The Berlin-based candy manufacturer, Katjes, has made history by becoming the first food company to make a 3D printed candy product that is not made from Chocolate. Although Online product designer is well known already, they have created the ‘Magic Candy Factory’, which prints custom-made gummy sweets.
Traditionally, candy gummy bears are made with the bear lying on its back, and then the candy is stacked up. Once the printing is done, the product can be picked up and positioned correctly, with the feet at the bottom. This printing process works well with the candy being kept warm while it is printed, and the bottom areas cooling slowly to solidify into the correct shape.

We informed you about HTML5 Online Product Designer. With the Magic Candy Factory, instead of the gum being applied into a mould, the printer will make several passes with the liquid candy, forming the shape slowly, layer by layer. The candy is made from a molten sugar mixture, which will print slowly following instructions provided to the machine. The printing is not as high resolution as plastic printing, but the shapes are recognizable, and the Magic Candy Factory is experimenting with different sugar mixtures in a bid to find the perfect recipe.

Enter The Era of Customisation with online design

Custom design online is popular today. The 2010s are being called the Decade of Customization. If you think back to Henry Ford’s famous comment about offering cars in any color the buyer wanted, as long as it was black, then you can see how far we have come. Everything from vehicles to clothing can be made to order, and now food is the latest avenue for people to express their creativity. Shoppers can choose the shape, style, color and flavor of their candy, making amazing gifts that go far beyond the traditional “cake with special icing” or “Chocolate bar with your name on it” that is offered in the high street today.
At the moment, the Magic Candy Factory is based in Berlin, and has a facility at Café Grun-Ohr. It will be a long time before custom candy becomes as accessible as other forms of customisation, but the fact that there is one service provider offering such an option is a good sign. Doubtless there will be many imitators cropping up over the next year or two, offering other candy options (perhaps even solid candy) as well as more customisation options.

The London Design Festival will see the launch of MindBower, a new Idea-to-Product design platform. The platform, designed by Dezeen Promotions, is intended to be a sophisticated way for people to turn ideas into custom, realized products.
The creators are currently inviting submissions from would-be creators who want to have their designs shown at the London Design Festival, which will take place later this month.
The platform is accepting submissions from anyone, whether they have design experience or not, and every tasl, like Custom Printing for Walls and Interiors, Custom Printing Software Tools, HTML5 Online Product Designer. They are looking for low tech products and creative concepts, and will select up to five projects which will be displayed at the Tom Dixon and Wallpaper Magazine multiplex during the festival.
The deadline for submissions is the 10th September, and feedback will be sent during the week afterwards, with the winning designs being announced on September 19th, ready for the festival.

A Home for Big Ideas

Mindblower call themselves a home for big ideas, and hopes that they will enable people to get their ideas made, even ideas that would be overlooked by more conventional manufacturers. Carmit Turgeman, the founder of the company, said that ‘Everyone has at least one big idea during their lifetime”, and explained that because of a lack of time, knowledge and resources most of those ideas are never given the chance to become reality.
People with big ideas can submit them to a creative panel on the Mindblower website, and the ideas will be looked at by Roberta Green, George Louis and Carmit Turgeman, this team of publicists and master communicators will consider the idea, and then if they believe that it is marketable they will help the designer with the nitty-gritty of turning it into a fully-fledged product, including the product design, manufacturing, branding, patent registration and approval, and the sales process.
The inventor will be given up to 20 percent of the profit in royalty payments. This may seem like a small payment for a big idea, but when you consider that 20 percent of a successful product is infinite orders of magnitude greater than 100 percent of an idea that never gets made, it is easy to understand why inventors are eager to have their ideas considered. The company has already approved a handbag that can be turned translucent by clicking a button, and some wall-mounted artwork that can be unfolded to create a set of functional furniture.

When most people think of custom products, they think of T-Shirts, coasters, bags and other small promotional items, but there’s a whole world of other online printing solutions or devices and product design tools out there, which mean that you can enjoy custom products on a much grander scale.
One great example of this is the Printtex Mobile Wall Printer. This innovative printer will transfer digital images onto walls, using technology similar to that of an inkjet printer, with sensors to ensure that the correct part of the wall is printed on.
The Printex Printer is controlled using software which can run on a laptop, tablet or smartphone. The user loads their desired design into the software, calibrates the printer and then sets it off. The printer will print out each color tone individually, and relies on sensors on the edge of the device to ensure that the printout is accurate and neat.

