17 Ultra Cool Presidential Poster Designs

As a tribute to our new President, I’ve gathered some poster designs that are well-designed, moving or are just plain smart. The amazing thing is that many of these designers aren’t even American, but they believe in what Obama can bring to the American people so much that they’ve been moved to design.

19 Exciting Examples of Green Design, Products and Architecture

Sustainability and style are what make green design, well, green. Green design balances environmental, economic, social and aesthetic concerns. Green design can go by many names: “sustainable design,” “eco-design” or “design for environment.” Green design produces buildings, products and artwork that reduces the amount of non-renewable resources. This helps minimize environmental impact and relates people with the natural environment. Green design is one answer to the global “environmental crisis” – i.e. the rapid growth of economic activity and the booming population coupled with the depletion of natural resources.

Everything from architecture to people’s bodies and computers are being covered with greenery. (Seems like it would be itchy, no?)

BuildingGreen announced its top 10 green building products for 2008. Highlights include:

Integrity block, which is a “compacted-earth block used as a cost-competitive replacement for concrete masonry units.” These blocks consist of up to 60% pre-consumer recycled content and almost half as much cement as standard concrete blocks. It takes 40% less energy to produce them.

PlybooPure bamboo flooring from Smith + Fong is the first bamboo to carry FSC certification. It’s made with low-emitting, non-formaldehyde polyisocyanurate binder. And isn’t the color gorgeous? This is one of those have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too kinds of products – beautiful flooring that’s good for the environment.

Natura Paint from Benjamin Moore is an odorless interior paint. Finally – a completely odorless paint! This paint has zero VOC colorants. Impressive! 

PolyWhey wood finish from Vermont Natural Coatings uses recycled whey protein as a binder. (I mix whey protein into shakes for my strength workouts!) Whey protein is a by-product of the dairy industry, and helps produce this low-odor coating that has no toxic heavy metals and low VOCs. It looks just as good as the dangerous wood finishes! 

On to the more artsy recycled pieces.

Here’s one sculpture outside an Expo hall in Singapore that’s constructed from steel and other wire metal scrapes. Some might think of green art as being something that is biodegradable, but making art out of stuff that would end up landfills qualifies as recycling to me.

I didn’t know this was possible, but you can create grass photographs just by directing light on certain parts of a grassy area. (I say “just” but I don’t mean it in a simplistic way; this takes talent and patience.) The bad thing about grass photos are that they fade when the grass dies. But how beautiful when they’re in bloom! The first two were created by Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey who use long-lasting, genetically modified grass.

How would you like to live in a shipping container? The folks at uShip have decided that surplus of 700,000 shipping containers should be used for living, not just stacking.

Typography Basics: The Difference Between a Font and a Typeface

Typography is the practice of designing, arranging and modifying type. Type is defined as simply alphanumeric characters. You can arrange and modify type by changing the width, height, or basically any other characteristic associated with that type.

What are fonts?
A typeface is generally defined as the specific letter form design of an alphabet. Typeface talks about the style of the letters. A font is a collection of all these letters of a typeface. A font generally means a bold, italic or roman type, while a typeface means a consistent visual appearance or style. When you say I’m using Times New Roman, you’re talking about the font – the collection of that style of typeface.

Typefaces versus fonts
Many people use these words interchangeably, to the chagrin of many designers and type enthusiasts. It’s easy to forget what the words mean because they are so intricately related.  Mark Simsonson on Typophile has a great, somewhat clear definition: “the physical embodiment of a collection of letters, numbers, symbols, etc. (whether it’s a case of metal pieces or a computer file) is a font. When referring to the design of the collection (the way it looks) you call it a typeface.”

Nick Sherman offers this insight from a comment on Typographica’s Our Favorite Typefaces of 2007: “The way I relate the difference between typeface and font to my students is by comparing them to songs and MP3s, respectively (or songs and CDs, if you prefer a physical metaphor).” In other words, the MP3 is the way the song is delivered (the font); the song is the actual creative (the typeface).

Norbert Florendo finally made it really, really simple with a comment on The FontFeed: “…font is what you use, and typeface is what you see.”

Typeface classifications
Typefaces have 5 main classifications: serif, sans-serif, script, symbol and display. Each of these gives off a different feeling and that feeling affects your design. For brevity’s sake, we’ll focus on the most common classifications: serif and sans-serif. 

 

Serif typefaces have “feet” (finishing strokes) at the ends of the letters. Some examples are Garamond, Times New Roman and Georgia. Serif typefaces give off a traditional, serious appeal and are mostly used in businesses. Serif typefaces are generally easier to read in a smaller size, so serif typefaces are used in body text. So, Garamond is a typeface, and all the specific styles, such as Semibold Subhead, are fonts.

Sans-serif typefaces don’t have “feet” (“sans” means “without” in French). Examples are Arial, Verdana (often used on Web sites) and Century Gothic. Sans-serif typefaces are seen as more modern and clean. These are best for billboards or when you need a bigger typeface because they’re more legible at a bigger size than serifs. Plus, the serifs take up more room with their feet so you can’t fit as many letters in the same amount of space without sacrificing size. 

 

As you can see, each classification of font gives off a certain feeling. The Garamond fonts look classy and formal while the Century Gothic fonts look modern and clean. A designer’s choice of fonts and typefaces is crucial to the feeling of the designed piece, so it’s something to be carefully considered and thought through before committing to a choice.

7 Essential Must-Read Resources for Designers

Designers working in Web and print, or Web or print, often use many, many types of programs from Photoshop to WordPress. It can be hard to remember everything you need to know – all the shortcuts and such, that make your job a lot easier. I had that same problem so I found some “Cheat Sheets” or help docs that I have printed out and plastered to my wall. I thought others might find this useful as well, so here’s a list and links to the PDFs that you can print out.

WordPress Help Sheet from WPCandy and Liquidicity. You get basic template files, PHP snippets for the templates, PHP snippets for the header and other extra codes like one that splits up your content into pages. Since I’ve used Blogger and WordPress, this has definitely been a big help so I don’t get them confused.

Type Classification eBook from Jacob Cass helps designers learn the basic foundations of type. Don’t snub your nose – you could probably learn something! Many designers don’t learn this type of stuff in their classes at school and those designers that are self-taught can learn a lot as well. Cass is only 20 and still in college, but he’s a great designer and has a lot of awards and experience under his belt already. He’s so smart that you have to sign up for his blog (which is great, btw) to get a password to download the eBook.

dotMobi Mobile Web Developer’s Guide from mobiForge. You have to register for the site first, but it’s well worth it. The guide discusses the mobile landscape in detail and explains the imp0ortance of the mobile context. Full of code samples and shows how to publish a mobile-friendly site.

Web Designer’s Success Guide shows new freelance designers how to make the transition from full-time work to your own freelance design business. It also discusses how to find new clients and how to market yourself. It also talks about pricing your services appropriately. Solid guide. 

A Primer in Social Media is a white paper offered by SmashLab. It details what social media is, how companies are using social media and blunders to watch out for.

Introduction to Good Usability by Peter Conradie. This PDF covers interface design guides (breadcrumbs, linking, overlays, tabs) as well as his own principles on good usability. I don’t agree with all of it, but it’s still a good read.

Web site Accessibility Checklist assembled by Aaron Cannon. This is a great resource for making sure your Web site’s markup, images and multimedia, and overall visual appearance and content are as accessible as possible for many varied users.

20 Inspiring Logos

I love logos that contain some kind of play on words or a play on images. I like the intriguing logos that make me look twice. Your logo should reinforce your brand identity, and it also needs to fit on all of your product packaging, as well as your marketing materials. A good logo is good whether it’s in black and white or color.

Here are 20 inspiring logos that will hopefully give you some ideas for your own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photoshop for Beginners: Creating a Metallic Surface

Sometimes we all have the need for a metallic surface in our design. Many designs and backgrounds incorporate a metal-look into them, I’ve seen folks apply this effect on their printed business cards and it turned out pretty cool. But how do you make one from scratch? This tutorial will walk you through the process of creating your own metallic surface so you can begin incorporating this look into your designs.

1. Start with a new document by going to File –> New or press Ctrl + N and make sure the settings are 400 px.

2. Click the “Default Foreground and Background Colors” button or press “D.” This will give you black for the foreground color and white as the background.

3. Press and hold on the Paint Bucket Tool or Gradient Tool and the select the Paint Bucket Tool.

4. Create a new layer by clicking on the “New Layer” button in the Layers window.

5. Using your Paint Bucket Tool, left-click on the canvas to paint a black layer. Then go to Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise.

6. Make the Amount 400%, the Distribution to be Uniform, and make sure the Monochromatic box is checked on press OK.

7. Go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur.

8. Set the Angle to 0° and the Distance to 75 pixels.

9. Select the Crop Tool or press “C.” Hold down the shift key and drag your mouse from about 90% to the top right corner.

10. Release your mouse button and you should have a perfect square for you metallic surface. Press Enter to commit the Crop and you’re finished.

Best of 2008 Print and Web Design

As is the norm in just about every industry, we marketers also have our own awards. Since design is such a large and important part of marketing, it’s important to highlight the best nuggets of info and inspiration that came about this year.

Best Ways to Enhance Photos
Using the Blur effect in Photoshop can do wonders to make a distracting background complement your focus in a photo.

In the photo on the left, viewers could be left wondering where this photo was taken instead of focusing on the woman’s uniform and pose, which convey strength. TutorialPulse.com has a great tutorial on how to achieve the Blur effect.

Photoshop tricks were all the rage this year, with people getting more creative as the months flew by. A list of the 30+ Nicest Photoshop Photo Tutorials, Part II includes tuts on how to make an eerily calm storm (shown here) using layers, fun lighting effects and how to make a vector portrait from a photo.

 

Best RSS Feed Icons
It’s amazing what designers will redesign next. Of course we’ve all seen the common orange square RSS feed icon, but have you seen any that look like this?

 

Pro Blog Design showcased 110+ Free RSS Icons that could fit into any Web site’s theme. This site definitely makes any site’s standard RSS icon look boring.

Best Typography
Typography is everywhere – print, Web, TV – you can’t escape it. Oftentimes, logos are created by typography alone. Type gives businesses personality. The list from Noupe shows off the best creations this year, including my fave from the list:

 

I love the two-toned colors and the hummingbirds floating about. The “holes” make it look more modern, and almost industrial, save for the colors.

Best Business Card Designs
There are a lot of “best of” lists out there for business cards, but I especially love this one:

It’s amazing how many different designs and techniques are being used for business cards these days. This card comes from a list at DzineBlog. The list includes business cards in the shapes of tear drops and circles, which make for an interesting design, but begs the question of functionality. Those are the cards that are most likely to get lost in the paper shuffle because they don’t fit neatly into wallets or Rolodexes, but is the unique shape enough to keep them on top of a CEO’s paper pile?

Best Inspirational Web Sites
SpyreMag’s list of 25 inspirational Web site designs is enough to get any designer’s creative juices flowing. I love this design snippet from Design Disease.

It’s very relaxing to the eye with the ocean blues and the waves throughout the page, not just at the top. It manages to be laid-back and professional at the same time.

What To Consider When Designing From Web to Print

For Web-only designers, you know what platform you’re going to be working on. You know that no matter what you do, it’s going to be on the Web. In the print world, you need to first decide what kind of print material you’re going to design. Does the company need a direct mail postcard, brochure, poster or flyer?

Selecting Your Printing Pleasure
One thing you have to consider with print design is portability. What will make people pick up this piece of paper and take it with them? Print does encompass including URLs, but you need to gauge where exactly the best place to put the URL is on the printed piece. And with no search engine or reviews to guide people to pick up a brochure, your design is that much more important. It has to follow the same design idea of the Web to grab someone’s attention in precious few seconds (the most time you get to capture attention is 5 seconds according to research).

You also need to consider what you want the printed piece to accomplish. What is your goal, or objective, for the direct mail postcard? To drum up new business, to announce a sale or to direct people to your Web site? All of these objectives lend themselves to different types of design and could be achieved by multiple paper sources, like flyers, postcards or sales letters.

