Broderbund Print Shop

Brøderbund's Print Shop Ensemble III
Terrific Graphics Program for Kids and Adults

The Print Shop was the first graphics program I purchased. Eight or so years ago, I purchased the program in its small yellow and black box and proceeded to create banners, signs and very primitive greeting cards.

Dot matrix printers had limited graphics ability, but Print Shop
was easy to use and I enjoyed creating useful items for myself and my friends.

After a few years, Brøderbund began to offer a Print Shop Companion program which expanded the basic program's capabilities. Naturally I just had to have it.

Through the years, Brøderbund created Print Shop Deluxe and Print Shop Ensemble which incorporated the companion capabilities. Best of all, the price was always reasonable and I
recommended it to friends and gave the program as gifts to my associates who were just learning how to compute.

The latest version of The Print Shop Ensemble III is loaded with terrific features, and was designed with Windows 95/98 in mind.

Most of us use inkjet or laser printers these days and if you have color capability, then The Print Shop has a real treat in store for you.

Aside from cards, banners and signs, the program can make stationery, labels, business cards, certificates and a host of other interesting publications. If you are on line, you can
send online greetings.

With the ability to incorporate scanned images and logos, you have a program that affords a lot of creative leeway and is fun to use. You can choose from among 1000 ready made designs or create your own. The program comes with 100 fonts and 5500 pieces of clip art.

The basic difference between the Deluxe Version and Ensemble III (aside from the price) is the number of graphics images and fonts you get, as well as several terrific features such as a spell checker, thesaurus, online capability, and a really terrific feature that
imports scanned photos and lets you "frame" them electronically. Included as well are over 1000 Verses, Quotations and Greetings if you are at a loss for words. Ensemble III also allows you to make your own Iron On Transfers for Tee Shirts. Need I say more?

In my opinion, Ensemble III is the way to go.

The opening screen offers nine different choice boxes which explain precisely what they do.

Greeting Cards, Signs &Posters, Banners, Certificates, Stationery, Calendar, Labels, Extras and Online Greetings speed you to the project you are interested in creating.

The program is highly instinctive and you will be turning out wonderful results in just minutes.

The "Extras" choice involve graphic options and allow you to create mailing lists. In addition it contains the routines that allow you to work with the program on the Internet.
Borderland offers an on line site which allows you to download additional graphics and contains useful information about the program.

My first project with Ensemble II was to create Kitchen Labels. You know, the kind that say "From the kitchen of....
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A sample of the label appears above. The clip art of the food items was easily incorporated into the label design. The documentation is well written and offers the novice an excellent tutorial. Brøderbund offers online assistance should you have any questions about the program.

My Epson Inkjet produced outstanding labels in seconds. Instead of waiting for labels to be printed I made them myself!

Kids just love Ensemble III. My friends kids designed their own cards and were thrilled when they printed them out. They played with the program for hours, creating silly signs, posters for their rooms and actual Christmas Cards which they sent to their friends.
I find dozens of uses for the program. I make my own FAX cover sheets, garage sale notices, gift tags, Spice Jar Labels, (I love to cook!) And a host of other useful items.
This is a must have program for everyone who computes.

Brøderbund also offers several photo folios which enhance the graphics libraries that come with the program. I will review them in a future newsletter.

The Print Shop Deluxe III carries a street price of around $30.00 while Ensemble III costs about $50.00. The basic Print Shop Program sells for $15.00 and makes a terrific gift for kids who compute.