The Wayback Machine saved the website, but not the place. These photographs did — the stone building on
the corner, the blue steel roof, the yellow signs in every window, the presses being washed down after a
run, and the little dog who supervised all of it. Click any photo to enlarge.
Out front
The storefront and the signs — “Are You Getting The Best Value?”
The pole sign out front: “Ashwood Printing · Call 725-6000 · Visit Us Online.”“Printing — Are You Getting The Best Value? Compare Before You Order.”The sidewalk A-frame: “Are You Getting The Best Value On Your Printing? — 725-6000.”Stone, blue steel roof, and a yard full of signs.Up close — “Visual Communication Provider.”The front entrance — the corner building ran 542–546 3rd Street (and wrapped around to 304 Appleton).The side door.
The shop & the presses
Offset, digital, bindery and finishing — all under one roof.
On the console: JAM OFF · FEED · PUMP · SPEED · SHEET COUNT · STOP.The A.B. Dick offset press, opened up for a wash.The same press, from the other side.Hands in the works — setting up a run.The full-color digital machine — short-run color, fast.The folder, in the finishing room.Bindery and finishing. “We sell LabelBlank labels.”Cutter, plates, and color charts.Pre-press and platemaking.A look across the floor.The back office.Before the equipment moved in.
The crew
The people who ran the place.
Becky, in the Ashwood Printing polo.Karen, at the front desk.Andy — Jamie's brother.Andy, holding court by the Canon.
The mascot — Akiva
Every print shop needs one. His name was Akiva — and he rode the hand
truck. (The fluffy pup at the end is Vasco — Akiva's little brother, per Karen.)
Akiva's own website →
Akiva — chief of quality control.Quality control, USPS division.Riding the hand truck.Keeping watch at the top of the stairs.Off the clock.Vasco, as a pup.
Odds & ends
The roadmap on the wall, a little shop humor, and the man who started it.
The product roadmap in dry-erase: virtual print driver, online proofing, “Whisper Print,” a Business Resource Center…“Printer Parking Only — Violators Will Be Offset.”Jamie Dolan moving in — with a four-legged supervisor riding shotgun.The Ashwood, Inc. letterhead — the ivy wordmark.
From the sample drawer
Actual printed work — one of our own direct-mail postcards, front and back. (More on the Our Work page.)
Our direct-mail postcard, front: "We'll turn your rough idea into a custom printed masterpiece."The back — the easy-as-1-2-3-4-5 pitch, the ivy logo, and "Call Us Today."
Moving pictures
Two short clips off an old phone — grainy, but that's Akiva.
Coming in the side door from the parking lot — “let's see how quickly we're greeted” — and getting happily mauled by the dogs.Akiva test-driving a Nokia rigged to his harness — on speakerphone with Karen. (Verdict: the phone survived, “barely scratched.”)
est. 2003 · Menasha, WI