Your Natural Competition
Once you choose what type of printed material would work best for your objective, you have to think about where people will be viewing your printed material. If you’re sending a postcard to people’s homes, there’s not much to think about there. But an item like a poster outside your building has natural competition, such as weather ruining your print job or trees blocking the view of your billboard. 

Depending on if it’s the rainy season or if your item will be in direct sunlight will influence your choice in paper and ink selection. UV- and water-resistant paper and ink will help weatherproof your work and will keep it fresher longer, but it might also change the way your colors look. That, in turn, could affect your design. Another factor is finish: a high gloss finish will stand up to weather conditions better than matte, so you’ll need to design accordingly.

You’ll also need to drive by the location your printed item will be hung – are there tree limbs in the way? If you’ll be hanging it on a red brick building, you won’t want to use rust red as a background color for your poster. Also, look at the location at night to figure out how street light will affect your printed material at night.

Another biggie is that in print design you have to catch people’s attention from everything surrounding your item; on the Web, people search you out and you convince them to stay. Be sure you use colors and an eye-popping design that stands out from surrounding elements.

As long as you take into account what will get a human’s attention, rather than a search engine crawler’s attention, you’ll have success going from Web design to print.

4 Business Card Design Faux Pas

Are you proud of your business card? Do you think it’s the best designed card in the world? How many people have commented on the design of your card when they received it? If you’re like most people, no one has said a word. Although good design means different things to different people, designers can agree on the following 4 business card design mistakes. You should avoid these in designing your business cards and if your printed business cards contain one of these faux pas, seriously think about redesigning and printing new ones.

1. A cluttered business card: Appealing cards don’t use up every inch of the cardstock. People get overwhelmed when they see a lot of info in a small space. Too much print looks unprofessional. Keep the vital info – name, your title and company, address, email, Web site and phone numbers. If you have room, you can include a tagline. Use the back of the card if you’d like. Just be sure to leave some white space, which is a design term for empty space.

2. Small print: If people need a magnifying glass to read your name on your business card, it’s too small! Obviously, people aren’t going to take the time to squint their way into understanding your text. Don’t sacrifice readability just to get a tagline or extra info on your card. A good rule of thumb is to make your name 9 points in size, your company name 12 points, and the rest of the type no smaller than 7 points. Using a hierarchy of sizes will also help your design look clean and uncluttered.

3. Having a plain white card: White cardstock with black printing. How original! So many people use this format for a business card that if you do, yours will be hard to find in the sea of white. Make your card a nice cream cardstock, or gray, or go crazy and go for black or some other color that still fits your brand’s image. I love the colors of this card and the design is still simple with the bright blue.

4. Crazy shape: I actually like creative business cards that aren’t rectangles. They look good. But it can be a big design problem because then where do recipients put your card? If it doesn’t fit in a wallet, your business card has a much higher death rate (e.g., being thrown away). Rounded corners are okay because the card will still fit in a wallet or Rolodex, but beyond that you’re pushing it. This business card is almost pushing it, but I think it would still have a high “keeper” rate because it’s the traditional size with rounded corners.

If you wait to redesign and print new cards when your current stash runs out, will it be worth it to lose a few new clients along the way? Clients that you might have gotten if your business card had been more impressive? I don’t think so. Business cards are one of the cheapest marketing tools you’ll ever use, so think of new cards as an investment in your business.

Business Card Design Ideas

In a time of dwindling budgets, many people go back to what has always worked. And business cards are one of those marketing tools that always work because they’re simple and people know how they work. Techies might disagree and think email and contact info on a computer is better than a business card. But you have to have a computer to access your email and your contacts’ info. A business card can be carried with you everywhere and no one needs special equipment to read it.

Business Card Design Basics
Less is more is the mantra of good business card design. You don’t have much room, even if you use the back of the card. That means you must use clean font that is easily readable, colors that don’t make people’s eyes hurt and a design that is logical. People should immediately know what to look at first (your name) and what to look at next (usually your title or your company; it’s up to you which you’d rather focus on next). The basic info you need:

Name
Title
Company Name
Address
Logo
Phone/fax numbers
Email address
Company URL
(Optional: tagline)

I put tagline as optional, because in my opinion, it’s not a deal breaker when it comes to business cards. And, I don’t think people will really remember your tagline from seeing it on your business card. Plus, if it’s longer than a few words it could really take up some prime real estate on your card. If it’s short and people know the tagline, though, I would include it. Everything else is essential.

Design Ideas
Now, the reason I’m bringing up this topic is to share some interesting business card design ideas. Anymore, white cardstock with black ink just won’t do it. That’s boring. Black cardstock with white writing, now that’s more interesting. If you want people to keep your card, it’s best if it’s interesting. You’ll seem more innovative, as will your company and brand. If you have a boring card, your company and brand will seem boring. Your business card is a direct reflection of the personality of your business.

A simple turn of the direction of card to vertical could be all you need to make an impact. I love this card, not only because it’s turned, but because it’s also clear. That’s different. That’s something people don’t expect. It could possibly cause confusion if it’s laid on top of a dark surface, but I’ll bet that whoever takes this card will keep it in their wallet or somewhere organized so that they can reference it.

 

http://www.crazyleafdesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/31.JPG

 

If there’s a way for you to capture the essence of your business with your card design, by all means do it! That could mean a carpenter creating a card made out of a thin piece of wood, or cardstock colored to look like wood. For a photographer, it could mean using film, such as this card. Film is an integral part of a photographer’s life, and the design is still simple, clear and effective.

 

http://www.crazyleafdesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/9.JPG

 

Another one I like is this envelope supplier’s card. It’s simple, yet effective because it represents a part of her job, and makes it look professional and innovative. If she has a great card like this, what else can she do?

 

 

That’s the kind of thinking you need when designing your business card. You need to impress people into wanting to contact you for more information and to find out what you can do for them. Use interesting textures, fonts, and shapes, but keep it clean, simple and clear. A confusing business card or a card with bright colors that don’t coincide with your brand will just confuse people. Think about your brand’s personality first, and then design from there.

Carefully Choose Your Marketing Colors

If you choose the wrong color for your marketing materials or Web site, it’s possible you could be turning potential customers away before they even read a word. There’s much psychology behind color, and knowing how to use colors to get the feelings you want people to experience will help you get the marketing results you want.

Understanding Color
All color comes from two basic colors: red and blue. Browns come from a mixture of both. Purple, indigo, green and others on that side of the color wheel come from blue. Orange, yellow and pink all stem from red tones. The eye focuses on blue colors in front of the retina, which means blue tones move away from the eye. This makes them seem non-threatening and can make people feel drowsy or relaxed. The eye focuses on red tones behind the retina, which means red tones move toward the eye. This makes red tones seem energetic, aggressive and excited.

Color Psychology
So, from how we see color, it’s easy to speculate that blue tones will make people relaxed and red tones will energize people. And that’s exactly what color studies have found. In one study that was featured on the ’70s show “The Human Body”, colicky babies in a hospital room lit by red lights cried more often and more intensely than when the same room with the same babies was lit by blue light. The researchers switched the lights of the room from red to blue and back again, and when the lights were red, the babies cried more than when the lights were blue. The blue lights actually quieted the room.

Blue shades and tones emanate feelings of stability, logic, relaxation and professionalism. A spa or a doctor’s office would do well to create a blue motif in their marketing materials. Since red tones get people excited, red would work well in marketing materials created for a sports items, money, motivating products and cars.

Of course, each color on the color wheel can produce different feelings. For instance, black is seen as a color of authority and seriousness. White implies cleanliness, which is why surgical gloves, and doctors and nurses wear a lot of white. (Notice white, blue and green scrubs and items in many hospitals? This combination produces a feeling of cleanliness and calmness.) You can check out more color meanings at InfoPlease.com or do an Internet search for “color psychology.”

As you can see, colors can mean all the difference in whether your marketing materials are read with an open calmness or a distrusted aggression. The right color for your marketing materials depends on your brand message and what you want consumers to feel. There is no right color for everyone, but there is a right color for your brand and your product.

Inspiration for Creative Ads

When it comes time to map out a new ad, whether for a billboard, brochures, a magazine spot or any other multitude of media, it’s hard to come up with something creative that people can just look at and instantly “get it.”

And creating a creative ad doesn’t automatically mean success. If your target audience doesn’t understand it, or if the content isn’t relevant, no amount of creativity will bring in sales. It’s easy for designers to forget that the purpose of the ad is to bring is sales when all they want to do is be creative. Likewise, it’s easy for the ad account managers to see the positive attributes of a really creative ad if they don’t see the sales potential right off the bat.

But, a creative and effective ad can be done. There are plenty of successful, creative ads out there that prove it. Get inspired by this Exposed SEO blog post that showcases 23 interesting, creative ads that don’t need to be contemplated to be understood. Many of these use the environment or an existing venue to play the ad off of (check out the bus exhaust coming out of a person’s mouth like cigarette smoke). Creative, clear and motivating.

And creative ads don’t only come from pros. Students show just as much, if not more creativity, in these ads on Advertnews.com. These feature an ad for Toblerone using what looks to be a bike rack and an ingenious, yet so simple, Windex ad.

 

 

To get a creative idea, you have to look outward, I think. Yes, inward is where the creativity flows, but you have to look outside yourself for ideas. And not stealing other ad ideas, but just looking at a tree and seeing it as a palette for something bigger, like a landing spot for a blown piece of gum (see the Exposed SEO blog).

There are four key elements of making an effective, yet creative ad:
1. It must be relevant to the customer.
2. It should contain a promise to the customer.
3. It should be well understood by the customer, yet not talk down to the customer.
4. Always put the product in the center of the ad.

Many creative ads get the creative part down almost too well, which means the product gets ignored. A number of studies have shown people remember a certain TV commercial, but they can’t remember what product the ad was selling. This is referred to as vampire creativity. If your ad is too entertaining or too involving, it obscures the product.

As you can see, there’s a fine line between being effectively creative and obscurely creative. By having your creative mind(s) working with the business-oriented mind(s), you have a better chance of achieving the right balance for a great ad. Teamwork is what it’s all about, just as in any other business.

Where To Go To Get Inspired To Design

Everyone has those days when you just can’t get creative. It’s like every creative bone in your body has been replaced with a boring bone. Well, I’ve got some sites here that will help stimulate your creative side.

Web Sites
101+ Places to Get Design Inspiration – The Aussie that runs this blog is only 20 or 21 and still in college, but he’s already a great designer. He’s been working since he was 16 for professional clients, designing logos, flyers and everything else a business needs.

Abduzeedo – Very interesting ideas, very unique. Not for the traditionalist.

Freelance Switch’s 60 More Places to Get Design Inspiration – Online and Off – Freelance Switch has a blog with advice for all kinds of freelancers, including this article with Web sites and books recommended to help you get your design on.

Books (all at Amazon.com)
New Masters of Poster Design: Poster Design for the Next Century – This book shows top poster designers’ artwork of now, which has proven that the poster can still serve as a worthy communications tool. According to Amazon: “In doing so, they’ve brought the poster back to prominence. In this book, the author has compiled the world’s finest new work at the height of this rebirth. There is currently no book on the market that can claim it features a ‘definitive’ poster collection.”

Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop – A “comprehensive layout design workshop that assumes that in order to effectively break the rules of grid-based design, one must first understand those rules and see them applies to real-world projects.”

You get to find out about how top designers’ processes work and their rationale while designing. “Projects with similar characteristics are linked through a simple notational system that encourages exploration and comparison of structure ideas. Also included are historical overviews that summarize the development of layout concepts, both grid-based and non-grid based, in modern design practice.”

Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design – “[This book] is part of Rockport’s popular Workbook series of practical and inspirational workbooks that cover all the fundamental areas of the graphic design business.” It contains loads of info on type without a lot of extra fun facts you don’t need to know about so that designers can get the information they need quickly and easily.

Other books on typography are more technical or showcase oriented, but this book actually gives you ideas and inspiration through real-life examples that show successful uses of typography.

It also offers “a variety of other content, including choosing fonts, sizes, and colors; incorporating text and illustrations; avoiding common mistakes in text usage; and teaching rules by which to live (and work) by.”

Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design – This book doesn’t only have great examples for inspiration; it also helps you understand design. “The book illuminates the broad category of layout, communicating specifically what it takes to design with excellence. It also addresses the heart of design-the how and why of the creative process.”

