3 Great Online Tools Merging Design & Technology
We’re big fans of the beautiful things in life. But, we’re also fans of the super efficient.
Thus, we want to highlight three online services Blurb, Pingg and GreetQ, all of which provide services that are highly effective and create beautiful products that we appreciate.
Blurb
Blurb is an emerging player in the photo book space. But, it is really so much more. It’s a publishing service. We have used the service and the technology is incredibly intuitive to use. But, the quality of the lovely photo books is what really blows the mind. Even the most persnickety will be impressed by the paper quality and binding options. (You know when photographers make this printing service their go-to one, you have made the right choice.)
We also love that you can put your photo books for sale. So, if extended family members want a copy you can give them access to buy their own copy without you having to shell out the bucks to do it. Perfect for photo books of family reunions and such.
And the pricing? Very reasonable for the high quality of the product. Democratization of publishing! We love it.
Pingg
Finally! Online invitations go beautiful. We hope you have heard of Pingg. If not, listen to us. There is no reason ever to use Evite again.
Seriously. Go take a look at the gorgeous options of designs available for FREE. Yes, FREE, through Pingg. But, the goodness doesn’t stop there.
The technology behind the service is amazing allowing you not only to interact personally with your invitees, but also post to Facebook and Twitter and complement (for an additional fee) your online invites with mailed postcards.
We have used this service several times and every time we ask ourselves can we do this or that?, and we discover that indeed we can. It is the perfect online invitation service.
GreetQ
We’ve written about GreetQ before. GreetQ allows you to personalize and schedule paper greeting cards to be mailed to all your friends and family. It’s like Netflix for greeting cards.
We love GreetQ because the technology makes your life easier and the card options rival any that you would find at a local card store. In one afternoon you can write an entire year’s worth of birthday cards and schedule that they be sent out only during the recipient’s birthday week. Two weeks before the card is sent, an email is sent to you reminding you that the card is scheduled to be mailed and of your message, which you can then edit if you choose.
The card options are plentiful and very artistic (though they lean on the feminine side) but they are not value oriented. GreetQ is definitely a splurge item in this economy. However, for us it is worth paying the price because forgetting to send a birthday card to a dear, albeit, extended family member on his/ her birthday is personally too-dear a cost for us to pay emotionally. Issues. We’ve got ’em.
