Elite Graphics

I work for a Little Tokyo-​based organization and we’ve been using Elite Graphics for our printing for years. Mark and his staff always produce very high quality products and can print anything from envelopes to program booklets to custom brochure folders.
What stands out about Mark and Elite Graphics is that they do way more than just take your file and print it as is. They meticulously look for details that might affect the quality of the product, whether it’s a low resolution picture, colors that need to be touched up, or a font that looks misaligned. Mark goes above and beyond any typical Kinko’s or generic printing store in his attention to detail. You’ll always get more than just a simple print job — the staff will proof your print and contact you immediately if they find something that can improve the quality of your final product.
Prices are very reasonable and they’ll even deliver your products if you work in the area!

I’m not sure what the previous 1 star review was talking about. My company has been using Elite Graphics for over 6 years now and I have never been dissatisfied with their printing. We have printed everything from Dinner Program Booklets, to organization brochures to invitations to direct mail appeals and EVERYTHING (yes everything) has been up to the highest quality. Oh, I nearly forgot, yes, they also printed our business cards which, contrary another review, turned out beautiful.
I want to also make a special note about Mark Hirai and his staff. The reason why the product is so great is because of their attention to detail and their meticulous way of analyzing the proofs and the files that you send them. These folks spend hours looking through the files, contacting you frequently to check on the fonts, the icons, the photos. If anything looks like a low resolution file, they immediately contact you to notify you and see if they can get a higher resolution. If they’re missing fonts, they ask you for font etc. In other words, they don’t leave it up to you as the designer or the layout person to get 100% everything correct and catch all mistakes yourself, they help to really identify points of improvement and help you to improve those areas.
Like I said, I have been doing business with this company for over 6 years. Mark is hard-​working, reasonably priced, honest and community-​minded business owner. They are the best that we’ve ever worked with.

We contacted Mark at Elite Graphics, specifically, because we, as a traditional Japanese martial art school, needed to have some rank certificates translated properly, and laid out in the traditional manner. Attention to detail, and proper translation was very important. We explained our project, and Mark agreed to a price. It was very reasonable, and honestly, a little less than we had expected. It was a very good value for the work to be done. Their translator made the changes we requested, and suggested some additional changes that would improve the quality of the certificate.
They produced proofs for us to review, and after we approved, they sent over high quality files so that we could have the certificates printed at our local printer. They were very easy to work with, eager to get the job right and we could not have imagined a better experience. Being a small shop, they sometimes close for lunch. They even offered to wait for us to be sure we didn’t miss them when we made the trip to Little Tokyo.
I highly recommend them, and will use them in the future for all of our translating and graphics.

Maybe this shop can handle straightforward printing jobs; I don’t know. But don’t mistake the rude, unprofessional folks here for graphic designers. That, they are NOT.
My story: I went here to get business cards. I told the folks the basics of what I wanted, and when I received the proof, I was shocked. It looked HORRIBLE. The font sizes were backward (i.e. the address was much larger than the name of the office), things weren’t centered when they should have been, etc. etc. My designer boyfriend laughed until he cried when I showed him.
I thought perhaps I could fix it up so it would look okay, so I asked the people to send me the adobe file. They did; I didn’t have the program so couldn’t open it. So, instead of paying $ 61 for the ugliest business card in the world ($ 61 because they have a minimum order number of 500), I went online to
, designed my own card, and bought it — for $ 17.
The funny part occurred when I wrote to the Elite Graphics people to tell them I wouldn’t be placing an order. I mentioned that I thought $ 60 was a bit steep considering they didn’t provide any actual design assistance, and here was the guy’s response: «I really don’t appreciate you saying we don’t offer design assistance. We typed what you wanted.» Hilarious, right? The new model for graphic design: WE TYPED WHAT YOU WANTED. I love this. And then he accused me of stealing his amazing «design.»
I would avoid this place for anything but the most basic print jobs, and those I can’t vouch for.