Should Advertisements Be Entertainment or Informative?

According to an Advertising for Peanuts blog post, ads should be entertainment. The author, Jim Morris, even comes up with a new definition of advertising: “n. Entertainment with some commercial message or agenda of some sort in there somewhere.” Morris believes that the advertising industry should stop trying to fight the fact that ads have to be entertaining first.

But I say, if advertising is firstly entertaining, how does that translate into higher sales? Isn’t the point of advertising to get info out about a product, and to sell the product? I’ll agree that entertaining people is a good way to help them remember info about a product, but I think that selling a product should be the first goal of advertising, not entertaining people. That’s what sitcoms, drama shows, books, magazines and movies are for!

In a CNNMoney.com article, Paul R. La Monica states “It’s a disturbing trend for many large corporations, who may find that instead of boosting sales, they are wasting millions of dollars on advertising campaigns that simply boost the egos of marketing executives and ad agency types who dream of being the next Martin Scorsese or Woody Allen. Advertising is increasingly morphing into another form of entertainment, and not as something that effectively conveys a company’s brand message.”

Why Advertisements Need to Be Entertaining
In an age where people can TiVo their favorite shows and skip the commercials, people need a reason to watch the commercials, and entertainment is that reason. Others argue that people see all kinds of media on the Internet and on TV, so to really stick out, you have to be funny, which is what “entertaining” translates to in this conversation.

But some people take it too far in this YouTube era where all entertainment all the time reigns. “There are some spots on TV where people say, ‘Gee, that was really cool. But what was the product?’” Neal M. Burns, professor of advertising at the University of Texas at Austin, told CNNMoney.com.

Why Advertisements Need to Be Informative
Ad agencies are taking the entertainment factor too far that their message is totally lost. If there was even a message at all. After the 2007 Super Bowl, CareerBuilder’s new entertaining, funny TV ads were poorly rated. For the sake of entertainment, CareerBuilder’s ad agency, Cramer-Krasselt, changed CareerBuilder’s lovable monkey motif ads to a jungle themed ad. The ad flopped and was poorly rated in many Super Bowl commercial reviews. CareerBuilder put its ad account up for review, which angered Cramer-Krasselt, which also created the monkey ads. Peter Krivkovich, president and CEO of Cramer-Krasselt said he was disappointed with CareerBuilder and told CNNMoney.com: “People have gotten confused between what is entertainment for entertainment’s sake and what is actually smart marketing messaging. The YouTube generation of advertising has forgotten that,” he said. “You can have a brilliant, unique, funny ad, but if it’s not coupled with insight it will be forgotten.”

We Need a Balance of Entertainment and Info
All entertainment ads don’t work because people don’t know what the ad is for. All informative ads don’t work because they’re too boring for people to pay attention to. So, as with just about anything in life, moderation is key. Add a moderate dose of entertainment and a moderate dose of information that people can use about your product, and there’s your magical dose of the “just right” ad.

The Simplicity of a Greeting Card

Greeting card printing is a fairly easy process because of the simplicity of the layout.  A greeting card has only a few parts to it, but taking the time to put the elements together correctly will provide for engaging greeting cards that connect you with the recipient.  Whether the purpose of your greeting card is to connect with customers, employees, or family and friends, make sure that your design contains the necessary elements.

On the front of the greeting card, include either a photograph, text, or a combination of both.  Spend the most time on the front of the card to make sure that it sets the mood for the rest of the message.  The greeting can be serious, witty, funny, or romantic.

You can leave the inside blank for writing a personalized message or you can include a reply to the message on the front of the greeting card.  For cards that open vertically, typically the text is printed on the bottom flap. Horizontal greeting cards contain the main text on the right flap.  You might also decide to include a poem or joke on the top opposite flap.  Including an electronic signature is necessary when mailing the cards directly from the print shop.

On the back of the greeting card, you can print your logo, company name, and contact information if your purpose is promotional. Or for personal use, create your own personal mark, print your name, the date, or simply leave the back blank.

Even with the many online greeting cards available, printed ones are still widely used and appreciated. Nothing shows someone how much you care better than a simple greeting card containing a short handwritten note.  Just be sure to order a large quantity from a greeting card printing company so that you have enough and at a discounted cost.

Logo Design Basics and Tips

A logo is one of the first things you should design when you start a new business. Your logo is what customers look to when they remember you or identify your business. Your logo also gives customers more faith and trust in you as a business. A business that doesn’t even have a logo is not yet a business in many people’s eyes. That’s why you gotta get a logo first!

A logo contributes to your credibility, memorability and visibility. You might want to put off designing your logo until you get more money, but the longer you wait, the longer you’ll have to wait to create marketing materials, including your Web site. That’s because your logo needs to go on every piece of marketing material and your product packaging too. That’s how important it is.

Your logo should be unique and heaven forbid, please do not use ClipArt! ClipArt screams amateur and unprofessional. Besides, if you use ClipArt, your logo could end up looking just like your competitor down the street.

The first step: design or text?
The first thing you want to decide on is whether you’ll have a design represent your company, your company’s name as your logo or a combination of both. There’s no right way to design a logo: all of these choices are equally good. It all depends on what’s needed for your company.

Design
If you decide on design, try to think of a way to incorporate your industry or your product into the design. I saw one clever logo for an airline called Peace Air, and its logo looked like a peace sign – the plane’s body was the vertical line that makes up the middle of the peace sign and the plane’s wings made up the two smaller lines that go out to the side of the peace sign. That’s pretty clever if you ask me.

Of course, you can’t always incorporate something from your industry into your logo. But it’s always nice if you can!

Text
On to text. If you decide to use purely text as your logo, here are some font tips:

1. Choose a font that fits your business’s personality. Serif fonts, the ones with “feet” give off a mature and established feeling whereas a sans-serif font (without feet) looks more modern and young.

2. Use a font that no one else uses. You can buy fonts online and download them, and some you can even download for free. I’d advise against the free ones, because those are the ones everyone else will be using. Buy a good, wide-ranging set of fonts so that you have less of a chance of looking like some other business. You can also create your own font by hiring a designer or buying software that lets you create fonts, like CorelDRAW. There are plenty of other software options out there, so just Google “create fonts software.”

3. Modify the font if possible. If you choose a font that looks similar to others, or if you just want to add a little bit of flair, modify your font just a bit. You could add longer serif “feet” or stretch the font to make it look wider. You could even just modify one letter of your logo to make it look different. A slight modification can make your logo look unique and add visual interest.

Branding: More Than a Logo

I have bad news for people who think they can slap their company’s logo on a product and call that branding. A cow might be “branded” just by slapping a name on it, but a product that looks like all others needs more than a logo to be considered branded.

Customizing Products
Nowadays, consumers can customize almost anything. From cars to clothing, you can design the product you want online. And then you can order it. You can “have it your way” anywhere, not just at Burger King anymore. Nike has been allowing consumers to design their own Nike kicks on their Web site since 1999. Jones Soda offers customization of their labels. Even kids get to design their own lovable companions with the Build-A-Bear workshops where kids can customize their new furry friends.

All this customization means that businesses can’t rely on their logos as their only brand identity. Once everyone starts customizing products, the product itself is what needs to shout to world “I’m a Mac” or “I’m a Nike.” The apple and swoosh just won’t cut it. That’s why Apple and Nike have built other brand recognition into their products so that they don’t need that logo recognition.

The Brand Function
Your brand is people’s perception of your products and company. Branding is the marketing effort of telling people about your company and your beliefs. Branding doesn’t only include your logo. It includes

• Colors (brown=UPS; red=Coke)
• Slogans (“Have you driven a Ford lately?” “I’m lovin’ it.” (McDonalds))
• Fonts
• Promise (“We try harder.” (Avis))
• Packaging

Basically, anything that consumers see when they look at your product is branding. So, if people are customizing everything about your product, how does it stay yours? How does your brand stay recognizable?

iPod: Good Branding
I hate to use Apple yet again in a branding blog, but darn it, the branding minds there do such a good job that I have to. The iPod is a great example of branding without the logo. Where’s the logo? On the back. Which goes against everything that is taught in Logo 101. You always put the logo on the front of a package where it has the greatest chance to be seen. But the key with the iPod is that the whole product is branded – from the click wheel to the shape – you know it’s an iPod without having to see the logo. No one would confuse a portable CD player made by Sony with an iPod. But people might confuse that CD player with one made by Samsung or Panasonic. If Sony removed the logo from the CD player, you wouldn’t be able to tell it from other brands. With the iPod, you can take the logo off and everyone will know it’s an iPod because the design is part of the brand.

So when you’re thinking of how to brand your product, think about how your product looks or feels different from competitors. What can you offer as part of your brand that others don’t and can’t? When consumers customize your product by altering the color or accessories, what’s left? Can you still tell it’s your brand?

Printing Tips for In-House Marketing Projects

1. Use colors wisely. Colors emanate a feeling – blue can mean calm, black is associated with dread or sadness, and red is associated with love. If you are designing your own marketing materials, be sure to use the right colors that evoke the kind of mood or feeling you want customers to feel when they see your marketing piece. Be sure to look up the color wheel so you know which colors complement each other, and which should not be used together under any circumstances! Complementary colors help each other stand out; non-complementary colors will help each color fade into the background. Choose wisely.

2. Use white space liberally. Eyes get tired. If you fill every square inch of your brochure or flyer with text or graphics, readers’ eyes will get tired. Once the eyes get tired, the brain doesn’t want to read anymore. That’s bad news for business. Be sure to include plenty of white space, or empty space, in your design to give people’s eyes a rest. Think that’s boring? Look at the most popular search engine’s Web site – Google – plenty of white space and it’s still going strong after 10 years.

3. Start with a template. If you aren’t a designer, starting from a template is your best bet for a professional-looking brochure or catalog. There’s nothing wrong with getting a little design help. You can find templates at Microsoft Office Online, HP’s Business Templates and Images Web page, or StockLayouts.com. You can find basic templates for free, which you simply download from the Web site, or you can pay for a more complex template. You can expect to pay about $100 per template.

4. Match the paper to your printer. Inkjet printers need to print on inkjet paper. Laser printers need to print on laser paper. Each type of paper is specially formulated for each type of printer. Laser printers use a fuser to dry toner particles on the paper; this requires intense heat. Laser paper is made of this type of heat.

Inkjet paper is created to absorb ink because inkjet printers spray liquid ink onto a page to create an image. Using a laser paper, which doesn’t absorb ink, on an inkjet printer would result in smearing or streaking.

5. Match the paper to your purpose. If you’re creating a brochure, you’ll want a heavier, more opaque (not see-through) paper than if you were creating a flyer. Your paper needs to match your purpose. Sales letters are generally printed on lighter weight paper, about 20 to 24 lbs. Greeting cards are generally printed on heavier paper, about 60 to 79 lbs.

You also need to refer to the brightness of the paper. A brighter paper will help your images and text look clearer because more light is bouncing off the paper.

You can also choose the type of paper finish you want: matte, glossy or something in between. Colored photos look better on glossy finishes and black-and-white photos look better on matte.

6. Ask someone to proof your work. Your work might look perfect to you, but it never hurts and always helps to get a second pair of eyes on it. Ask a colleague (or two or three) to look over your marketing piece. Ask the person if the colors look right, to make sure there are no typos, to suggest a different layout and to make sure you have enough white space. Another set of eyes can make the difference between an amateur-looking brochure or a professional-looking brochure.

Booklet Printing Page Ideas

Booklet printing and design can be tricky because of the amount of written words and information often involved. Most companies cannot avoid booklets, though, because they are needed in almost any industry. Your company may need instruction manuals, company reports, catalogs, or magazines, all of which are types of booklets. The tone, images, and layout are all determined by the purpose. For instance, it may include graphs or charts if a manual or report, while a catalog will contain photographs of products.

You may already have some page ideas for your booklet printing, or maybe you don’t even know where to start. Both problems have a solution. You might want try first perusing similar booklet designs for some ideas, but if you still run into a block, maybe the list of booklet pages below will help.

1. Introduction, Preface, or Foreward – Each of these terms refer to a different type of introductory page. An “introduction” includes company background, goals, or objectives. The “preface” would contain a summary of the booklet itself along with the main highlights. The “foreward” is any written piece by an expert in the field, often with references to the booklet.

