News & Community
May 10, 2019
On April 25th, AlphaGraphics Downtown Kansas City attended the 30th annual GraphEx Awards Gala, hosted at the historic Uptown Theater in downtown Kansas City, Missouri by PIA Mid-America. The Big Top Circus themed “Print Show” included an evening of networking and celebration with the printing industry’s top companies and professionals.
Every year our team saves samples from our favorite projects to submit to the Print Industries of America (PIA) industry awards. After carefully reviewing each piece, the judges decide which of the submissions meet and exceed their expectations. The best submissions are then recognized for their excellence.
This year, out of nearly 400 entries, we won 3 Best of Category Awards and 3 Awards of Recognition. To our surprise, on the night of the awards, we found out that we had also won two Platinum Awards! Guests of the gala are invited to vote on their favorite entry for the People’s Choice Award; we were beyond thrilled to learn that our Interactive Conference Room Sample Wall was the winner!
“Our members should be extremely proud — receiving a GraphEx award puts their work among the top in our region,” said Teresa Campbell, PIA Mid-America president. “We are extremely proud of the talent and quality from the companies in our four-state association.”
WNB Architects is a full-service architectural firm and a repeat award winner from last year’s PIA gala. WNB always comes to us when they have a custom project in the works. Last year’s holiday season was no different. They usually design their own holiday cards, but for this one, they enlisted a bit of help. WNB announced a contest to elementary students in the KC Public School District with the theme of “Winter Holidays in Kansas City”. The winning entry was created by Bridget G., a fourth-grade student at Border Star Montessori School. WNB then used her artwork to create a holiday card which included a punch out ornament and a hook for hanging. The card was then distributed to over 1,000 of WNB’s clients, family, and friends.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches is an organization of basketball coaches headquartered right here in Kansas City. Their purpose is to unite coaches and players alike with the ideals of integrity, sportsmanship, and teamwork. NABC came to us with a request: they needed a special gift for their coaches. After careful deliberation with their account manager Amanda, they decided to go with a laminated, paperback, “Guardians of the Game” journal.
Gregory & Vine is a full-service public relations and marketing agency. They specialize in hospitality, food, events, and destination branding. This project was designed for a client's special event. Their team created a custom wine journal and wanted the printing to be just as custom. The journal needed to be functional and attention-grabbing in a sea of wine products.
CIRE Travel is a team of travel experts, unique because they specialize in both corporate and individual travel. EAG Marketing brought CIRE to us with a problem. Their client had specific brand colors and a desired finish that other printing companies were struggling to achieve. EAG and their account manager, Haley, worked closely together to test out many options; offset vs. digital printing, soft touch vs. matte, before finally achieving the desired effect!
Both of these are very special to us as they were both a collaborative team effort.
First is our window graphics for the front of our building at 1717 Oak St. If you’ve ever been to our office, you know that our sales team sits right behind our giant windows that face Oak Street--and we love that! However, especially during the summer months, those windows become magnifying glasses for Missouri’s summer heat and our office temperatures become unbearable. Thus the several-month-long project was born. We collaborated with Jessica Janasz of Cityscape Design and shared our vision. We wanted something that reflected our love and respect for our city, whilst also showcasing our abilities as a company. The results were truly amazing, we had so much fun working with Jessica and our production team in creating a product that we could all be proud of. Read More Here.
Our last piece to receive a printing award is the Interactive Sample Wall in our conference room. Our sales and production team collaborated together on this project to transform the large grey wall space in our conference room. The goal was to showcase the different substrates and materials that we can use to create custom signage solutions in a way that also highlighted the city we love. BlackBurrow Creative is a great local photographer who agreed to photograph our city from the unique perspective of the Crossroads Arts District. Sean provided us with a time-filtered high-resolution photograph that we could then install on our 18 ft wall. Our graphic designer, Scott, and the whole production team worked together to create multiple panels using a variety of 3M substrates and laminates to create a dynamic 3D effect.
“I am so proud of my team and the amazing work they do.
Humbled that I get to be their leader.You guys rock and I love you!”
For more information regarding the PIA Mid-America’s annual GraphEx Awards, visit their site, PIA Mid-America.
For further information about AlphaGraphics Kansas City and their capabilities, contact the AGKC team at 816-842-4200 or visit their website, AlphaGraphics KC.