Looking for ex First Impressions employees urgently

[LosRoques]

First Impressions, the printing company in Las Chafiras, has closed.

We've been using them for all of our printing work since we first opened; the only job we ever did with someone else was a specialist one that they couldn't do for us some 5 years ago.

Problem is, they had all of our artwork. We had no notice of any kind that they were going to close.

I'm posting on the off-chance that someone knows someone that worked there, on the off-chance that they may have a backup somewhere of the artwork.

We did manage to get a message to the owners through a friend, but the response came back pretty sharpish "no, we don't have the artwork".

Any help gratefully appreciated!

Peter.

[KirstyJay]

Gary Hill used to work for them. His username is gazza... I'll message him and point him in the direction of this thread, as I've just found out he's been in Hospiten this week, so it may be a few days before he can reply :)

[slodgedad]

Same here. My boss wanted a rerun and when he found out they were closed he realised they still have all his artwork.

Will be watching this thread with baited breath.

[LosRoques]

Hi Kirsty, thanks for that, much appreciated!

And thanks slodgedad, though I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse. On the one hand I'm glad it's not just us, on the other, I am acutely aware of how much of a pain it is to suddenly lose all of your businesses artwork!

[tonyplumber]

I have some experience with photoshop and I've made menus and flyers for people. If you get really stuck i could possibly help.

[HarryH]

We also have the same problem and are not too happy about having to regenerate artwork when the originals will be sat somewhere on a dusty shelf. Or worse - in the basura. A quick heads up though. Quality four colour printing needs a program like Adobe InDesign or Quark Express in order to produce the separations needed to make the printing plates. A photo manipulation program like Photoshop does not offer the same fine tuning properties.

[TF1]

If you need to replicate work accurately, I suggest contacting Sigue Arte in Las Chafiras.

http://www.sigeart.com/

Just a question; if you payed for a design service, surely you should have asked for copies of the master?

[HarryH]

Normal procedure with printers is that you pay them to design and produce the artwork. It is your property but they keep it on their premises so that it is there for repeat work as required. Generally, should you want to change printers it is simply a question of asking for the artwork. If you commissioned a design house separate from the printer then you would own the artwork anyway. The original contract could always leave ownership with the production team though if you were not careful!

[TF1]

Normal procedure with printers is that you pay them to design and produce the artwork. It is your property but they keep it on their premises so that it is there for repeat work as required. Generally, should you want to change printers it is simply a question of asking for the artwork. If you commissioned a design house separate from the printer then you would own the artwork anyway. The original contract could always leave ownership with the production team though if you were not careful!

A bit like some webmasters; you own the domain, etc, but if you ever want to change to a new server host or if they disappear back to the UK, you can say goodbye to your website.

Lesson for today; get back up copies of any artwork you have paid for!

[TeresaT]

I use Indesign to produce artwork..(business cards, Flyers, book Covers etc) I am happy to help anyone out and try as best to reproduce the work you u have already had done for you)...also happy to send you the back up files etc all at reduced rates...

[9PLUS]

If you need to replicate work accurately, I suggest contacting Sigue Arte in Las Chafiras.

http://www.sigeart.com/

Just a question; if you payed for a design service, surely you should have asked for copies of the master?



The Best..............

[KirstyJay]

Just a question; if you payed for a design service, surely you should have asked for copies of the master?Some people unfortunately do not think about this. :(


Normal procedure with printers is that you pay them to design and produce the artwork. It is your property but they keep it on their premises so that it is there for repeat work as required. Generally, should you want to change printers it is simply a question of asking for the artwork. If you commissioned a design house separate from the printer then you would own the artwork anyway. The original contract could always leave ownership with the production team though if you were not careful!Hence why you should always get your own backup. :)


A bit like some webmasters; you own the domain, etc, but if you ever want to change to a new server host or if they disappear back to the UK, you can say goodbye to your website.Yep, a recent client of mine had this happen with their last designer. It's really not a good way of keeping/attracting clients... word of mouth and all that. Then again, I've also had clients not pay me and take the designs too. There are unscrupulous people everywhere. :(


I have some experience with photoshop and I've made menus and flyers for people. If you get really stuck i could possibly help.So do I ;) I have done many ads for big companies for the newspapers too. Both here and in the UK.... If everyone's touting for business :D

[LosRoques]

First of all, thanks for all the offers of help and contact info. I will post if I do manage to get through to anyone that can help. As for re-creating, we can do this ourselves but the design is quite complex and what I'd really like is the originals with the vector/layer information. This will allow us to do other things more easily in the future.