2. Dedication – When you need to thank those who have contributed or inspired your booklet, put these on the dedication page. You can also include a “Dedicated to” list.

3. Table of Contents – Sometimes booklet printing needs to include a table of contents in the front so that readers can easily flip to the information they need. This page is especially important when your booklet contains chapters or long sections.

4. Appendix, Glossary, or Index – All of these pages are included at the back of the booklet. The “appendix” is any extra reference information needed, for instance a list of stores that donated the information or products. A “glossary” is a list of terms and definitions contained within the booklet. An “index” often replaces the table of contents because it contains a list of terms and the page numbers on which they can be found.

5. Interesting, Fun, or Educational Information – You may want to include a page filled with tips, hints, facts, or anything else that would interest the reader. Customer reviews or testimonials are an excellent selling tool as buyers trust the satisfaction of other consumers. This page should be advertised either on the cover or in the beginning pages to encourage readers to flip through the booklet.

If you are still stumped on page designs, incorporate the help of a professional. Often, you can find more cost-effective designers provided by your booklet printing company, so check with them before searching for an actual graphic designer or design company.

7 Design Tips for Better Print Marketing

1. The headline: Use words that catch readers’ attention in the headline and that will pull them into the rest of the copy. Words like “free,” “save” and “secret” work well to intrigue people into finding out more about what your print marketing has to say.

On average, the headline is read five times more than the body copy. That means people have read the headline and it wasn’t good enough to motivate people to read on. Don’t become part of that statistic! Include a clear benefit to the reader in the headline and you’ll draw them in. If you can pair a benefit with an eye-catching word like “free,” your headline will have real stopping power.

2.  Use white space. Any space in your design that isn’t filled with text or graphics, or is in other words blank, is considered “white space.” Don’t feel like you have to fill every square inch of your print marketing materials. Whether it’s a flyer, postcard or brochure, a simple, uncluttered design will look much better and will draw people into your marketing piece than a cluttered design.

3. Limit yourself to two fonts. Any more than two fonts will make your design look cluttered. Unless you have a huge poster or a big marketing piece that can handle the extra fonts, stick with two. You should use a sans-serif font for your headlines and subheads (sans-serif means “without feet” in French; examples are Arial and Century Gothic) because sans-serif fonts are harder to read when they font size is small. Use a serif font for all of your body copy, or your smaller size copy. Serif fonts have “feet,” which make them easier to read. Examples of serif fonts are Times New Roman and Garamond.

4. Address your audience. Make sure you talk directly to your audience – say “Attention CEOs” or blatantly ask “Are you a stay at home Mom?” By talking directly to your audience there will be no mistake who your message is for.

5. Use before and after ads when possible. People have an above average understanding of before and after ads, and I think many women like them because they are like makeovers. When you can give proof in a photo format that your product works, there is no contesting it.

6. Use photos instead of line drawings when possible. Photos are more believable than line drawings. Photos are better at drawing people’s eyes in because the colors are generally more saturated than in a graphic.  

7. Test your ads again and again. Readership increases with repetition. Keep testing new ads against old ones to see which ones are more effective. There comes a time when repetition gets boring, so be sure to switch up your design to keep consumers interested.

Things to Consider In Printing Newsletters

The purpose of your newsletter may be to keep members of a club updated on current events, to promote your company and keep up a connection with customers, or to generate sales. Whatever your goals, there are a few things that you need to consider before designing and printing newsletters. Deciding on layout format beforehand will save you from timely setbacks that can cause you to miss your deadline.

1. Some newsletters are printed in black-and-white to cut costs. While considering cost is necessary, you need to weigh money saved against the quality lost. Full color newsletters are much more appealing. Don’t be fooled by the term “full color,” though. This term refers to commercial printing, which involves using the four color (CMYK) method of printing. A stunning newsletter uses color in concentrated, select areas rather than scattering small bits of color throughout.

2. Choose the type of fold for your newsletter. Generally, most newsletters use only one of two fold types: the French fold or the double parallel fold.  
             
French Fold

The French fold involves folding the paper in half, then in half again perpendicular to the first fold. Often, the purpose of the second fold is to merely make it less bulky for mailing. Therefore, the layout is set according to the standards of a half fold. This creates a newspaper feel.
  
Double Parallel Fold

Double parallel folding also provides a “news” feel because the layout can also be based on the first fold only so that the second fold is to provide for easier mailing.

Of course, you may decide that you want to lay out the newsletter according to the full folding technique. Play around with the folding by sketching a layout on a piece of paper to help you decide what works best for your newsletter image.

3. The type of paper used in newsletter printing can help to reduce costs. Most newsletters use a lighter, uncoated paper, such as #70 text, which costs less than a heavy gloss paper. Although a heavier paper is not necessary since the idea is to copy the image of a newspaper, you might decide that yours needs the durability of a heavy, coated paper text.

4. The size of the paper refers to the final size when the newsletter is opened flat. Avoid delays in printing by designing your newsletter for the appropriate size. If you want an 11×17 tabloid size but design the layout based on an 8.5×11 letter size, then your final product will either have margins that are too large or its also possible that valuable information will get trimmed because of the size error.

5. When you are ordering newsletters from a commercial printer, you may not be able to find a template specifically for newsletters. If this is the case, simply choose a template from the flyer list, or brochure list if flyers are not offered. Both of these provide folding and paper options needed for newsletters.

How to Integrate Print Marketing with Online Marketing

It’s no secret that many marketing venues are online that were once exclusively offline.  Everything from television to brochures are online now. But does that mean that print marketing is dead? Hardly. It might not be as big as it once was because people now have multiple outlets, but that just means print marketing has to share the spotlight with its online counterparts.

People typically do their initial research about products online by checking out forums, review sites and the product manufacturer’s Web site. Some people do all their research online, but many still request brochures, catalogs and other printed materials from the manufacturer. People like to be able to relax on the couch without a hot laptop on their lap and just look through a catalog. The glare from looking at a computer screen all day is not appealing.

All of this means that you must integrate your print marketing strategy with your online marketing strategy.

Here are a few ideas on how to do that:

Use your print marketing to direct people to your online marketing. If you use postcards to draw people’s attention to your product and then direct them to your Web site for more information, you’ve just drawn people in with the information that would have been on a brochure for the price of a postcard. Since Web site hosting is cheap, you can put as much info on your site as you want and not have to worry about paying for an extra four pages of content like you would a brochure.

You can also cut back on catalog printing costs. Send out a 40-page catalog with your best products instead of your usual 56-page catalog and direct people to your Web site for more catalog selections. You save money on printing and people can still see all of your products on your Web site. You can focus your catalog on your best moneymakers and feature the not-so-popular items on your Web site only.

Create an e-newsletter. Include info that your customers crave, like how to save money on products in your industry and info on the best products on the market. If you already have a print newsletter, include a link in the newsletter for consumers to sign up on your Web site to receive the e-newsletter. You can build your email database this way and also keep in touch with consumers in the way that they prefer. Older consumers prefer to get their news in print while younger consumers would rather get their news online.

Include an interactive copy of your brochure or catalog online. Make it searchable so people can browse to exactly what they want online. Many people will note what they want from your print catalog and then get on your Web site to make their purchases. Make it easy for them by including a search box for the online catalog and making it easy for people to find what they’re looking for.

Designing Brochures

Brochures are the paper ambassadors of your business. They represent your company, your products, and your brand on your behalf. With that in mind, the design and layout you choose for your brochures becomes essential.

There are a few fool-proof methods for designing brochures that you can use to your benefit. The father of modern print design, David Ogilvy, put as much emphasis on research as he did the artist side of layout. His tried and true methods can serve as a blueprint as you design your brochure.

Pictures
The first thing that people look at when they pick up your brochure is the pictures. As Ogilvy notes, the eye finds the graphic elements the most interesting and typically goes there first. You can use this to your advantage by doing two things: use pictures and print in color. Just because you do not have a picture on your brochure does not mean that a customer will not look at it, but using pictures will only help. Knowing that this will be the first place customers look will aid in selecting pictures that guide the customer through the rest of your presentation.

Captions
After the pictures, the customer will look at your captions of the pictures. Captions can be omitted, but using captions to highlight features of products or to emphasize key points of the brochure will only help to drive your ideas home. Keep captions short and to the point. Make sure they also are relevant not only to the images but also to the brochure as a whole.

Headlines
The next place that Ogilvy states the customer’s eye will go is to the headline and sub-heading. Headlines should always be included any time there is more than a few sentences of copy or content. This helps the customer decide whether or not they want to read the “fine print” or details of the brochure. Headlines should highlight the main point of the following copy in a few words. Sub-headings give you the opportunity to expand on the headline and divide the content into smaller pieces.

Copy
The last thing a customer will read is the copy. This is not to say that the actual descriptive text is unimportant. Unless the other elements of the brochure (pictures, captions, headlines) guide the customer to the copy, then the customer may never get to the point where they actually read what you have to say.

I Want Word-of-Mouth Advertising Balanced with Traditional Advertising

Advertising comes in all forms, from TV commercials to brochures. But it would be nice if most advertising came from people we knew and trusted, wouldn’t it? In one way, with word-of-mouth advertising, it kind of does. We see some cool shoes on our friend, she says they’re comfy so we go out and get ourselves a pair.

 

In another way, we see something on a celebrity and we immediately want to go out and get a knock-off since we can’t afford the real thing. Similar kind of concept – it’s almost like word-of-mouth, but more like picture-in-tabloid advertising. Either way, we like what we see and it’s not directly from the advertiser, which makes us like it even more, although some would argue that point when it comes to celebrities getting free stuff and wearing it to make us common folk want it.

 

Chris Brogan has a video on his blog (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-way-i-wish-advertising-worked/) from John Chow that shows Chow eating at a crab shack in Washington state. This kind of advertising is what Chris would like to see more of instead of newspaper ads or banner ads on a Web site.

 

I think the concept is good – people advertising for places that they thoroughly enjoy, without getting paid to tout it, but I don’t think this particular video is that great. It doesn’t make me salivate and want seafood the way a Red Lobster commercial can. There’s something to be said for staging and good lighting, I think.

 

And, sometimes ads aren’t all that bad. Some are downright funny (hello, Super Bowl) and there are even shows dedicated to showing the funniest TV commercials all over the world. Sad, but true – I’ve actually watched that show and I think I laughed out loud more than I ever did watching many sitcoms.

 

Besides, what would ad writers and production crews do if we took away the ad? They’d starve to death and we can’t have that! We’d have to live with the guilt and knowledge of wiping out an iconic pastime in America: the poor ad. And anyway, as people continued to make their own home video-type of ads, those people would become the ad actor and actresses and then they’d be hiring their own production crews and ad writers, and then we’d be back to square one.

 

So, I agree that word-of-mouth advertising works, or word-of-video or whatever you want to call advertising on the ‘Net, but I think we shouldn’t shun the traditional advertiser. When would we go to the bathroom during TV shows if we did?

Creative Thinking: The Internal and External Arenas

Creative thinking takes place in two arenas: internally and externally.  Internally, or in your own mind, creative thinking is all about exploring, playing, and probing with new ideas.  Externally, when you relate your new ideas to others, creative thinking is about communicating, explaining, and persisting until others get the vision.  But these ideas are somewhat nebulous.  So let me try to take concepts such as “playing” and “explaining” and put them into a more concrete form.

Creative thinking: internally

• Exploring – To really come up with new ideas you have to be willing to look outside the box.  And in the realm of your imagination you can explore anything.  Here the problems are laid out and the more obvious solutions are explored.  But exploring is decidedly an activity that should stay internal.  Few people have the patience for creative thinking that may be jumping from point to another seemingly unconnected point.

• Playing – Beyond exploration, playing has to do with intentionally breaking the perceived rules and intentionally thinking through solutions that may seem impossible.  Using scenarios like,  “If I had unlimited resources, how would I handle this?” Playing pushes limits. And this part of the creative process should still remain internal as people are typically quick to judge.

• Probing – Here the creative thinker begins to challenge the status quo.  Identify biases and assumptions that may be preventing ideas from flowing.  Again, because of the political nature of most organizations, probing should initially take place internally since people can feel threatened by the probing process.

