Rush pre-flight
What to send us so we can start today.
When a comp is urgent, the delay is almost never the build. It’s the wait for inputs.
The fastest way to lose two days on a rush comp is to kick it off without the inputs, then trade emails while the deadline burns. The build itself is quick. The starting line is where rushes actually stall, and it stalls on missing pieces, not on capacity.
A comp partner can start the moment a few specific things land: a print-ready dieline, final art at the right scale, a real color target, the substrate spec, a physical reference, and the one decision the comp has to serve, by when. Send those together and the clock starts today. Send them in pieces and the rush eats itself in email.
The send-today kit
Seven inputs. One message. The clock starts the day it lands.
Pre-flight for any rush comp
Send today, start today.
01 Print-ready dieline or keyline
The single most common missing piece, and nothing starts without it. If the structure is still moving, say what is locked and what is not.
02 Final artwork at the correct scale
In a production format. “Almost final” art means the comp gets built twice. If it is genuinely final, send it. If not, send what is locked and flag what will change.
03 A real color target
Pantone codes, measured values, or a physical swatch, for the colors that have to be right. Color drives more of the schedule than anything else, so it goes in the first email. “We’ll send color later” is the most common reason a ten-day comp becomes a fourteen-day one.
04 The substrate and material spec
What it actually ships on. A comp matched to the wrong substrate answers the wrong question, especially on color and finish.
05 A physical reference of the current pack
The real object, in hand, is the fastest way to calibrate weight, finish, and expectation. Hold where the brand is today and you match where it is going faster. On a rush, that’s the difference between one round and three.
06 The decision and the date
What this comp has to inform, and when it has to be in someone’s hand. That one line sets the fidelity to build to and the schedule to work back from.
07 Quantity
One sample or forty changes the plan. Say it up front so the build is scoped right the first time.
Screenshot this. Attach the seven. The build starts the day it lands.
Send todayThe delay is never the build. It’s the wait for inputs.The send-today kit
Send today vs stalls the start
The same rush, two first emails.
The rush killers are predictable. Every one of them is a wait, and waits are what a compressed timeline cannot afford. The difference between a rush that ships and one that slips is whether the first email is complete.
Complete first email
Starts on day one
All seven inputs, in one message.
- Print-ready dieline, structure defined
- Final art at the correct scale
- A real color target, up front
- Substrate and material spec
- Physical reference in hand
- The decision, and the date, plus quantity
Nothing to chase. The build begins the moment it lands.
Piecemeal first email
Stalls to day three
The rush killers, one wait at a time.
- No dieline
- Art that is “basically done”
- Color promised for “later”
- No physical reference to calibrate to
- No clear decision or date
Built to the wrong fidelity, then redone. The rush eats itself in email.
Make it a habit, not a scramble
The fastest teams have the most complete first email.
Keep a standing pre-flight for any rush: the seven items above, in one message. The teams that turn comps around fastest are not the ones with the shortest build times. They’re the ones whose first email is complete, so the build starts on day one instead of day three.
Send the whole kit at once. The brief is the schedule, and the first email is the whole trick. That’s the difference between a rush that ships and a rush that slips.
A partial brief waits.A complete one starts.
At 3D Color, a rush comp starts the moment the inputs are complete. We move fast when the first email carries the dieline, final art, a real color target, the substrate, a physical reference, and the decision and date. Complete on the first message means the build starts today, not on day three.
If a comp is urgent, send the seven-item kit in one message. That is the fastest path to day one.
Reach Bob directly · bob.jennings@3dcolor.com
Start the rush the day it lands
The build is quick. The complete first email is the whole trick.
3D Color produces production-matched packaging comps, prototypes, and sales samples for CPG brands. On a rush, we move the moment the inputs are complete: the dieline, final art, a real color target, the substrate, a physical reference, and the decision and date, all in one message.
Bob Jennings, CEO of 3D Color
Bob Jennings is the CEO of 3D Color, where comps, prototypes, and sales samples are 100 percent of the business. If a comp is urgent and you want it to start today, he is the person to reach.
Reach Bob directly