Today we’d like to introduce you to Amie Cooper.
Hi Amie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I started the Actualizers in 1987 believing that there needed to be a better liaison between “Creatives and Creators”.
In art school in the 70s, I learned more about creating art and design but if I wanted to reproduce it, I was at a loss.
When graphic designer, book designer, photographer, or fine artist is involved in the reproduction of their concepts or art for a publication or a retail package, they need to translate their ideas and sensibilities to printers and manufacturers. To achieve the best quality reproduction and keep the final products as similar as possible to the original art, I believed there should be an advocate working on behalf of the Creatives to translate their needs, find the right teams to produce their work, and manage the production process for them. From 1979 until 1987, I worked for two paper merchants, for a bindery, and for a printing plant to gain as much technical skill as possible to feel confident that I could take on this role. By October of 1987, I felt I was ready to open my own firm, the Actualizers, and begin providing Creatives a service to manage the production of their projects.
As technical systems change and advance, I continue to learn, grow, and offer even more to my clients. I communicate the essence of photographs, illustrations, sculpture, and design to printers and manufacturers to facilitate the transition from original art and design to reproduction in books, on packaging, and all printed matter.
I love brainstorming with marketing strategists and conceptual teams in their developmental stages to really understand what their goals are and add potential structural and graphic solutions to their projects.
Having clients as diverse as Johnson & Johnson, Girl Scouts of the USA, Tiffany & Co., and both museums and galleries around the country, I have had the honor to work with some of the most creative people in our industry and aid them in producing their phenomenal projects, art books, branding materials, and packaging.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have been lucky enough to have made many strong relationships with both clients and manufacturers over the years. Despite the difficulties in the world, difficulty with getting printing papers, cost increases across the board, and shipping slowdowns that have affected all of us, I have been able to keep our small company afloat and fulfill the needs of our clients.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We have become known for three things;
- Ability to listen and communicate our client’s needs
- Expert at matching the color of original art
- Managing the production of a project from conception to delivery
My mother was a social worker and my father was an illustrator. I have a piece of both of them inside me and think of myself as a Graphic Arts Social Worker. Without the ability to listen, create solutions, and have follow-through, I don’t think I would be as successful as I am.
I am a “Color Geek”. I have enough knowledge of printing to translate original art into the color gamuts available in printing. I also travel all around the world to supervise the actual printing on-site to make sure that a manufacturer does the best job possible of making each reproduction of each color “sing”.
My partner, Mikki Kalar, is incredible at structural solutions. She can make a complicated bookbinding work, a slipcase fit properly and a box constructed in an economical, structurally sound, and aesthetically pleasing way.
With smaller staffs at manufacturers and shipping issues throughout the world, we are constantly thinking “out of the box” to keep projects moving toward delivery without compromising the integrity of the project. Often, we find ourselves suggesting a change of materials, such as binding cloth and paper stocks that suddenly are no longer available, and coming up with the best alternatives. Since our clients want to manufacture in Asia, Europe, and North America, we suggest suppliers that we know can produce the best product and materials that are readily available.
We are liaisons between our clients and manufacturers. We represent our clients. We are not manufacturing brokers.
We recommend suppliers but do not represent them. We are only interested in finding the best solutions for our client’s needs.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
We do not advertise. Our website has only been created for potential clients to appraise our experience and consider our company for their projects. All of our clients and their projects have come to us by word of mouth for the past 36 years.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.actualizers.com
Image Credits
Bruce M. White Photography and Marty Umans