We also have the same problem and are not too happy about having to regenerate artwork when the originals will be sat somewhere on a dusty shelf. Or worse - in the basura.

I wonder how many people are going to be affected by this?


If you need to replicate work accurately, I suggest contacting Sigue Arte in Las Chafiras.

http://www.sigeart.com/


Thanks for the suggestion of Sigue Arte.



Just a question; if you payed for a design service, surely you should have asked for copies of the master?

and


Normal procedure with printers is that you pay them to design and produce the artwork. It is your property but they keep it on their premises so that it is there for repeat work as required. Generally, should you want to change printers it is simply a question of asking for the artwork. If you commissioned a design house separate from the printer then you would own the artwork anyway. The original contract could always leave ownership with the production team though if you were not careful!

We'd been asking for the originals for some time as we wanted to work on some new publicity material - meaning more work for them. If they'd given us the artwork they could have had another couple of jobs in september/october last year. We also wanted the design for use on other promotional items that they didn't produce (bags, pens etc.). But they were dragging their heels in giving it to us, seems now we know why!

Which is a shame, because if they had given it to us they could have had that print job that we're now going to have to find someone else to do, as well as the 2 re-run jobs that we need done in the next couple of weeks.

It's becoming apparent that they've screwed everyone that didn't have artwork from them this way. It seems vindictive of them to go down in the way they have and take all the artwork with them, makes you wonder what kind of people they are.

It's also somewhat stupid; if it was me, I'd have let everyone know what was going to happen and then offered all artwork on a stick with a media/handling fee of 50€ a time or some such. They could have made a bit more money before closing.

Ho hum.

[casabonny]

Thier closing has been in the offing for some time now , so this does not really surprise me. However perhaps a visit to the local adjacent to first impressions but actually the same building ,they may be able to provide a contact number for the owners the Clark's who as far as I am aware are still on the island, have property where so they may help for a fee! Good luck everyone

[gazza]

It is correct that 1st impressions has closed its doors on 18th Dec 2012, i and 4 other employees were given notice on the morning of the closure, although we had prior suspicions, but yes only a mornings notice. All paper work was in order for us to approach the social, but none of us received any redundancy, all serving a minimum of 6 years some up to 12, so amounted to a lot of money for each individual ! I have been in touch with Los Roques and trying to help them. I am now set up in print myself so if i can help any businesses out there please see my signature below, i do NOT have access to any artwork held by 1st impressions, although ALL work is backed up and held by my ex boss

[TF1]

It is correct that 1st impressions has closed its doors on 18th Dec 2012, i and 4 other employees were given notice on the morning of the closure, although we had prior suspicions, but yes only a mornings notice. All paper work was in order for us to approach the social, but none of us received any redundancy, all serving a minimum of 6 years some up to 12, so amounted to a lot of money for each individual ! I have been in touch with Los Roques and trying to help them. I am now set up in print myself so if i can help any businesses out there please see my signature below, i do NOT have access to any artwork held by 1st impressions, although ALL work is backed up and held by my ex boss

OK, so if any of their ex-clients has an invoice + contract which contains a fee for artwork or design, then that artwork is the property of the client. If the ex-company administrator is holding this artwork which belongs to a client, that administrator can be denounced for theft. It sounds like these are not fair people by the way they treated their staff and clients, so perhaps they need a reminder that there are laws in place within Spain and they cannot just do what they please.

[KirstyJay]

OK, so if any of their ex-clients has an invoice + contract which contains a fee for artwork or design, then that artwork is the property of the client. If the ex-company administrator is holding this artwork which belongs to a client, that administrator can be denounced for theft. It sounds like these are not fair people by the way they treated their staff and clients, so perhaps they need a reminder that there are laws in place within Spain and they cannot just do what they please.Sounds like good advice to me :)

[atlantico]

one question to be asked here is, did anyone pay for the artwork itself? A lot of printers offer it free or include it in the first order, making it their property not the clients. I'd assume that the owner may be keeping the artwork to 'sell on' to another printing company so that they'd obtain hundreds of new clients. Whats the going rate for approx 100 new customers these days ?

