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Design Tips

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What is a Creative Solution?
Poster Design Tips
Getting Creative in Black and White
Color Talks...Are You Listening?
Room to Breathe
Variation on a Theme
Four Foolproof Way to Create a Great Company Logo
Designing Direct Mail that Sells
Tips for Unleashing the Amazing Sales and Marketing Power of Business Cards
10 Ways to Create the Wrong Brochure
Geurilla Marketing's Golden Rule #6
Newletters to Keep in Touch with Customers and Prospects
Eye-Stopping Headlines
Graphics File Naming System
Understanding Compound Paths

What is a Creative Solution?

The Creative Process
Graphic design brings together two different things: artistic creation and the practical world of commerce. Put simply, it is intelligence made visual. A designer is a creative artist who deals with the realities of planning, from assessing client needs and crafting a solution to selecting appropriate materials (papers, inks, glues, and varnishes), maintaining strict budgets, and understanding visual communication.

Creative Solutions
A designer must make connections in the mind between creativity and process in order to successfully communicate a message to an audience and answer a client’s needs.

What Is a Creative Solution?
At its core, a creative solution solves a client’s problem through the design medium/language. It is...

appropriate for the client’s product, spirit, and objectives.
communicated clearly.
functional. A package has to open. A pictogram has to identify. A map has to direct.
impactful.
memorable.
original.
fresh, stimulating, exciting, and stunning.
executed appropriately and well.

Poster Design Tips

At its best, poster design is the territory of the truly creative, and it has been used in the past as a public display of individual talent. When you are designing in this graphic form, the poster’s purpose and application should be your first considerations. The poster will normally be on display in a public area, where it will have to compete both with its surroundings and with other posters.

Poster Design Checklist:

Establish the information to be conveyed.
Decide on the size, proportion, and shape.
Research the locations for your poster.
Simplify the information to be communicated.
Produce scaled-down versions of the design.
Consider the space and its effects very carefully.
Select the typefaces that work for your design.
Make sure the message is conveyed clearly and dynamically.
Present a number of alternative designs.

When you are designing a poster, the first decision to make is the size and shape of the design area. This may be governed by the display site. For this example, three shapes have been explored: two differently proportioned portrait shapes and one landscape.

Portrait and Landscape: Most common sizes are 81/2x11, 11x17, and 22x34.
Large Format Posters: Most common sizes are 24" wide and 36" wide.
Both are available in unlimited lengths, but 96" or less is most practical.

Getting Creative in Black and White

With the extreme popularity of high resolution computer screens on the desktops of designers everywhere, it is easy to forget that simple black ink on white paper still provides an economical and extremely creative approach to design.

If you’re on a limited budget, need something printed fast, or need an alternative idea, why not design your next project in black and white?

Consider the following ideas from Give Five, an outreach organization that unites adults with children in need:Consider creating an ad with screens (gray shades) — these are easy and inexpensive to reproduce in a variety of media.

Strive to create a layout that draws attention to the ad and also helps it stand apart from the (inevitable) crowd.

Cheap art: The hands featured in these ads were photographed using a desktop scanner and then manipulated in Adobe Photoshop. Keep ideas like this in mind when looking for budget solutions for a project.

This spread: Ads that call for attention through a variety of easily produced black-against-white illustrations and graphic styles.

There are endless ways to display an ad’s content, even when restricted to a single color of ink. Explore.

Explore and Consider:

Hand-drawn elements
Cartoons
Unusual border treatments
Linework around and/or inside the ad
Interesting, bold typography
Sideways elements
Reversed text/graphics

Color Talks… Are You Listening?

Next time you want to make a bold statement, try saying it with color!

Depending on what type of message or meaning you wish to convey, the color combinations you choose can support, emphasize, or contradict your message. Color stimulates the senses, symbolizes abstract concepts and thoughts, expresses fantasy or wish fulfillment, and produces an aesthetic or emotional response.

According to the Institute for Color Research, humans make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or item within 90 seconds of initial viewing, and the majority of that assessment is based on color alone. Because color delivers an instant impression that is generally understood universally, color is very important in conveying a mood or idea where verbiage is not used or understood.

The power of color combinations can also be seen on many levels of marketing communication, including corporate identification and logos, signage, television ads, billboards, print media and packaging, online web sites, and on point-of-purchase displays.

Here is a small sampling of dominant colors and the responses they elicit:

Red: Exciting, energizing, sexy, hot, dynamic, stimulating, provocative, aggressive, powerful
Bright Pink: Happy, attention-getting, youthful, spirited, fun, wild
Light Pink: Romantic, soft, sweet, tender, cute, babies
Orange: Fun, childlike, harvest, juicy, friendly, loud
Beige: Classic, sandy, earthy, natural, soft
Brown: Wholesome, warm, woodsy, rustic, durable, masculine
Purple: Royalty, powerful, expensive
Light Blue: Calm, quiet, peaceful, cool, water, clean
Bright Blue: Electric, vibrant, stirring, dramatic
Bright Yellow: Enlightening, sunshine, cheerful, friendly, energy, happy
Black: Powerful, elegant, mysterious, bold, classic, magical, nighttime
Silver: Classic, cool, money, valuable, futuristic
Gold: Warm, opulent, expensive, radiant, valuable, prestigious

Room to Breathe

One of the most common pitfalls in design occurs when text is squeezed into borders and boxes, or wrapped too tightly around illustrations or silhouetted photographs. Next time you are faced with the challenge of creating sufficient breathing room in your designs, remember: there is beauty in simplicity.