Creative thinking: externally

• Communicating – Once the new ideas have been sorted and sifted, the next step is to communicate those ideas.  Careful thought needs to be put into how and when to communicate your new ideas.  Make sure the people to whom you are communicating understand your frame of reference.  It is easy to throw out an idea and confuse a group who has not been tracking with you internally.

• Explaining – Once you communicated your idea you often have to take the time to fully explain it. You may need to show people which boxes you’ve broken down and which assumptions you may be challenging.

• Persisting – Finally, you’re probably going to have to be patient while the idea takes root.  The external process of creative thinking is iterative: you’re probably going to have to communicate, explain, and persist, and repeat the process several times.

How to Get the Best from a Design Agency

Once you’ve decided to work with a design agency, you might feel excited but a little doomed. You’ve just signed on to let someone else design your precious marketing materials and you have to give up some control.

Maybe you’ve even heard nightmare stories from other companies that have worked with design agencies where everything was late, looked horrible and they overcharged. You don’t have to meet with that same fate! All you have to do is build a good relationship with the agency to have success.

To have a relationship with anyone or any company, it has to be a two-way street. You can’t treat the agency like your puppet that must do your bidding. You’re paying these people for their expertise. Here are some considerations to keep in mind to keep the harmony and get the best from your design agency.

1. Respect each other
Value your agency and treat it like your marketing partner. In return, your agency will respect you if you treat them like team members and not just people you pay. Ask for opinions and share your honest opinions with them.

2. Make sure you’re on the same page with your goals
Meet with the agency to let them know your goals for your marketing materials. Bring a copy of your goals so they don’t forget and don’t have to take notes while you’re chatting. Make sure everyone is agreed in terms of the project’s objective.

3. Set limits (if you have them)
If you need this project to fit within strict brand limits or any other kind of limit, say so. If you have any ideas of what you do or don’t want done, say so upfront. Stress the importance of staying with your brand’s look and feel or let them know if you are willing to go off-kilter with this project.

4. Talk about the background of the project
The agency specialists can be especially helpful if they know what thought process has gone into this project already. If you’ve come up with ideas and rejected them, the agency won’t waste their time or yours coming up with those same ideas. Clarify the budget and timeline during this background talk.

5. Talk about money
Make sure you know what they charge per hour or per project and let them know what your budget is. That will dictate what kind of plan they put in place for you and can affect what design elements they choose. A $250,000 custom printing project wouldn’t be proposed if they know you only have $100,000 to spend.

6. Communicate openly
Call or email each week or every few days to see how things are going. Tell them to contact you any time they have a question. Work with the agency to solve any problems that come up. Support the agency in any way you can.

When you review their work, start with positive feedback to set the tone of the review session. Give negative feedback in person, never by email, so you can gauge the reaction and make clarifications when necessary.

7. Do a postmortem review of each project
Talk about what could have been handled differently to make the project better. Write down what worked for future reference. Congratulate each other and celebrate the big victories – a working relationship doesn’t have to be all work, all the time!

Improving Printed Postcard Results

According to the large volume of marketing advice available, printed postcards should be one of the most successful advertisements available for most businesses.  Are your results less than satisfactory even though you have followed design, printing, and mailing tips? If so, you may need to rethink the layout of your postcard. What works for one company may not work for yours. Successful marketing requires careful testing, so don’t despair if it takes time before you see the results everyone is bragging about. Below are some areas that might need to be reworked on your postcard to improve results.

Focus on the Back Side
Many mail carriers deliver the mail address-side-up. If the back of a postcard only contains the address information, clients may trashing your direct mail piece before the headline has a chance to catch their attention. Test placing your headline and offer on the back of the postcard and save the front for extra information.

Limit Information
Obviously, a postcard contains very limited real estate space. Avoid packing every little detail onto the postcard as this can result in a littered layout and, therefore, hidden message. Cut down the amount of words to include only the most important information. You merely need to cause clients to take the next step, not know every step of the offer.

Make a Unique Offer
If yours is the same as every other business offer, prospects will see no reason use your company above another. Without a tempting offer, an advertising campaign is useless.  The offer is what compels readers to take action. So give clients what they want – the newest, biggest, and best product or service at an irresistible price.

Although printed postcards are one of the cheapest marketing tools, without high results they are not worth any cost, no matter how small. Therefore, test and test again until your direct mail postcards have become the optimum marketing tool that you have read so much about.

Creating PDF Files in QuarkXPress 7

The newest version of QuarkXPress makes it easier than ever to create PDF files.  This is a very useful ability to have, because many commercial printers want you to send your designs to them in PDF format.  Quark allows you to create all kinds of products – brochures, postcards, etc. – into PDF with just a few steps.

Here is a rundown of how to create a PDF file in QuarkXPress 7:

1. The first thing you have to do is to QuarkXPress’s Resource Center (on quark.com) and download the ICC files.  You have to have these to download the PDF style that you want.

2. Then, download the PDF styles archive from http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/resourcecenter/pdf.html.

3. Now you have all of the files that you need downloaded.  From here, you can do all of the needed steps from within the Quark program.  From inside the program, choose the File menu, and select Output Styles.

4. From this point, there will be more options from which to choose.  Select Import.

5. Here, you have to choose the PDF style that you want to use.  Here are your choices:

Press_HighPDF.xml
Print_MediumPDF.xml
Screen_MediumPDF.xml
Screen_LowPDF.xml
PDFX1a.xml
PDFX3.xml

6. Once you select the style you want, click Open.

7. If you want to input more PDF styles, simply repeat steps 4-6 for each desired style.

8. When you are down importing all of the styles that you want, click Save.

This process is actually much easier than it looks.  Once you have done it, it will be a piece of cake.  However, if you import all of the styles you want on your first session, you will not have to do it again.
Do these 8 simple steps and start creating PDF files right from QuarkXPress 7!

A Collection of Unique Business Cards

I have been looking around the internet lately for unique business card designs, and I can tell you that there are plenty of them out there.  I have been amazed by what some people have done to their cards.  But I’m not complaining; not at all.  I think it’s great to have unconventional cards to get attention and to make them stand out from the millions of others out there.

I want to share some of the best ones I’ve seen on a few different sites.

From Dotcommogul.net:
This site has a nice collection of crazy business cards.  One such card was designed in the form of a cardboard cut out.  The customer could cut out a piece of cardboard in the shape of a car.

Another interesting card I found on this site was in the shape of a box of over the counter medicine.  Get what kind of company designed that one?  You guessed it: a prescription medicine company.

I saw another card that had a big bite taken out of it, quite literally.  It was designed (by a restaurant, no less) to look like a piece of paper that someone had taken a bite out of.

And perhaps the most unique of all the business card featured on this site was one designed in the form of a blood bag.  It looked just like a bag that would be attached to an IV in a hospital.  And it was used by a designer, no less.

From http://static.iftk.com.br/mt/2007/11/coolest_business_cards_ive_eve.html:
This blog post listed a lot of very unique business cards as well.  One of them looked like an x-ray showing a broken thumb.  It was designed and used by a debt recovery agent!  What a poignant message to get across, is it not?

Another business card was designed in the form of a very small piano.  This innovative card was used by a piano repair company.

And a locksmith had a business card designed in the shape of lock picking tools.  How fitting is that?  I love it when people find ways to make their business cards fit right in with their business.

And yet another business card featured on this site was in the form of a fully functional balloon.  I’m not sure what kind of company was using that one, but that sounds like a great idea to me.  If a customer blows up the balloon, they could end up looking at that business card for a week or more.

How Well Does Your Direct Mail Campaign Work? How to Measure Success

A direct mail campaign is one of most cost-effective ways to market your business. According to a study conducted by the Direct Marketing Association last year, direct mail brings in approximately $10 in sales for every $1 invested. That’s a pretty good return on your investment, eh?

With everyone talking about high gas prices and how to save money, direct mailing is one of those ways your company can save money. The U.S. Postal Service is giving us a bargain, really, when you think of how much money you could spend trying to reach thousands of people in a week’s time. Compare that with the approximate $1 cost it takes to create and mail postcards and you’ve got yourself a deal.

The best way to measure success of a direct mail campaign is to measure the cost versus gain
ROI stands for return on investment. ROI is basically a measurement of how much money you made or lost on an investment. To calculate ROI, you use the following equation:

ROI = (gain from investment – cost of investment) / cost of investment

I won’t go into the particulars here, except to tell you that if you Google ROI you’ll get a lot more info than you probably wanted to know about ROI! It’s a popular buzz word when it comes to finances of any sort. Basically, ROI tells you how much money you made in a percentage format. Whatever your ROI number is in the equation above, multiply it times 100 and you’ll get a percentage. That percentage will tell you how much of your investment cost you got back.

Another way to measure your cost and gain ratio is to measure your cost-per-piece or cost-per-lead and compare that with your sales numbers that resulted from the direct mail.

Measure how well you’re doing with test mailings
Direct mail enables you to control your marketing efforts better than other forms of marketing. You get to decide who exactly sees your direct mail pieces, when they see it and what the direct mail piece looks like.

When you first develop a direct mail piece, you should send it to a small group of people on your mailing list to get a feel for your response rate. You can use subsequent mailings to try out a new design, new headline copy or try a new mailing list to see what works and what doesn’t.

By testing your direct mail pieces before you send them out to your entire mailing list, you can gauge the probability of success so you know how much money, time and effort to sink into the direct mailing.

Which Marketing Mix of Strategies is For You?

There are so many different ways to communicate to customers through marketing – you’ve got everything from postcards to billboards to television commercials. Generally, companies divide themselves into who they sell to – businesses or consumers. Business-to-business (B2B) companies reach their customers differently than business-to-consumer (B2C) companies. Here’s an outline of which kind of marketing mix is best used for each type of business.

In B2B selling, customers are reached through the following channels:
• Mass media: print, fax, email, Internet, broadcast
• One-on-one: presentations, email
• Trade shows
• Customer referrals

In C2B selling, customers are reached through these channels:
• Mass media: commercials, Internet, print
• Display: building, signage, billboards, location, counter or shelf displays
• One-on-one: door to door, letter, telephone, email
• Follow up: in person, email, letter, telephone

You’ll notice that there are some overlaps. That’s okay – when it all boils down, you’re still selling to people. Businesses are made of people and the people are who make the buying decisions.

Let’s talk about a few of these options in greater detail:

Mass media: Many marketers think mass media is the end all and be all of marketing. And don’t get me wrong – mass media is one of the main marketing channels for B2B and B2C companies. But, mass media is generally reserved for sales (meaning discounts) and to introduce new products or services.

Display marketing: This works best for B2C marketing because most consumers will travel to your store to buy your product. Many businesses will not. Businesses are too busy to travel from store to store to pick up goods, which is why they generally have everything shipped to them. Displays also encourage impulse buying, which businesses are somewhat immune from because everything they purchase is preordered.

One-on-one marketing: One-on-one marketing works for both types of companies because it’s the most personal way to build a relationship with customers. You talk with them and there’s rapport there. You can also personalize your presentation or lineup of products for each consumer or business. This tactic is most time-consuming, but it can pay off in ways that impersonal marketing can’t.

Speaking of impersonal and personal marketing, these broader categories can also determine your marketing mix:

Personal marketing
• One-on-one: presentations, email, letters, telephone, direct mail
• Your selling environment (your store atmosphere)
• Networking
• Trade shows

Impersonal marketing
• Mass media: print, broadcast
• Display: billboards, location, signage
• General email

Generally, personal marketing is aimed at current customers and impersonal marketing is aimed at prospects. You don’t want to get all up in a prospect’s personal space (real and virtual) because they don’t know you yet and aren’t comfortable with you. If you send an email that has the prospect’s name on it, like “Dear Molly,” Molly’s going to think “You don’t know me so don’t call me by my first name.” However, Joe who is your customer already, will welcome your email opening of “Dear Joe.” He’ll think nothing of your personal greeting.

Now that you know the categories of marketing, you can make your own marketing mix based on whether you want to go personal or impersonal, or based on your type of company. If you’ve already used mass media to reach your customers, you can try some one-on-one marketing to mix it up. There is no right way to market to a group of customers because each group is different. But you can find your own effective marketing mix from these lists and tweak it as you go along.

