Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Ink2 launched this week at DEMO.  They allow on-demand printing and mailing of common print products from their web site.  Right now, it’s just greeting cards, but in the future it will include calendars and other products. 

You can see a video of their demo at the DEMO web site.  Better yet, though, for the next week you can simply visit the web site, and print and mail cards from it.  I went there and made a Valentine’s card for my sweetie ;)

You can select from just two layouts at the moment — a greeting card, and a tri-panel card.  They also have a postcard and a calendar pictured on the site, but neither of these links are yet active.

Next you choose a photograph for the front.  I chose this picture of chocolates in a store window from our vacation in Venice in 2001. 

Ink2 lets you either pick your photos from Flickr, or photos you have stored on your hard disk.  Choosing from Flickr requires you to pop over and log-in first, and I was unable to choose from all of my Flickr photos.  Only a subset was displayed.   

Inside the card you have the option to choose from several layouts.  The layout I chose allowed a typed message on the inside fold, and another photograph.  I typed my message, and then added another photograph from our Venetian holiday.

The final step is to address the envelope.  Press the mail button, and you’re done.  Ink2 takes care of printing, addressing and mailing your card. 

For this week, it’s free.  When they launch commercially, it will all cost roughly the same as heading to the local card shop and picking one of Hallmark’s finest.

These guys have a winner in my opinion.  Ink2 is easy, personal, and the price is right.