Bringing the Corps’ message to the Windy City, U.S. Marines swept into Chicago in mid-May for the first-ever Marine Week, a citywide series of events designed to better acquaint Chicagoans with the Corps. Our client, the Marine Corps League, partnered with the Corps to plan and carry out the demonstrations, speeches, concerts and receptions, and the story of Marine Week makes the cover of the July-August issue of Semper Fi, the League’s member magazine produced by Hammock Inc.
Posted on June 26, 2009 in Magazines, Print, by Hammock Inc.
Everyone has a spine. Sure it’s not a part of the body we tend to think about or receive compliments on (how hard would you laugh if someone said, “My what a lovely spine you have …”), but it holds everything together with subtle precision. The same is true of a magazine spine. It’s probably the last thing you notice when you pick up your favorite publication, but without it you wouldn’t even want to try to sift through the piles of pages.
There are two types of binding for magazines: perfect binding and saddle stitch, otherwise known as wire-sewn. In a perfect bound magazine, printed sections lie on top of each other, with the backs of the sections held together with a thermally activated adhesive. In a saddle-stitched magazine, the sections are stitched inside of each other and held together with wire staples.
So how do you pick the right binding style for your publication?
Hey, I’m looking for someone who eats hot dogs for breakfast and whose last name starts with a C. Anyone out there fit that description? Anyone out there know someone who fits that description?
OK, so that’s a strange example, but I was just trying to demonstrate one of the best uses of social media and Web 2.0—crowdsourcing. In very basic terms, crowdsourcing means leveraging your audience to find solutions to your problems—or, in my case, answers to very random questions.
If you walk around our offices here at Hammock Inc., you’ll find that most of us Hammockites have cherished desk items that have been with us almost as long as we’ve been working here. While some of us like to keep a fun reminder of our favorite childhood toy in our line of sight, others need some sort of stress reliever within arm’s reach at all times. And whether we choose to display our favorite cartoon, an artifact from our backyard or a gift from a parent, one thing is certain: None of our desks are bare. Here’s a fun slideshow of Hammock’s favorite desk toys.
Posted on June 23, 2009 in Editorial, by Bill Hudgins
Judging from the hits, our post last year on creating style guides filled a need. If you’re just starting this process, or perhaps dusting off your current guide and thinking of remodeling, we thought we’d offer some tips on things you simply must have in your style guide. Typically, these are items that raise the most questions from readers or, if you are a custom publisher, from your clients: