When architects design beautiful spaces, their buildings stand as a testament to their abilities. And yet, architectural firms must use other vectors to grow their presence, market their abilities, and increase their standing among the competition. With the economic recovery uncertain, architects need to not only expand their marketing reach, but also focus on ways to recover costs through streamlining business processes. Fortunately, one piece of technology can help savvy architectural firms achieve all of these objectives and more — the wide format printer.
Leveraging Wide Format Printing for Your Architectural Firm
The face of architectural work has been forever altered by the recent coronavirus pandemic. Besides economic downturns, work slowdowns, and labor and supply issues, architectural firms must also adjust to a new, hybrid way of conducting business. The three most important trends that will determine how well your agency will adapt to these changes include immersive workspaces, flexibility, and the ability to collaborate in real time. One cost effective way to touch on all three of these is with the use of an in-house wide format printer.
Flexibility
Bringing the task of printing plans and drawings in-house brings a high level of flexibility to your office work environment, one of the key trends that currently define ongoing business success for architectural firms. For example, an in-house printer provides your team the ability to print plan sets and drawings on demand, without having to wait in a queue at a print shop. Changes and modifications can be made on the fly and new sets printed without the expense of costly change orders or the possibility that the wrong set will be printed in error. In the event a set is printed erroneously, the mistake can be easily fixed in-house, and a corrected set generated immediately.
Real-Time Collaboration
With an in-house printer, collaboration with other team members is easy — and visual. Plans, drawings, and brainstormed visuals can be generated in brilliant color on many media and in a wide range of sizes. As changes and design tweaks are easy to accomplish when your printer is in-house, a wide format device can help teams more fully realize a design’s potential — or allow for corrections to be made in advance of project performance.
The ability to collaborate is a key advantage, especially when it comes to marketing efforts. Using an in-house wide format printer allows you to create a variety of marketing collateral — from brochures and flyers to on-site project signage that can help you make a strong impression at project locales. Brand recognition can be further strengthened by permanent signage in your own offices, with welcoming exterior signs, directional signage inside, or even a gallery of completed project photos or drawings that act as both decoration and marketing.
Immersive Environment
The architectural field is moving to virtual and augmented reality to provide design and visualization advantages. This new technology allows clients and designers to “see” how a design will look with specific lighting choices, with times of day, or with a variety of surfaces and interior choices. However, if you are working with clients with low-tech resources, you will need another way to provide your 3D designs for their perusal or approval. A wide format printer can act as an aide to other technologies such as VR or AR by printing fully realized designs in stunning color and incredible detail. Printed screen shots of a VR tour can be a help for those clients that have difficulty making a decision among designs, giving them the time they need to make a decision they will be comfortable with in the long term and adding value to your services.
Blue Technologies Has Wide Format Printers to Help You Take Control of Your Plans and Drawings
Bringing your wide-format printing needs in-house can help you shorten turnaround times of designs, bring your clients added value, bolster your marketing efforts, and reduce waste and inefficiencies for a lower overall cost. At Blue Technologies, we have curated the best wide-format printers from leaders in the print and imaging industry, bringing you an array of choices that can match both your needs and your budget.
Take control of your projects, your business, and your success. Contact a Blue Technologies consultant and learn how our selection of wide format printers can bring a world of versatility, flexibility, and advantage to your architectural firm today.