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.

Here is a brief guide for you to understand the difference between your ells and leadings.

AA’s

Author Alterations – ussually changes made by you as the customer during or after the proofing process and as such billable to you as extra work performed – plan your work carefully beforehand and be meticulous at the proofing stage to avoid a nasty shock with the bill.

Actual Weight 

This is the actual weight of the paper used and it is used to determine the price for shipping as well as the purchase price for the paper itself – you may see different terms such as basic weight or basic size when planning your project and they mean different things so ask your print partner exactly what they mean and what they are using.

Bleed

This is where an image runs off the side of the paper – a technique that can concentrate the attention of the reader but does result in greater costs at the printing stage – the bleeds are created by trimming the paper to size (which increases the cost because of the extra labor and extra paper size).

DPI or Dots Per Inch

This is the number of dots which fit horizontally and vertically into a square inch of printing – the higher the DPI the greater the detail that can be presented including color differentiation.   A higher DPI is needed for graphics and photographic replication than for simple printed text jobs and the cost increases generally with a higher DPI.

Em Space

This is a lateral space equal to the width of the letter “m” – equally there is the En space for the letter “n” – these spaces are used in typography and typesetting.

Finish

Refers to the finish of the paper used – there are various types of finishes depending on your budget and the use to which the piece will be put.  You can have an embossed finish, felt, smooth or vellum, calendering,  papermaking and many others – ask your printing partner for a selection of finishes which they will usually have as a sample book.

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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.

For restauranters, the menu is crucial but so many menus fail to deliver either the information in a readable and easily identifiable way or just as bad, fail to convey the atmosphere and tone, that ambience, which is so vital in creating an enjoyable dining environment which creates repeat business and restaurant success.

Strive for Clarity

Most menus fail to achieve clarity and by this we mean the food and drink choices are easily found and understood but also the overall message and personality of the venue is carried on through in a unified theme.

Almost every menu has too many words - take any menu and cut the word number in half and you will automatically improve that menu – take whatever yours is and try to cut out all the extraneous wordage making it more direct and compelling with respect to your dining offering.

This makes it easier for the customer to understand what is available and also with yoru servers efforts at cross-selling other food, sides, desserts and drinks.

Typeface & Font

The print on a menu should never be too small to read but you also must take into account the lighting when a customer is likely to be reading the menu – if the venue enjoys bright light that’s fine but if it is providing a more intimate experience with reduced lighting or candlelight then it is imperative a customer can be able to read what is before them.

Never use less than 12 point typeface – anything less is going to be difficult to read for many customers under any conditions.

Making sure you have a font style in keeping with your ambience and personality is also important but again, many customers look to the weird and wonderful fonts available as a means of distinguishing themselves from other competitors – only to end up with frustrated diners quizzing the servers over what is meant!

Menus Change

Depending on your clientele and the market you are in, your menu is going to change no matter who you are but how you effect these menue changes will have a direct impact on how you present the menu to your customers.

Having a card based menu which needs to be reprinted every time you have a menu item or price change is going to be expensive and perhaps only suitable for higher-end eateries.  For mid-range dining establishments, a folder with inserts is probably a better option so each insert only needs to be changed and not the entire menu.

While offset printing still holds the top slot for quality, digital printing is catching up very, very fast and for many projects, the level of quality is perfectly acceptable.  Full-color, high quality marketing brochures may be better left to offset printers, but when you have a constantly changing catalog or a newsletter, you should look to utilize a digital printer instead.

Size & Shape

Digital printing allows for quick and simple customization of sizes being used – offset printing requires the use of standard sizes with labor intensive cutting to size which significantly adds to cost.  It does not matter whether you are producing a poster or business card, an offset printer must use standard sizing and there are limitations on the dimensions in any event; changing between different sized jobs is time consuming and labor intensive, which again serves to dramatically increase the cost to you.

With a digital printer, you can specify virtually any size and any shape – you are only limited by the actual size of the printer capacity, which is not likely to be a practical limitation given modern digital printer sizes available.

