing customers without increasing its overhead using our Reseller Gateway.”

Designers are another category with different training needs; for example they may have carried out a rebrand for a client and come to this company for the initial print, he said.

“We ask them if they are missing an after-sales opportunity” explained Slee. “We provide online templates through a white-labelled website that the designer can give their client, to say ‘here is not only your design, but a method to protect the integrity of it going forward and the understanding how to have the system integrated’.”

The print academy occupies 100sqm close to London’s King’s Cross, at the side of the Ivor Solution premises.

The company has created several modules divided into awareness and training and is creating collateral and samples for the academy to give the delegates.

“Print is very hard to bring to life, so the training room will be very much a product showroom. It isn’t just really nice works of art we want to capture, we want to show all types of print.”

On 1 June 2015 Ivor Solution Ltd acquired the trade and assets of Edwin Buckley & Co Ltd in a transaction designed to form a stronger, broader business able to provide clients of both companies with an enhanced range of services whilst continuing to deliver great customer satisfaction and high quality products.

Spencer Slee, the Managing Director of Ivor Solution, commented,We are delighted to have completed this acquisition and welcome Edwin and his team to our offices. We are experiencing an increase in demand for more traditional printing processes where clients are looking to differentiate themselves from the competition and enhance their branding, Edwin Buckley & Co have long history in delivering this more bespoke service and we are very excited to be combining this proposition to our existing business model, driven by Cognitu our cloud based web2print solution.

Edwin Buckley added, In this our 50th year in business we have taken the decision to look to the future by merging with a company well known in the print industry as being advanced in its use of technology and having the latest print facilities. This is great news for all of our stakeholders allowing us to build on the Edwin Buckley & Company brand with the synergies from the combined skillset and improved facilities of our new, modern premises in Hornsey Street, Islington.

The merged companies will hold ISO9001/ISO14001, BPIF, IPIA and IPN membership. Their management structure will be broader and better equipped to deliver continual improvement to all areas of the business.

About Ivor Solution Ltd

Ivor Solution Ltd, a pioneer in the field of web to print, was established in 1997 to exploit the web based opportunities within the printing industry, bringing digital technologies together to establish an order to fulfilment workflow through a cloud based solution. Since 2007 Ivor Solution supplemented its software expertise with print production facilities presenting a unique hybrid solution to give customers and clients total control over the process from order placed on the web to receipt. In 2010 it rebranded its Web2Print software solution as Cognitu. Ivor Solution now processes over 1,000 orders every day, with an average order value of £45.00 and a standard three day turnaround, and has become a key partner to its trade clients in the office supplies and print management sectors.

About Edwin Buckley & Co Ltd

Edwin Buckley founded the company in 1965 to deliver quality printing with a quality service. The company had cool beginnings printing record sleeves for the music industry, but their reliability and quality service soon spread and opened up opportunities across the City. It is still a family run business that is as passionate about delivering what clients need today as when they started. Edwin Buckley & Co Ltd combine first class design services, modern and traditional printing technologies, warehousing and print management systems with a highly experienced, skilled and friendly team.