[TF1]

one question to be asked here is, did anyone pay for the artwork itself? A lot of printers offer it free or include it in the first order, making it their property not the clients. I'd assume that the owner may be keeping the artwork to 'sell on' to another printing company so that they'd obtain hundreds of new clients. Whats the going rate for approx 100 new customers these days ?

This can only be determined case by case. For example; if a printing company used an existing logo from a client within their artwork, then this work could never belong to that printing company because it would remain the copyright of the client or its original designer, so could not be sold on or distributed without seeking permission. Also, the contract between the printing company and the client should state this, although many such contracts are invalid because the contract content is contrary to mercantile law.
I've dealt with several global organizations relating to copyright of audiovisual material, and have had to study this sector of relative Spanish law extensively. In a nutshell, the administrators of FI need to offer any artwork to its legal owners or face fines from the juzgado mercantil which can average 75,000€ per case.

[deepdivejunkie]

OK, so if any of their ex-clients has an invoice + contract which contains a fee for artwork or design, then that artwork is the property of the client. If the ex-company administrator is holding this artwork which belongs to a client, that administrator can be denounced for theft. It sounds like these are not fair people by the way they treated their staff and clients, so perhaps they need a reminder that there are laws in place within Spain and they cannot just do what they please.

I have spoken to an ex employee of 1st Impressions that I know, and have been told that the masters are not the property of the client.

[redarrow]

We also have the same problem and are not too happy about having to regenerate artwork when the originals will be sat somewhere on a dusty shelf. Or worse - in the basura. A quick heads up though. Quality four colour printing needs a program like Adobe InDesign or Quark Express in order to produce the separations needed to make the printing plates. A photo manipulation program like Photoshop does not offer the same fine tuning properties.

The problem you may have is the native format of the work. Most printers use Mac based software, although the most common programmes are available in PC format as well. Even if you get hold of the files, there is a chance they are of no use to you. There may be other problems like fonts etc as well. You're right about Photoshop. It is there for photo manipulation and not graphic design. Most Photoshop work ends up being placed in Quark or Indesign.

[TIS]

Normal procedure with printers is that you pay them to design and produce the artwork. It is your property but they keep it on their premises so that it is there for repeat work as required. Generally, should you want to change printers it is simply a question of asking for the artwork. If you commissioned a design house separate from the printer then you would own the artwork anyway. The original contract could always leave ownership with the production team though if you were not careful!
I would agree, except you need to ask for the copy artwork when you first do it otherwise it is forgotten and then too late, like now.

[HarryH]

I would agree, except you need to ask for the copy artwork when you first do it otherwise it is forgotten and then too late, like now.

Fine, but a lot of printers with in house repro would price the artwork artificially high to persuade you to leave it in their custody. The majority of customers were even less savvy about the print industry than they may be now and would be quite easily talked into leaving it when with the originators when they discussed the ease of re-ordering later and guaranteed safe keeping. We did not like this "blackmail" so set up a Mac department with Aldus PageMaker and produced our own artwork. We then got quotations for printing with artwork specified separately (which was normal anyway) and then provided our own artwork once they had reduced their quotation. Nowadays I use the PageMaker successor, InDesign. Oh, and no, I am not looking for business thankyou! All of which does not really help those whose artwork is somewhere in a big black void at First Impressions!

[slodgedad]

Fine, but a lot of printers with in house repro would price the artwork artificially high to persuade you to leave it in their custody. The majority of customers were even less savvy about the print industry than they may be now and would be quite easily talked into leaving it when with the originators when they discussed the ease of re-ordering later and guaranteed safe keeping. We did not like this "blackmail" so set up a Mac department with Aldus PageMaker and produced our own artwork. We then got quotations for printing with artwork specified separately (which was normal anyway) and then provided our own artwork once they had reduced their quotation. Nowadays I use the PageMaker successor, InDesign. Oh, and no, I am not looking for business thankyou! All of which does not really help those whose artwork is somewhere in a big black void at First Impressions!

All I can say is that this thread is definitely a learning curve.

My boss has had to go elsewhere and paid again but this time he has asked for a copy of the artwork he has paid for.

All in all a useful thread, as it has reminded people of something they never considered.