Award Winning Design

This new printing technology showcases some of the most interesting advances and innovations in the world of inkjet printing, and is an example of some innovative and intelligent use of inkjet technology. It essentially turns your wall into a sheet of paper, and you can print any image – something you have created yourself, or an image someone made for you – or even a photograph you have taken – onto that giant canvass.
Given that the only alternatives right now for people who want to have large prints on their walls is to purchase a canvass or to mess with stencils and paint-brushes, this new, easy-to-use printing app is going to be a massive boon to creative homeowners.
Today’s consumers have more power than ever before. The idea of “If you can dream it, you can make it” no longer applies to just building blocks, it is something that applies to every product that you can possibly imagine.

The Copyright Question

As personal printing tools become more commonplace, we are likely to see a lot of issues regarding copyright. In theory, people could print anything on their walls, even images designed by someone else. The legality and morality of this is something that will likely get a lot of attention of the next few years, as content creators look to find ways to manage ever-evolving technology.

You might think that screen printing is something that is quite a mature technology, like custom design tool software, and there’s not a lot that could be done to change and improve it. Certainly, the basic idea of screen printing has been around for a long time, but two young entrepreneurs from Chicago believe that they can, and will, change the screen printing business for the better.

The pair have a lot of experience with screen printing. Nick Rizza is just 24 years old, and Bryan Neubauer is 25 years old, but together they have been working in the screen printing industry for a combined 15 years. They put their heads together and have come up with a new technology that will use water based inks, instead of the standard plastisol ink or direct-to-garmet style printing. They will work with products made in America, and they have committed to printing using a one-for-one model so that they can ensure maximum competitiveness.
Their goal is not to be the cheapest custom printing company in the world, or even the fastest – but they do want to make sure that they offer the best value for money.

A Saturated Market

The world of custom t-shirt printing is near-saturated. With low-end companies such as Café Press at one end, then custom sublimation printing companies at the other. Pressd wants to offer something in between, giving consumers the opportunity to submit their designs and get them printed at high quality so that it will not crack, fade or peel. They want to position themselves as an ethical and affordable company, and reach the segment of the market that wants small batches of products printed at an affordable price.
Their service will be ideal for small teams, stag and hen dos and other smaller groups that are interested in getting T-shirts and other apparel printed with their logos. The pair launched a kickstarter campaign for their technology recently, with a very modest goal of just $10,000. It will be interesting to see how far they can take that cash, and whether they really will make an impact in the world of printing.

Starting an online business can be a rather intimidating proposition for many people, especially if they want to sell physical products. The overheads associated with doing business the traditional way can be significant, and if things go wrong you will be stuck with goods that you cannot sell.
That’s why so many people are making their entry into the world of Web to Print Solution using companies that do custom designed products. With websites such as Zazzle and SpreadShirt you can start an online store with no overheads other than your Internet connection. You don’t have to pay for the products – the customer orders directly from the website, and you get a cut from each sale.

Easy to Get Started

These custom product websites are incredibly easy to use – you don’t need to be a skilled designer or a good graphic artist. All you need is some clever ideas and the connections to promote your products. Thanks to the easy to use product design wizards, anyone can make clever products that people will love.

Where to Promote Your Products

Most people who make products on websites such as Zazzle or Spreadshirt do so for a specific community or event. Those sites are ideal for one-off production runs, such as T-Shirts or baseball caps for stag or hen nights, and they are also ideal for clubs and interest groups. For example, sports teams or gaming clans can print caps, hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, mouse mats and other accessories.
This gives would-be small business owners the chance to test the waters with their ideas, and sell some items online without making a major investment. If their early testing is successful, they can reinvest the profits into a bigger venture – potentially going the way of bulk ordering custom products from another company so that they can take advantage of the discounts that come with bigger orders, and enjoy a bigger profit margin.
Selling custom products online frees you from the hassle of having to handle your own billing and fulfilment, and makes it much easier for you to focus on the things that you really enjoy – coming up with new ideas and engaging with the community that you are making the products for.