Print Design TipsTips and Information About Printing

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.

Postcards are one of the more efficient forms of advertising. You can use them in order to reach new customers, or to follow up with your current ones. Some products, such as Campbell’s Soup and Coca Cola, even became household brands due to their creative use of advertising postcards. It wasn’t long before many other companies were capitalizing on this idea by either sending cards through the mail or passing them out in various stores.

Creating advertising postcards wasn’t always possible for small businesses to do however. Nowadays the Internet and computers have made it quite inexpensive to develop and create your own postcards in order to promote your business. You have the option of mailing postcards or passing them out at local events for example. Both of these methods are relatively inexpensive and can really help to get the word out about your business.

Because of all the technological improvements made just over the past decade you are actually able to have your professionally made custom printed postcards created with state of the art technology. Whether you currently are a one person show operating out of your home, or have employees and an office, advertising postcards are a perfect place to get started creating your company image.

You will find that you will have no problems creating your new postcards with the high-quality designs that are available to even the most modest of budgets. For perhaps the first time, you do not have to be a large company to afford this type of advertising.

Get high quality postcard printing at Conquest Graphics for a discount price.

If you’re considering a company marketing campaign, you will most likely need quality printed promotional collateral as they are a powerful tool in your sales armory. 

A two-fold brochure is an easy and attractive means of presenting your company to potential clients and with a little research into the work produced by the copious number of print and design companies available to undertake this work for you, you are going to see a wealth of choice.

Make sure you request samples of their work and pay special attention to the design; is the artwork-eye-catching?  Are the colors powerful enough – it has been scientifically proven that people are more likely to respond to color and retain information! Does the wording inspire you to read all the content?  What is the overall feel of the quality of the finished product they are producing?  How happy are their existing customers?  What other projects have they carried out that are similar to your own needs?

Once you have satisfied yourself that you have found the perfect printing company, make some notes on how you wish them to portray your business and the services you offer.  Communication with the design department is crucial if they are to understand your requirements and they should have the expertise and production capabilities to deliver what you are looking for but you will need to clarify what you wish to portray.

You need to present an impressive impact in order to glean the most productive response to your marketing campaign.

Consider the extent of your marketing campaign, it is usually far more economical to order in larger numbers (but only if you need that quantity) while there are often offers of other stationery and printing supplies at much lower prices if all are included in the same order: business cards, headed notepaper, reports, packaging etc.

Discuss and agree the prices in advance of placing your order to save disappointment when presented with your invoice.

The information and ideas you have provided will be used along with the professional skills of both the design and production teams to produce a proof for your examination.  Don’t pay for your printing until you have examined the proof and agree it is correct, free of errors and what you are looking for because it is too late to argue once the job goes to print.

If you are looking for ways to promote your small business, then you really can’t go wrong with custom printing. The first step to promoting any business is to create your identity. Business cards are the simplest way to begin this and most companies make use of them. The business card can help to create your identity by creating the appearance of a larger, more prestigious company. Small business owners can use these to help people learn about their business and even to network with other professionals.

The next step to creating this identity would be to have some custom printed magnets, business checks, and rubber stamps. It is always best to have a separate bank account for your business with its own custom printed checks. Having custom printed designs on the company car can really help to spread the word about your business as well.

You can also help to improve your company identity with your employees as well. Since everybody that works for the company is a representative, it is important that they always make a good impression. Custom printing is also needed when designing the company uniform if applicable.

Last but not least, now more than ever it is important to put forth a good impression with a well-designed Web site. Printing firms are often branching out into this realm these days as they are related. Having a poorly designed Web site can immediately turn off potential customers, especially if the site is difficult to navigate.

Bleed is a word used in print design in order to explain when printing expands over the edges of the document. Every printer has some kind of bleed set on the sides of the document so that the printer has a small amount of space to move around the paper. It is possible for you to change the bleed settings on your printer should you need to do so for a certain project. Otherwise, the default, and most widely used bleed is at 3mm.

Each country has its own way of measuring the bleeds though, so this depends on the rules that your country uses. The United States and the United Kingdom both use inches to measure bleeds, so the standard bleed in these countries is 1/8 inch from the area that is to be cut. While in Europe, millimeters are used and 3mm to 5mm is the default measurement for bleeds.

The length of bleed that you want for your finished project will depend largely on what you are printing. For example, let’s say you are printing a 4×6 postcard. The graphics and image should be extended by 1/8 of an inch on all sides. The image itself should be created with a measurement of 4.25 inches by 6.25 inches. Then, once the postcard has been printed out, the 1/8 inch bleed will be trimmed, leaving you with the finished product.

The reason why leaving some room for a bleed is so important is due to the fact that it allows you some room for error. There are many possible errors that could occur during the printing process. For example, the wrong size paper could be used, or the cropping machine could even be set up wrong. Images will not be aligned as nicely if you do not allow for a bleed either.