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.

Maintaining quality over your printed materials is essential and here you have to manage not only yourself but your printing partner so you continue to achieve the standards you are looking for.

Tip #1 – Choose a Partner Where the Quality is in Control

This may mean abandoning printers who focus on price at the expense of quality; achieving the quality you are looking for time after time requires a state-of-mind to deliver consistently.  You cannot expect either yourself or your partners to deliver the standards you are looking for on the cheap or by cutting corners while if you are thinking quality, that is much more what you are likely to get with the end result time after time.

Tip #2 – Get Organized

Being organized will help you both to maintain clear communication which in turn avoids silly mistakes between initial enquiry and final product.  If you are not organized it also means more work for your print partner which in turn means more cost to you or a loss of interest in your account – neither is good for you!

Tip #3 – Punctuality

Your printing partner needs you to be timely with submitting and approving drafts – they have to do their share when you have done yours and they have other clients to cater to as well as you.  Being late, or leaving things to the last moment is not good for you either as you may be putting your print partner under undue pressure to get the job delivered on time when in fact you are the one holding everyone up.  Rush jobs usually mean more mistakes and poorer quality – be on time!

Tip #4 – Be Clear what You Want and What You Expect

Don’t let your print partner second guess your requirements – if you want cheap and cheerful, you’ll get that but if you want top of the range quality, you must make it clear to the print partner this is what you will be demanding when the final product is delivered.

Don’t hold back – be very clear what you expect and what you will accept.

Tip #5 – You Decide What Your Quality Standard Is!

You are the one who sets the bar when it comes to quality so never let anyone tell you what constitutes quality  - you set the standards and everyone will judge you by the standards produced!

Whether you’re seeking gift ideas, invitations to a special event, production of your club newsletter or company marketing, you will appreciate the ever-increasing selection of products available from the modern print company.

Illustrated stationery printed with the personal details of a friend or family member or even for your own use. These can be stylish, modern, or as traditional as you wish. The choice of lavish packaging is amazingly extensive. Playing cards, drink coasters, all printed with your own design, or from the huge selection offered by the printer with your own message!

Birth announcements, party invitations, wedding stationery, just inform the print-shop of your wishes when ordering, chose the design from their extensive range on offer, or supply your own.  What nicer gift for a new born baby than a photo album personalised with the family details and information about the Baby’s progress throughout the first year or even five years for the larger version. 

Maybe have a family photo printed on the front cover!!  

An album depicting the life of a loved one due to reach a special Birthday or retirement, including photos of them and their school friends, work colleague’s, special events enjoyed over the years.

How about personalizing your wine or beer with your own labels to enhance the bottles for the occasion to add a touch of class when you present a bottle of home made wine, jar of preserves as a gift or at the table! 

How about personalizing your clothing embossed with your club emblem or sport-team’s name, fund raising paraphernalia for your club/team/charity, calendars with pictures of your choice, be it pets, nature, scenery, or even photographs of your club/team members. Mugs with your team logo, even have your team photo printed on. Pens printed with a logo or contact details…the choices are endless!

Printing companies advertize in a variety of places, including the internet.  Before deciding on which company will undertake your work, take a look at the product they use in their own marketing propaganda.  Many now promote the environmentally friendly properties of all materials used in the production of their printing process.  Consider the force with which your attention is captured by both the artwork and text. Pay special attention to the use of color, this has been proven to be what initially catches the prospective customers eye and maximizes absorbtion of information from the content. Are their prices competitive?  Prices vary incredibly widely and almost all printer sales consultants will negotiate a special price if you select them to supply all your printing needs, even your plain envelopes!!

Once you have made your selection, you must decide if you will submit your own design or take advantage of their experienced, in-house design team.  Although you will be given expert advice and guidance by your consultant, you will need to provide information about your company, the products and services on offer.

Firstly, consider the choices of what form of advertizing material you wish them to produce for you, and what quantity you require.  You may simply need as little as just the basics with envelopes, plain or printed with your company details, headed notepaper, compliment slips, business cards, or, all of this stationery and marketing collateral and reports.  It is advisable to use the same design, color, company logo on all of your printed products to enable your clientele to recognise your communications at a glance.

Marketing materials are also offered by the printer.  Leaflets or flyers are one of the most cost effective promotional techniques.  The design from your company stationery will enhance the immediate impact on existing clients, and familiarise your company to new clients. Consider your client-base and what is most likely to attract their attention to maximise an effective marketing campaign.

Many printers and designers belive the design is the key to a good piece of printed media, however, this is not the case for many readers looking to find your message within the content – design is critical and the visual impact and style play a great deal in the success of your material but ultimately, do you wish to produce art or send a message that your target market will easily see, read and understand?

A sound principle is to place content first  and design second – assuming you are following this, let’s now concentrate on some design issues.

Inversion Impact

When you read a headline of a newspaper, you will frequently find it has been inverted, that is the headline is in white against a solid, black background.  This leads to a greater visual impact than simply printing teh headline in, say, larger typeface.

This can also be used for grapic imagery and photographs may be particularly effective but you need the help of a skilled designer to garner the most out of such complex imagery.

Less is More

Buy no means are we advocating the minimalist approach but if yiou are trying to pack as much content into one page or one document, you are going to overload your readers.  Marketing and company brochures in particular are prone to this common error and it pays for you to take a huge step back and look at what truly is vitally crucial for your readers to understand and cut out the extraneous pieces of content you are stuffing in.

Work with the Grid

The grid is a design technique for arranging layout and especially for simpler pieces it is best to “Stick with the Grid!”

You don’t need to strictly follow the grid and settle for the staid 3 column layout; try experimenting with different combinations and personally I find the 7-column setup expands the possibilities enormously with sidebars, 2-column overlaps and so on.