Production Time

Digital printing is extremely fast, much faster than offset printing methods and especially so when color printing is involved.  Rush jobs can be handled overnight, even for full-color projects compared to two to three days for traditional offset printing methods.  More than this, digital printers can be changed from one task to another very quickly which also serves to increase turnaround times of multiple items required for one project while the inks used in the digital process are faster drying.

Versatility & Adaptability

Digital printing is run by software which makes it easy to manipulate images and text elements when setting up your piece.  There is no need to make major changes to the printing machine, which is the case with offset printing.  This allows you to play around with effects both virtually and in print so you can see how the finished product will appear when using differing design elements and techniques. This also does not require much in the way of manhours, which serves to keep the cost down even further.

Cost

Digital printing scores over offset printing in terms of cost – all the flexibility and speed of turnaround do not come with a premium but rather, they serve to make the process faster and minimize the involvement of expensive labor. With offset printing, the initial product is usually the most expensive because of the high set-up costs involved, but digital printing provides an evening out of costs throughout the run and removes the heavy direct, fixed costs involved – you end up simply paying for the size of the run with minimal set-up costs involved.

Do not let the design tail wag the word dog!

There are two aspects to the document text – the words.

The first is that the actual word content itself must be pertinent and of a written quality that leaves the reader in no doubt that it has been crafted by someone who understands the subject matter and English.

A simple example will suffice to make the point.

“a simple egzample will suffix to make the points”

How about this:

“Weird processor diction Aries should knot bee relayed on”

In short, you need someone with an excellent command of English, but this then brings forth the issue about technical knowledge and experience on the subject matter.  A writer may be able to put your thoughts and actions into excellent English, but will a writer with no engineering background be able to expound on the detail of Positive Vane Technology and use in Industrial Pumps?

The second issue is the typography – this deals with how the print is laid out, the font size and style, in essence anything that affects the appearance and ability to read the words which have been formulated.

Some fonts are a definite “No-No” when it comes to business documents – the weird and wonderful “Wingdings” or cursive scripts that are difficult to read and not effective in attracting prospects to spend their precious time in finding out what you have to say. If you are targeting people over 40, it is absolutely imperative that you are using fonts and font sizes which are easy to read.  This is not being ageist, simply practical because by the mid-40’s, most people are finding that they cannot read as well as they used to, it’s a simple fact of life.

The bottom line is that the words must dominate.  It is the words which carry your actual message and how to contact you to take the discussion forward and out of the document and into a face-to-face meeting or a telephone call to place an order.  The use of graphic and photographic elements are to help to attract the attention of the reader so they are enticed into the text of the document – no-one reads a passage and then looks at the photograph, they read the text because they have already looked at a photograph!

You must back up your use of graphical design imagery by appropriate use of headings – headlines and sub-headers.  A headline has one objective – to get the reader to read the first line of your piece.  That first line has one objective – to get the reader to read the first paragraph, and that first paragraph is used to suck the reader into the entire piece.  It’s a simple rule but easily ignored, but you can give your written work greater structure by using a headline and then splitting the piece up using sub-headers which in turn will help your document users.

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!

It really doesn’t matter that you have highly interesting content, fantastic visuals from a really good photographer or graphic designer and a superb product finish – get the typography wrong and it all follows from there.

The type fonts you use will set the tone of the document and content; if you are unsure, stick to the established neutral fonts such as Ariel, Times New Roman, Courier and so on. Many experienced hands will recommend you look at Helvetica, Swiss or Akzidenz-Grotesk but personally I recommend you experiment with a range of between five and 10 fonts and see how you feel reading them.

The font size is important as this directly impacts the readability – if you are targeting seniors, use a larger font size to aid vision – I’m in my mid-40′s and have noticed my vision has deteriorated significantly from my 20′s, so larger font sizes are welcome for me too and I am not unique.  Small print is also frequently associated with the writer or publisher seeking to hide something, so be aware of the connotations of using smaller font sizes.

So, for the non-typofiles amongst you here is a brief checklist to follow:

1. shortlist between five and 10 fonts; use some you know and some you don’t for a good mix;
2. try out each font with both large and small font sizes and gauge the effect – you will notice some will slightly alter in perceived appearance and not always pleasantly; and
3. check each font type in both upper and lower-case letters as again, a font may look good in lower-case style but appear ugly when capitalized.

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!

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.