Technical Considerations for Brochure Printing

Small business owners are finding that brochures can be easily created nowadays in their office on their own computers. With desktop publishing software on the market like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress and Microsoft Publisher, it’s easy to design your own brochures and only use a printing company to do the actual printing.

Here are a few technical considerations that business owners who aren’t savvy graphics developers need to know.

Design for your print size
One of the most frequent errors do-it-yourselfers make when designing brochures is to design for the wrong print size. If you are planning on printing on 8-x-10-inch paper, don’t build your layout on an 8.5-x-11-inch palette. Many printing companies will return your file to you if it’s not sized correctly.

This is one of the hardest errors to correct at the printer – if they stretch or shrink the design to fit the paper size, your graphics and images will look funny and your text will be hard to read.

Allow your brochure to bleed
No, I’m not saying to torture yourself or your brochures for that design epiphany to break through! I’m talking about your print bleed. Print bleed is expanding your brochure design to go slightly past the page borders in your design program. When brochures are printed, they are printed in sheets, and are then sliced into individual brochures. The blade that cuts the sheets is usually right on, but sometimes veers just a bit outside of the established border. When that happens, you can end up with a white border on some parts of your brochure. Not cool if you have a great picture on one corner of your brochure, or if a picture takes up the whole front panel. Design your brochure with an extra 1/8 inch beyond the established borders to avoid any printing mishaps.

Your images and photos should be at least 300 dpi
To create a professional-looking brochure, you need professional quality photos. If you print a photo or image that isn’t high-resolution, your image will come out blurry or even pixilated.

The images that look good on the Web are 72 dpi (dots per inch). This is not enough for printing on paper – these low quality images would hardly be recognizable in a brochure. Your photo files should be at least 300 dpi to print sharply and clearly.

Choose a high quality paper to print your brochures on
Many printing companies offer 80lb or 100lb stock paper. Papers also come with a variety of glossy and matte finishes. 100lb paper is much more substantial than 80lb paper and doesn’t cost that much more. Paper weight is calculated by stacking 500 sheets on a pile. A heavier paper will make your brochure seem more professional and your images and text will look better because you can’t see through to the other side of the paper!

You can add varnish to the paper if you want it to look glossy and shiny, and varnish also helps prevent fingerprint smudges on color-heavy brochures. If you have a lot of ink on your brochure, it will look glossy anyway, so you may not want to spend money on making the small, inkless parts glossy.

Six Tips to Creating Fruitful Brochures

Whenever you’re ready to send out a brochure to new customers or existing customers, there are some key tactics to use to make sure you get a good response.  After paying for a copy writer, a designer, the printer, mailing costs and everything else that goes into creating a brochure, you end up spending about $1.00 per brochure.

Make sure you don’t waste your money by following these tips:

1. Get to know your customer
You need to understand your customers’ wants and needs.  You need to know what motivates them. What problems they have. And most importantly, what can your product do to help them? Do some research by simply asking customers or sending out surveys.  Knowing what your customers’ wants and needs are will shape everything about your brochure – the text and the
design.

2. Use the AIDA marketing technique to writing brochures
AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. For your brochure to be successful, it needs to get people’s attention, get your prospect interested enough to read further, elevate their desire for your product or service, and get them to take action, such as calling you, making an appointment or visiting your Web site.

3. Don’t waste space talking about yourself
Your customers don’t give a lick about your company’s history and your variety of products. All they care about is how you can help them. What benefits can you offer them for doing business with you?

4. Use eye-catching headlines and graphics on the front panel
Studies show that readers take between 5 and 7 seconds to decide whether they want to keep on reading your brochure. If your headline or graphics on the front panel of your brochure are boring or bland, no one will bother opening it.  You need something that will interest them and catch their attention. Use bright colors as accents for your headline text and use photos and graphics that will get people wondering what else is inside the brochure.

Use interesting, benefits-laden headlines all through your brochure – every panel should have a headline. Most people skim before they read smaller print, so using headlines will keep their attention and intrigue them to read on.

5. Include a call to action
Once you’ve gotten the reader interested in your product, tell them to contact you. You can’t assume that the reader will take the next step on his own – you need to tell him what the next step is.  Whether that is to call you or visit your Web site, tell them what to do, and give them the info they need to do it. (Not a step-by-step tutorial on how to use the phone or the computer of course! Just make sure you give them your phone number and Web site address.)

6. Make it urgent!
Give readers a reason to take action sooner rather than later. Generally, putting some kind of time limit on an offer is enough to get people off of their couches. Offer a free gift, or a special coupon that must be redeemed by the end of the month – just put some kind of date on your offer. If you don’t, your brochure is likely to get lost under a pile of mail or items to look at “later” (meaning probably never).

How Do You Present Yourself?

For those in the world of graphic designs, the time will eventually come to show your work to other people. This is going to be particularly true for those who are just starting out in the industry.

If you’re going in for a job interview and you have to bring in a number of your different design projects it can be a very nerve wracking experience. Really, for any kind of job that relies upon an artistic talent of any kind it can be difficult to let other people see and judge the work that you did.

This is an almost purely subjective thing that you’re handing to them. There is no definitive right or wrong way to do something like design. Sure, you can stand by the industry standards, but maybe people are going to be looking for something different. You might give them something different only for them to say they prefer what is already being done.

Each person has their own opinion on what looks good and what doesn’t. No single brochure design is going to be universally accepted as the best way for brochures to be done, just as no postcard design will always be able to get the sale.

There are really only two things you can do to help make meetings like these go a little smoother: be prepared and have thick enough skin to take whatever is said. The latter of the two is the hardest to manage, but the first can be accomplished with relative ease.

I’ve still seen plenty of people who don’t come prepared, though. This is the one thing you can make sure is done right, and yet many fail to do so.

The most obvious thing to me is making sure that you know what type of advertisements that they want to focus on, if they have one, and only bring in samples that reflect something similar to it.

People have come in before to a company that primarily uses brochures and all they brought were sample flyers. When informed that the company preferred brochures, the person exclaimed that they had some sample brochures already made up, they just hadn’t thought to bring them in.

Had they done the needed research it wouldn’t have ever come up. Figure out what a person is looking for, and make sure you have as close to an example of it as you can.

Presentation is another key aspect of it. Take the time and money to get a great presentation folder to hand to people. The way material is presented is just as much an artistic statement as the material that’s being presented.

It shows that you’re aware of how things are going to look when first handed to people. A presentation folder will look a lot better than a packet stuffed with your material.

If you do have a proper presentation it can help increase your confidence, and better your chances of getting the job.

Know Your Strengths

“Well, if they’re big and you’re small, then you’re mobile and they’re slow,” Gene Hackman’s character says to Will Smith in the movie Enemy of the State. While in the context of the movie he’s talking about fighting in a war against a branch of the government, this same advice can apply just as easily to a business.

Sometimes a business can have its hands tied by its own success. I know all those huge businesses try to talk about how they’re really a family owned company that you can feel close to. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I have a little trouble taking that advice to heart when I know for a fact I’ll never actually see any of those family members who own the company. They’re off in a boardroom talking about the future of the company, not on the sales floor restocking the shelves.

But if I walk into a local comic book store, video rental store, even grocery store, I very well might see the owner on his knees putting products onto the shelves. No major company can match a feeling of connection something like that can achieve.

Ask yourself about this in relation to marketing. Okay, brochures. Using this form of marketing as an example I’ll go over some of the ways you can actually benefit from not being a big corporation.

Sure, you aren’t going to have the same kind of budget for your brochures. A major corporation can pump out far more color brochures in a matter of seconds than you could probably make in the span of a week, but that isn’t always the most important thing. A brochure is only worthwhile if it actually gets people interested in the company.

You have the ability to make a custom brochure unlike anything those huge companies can match. If you own a small business you’re closer to the people. You know what they want, and really you don’t have to advertise to as many different groups as they do.

Wal-Mart isn’t just in one state or one city. They have to appease the mid-west as well as the northeast, and these are not similar people we’re talking about. This isn’t even taking into account all those other countries Wal-Mart deals with. You’re able to personally know and talk to the people you’re marketing to. You can know exactly what you need to do to appeal to them.

And really, creating a strong brochure design is a lot easier these days than it used to be for the small business owner. Do you have Adobe Photo Shop on your computer? That’s all you need to get started on some great looking brochures.

Just remember that what can appear like a weakness can really be an asset if you know how to properly wield it. You have a mobility the big business will never be able to match. Use it to your advantage.

Maximizing Your Brochure Effectiveness

Think Like a Customer
If you were a customer, what kind of brochure would make you take notice? Keep that in mind when you are designing brochures for your business. If you try to think like a customer, you might just find new ways to market yourself.

Use Enticing Information
The front of the brochure is where you need to convince the reader that he needs to look inside. Don’t be afraid to use some non business stuff there. For instance, you can say something like, “Coldplay’s new record just broke the record for downloads,” to try to interest the reader. Of course, you have to be able to tie that in to your company in some way, or else the customer will see right through your ploy.

Keep it Organized
Keep your brochures nice and neat. Don’t let them get too cluttered or text heavy. And if your brochures are quite long, you might want to include a table of contents to help readers find what interests them.

Information is Key
Don’t forget to include information about your company or product, or both. Your brochure cannot be completely full of enticing information without including something of substance. If it is, it will not generate any profit for you.

Throw in Something Valuable
Try to include something that will make the reader consider keeping the brochure. This can be information that does not deal directly with your company, but relates to it indirectly. The point is just to provide something that is valuable outside of the marketing aspect.

Think Outside the Box
You do not necessarily have to print a conventional brochure. Be willing to use some unique techniques to really get the customer’s attention. Change the shape of your brochures, or use a bold color (only if your business is not serious in nature). You could use humor extensively on your brochures, or anything else that will make them stand out from the thousands of others out there.

Use Story Techniques
Try to put the reader of your brochures in a relaxed mood. Try to take them away into a different world, of sorts. Use storytelling techniques to change the customer’s frame of mind as they read your brochures.

Focus on the Needs
The bottom line of any sales pitch is that you need to tell the customer what you can do for him. As early as you can in your brochures, tell the readers how you can solve a problem that they have, or fill a need that they suffer from.

The Call to Action
This is a vital part of any advertisement. You need to tell the customer exactly how to act, and why he needs to do so in a hurry.

Design Basics: Posters

Above all else, the goal of the poster is quite simple: you want people to look at it longer than they will any of your print ads. Sure, this goes for almost any kind of advertisement, but your poster is going to embrace this mentality like no other form of advertisement will for the simple fact that, unlike all your other print ads, posters are way bigger.

Remember this also: people don’t take posters home with them, they don’t stuff them in their pocket, and they don’t look at them from the comfort of their home. A poster is only going to be seen at the location you put it and it needs to convey its entire message as fast as it can, because people won’t be looking at that poster for very long.

The question I ask now and I’m sure a lot of people are thinking is how do you get the most out of your posters then? Even more than that, why even bother to use them if they have such a limited scope of effectiveness?

The charm of large format posters is that they can grab someone like no other kind of advertisement can. Every other form of advertising simply takes more time or can’t stack up when it comes to the quality of the image.

Take for example a postcard or flyer. Now, like a poster, both are going to grab someone’s eye right away and both don’t have room to really say too much. But both are going to be on lower quality paper and both aren’t going to be able to support the kind of visual flare a color poster can achieve.

Think about photo poster printing. A poster can support a high quality picture unlike anything a flyer would lay claim to. This is what will really make someone look over at your poster. It’s always the picture that grabs my eye first, and your poster stands as the best style of advertising to get that high quality image out there.

Given that you know people aren’t going to tear your poster down and take it home with them, or you hope they won’t, you need to make sure you can tell them what you have to say as quickly as possible.

Get to the point and only focus on the point. Is it a sale? Tell them that and be done with it. Maybe you have a grand opening or new product release. This is the key point of your poster and all you should have to worry about mentioning.

The more your poster has to say the less likely it is people will care enough to read it all. I’ve seen all sorts of posters that only have six or seven words on them total. I can tell you this, I read everything those posters had to say. The more complicated your poster starts to get the less likely it is people will bother reading any of it.

