Print Design TipsTips and Information About Printing

You want to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to extracting all the sales juice from your marketing budget.

A picture paints a thousand words and there is no doubt that using pictures has a direct and positive impact on the sales success of marketing tools such as catalogs, newsletters, brochures or company magazines.

Creating good-looking and successful collateral is time-consuming and expensive if you are going to do the job right – it also takes time not only for a piece of work but for your overall repertoire of tools you will develop and use.

Catalogs for instance, are very heavy users of photos – and this is where customer seek to cut corners first and save money – this is where a catalog will either succeed and return profits or fail completely and lose the investment.  Do not scrimp on the photographs – take single product shots where possible and make the images as large as you can in the catalog – both directly increase sales.

You can save money by using images from your supplier or manufacturer – frequently these are excellent images for you to use, so always make sure you ask them if they have images you can use in your own publications. You not only want the images but you want them in the format your design partner can work with – for instance, images with clipping paths may be required; if they don’t have them you may end up with a higher design and preparation cost which loses you the money you save with a “free” image – act as liason between the design partner and the suppliers so everyone knows exactly what is required.

Many customers are web-based companies who grew from a web-site and have continued right on growing so there  is little to say where the “traditional” part of the business begins and the “web” business ends.  Frequently they have a stack of images which are used on the web but there are problems with low-resolution and these images simply cannot be used in a print-catalog – the end result will be blurred and there are also issues in handling them causing increased design team costs.

Clients also look to save money by taking the photographs themselves – a false economy on several levels.  Firstly, the cost of the shoot is about 30-35% of the image budget but is 100% important when it comes to the finished quality.  You simply cannot afford to end up with a set of bad product images and taking the shots is where the risk lies – hire a professional volume image provider and get the shots you really will need and the design team can use.

It is common, especially for a new company, to cut costs on things such as business cards when they are trying to save money. This however should never be done since business cards will be the primary method of communicating to new customers.

Perhaps the worst mistake a company can make is to create their own business cards using their home printer. Nothing screams amateur more than this and in all actuality you won’t be saving much, if any, money at all. Custom printed business cards are not nearly as expensive as they once were and thanks to the internet you can buy them in bulk quite inexpensively.

These days it couldn’t be easier to find a printing company online that can design and print professional custom business cards for you. Using the internet you can even create your own cards using a variety of pre-made templates, clipart, etc. You can also upload your own photographs and graphics in order to create a more personalized finished product.

You may not have to use the internet if you prefer not to; there may be quality printing companies in your area that you can go to in order to have your custom business cards designed and printed. Chain and franchise stores may be the place to go if you are looking to save money and still get a quality product.

In short, business cards are one of your most important methods of reaching customers, so never attempt to cut corners by making your own cards unless you have the know-how and equipment that can produce professional cards.

In many cases your brochure will be the first impression you make on a potential customer or client, so it is important that yours be well-designed. The following elements are part of any well-made brochure: originality, design, images, color, and page bleed.

The originality of your brochure is somewhat self explanatory. This applies not so much to the design of the brochure, but how your company is represented. It should inform the audience of something unique about your company in order to make you stand out. The design of your brochure has to do with its outline and layout. In cases like this it is best to go for a simple design that is uncluttered and easy to read. Make sure only necessary information is included.

The images that are used in your brochure should always be the highest quality possible. Always ask the person who is designing your brochure what type of images they will be using. Sometimes they will take their own photos and other times they may prefer to use stock images. Regardless, make sure that they use high-resolution images.

Color is important in a well-designed brochure. Colors have a way of invoking feeling and emotion in a person. The colors used in the brochure should also go well with the images used such as the company logo. Finally there is the page bleed. This is where color runs off the edges of your brochure when printing in order to account for any shifts that may occur. At least a 1/8 bleed is recommended.