Print Design TipsTips and Information About Printing

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.

The most important element of your business printed material is not the presentation; not the graphics; not the layout; not the paper; not the fonts and colors.

The most important element of any business print job is the message – the printed word.

“Uniformity of message” simply means that all of your business communications relay the same message. This is a sub-set of “branding”, where imagery is also used in the creation of a corporate identity which the buying public instantly recognizes and comes to rely upon and trust.

Consider this:

Market flyer states you are the #1 reseller of widgets to the US Government;

but

Marketing brochure states you have just been appointed to sell widgets to the US Government.

While the two are not necessarily incompatible, it is strange that you claim you’re #1 in one piece of collateral but claim to be a new supplier in another.

This is an important point as customers will read more than one piece of your marketing and business collateral and such inconsistencies will stand out.

It is not simply the words and their meaning which should be the same, but the impression you are seeking to create. Being #1 at something implies you have been around for a while, or have cornered a new market. Being a new supplier indicates neither of these – their is lack of uniformity of message here.

Business printing is usually clear and concise as companies seek to get their message across using a variety of printed media – business cards, newsletters, marketing brochures, proposals, white papers, adverts and the list is endless.  While clear and concise language is great for quickly getting the written message across, the design and appearance of the piece needs to attract and excite the reader to actually pick the item up and read, at least, the first line.

This is where good design and creative imagination comes into play, and one of the most powerful tools at your disposal are the myriad numbers of fonts and effects you can create with them.

Use Simple and Straightforward Fonts

You want the reader to be able to quickly and easily read the text – it is no good having a really decorative, cursive font only for it to be virtually unreadable by someone with a busy life, being jostled on the train or having to switch to reading glasses to decipher what teh text is – they simply will end up not reading it at all!

This is why you should keep your fonts simple and easy to read, but this doesn’t mean boring!

Font Mix & Match

By mixing different fonts into your text you can create interest and break the text up into more manageable chunks which allows the reader to skim rather than actually read completely (here’s a hint: most people skim to the good bits when they read, they do not take the time to read it completely).

By using headings and sub-headers in conjunction with differing fonts, you can create a more inviting and easily understood piece.

Typefacing Issues

More than mixing fonts, by using different typeface effects, such as italics and bolding, you can highlight the important parts of your communication for the reader’s attention.  Whenever there is a crucial part of your text, set that in italics or bold it as a block of text – this way you signal the importance to the reader.

Do not use bolding in isolation and frequently – it makes the text difficult to read.

Utilize Spacing Techniques

Spacing is one of the least appreciated print design issues because many novices or people intent on making their own designs, think they have to pack the space available with images and text.  Spacing creates a flow and acts as an attractor for those design elements which are important and simply cramming text and images in leads to the message getting lost and a confused piece being created.

You can also utilize different text height and widths which involve using space differently in order to emphasise aspects of your text, eminently suitable for headers and sub-headers.

Contrast

Creating contrast with your text and background is also a great way of making parts of your message stand out to the reader.  Back fill with a different color to the rest of the paper, changing the font color being used or inverting the text/background colors will create different highlights and effects.

Offset printing makes use of plates and ink to create an image on paper (though originally, the technique was used to create images on tin in industrial England).  This requires plates to be created which is time consuming and labor intensive; the plates are created by burning and mounting reverse images upon the film, typically now computer driven, and by adjusting the output to balance the color and contrast. For this reason, offset printing is not susceptible to making changes, and especially not in the middle of a print run which makes it imperative that proofs are carefully checked prior to giving approval for the print run to proceed.

Digital printing does not require this heavy labor-input or the cost of creating the plates upfront – everything is software driven, so the first printed piece can be created without incurring great set-up costs.  The catch with digital printing is that offset printing provides greater quality of reproduction and when large print runs are involved, the overall cost drops dramatically because the high set-up costs are spread over a large number of pieces.

The question arises as to when a client should opt for offset printing as opposed to digital printing, so here are a few guiding hints and tips to consider.

Quality

If you are seeking to create a great impression with a glossy marketing brochure, you are going to want the enhanced quality provided by offset printing methods.  Digital printing does deliver high quality reproduction levels and which is catching up with traditional offset methods, but it still lags some way behind them.

Print Run Sizes

The size of print run will determine the economics of the case – print runs of less than a 1,000 will favor using digital printing methods as the high set-up costs are not present, however the variable cost of digital printing is relatively higher than for offset printing.  Larger print runs will cause a financial argument to move towards using offset printing.

The number of repeat print runs you are likely to need will also form part of the financial case.  If you are going to need extra print runs, you should ensure the printer is aware of this so they keep the plates – this will avoid the need for incurring the set-up costs all over again when you place a re-order.

Turnaround Times

If you have a rush job that needs to be done overnight, it is unlikely you will be able to source an offset printer who can manage the job for you.  Digital printing on the other hand, involves setting up the print run using a computer and software – changes can be made on the fly and there is a dramatically reduced turnaround time.  Offset printing is more suitable when you have enough time to provide adequate notice to your printer so proofs can be created and properly checked before the print run takes place.

Summary

There are obviously more issues than these few factors in determining whether you should use an offset printer or opt for digital solutions – quality, time and cost are amongst the most important ones however, and you should discuss your immediate and long-term job requirements with your print partner to assess which is the best method of delivering the material effectively for you.