I’ve designed many posters myself using all sorts of different designing programs. With a program like CorelDRAW you can pump out some truly marvelous looking posters from the comfort of your own home.

Design Basics: Flyers

Compared to other forms of advertising, designing flyers should be a breeze, right? After all, the flyer is one of the most basic forms of advertising there is. You have a single sheet of paper to worry about and nothing else.

I won’t try to claim that a flyer is as complicated as a brochure to design, but there are some important details to be aware of before you go off and start designing them yourself.

These days I see a lot of flyers I just know people are making at home using something like QuarkXpress. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this, but I think you’ll be better served knowing more about flyer design before you go off and start making your own.

The first and most important thing about a flyer is the primary message you’re trying to convey. If your goal is to make some nightclub flyers than you want to decide what it is about the nightclub that you think will be your best selling point.

Let’s say you have a certain night that has great drink specials. This is the main point you want people to be aware of, which means this should be the biggest thing on your flyer. You want to grab people’s attention right away before they can throw that flyer on the ground, and we all know that’s what most people are going to do.

I see a lot of flyers that seem to have no particular point it emphasizes. Nothing is bigger than the rest, and so nothing really jumps out at me. Those are the flyers I drop in the first trash can I happen to pass.

A flyer needs to jump out and grab a person’s eyes. It needs to make sure they don’t look at anything else until they’re done looking at your flyer. Whether your flyer is for a nightclub or your plan on making some business flyers, you have to make sure your selling point is prominent.

Along with a strong message you need to have some strong visuals. A person is likely to see the image before they see the message, so give them something they’ll stop to look at. You could go for the extreme out of the ordinary kinds of images or the more colorful, flashy look. What you plan on selling will be what will decide the best kind of image to pair up with your message. Only you can know what that is.

And of course, make sure you have plenty of flyers made up. The cost to print flyers is cheap compared to almost any other form of advertising. Take advantage of it to get as many flyers as you can. The more people you hand them to the more opportunities you’ll have to find those people who will take your message to heart.

If you want to design your own flyer, by all means, go right ahead, just be aware of what all goes into them rather than waste your time on something people like me will just dump in the trash.

Design Basics: Business Cards

In looking for something to represent your business, it’s only expected that you want it to look its best. Print advertisements, big or small, represent your company and should not be ignored. Yes, even if it comes in the smallest dimensions like your business card.

Not only is a business card going to be what people use to remember who you are, but quite often you’re actually there when you hand it to them. You’ll see that person look right down at your card and you’ll have to deal with whatever their reaction will be.

Here are some of the basic tenants of any high quality business card. I don’t plan to get into anything too fancy, and really, you can design your own business card with ease if you know all of the basics for what makes a card effective.

The first thing to look for is the information you plan on putting on your card. Ask yourself what you want people to know about you. Obviously your name should be on it, but what kind of contact info? Do you want a phone number, an email address, a fax number, maybe a building number? Maybe you have an office phone, a cell phone, and a home phone that you might consider using, or multiple email addresses that would all work.

Wouldn’t that be a little too much information? Probably. A good business card needs to be concise enough that people can just glance at it and get all of the information they need. The more complicated you make your cards, the less likely it will be that people will bother wanting to sort through the mess of information.

Figure out only the best pieces of information and that’s what you’re going to stick with.

Now, let’s talk about the design. If you have a company logo you definitely want to make sure that’s on your card. Any good logo shouldn’t be overly complicated or too colorful. Where you place the logo is up to you, but I’d say it would probably be best to keep it close to your name. A colorful logo will be the first thing someone looks at, which means your name will be the second if the logo is close enough to it.

When it comes to something like font type I would try to primarily stick to a single style. You could probably get away with two fonts, such as having your company name in a different font, but any more than that will make the card look messy.

Also remember that white space isn’t always a bad thing. Don’t try to fill your card up with too much info or too many pictures. Sometimes I like to be able to write something down on the back of my business cards. Why rob people of the ability?

All of these things can be handled and designed in something as simple as Adobe Photoshop. You don’t have to be an expert in design to make your print business cards look professional.

Design Basics: Brochures

Brochures aren’t always for the faint of heart or for those who don’t have enough time to adequately design something that will work.

Brochures also aren’t the cheapest form of marketing. You can get plenty of great advertising for your buck if you do them right, but you still have a larger initial investment when compared to other kinds of marketing.

But one thing you can do to help ease the financial burden is be aware of what goes into designing an effective brochure. If you have the right kind of software like In Design, you might even be able to start designing brochures yourself.

The first thing to look at is the brochure layout. How many pages do you plan on having and how do you plan on having your brochure folded? There are all sorts of different methods for folding brochures, and each carry a certain advantage. I won’t list every kind of folding method here given how many there are.

Once you do know what kind of folding method you plan on using decide the right progression for your information. A brochure should have a strong linear feel to it. Make sure yours flows along a single line of thought from beginning to end. You can have several points that you’re making, just don’t jump around from topic to topic. People will get confused before they bother to finish reading your brochure.

After the writing is decided on, pick up some good visuals to go along with it. A color brochure will always be more appealing than a plain black and white one. Think about the brochures you’ve seen, and I’m guessing most had a strong visual appeal. They had bright pictures and images on the cover to get people interested in reading what else the brochure had to say.

The brochure design will be a combination of the writing and the images. Some topics are simply going to have more that you need to say about them whereas others will center on the images. Most travel brochures are loaded with pictures because this is the most important selling point for them: letting people see where they’ll be going.

Think about the reason you’re writing your brochure and you should know exactly how much writing you’ll need and how many pictures will best compliment it.

Designing a brochure can be a rather daunting task, especially if you’ve never done one before. Make sure you take things one at a time. Do your writing first, pick out the style of folding you want next, and then decide on the number of images that will work best.

So long as you don’t let all of it bog you down, you can write brochures that are more than worth the money it took to make them.

Don’t Forget Your Loyal Customers

It seems as if the law of the land in the world of business is expansion. You want to always be growing, which means increasing the number of customers you have and the areas you work in.

Of course a company is going to want to generate more customers. The thing I take issue with is how quick people seem to be to forget about their loyal customers in that quest for new customers.

The fact is most of your business is going to be coming from your loyal customers, not your new customers. That’s why it’s best to be sure to keep your eye on those that helped you reach the area that you’re at right now.

There are several ways you can both honor your existing customers and help generate more sales. Think of different ways to generate new marketing that focuses primarily on them.

You might consider using catalog printing to design a catalog meant specifically for your loyal customers. Put specials deals in it that other catalogs wouldn’t have. Track the kind of products that seem to be most popular with your loyal customers and have those be the emphasis within your catalog.

Most of all make sure they’re aware that these deals are being given only to them for being loyal. Someone who just started shopping with you isn’t getting these kinds of deals. People like to know that they’re loyalty is appreciated, and that they can get better savings for being loyal.

If your company doesn’t have anything like catalog printing than try to figure out other methods for honoring them. You might have a special batch of booklet printing made up that accomplishes a similar goal.

Design booklets dedicated for your faithful customers that actually talks about them. Ask to interview some of your customers and put those in the booklet along with special coupons and deals.

This helps you foster a closer sense of community with your customers. You’re showing them that you’re more than just a company but a place they can feel comfortable at. They can get to know their fellow customers and maybe be featured themselves some day.

These are just two suggestions. There are going to be several methods well beyond booklet printing or catalogs for you to show your dedicated customers that you care about their service.

Ask yourself what would work best for your customers. Each company is going to have a method that will work particularly well for their industry and you’ll be in the best position to know what will work for you.

Just keep these people in mind the next time you start your marketing. The worst thing you can do is throw aside the people who made you big in your effort to become bigger.

Watch Out for These Business Card Mistakes

In this age of email, personal Web pages and BlackBerrys, you’d think business cards don’t have any place in this era. But business cards are still considered the essence of a professional. Think about it: what kind of professional doesn’t have a business card?

So, if you are in the market for some business cards of your own, watch out for the following mistakes people make when creating business cards and avoid them at all costs:

Using big, ugly font. Okay, so ugly is in the eye of the beholder, but try to stick with fonts that are popular and easy to read, like Times, Arial or Garamond. Your name and contact info should only be big enough to read and not much bigger. If you use big font that takes up most of your card, you’ll look unprofessional.

Not using your logo. Your logo represents your brand and your business’s personality so it should be on your card.

Don’t use a photo unless you are in real estate. Many people (realtors included!) don’t think it’s a good idea to have photos on their business cards. It’s considered unprofessional, except in real estate for some strange reason. Supposedly a photo makes the realtor more memorable, but the jury’s out on that one. Anyway, don’t put your photo on your card.

Using general picture business cards. This isn’t the same as the previous mistake. This means don’t use a picture of the ocean or a really nice mountain scene as your background to your text. The color of your cardstock should be white or off-white. That’s not to say not to use color at all – color business cards look professional and tasteful if just an accent color is used on your logo or on just your name. Too much color is overkill and doesn’t look professional.

The Need to Reinvent Blog

Sometimes change isn’t easy. People like to keep things the way they’ve been. It can be comforting knowing something’s always going to be the same.

But at the same time our society keeps changing. I understand the shaky ground this can put a business on who wants to keep up with the times without turning away those who have stuck with them for years. I’m afraid there isn’t any easy answer for how best to approach the subject.

I guess one of the most important things is keeping your current customers informed about what’s in the works and what might be coming soon. I don’t think it would be much of a hassle to print out some full color flyers to advertise the upcoming changes, whatever they may be.

At least this way people aren’t going to be caught by surprise when they happen. This also allows people a chance to voice their concerns ahead of the change, whatever they may be. Flyer printing is an inexpensive way to get the word out.

Change simply has to happen. I’m aware of that. I just like to know what the changes are going to be.

Building Your Customer Base

I, along with many others I’m sure, like to find those good deals. Who doesn’t, right? It’s also nice to find that new place to go when it comes to a type of product you like.

For me it’s usually good deals on movies. But looking through every store in town isn’t always a practical solution, and quite often I just don’t care enough to do it. That’s why it is kind of nice to have that advertisement in the mail show up, handing me a look at certain good deals coming up at a store I had never heard of. Finding a new movie store is always a nice thing.

I’m aware too that this kind of direct mail strategy, what many call junk mail, isn’t always going to be a wonderful success. I’m thrown my share of it into the trash I’ll readily admit, but when the right kind of postcard lands in my mailbox, I’m more than willing to give the store a chance. And this is what the direct mail strategy is supposed to be, targeting the group that is most likely to have interest in shopping at your store. It’s the ones who don’t know what a target audience is that gives the whole practice a bad name, and those are the ones I’m most likely to just toss right in the trash.

Building Customer Trust: Marketing Services vs. Products

How important is customer trust? Let me elaborate -

The more centered around a service a company is, the more I’m going to want to know what the people working there are like long before I walk through their door.

If I’m going to go shopping for a new computer, I’m going to want good service too but if the place has a really good deal on a certain model then I might still end up grabbing it for the savings alone.

If I’m going to a dentist, for example, how well he cleans me teeth isn’t necessarily as important as how much he puts me at ease.

I’ve never been a big fan of the dentist, and I admittedly put it off for longer than I should. So when the day comes and I finally do pick a dentist, the additional bonus of knowing I’m going to get a follow-up greeting card from them in the mail and receive a thank you note afterwards does wonders to relax me and lets me be confident in the service I’m being provided.

Everyone Loves Colorful Stuff in the Mail

Sorting through the mail is rarely a particularly exciting point in my day. Unless I know something is coming I typically don’t put any thought to what I might find, which is the very reason why a colorful postcard can be so successful. I’m not prepared for it, not expecting it, and it can be nice to take a moment to pause and absorb it. The fact that I wasn’t expecting it is part of what makes it so nice to see. I kind of like having the routine of my day momentarily put on hold, and few things can make me appreciate a company more than the ability to put a smile on my face when I least expect it.

Entry by Philip Roberts

Christmas Marketing Trends

To complete your holiday preparation, here are some of the trends in color that you can consider to have yourself a Christmas marketing campaign through your postcards, posters, greeting cards and calendars:

According to trend setters, there are 3 statements that would be very popular this season. These would be apparent in the design, color and material that would be used to create fashionable and up-to-date giveaway products and materials.

