Print Design TipsTips and Information About Printing

Logos are an integral part of creating your business identity and they are especially valuable when it comes to creating a brand.

You need to have a logo which is unique and the reasons for this are two-fold.

First, a unique logo will satisfy the desire of many people to have a visual representation of your business. Visual imagery is powerful and especially when the visual imagery (your logo) becomes associated with your business directly. If your logo is not unique or is too similar to another logo, then people will become confused and you will experience a dilution in your brand identity.

The second reason your logo must be unique is because if it is too similar or borrowed from someone else, you are likely to find yourself infringing a string of laws to protect “intellectual property”, i.e. the logo you have taken from someone else’s design.

You company logo does not need to be complicated – a simple design will suffice, but it is essential that it is sufficiently unique to separate it from any other. A simple design will also lend itself to more easily embedding itself in the minds of those who see it and it will become more quickly associated with your business.

It is important that the logo you decide upon will properly reflect your business image. You wouldn’t use a toilet seat for a law firm, and you wouldn’t use some representation of the scales of justice for a plumbing company. The two images or concepts may make a good basis for a logo but only if they are more obviously associated with what your business does.

Using a logo is one of the most effective and powerful ways to create a brand identity and increase your business impact on the consciousness of your markets.

Print ads, whether in the newspaper or on a flyer, work well if you grasp and understand what their purpose is and pitch them properly at your target audience.

First of all, don’t try to make your ads do everything – decide on what the objective is and focus on creating the ad which will serve its purpose. Advertizing appeals to people on many different levels – emotional, psychological, values and beliefs, rationality and experience. This means that one ad or technique cannot satisfy all of your goals and objectives – you need to carefully craft your ad so it becomes the right tool for the job you have in mind.

Advertizing is not about educating people, it is not about raising awareness, it is not about building brand recognition – advertizing is about SELLING! While you may wish to have a stunning piece of art which will win awards at the “Ad Man Convention Awards in Whereversville”, the primary objective is to sell. Create an attention grabbing piece, use good, simple English to create interest and facilitate the reader making a decision and finally, always have a call to action, i.e. buy the product or service!

Make sure you have identified who is in your target market – you must use this information to create the path for them to take from initial attraction to the ad and the path they follow through to making the order or other call to action. Who you are pitching the ad at will determine the approach you take in selling to them – selling to women, you will language and imagery which appeals to them, selling to the elderly, you will not place the ad in a youth magazine. This will also affect the tone of the ad pitch as to whether it is an emotional sell or one based more on rational appeal to someone with prior experience.

In a nutshell – identify the target audience – decide on the objective of the ad – use AIDA (Attention, Interest, Decision and Action).

The humble business card is probably the most important and powerful business stationery tool for promoting your business and yourself. Making the most out of this extremely popular and never-sleeping salesman is essential for your business, so while there is no hard and fast set of rules to designing them, here are some tips and guide pointer to help you.

Text Size

The most important aspect of the visual impact is the size of the text – too small, and the reader will not be able to use it easily, too large and it looks ungainly and clumsy as it clashes with other visual elements on the card.

Use the following text sizes as you design the initial draft of your business card:

Address and Contact Information – use 7 or 8 point text size (but never less than 6 points)
Name – this should be 1 point larger than then address and contact information text size
Title – use one point less than the address information
Business name – use a minimum of 12 point

If you include a tag line or logo, try to aim for a text size which complements the text you have already entered (try the address text size and see how that works).

Some professions will use a set template or style; for instance doctors and lawyers will use much smaller text sizes for their address information.

Typeface or Typography

Look at your existing business stationery for the typefaces used in their production, because it will help create a brand identity and uniformity of message if you keep everything standardized. There is a “but” – some typefaces do not maintain their appearance and style when you reduce the font size while some typeface styles are not suitable for the type of printing methods used in producing business cards.

Content Checklist

Make sure you have everything you need included on your business card – it is a common mistake to forget something!

Here’s a handy checklist for you to use:

Company name
Company logo or tagline
Name
Title
Address
Telephone number (office and cell)
Fax number
Email address
Website address

A leaflet is almost as simple to design and produce as a flyer – the difference between a flyer and a leaflet is that a flyer is usually printed one or both sides, but it is not folded. A leaflet is more akin to a newspaper – it is folded, sometimes with a bi-fold (one fold in the center) or tri-fold (turning the paper into a 3 page pullout. The leaflet is usually printed on both sides too, but because it is usually one color but has a layout which resembles a newsletter.

The first thing to do when designing a leaflet is to roughly draft out the layout by first folding the paper into the format you are looking for. Once you have made the paper folds, lay the leaflet draft out flat and number the sections as follows:

When folded, the pages will now follow within the leaflet if you follow this scheme.

Next, sketch out the rough layout; place boxes where you will be putting in graphics and images; do you want a border?

You should also think about the color scheme for the paper and text.

Grab Attention!

Target your audience with a real headline grabbing statement – remember your product or service is not what the audience are interested in – it is what your product or service does to solve a problem the prospect audience has which will motivate them to read more.

Use Motivating Words and Phrases

Words such as the following:

These are known as “Power Words” because they are emotive and play to needs of readers.

KISS

Keep It Simple Stupid – use clean lines and avoid clutter within the leaflet. Focus on the text because that is where the message for the reader will be, not the images.

Color is a key element in print and graphic design (including web design) – good use of color will make an ad, induce prospective readers to pick up your collateral and add that “Factor X” which makes a great flyer. Poor use of color will result in a further contribution to the local landfill!

Color must be made to be subservient to the overall rendition of the printed material – the message is key and all the other elements, such as layout, fonts, spacing, imagery and graphics must fall into line along with color in supporting the message.

If you use color badly, this will disrupt the overall impact and impression you are looking to create. Too much will overload the material and prove a distraction from the result you are looking for. Too little color will render the printed material bland and lifeless. You must strike a balance which can sometimes be a very fine line and is where an experienced print designer and partner are worth every cent of the money they charge.

Smaller projects, such as a business card, may use only one color, though two-colors will usually have a greater effect on the finished product. Multiple color schemes should usually be limited to the se of four colors to avoid overkill. No matter what the number of colors you use, you always should ensure that there is enough white space to contrast and place a setting for whatever imagery and colored text you are using to sit within.

There is more to consider with color than just the actual color schemes – shading plays an important part too. Black and red provide the most attention grabbing colors for headlining or underlining areas which you wish to accentuate; blue and yellow are considerably more subtle in their impact while green is considered a soothing color while orange is associated with fun and a good time. Do not be bound by the simple palette available – play with the shading so you get the right tones and contrasts for your work.