Steven Brown and David Jackson, directors of High Wycombe's Your Print Solution, have a clear viewpoint when it comes to pricing up and producing a print job and they're not afraid to share it with their customers.

"We have a firm belief that a job done well should command a fair price. We don't sell on price and never will," says managing director Brown.

The issue of cost or, more to the point, other companies selling at below cost, is an issue that grates with Brown.

"Lots of people are doing it and to a degree, I understand why," he admits. "But once you are there, it is a spiral that is hard to get out of. We have people come to us asking if we will do a job for ‘this' price because someone else does. I tell them to bite the other company's hands off, as there's a good chance that a company offering such low prices won't be around to offer them again in a few months."

Strong minded
As this demonstrates, the 10-staff company is firm in its beliefs and goals, even under the financial pressure of the recession. It believes technology and investment are the key to growing the business.

"We're both young and we don't want to sell. We put an awful lot of the money we make straight back into the business," says Brown.

The journey started back in 2003, when David Jackson was artworking for a local print company from his bedroom.
"I had a couple of Macs and an Epson 9600, working in the evenings and at weekends calling in various friends and mac operators that would help me out," says Jackson.

The following year Jackson set up Jackson Media Services and secured some pre-press work from the same printer for which he was already doing the artwork. With that came the investment in a Creo B1 trendsetter and processor before setting up in a 183m2 unit in High Wycombe.

Jackson ended his relationship with the local print company in June 2004. Two years later, he found a new partner in the form of college friend Brown, with whom he set up Your Print Solution to run alongside Jackson Media Services. The partnership's maiden digital investment in an Indigo Press r1000 took Jackson's small premises to bursting point.

"The unit was not big enough for all the machines," says Jackson, "so as mad as it may seem, we put the plate processor in my garage two miles away and ran them up in a plate bag to be processed. We needed bigger premises."

A move to 1,219m2 estate in West Wycombe followed, as  did a trade-in of its r1000 for an Indigo 3500.

In 2010, the partnership is still going strong, but now trades solely under the name of Your Print Solution following a merger of the two companies. And the strong beliefs remain at the company's heart.

"Everyone expects you to print to a high quality now," says Brown. "I am not afraid to throw away a job if I think it is sub-standard. It's just not worth letting the customer, or ourselves, down by providing them with a lower-quality job. You should be doing high-quality print regardless, so now you differentiate by embracing technology around print."

For Brown, this means web-to-print (W2P) through its Press-sense iWay-powered software. The company has recently signed up a national restaurant chain to the system for its personalised menus that can be ordered for each individual outlet. Brown says this type of arrangement will soon be the norm and that W2P will "get bigger over time".

Although a commercial printer at its heart, Brown is comfortable with other labels - as long as at the firm's core remains a commitment to high-quality print.

"A lot of people tell us we are a marketing company that prints and I suppose we are," he admits. "But that should not mean that print is a by-product. It is so important and it should be done right."

Your Print Solution
Staff 10
Based High Wycombe
Directors Steven Brown and David Jackson
Kit HP Indigo 3500, in-house finishing and platemaking