Blue –

It’s the color that links the classic theme of Christmas with springtime celebrations such as marriage, christening and confirmation. The mood is dictated by what is traditional and conventional, with elements of the classic included. Cool materials would be very much apparent such as glitter, silver, mirror glass, steel, chrome, and ice crystals.

Green –

This color links summer with Christmas. For a bolder look, use white fir trees and snow to decorate your design. Unembellished and modern shapes, as well as glass materials, plastic, rattan, silk, reed and wool would be the order of the season for decorations.

Gold –

It’s autumn and Christmas all together. The choice of materials for decoration is velvet, leather, with combinations of brass, gold and brocade.

With 3 colors to help you create a visually appealing promotional ad to your marketing collaterals (i.e. postcards, posters, greetings cards, and calendars), we hope that your Christmas this season would be truly magical.

Happy holidays!

Brochure Printing Companies

Brochure printing companies are a dime a dozen. They are everywhere. Whether you’re in the suburbs or in the city, there will always be somebody or a company that will be able to provide you with your brochure printing needs.
 
Online or otherwise, a brochure printing company would most likely get in touch with you especially if you’re just starting a new venture in your area. So you don’t even have to look for them. They’ll be looking for you. The only issue now would be whether the brochure printing company would be appropriate for the one you are looking for.
 
And since a number of brochure printing companies would be vying to get your job, might as well talk with at least 2 to 3 just so you can compare rates and even haggle for the price you want. Believe me, with them trying to get your brochure printing job, your brochure printing house would most likely be able to provide you with the amount that you’ll be most comfortable with.
 
When you’re working on a budget (which I would dare say you always are), you’d be surprised that brochure printing houses usually offer discounts and special rate packages that could help you lower your production costs. Often, the bigger the number of brochure printing pieces, the bigger the discount.
 
Your brochure printing company can also provide you with good alternatives to make your rates go down. These include the quality of paper, as well as the number or process of color inks they’ll use; just so to help you stay on budget.
 
So haggle all you want when it’s time to look for the brochure printing company for your job. It’s your hard earned money. You wouldn’t want to pay for your brochure printing job and then find out later that it is not what you have imagined for your brochure printing project.

This Is How You Do Your Catalogs

When you don’t have enough resources (financial, that is) to develop your catalog printing project, you can make your very own print materials without having to strain your budget, as well as keep your catalog printing project on the right perspective.

 

1 – Know your readers. One way to reach out to your target readers and be able to get their attention is to let your catalog printing project talk to them in the way they know and understand. What is the best approach for your catalog printing project if you happen to be targeting a group of managers? Would your target readers prefer words, or will they understand your message better if they’re in graphics and images?

 

Bottom line: your catalog printing content should be able to make your prospective clients take the time to read them.

 

2 – Consider the purpose of your catalog printing project. Why do you want to have a catalog printing project? Is it your only marketing tool for your business? Will it be used in trade shows with other marketing materials? Do you need your catalog printing project to relay your information and message; or do you want your catalog printing material to make a sale?

 

Bottom line: your purpose for your catalog printing project will determine the design and content of your print materials which will ultimately decide your overall appearance and look.

 

3 – Consider giving out information that is valuable and memorable. The only reason that your target readers would give your catalog printing project their time is if they consider your print items valuable to them. So make sure to tell your target readers of the benefits they can get from your business.

 

Bottom line: when you provide your target readers a valuable reason to give your catalog printing project a try, then you’ve already won half of the battle. Now all you need to do is to convince them to become buyers.

Surefire Page Design For Your Brochures

A surefire way to create an effective brochure for your business is to combine your brochure printing elements to develop a strong design. A well planned brochure printing layout would definitely provide your business with print materials that are sure knockouts, as well as readable and easy to understand promotional tools.

 

One way to do this is to determine your pages and panels in your brochure printing project.

 

Your pages and panels would determine the cover of your brochure. The number of pages you have would determine what kind of cover would be suitable for your print brochures. More pages would need a heavy-weight paper stock to be able to hold everything. You could also use a glossy type paper which can get you that extra mileage when it comes to getting the attention of your prospective clients.

 

In addition, your number of pages would also determine how many products and content you can put in your brochure printing project.

 

Nevertheless, you can also provide a good design for your brochure printing project even if you decide to use a one-page layout. You can further optimize this type of brochure when you use multiple folds for your overall layout. Despite its limited page, you are able to provide your prospective clients with an alternative to the usual style of brochures out there.

 

The next time you’re thinking about creating your brochure printing project, plan your design according to the pages and panels in your print materials. This would help you a lot in making your brochure printing design more attractive and appealing to your target clients.

Surefire Page Design For Your Brochures

A surefire way to create an effective brochure for your business is to combine your brochure printing elements to develop a strong design. A well planned brochure printing layout would definitely provide your business with print materials that are sure knockouts, as well as readable and easy to understand promotional tools.

 

One way to do this is to determine your pages and panels in your brochure printing project.

 

Your pages and panels would determine the cover of your brochure. The number of pages you have would determine what kind of cover would be suitable for your print brochures. More pages would need a heavy-weight paper stock to be able to hold everything. You could also use a glossy type paper which can get you that extra mileage when it comes to getting the attention of your prospective clients.

 

In addition, your number of pages would also determine how many products and content you can put in your brochure printing project.

 

Nevertheless, you can also provide a good design for your brochure printing project even if you decide to use a one-page layout. You can further optimize this type of brochure when you use multiple folds for your overall layout. Despite its limited page, you are able to provide your prospective clients with an alternative to the usual style of brochures out there.

 

The next time you’re thinking about creating your brochure printing project, plan your design according to the pages and panels in your print materials. This would help you a lot in making your brochure printing design more attractive and appealing to your target clients.

The Canon EOS 40D

The EOS 40D was recently introduced by Canon in the market with advanced amateur and semi-professional photographers in mind. With features such as 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, 6.5 frames per second burst performance, newly developed AF system, and a 3.0” LCD with Live View mode, the Canon EOS 40D is definitely an impressive equipment to look forward to.

In addition to these specifications, the Canon EOS 40D is simply amazing because the manufacturers retained the camera benefits found from its predecessor – a responsive operation, enhanced color rendering, and near-instant start-up time – all of which allows for a more versatile and well developed performance for users.

And as always, the EOS 40D includes the “Integrated Cleaning System” present in all EOS models, which fights sensor dust and allows for a weather resistant element for long-lasting durability.

Why the EOS 40D is considered an absolute upgrade? For one, the CMOS sensor is improved with high quality image of up to ISO 1600. It has a “Highlight Tone Priority” mode that provides photographers, particularly those involved in weddings and landscapes, the capability to create a more tonal detail to lighter colored objects.

Two, the 6.5 frames per second burst performance provide users with the capability to handle up to 75 Large JPEGs continuously. This allows for smoother gradations, as well as excellent and accurate color in reproductions.

Three, the EOS 40D newly developed AF system gives users the ability to focus both on vertical and horizontal planes, with a dedicated AF button which allows photographers to click on the auto focus with the use of the thumb.

And four, the LCD with Live View mode helps users to shoot at awkward angles. With the AF-ON button, photographers can set their EOS 40D to allow auto focus by flipping the camera mirror for a moment.

With enhanced technologies found in the EOS series, Canon has definitely made another mark that keeps them at the top of their industry. 

Getting The Most Out Of Your Business Cards During Exhibits

Among the tools used in networking, probably the most significant are your business cards. Your business card is very important because it helps you create a first impression when you give it to someone during meetings and events. And it’s also your lasting reminder every time your network takes it out and look at it for your contact information. That is why you really have to put much effort and planning in the presentation of your business cards. Your cards are your representation and it says a whole lot about your business and how you perform.

 

During networking affairs and meetings, it is not how many business cards you handed out, or even the amount of stack you got for yourself from other businesses. The success of any networking event lies on the connections you were able to make with other people. The bond you created during the event speaks loudly of how you handle your business; much more than any stockpile of accumulated business cards.

 

Below are some of the things you can do to get the most out of your business cards to create a lasting relationship with your potential clients.

 

Do not forget to bring your business cards with you. Even at social events and affairs, always carry your business cards with you. You might just meet someone who may be in need of your products and services.

 

Always hand out a clean business card. Incorrect and crossed out information on business cards speaks much about how you handle your business. Business cards are representations of you and your business. Unclean and crossed out information on business cards tells your target clients that you are disorganized and tend to give less attention to detail.

 

Always have a good supply of business cards handy. Business card printing is not that expensive nowadays. To ensure that you have a fresh supply, always take stock of your business cards and order right away when you get low in number. Don’t be in a position where you can’t hand out to someone who might just become important later on just because you already depleted your stock.

 

Likewise, ask for a business card from someone you had conversation with. It is proper etiquette in any business meeting or networking event to ask for their business cards first when you meet someone and talked with him or her. Once they hand out their cards, you may then politely ask if you could also give them yours. And don’t always assume they’d be interested to have your business card. The polite thing to do is to hand them your business card only when they say yes.

 

And lastly, write something about the person you just met on the back of his or her business card. This would help you remember them when you call them after the meeting or event. But be careful not to offend by doing it in front of the person. If you need to write it down right away because of your low memory span, you need to ask permission first. Some people may feel offended when you write on their business card which they have invested in.

Your Photo On Your Card: In Or Out?

I was appalled… ok, to put it milder, surprised when someone handed me a business card with his face on it. This was the first time I’ve ever seen such a style. But it got me thinking, does it work?

 

I don’t know, but I find this person’s business card not so good to look at, nor is it professional to use someone’s face to decorate a business card. I know it’s the popular way to do things today, what with the onset of digital technology where you could print pictures and photos to almost any surface, even your birthday cake. But isn’t it more appropriate to have your face printed on things that are less professional than business cards?

 

Maybe it’s just me, or I just have a perverse way of looking at this sort of thing. I get a funny feeling (disgust?) every time that face looks up at me when I get his business card to dial their office number.

 

I saw one benefit though to printing your face on your business cards; that guy’s face was very much recognizable even if you just see him for the first time because of his grinning countenance in his business card.

Simple Smart Ideas For Poster Design

For small business owners, and even big companies, here are a few simple and smart ideas for your poster printing design:

General Format: First things first. You have to determine the one important idea that you want your target audience to get from your posters. Then decide on the size you’re going to use. Posters usually come in dimensions of 42×42 inches, 42×48 inches, and 42×52 inches.

Do your sketch: Although we are already in the time of technology, things don’t always have to be done in your computer or other digital units. Going back to the basics, such as sketching your design and layout, is a sure-fire way of arranging the elements in your poster printing project. Sketch your way to the contents of your poster by providing 3 to 5 columns that will position the elements in an orderly and organized manner.

Place your elements in position: Always use this guideline to position your different elements in your poster: title on top; a brief introduction on the upper left; your conclusion on the lower right; methods and results on the remaining space.

Provide a compelling title: When it comes to developing your title for your poster printing, always remember to think of something grand. And make sure that when you do write your title, anyone can read it 15 to 20 feet away.

Provide a sequence that is easy to follow: For your poster printing content, present it in a sequence that is easy to follow. Sit back and look at your poster. If you have to go round and round or even go back to the top because you can’t make heads or tails with the way your elements are positioned, then you have to go back to the drawing board and rearrange everything.

Simple tips like these for your poster printing project will go a long way in providing you a smart and cost effective alternative for your budget.

Graphic Design

I really have to share this site with you guys. If you are really really really interested in graphic design and the arts you might want to check out this website: www.fullsail.com

The site is all about Full Sail, a school for film, art and design. They have a wide variety of degrees. The list include computer animation, digital arts and design, entertainment business, film, game development, music business, recording arts, and show production and touring. And you get to meet as instructors professional recording engineers, filmmakers, computer animators, game designers and live production personnel who are well-known in their fields. You can now get the full deal on what is going on inside each of the types of media production.

They recently announced a new Graphic Design Associate’s Degree that will concentrate on graphic art and corporate branding. Attention to all you graphic designer and color printing companies, you might want to check out this new course. The program is expected to provide students a more focused curriculum to improve their skills specifically in graphic design.

Full Sail is offering a special introductory price for those students who apply by July 10. For more details on the special associate’s degree and other degree programs, you may visit their website.