Here are some simple solutions on how to avoid the claustrophobic, unappealing feel of crowded design:

Increase the size of the border or box.
Increase the size of the margins on the edges of the page.
Add more breathing room around individual elements by increasing the white space in text wraps.
Decrease the font size, or cut back on text when possible

Variation on a Theme

Choosing an appropriate color palette is an important step in creating great design. Using the right mixture of colors is what gives life to the images you create and combine. But perhaps the best way to ensure you are using your colors to their full potential is to experiment with the placement of each color.

This variation on a theme, as seen above, serves to change the look and feel to give you a look that supports the image's message. The key to variation is experimentation. When you stumble upon the combination that works best, you’ll be glad you took the time.

Four Foolproof Ways to Create a Great Company Logo

Have you taken a close look at your company logo lately? Does it look like it came straight out of the 1980s, or have you kept it up-to-date? An outdated logo can make you look stagnant and stale in the minds of prospective customers. To combat this effect, many companies redesign their logos every few years to keep them fresh. If your company is considering a logo update, here are some tips to help:

Choose a logo that looks good large or small. This will allow for more variety in your ads and other printed materials.
Keep it simple. Your logo doesn't have to look fancy to grab attention. Just look at IBM and Apple. Their logos are simple but memorable.
Limit yourself to two or three colors of ink. Having too many ink colors in your company's logo will put an unnecessary strain on your printing budget - and might actually look distracting, rather than distinctive. A nice-looking, two-color logo will give you the professional look you want at a reasonable price.
Use standard ink colors. Custom-mixed inks cost more, and many standard ink colors offer just as unique and professional a look as their more expensive, custom-mixed cousins.

For more great logo ideas, visit our print shop. We can help you develop a distinctive logo at an affordable price. If you already have a logo in mind, we can show you how to use it more effectively on your printing.

Designing Direct Mail That Sells

If it sells, it is creative. This, in essence, is the first rule of direct mail design, according to legendary designer and author, David Ogilvy. But what sells? Here are a few tips to keep in mind when designing your next direct mail marketing piece:

The basics are in your mailbox.
When you need inspiration, just go to your own personal direct mail idea vault... your mailbox! You probably receive tons of good direct mail each year. Set aside packages that catch your eye. The companies mailing these have spent thousands of dollars researching the best methods. Why not learn from their research?
Always try to beat your previous response rate.
Play around with the design before sending the mailing out again. See if minor changes make a significant difference in the response rate. Send out different versions of your design to similar groups in your database, and test to see which one results in the most responses. Whatever you do, test it, and then test it again!
Use words that grab the reader’s attention.
Here is a recent list of “Words that Grab Attention,” produced by Starch INRA Hooper Research Worldwide:

Tips for Unleashing the Amazing Sales and Marketing Power of Business Cards

Business cards may be small, but their impact is huge. A business card plays an important part in making a lasting impression upon those you do business with.

When choosing a business card, don’t be cheap. (If you’re on a limited budget, try to save elsewhere.) Experienced sales reps know how important it is to make a good impression on their prospects. They buy nice clothes, drive nice cars, and wine and dine prospects and clients - only to give them a 5¢ business card?!? Why not consider a 10¢, 15¢, or 20¢ business card that would really wow a customer and add to the overall good impression?

Feature your company name prominently, with your name and title smaller. Using your company logo is important, because it will help people associate your name with the product you are selling.
Don’t take up too much space listing all the ways you can be contacted. It’s best to list your phone, fax, and email address. Personal cell phone numbers and beeper numbers should be given to the client verbally, when necessary.
Full-color printing can add a dramatic impact to the look of your business card. If your budget doesn’t support full color, there are a lot of creative possibilities using two colors of ink combined with a third color of paper.
Don’t overlook the backside of your business card. It is a great place to add more sales and marketing information, your mission statement, a map and location, or photos of your products.
It’s worth the time! Business cards are one of the most important tools for business today. The time and effort you spend creating and printing excellent business cards will pay future dividends.

10 Ways to Create the Wrong Brochure

To be successful, a brochure needs to be produced with a precise objective and a target reader in mind. It's best to create the least elaborate brochure likely to achieve its objectives.

Deciding on Your Purpose
Brochures fall into two broad categories — those that introduce a new product or service to a likely customer and those that turn an already interested customer into a buyer.

Using Color
Full color is more costly but is justified if the product or service you are offering needs color to show its features. For example, a wallpaper brochure or a brochure of knitwear would not work effectively in anything other than full color. Another reason for using full color may be to compete head-on with a rival’s color brochure.

Using two or even three colors is a cheaper alternative to full color and can be quite effective, especially if part of the brochure is printed in a screened color that lightens the tone and gives the effect of another color.

A limited use of color can look more sophisticated than bold colors. You might also consider using full color in only part of a brochure, or you might try using colored paper — although that is quite tricky to do well.

10 Ways to Create the Wrong Brochure

Being concerned with the looks, but forgetting the sales objective.
Giving the printer poor artwork, but expecting excellent results.
Forgetting to emphasize the unique selling proposition of your business.
Omitting (or hiding) prices if they are critical to the reader’s decision-making.
Printing too many brochures with details that date too quickly.
Giving insufficient thought to how the brochure should best be distributed.
Using text on the brochure that is too small to read easily.
Including poor-quality or inappropriate illustrations.
Allowing a fussy or complex design to distract from the key selling message.
Forgetting to monitor the response (as with any other type of advertising).

Guerrilla Marketing's Golden Rule #6

A customer is a very special person. Of the billions of people on planet Earth, only a tiny fraction have chosen to do business with you. They have selected your business on purpose. It is your constant obligation - though it should be a pleasure - to do what you can to improve the lives of these people: with valuable advice, reduced prices, and reviews of new products and services. The only way to do this is by staying in touch.

Customer reverence is felt by the heart and planned by the mind. Show your customer how much you appreciate them by sending:

A thank-you note within 48 hours of each purchase, although 24 hours is more impressive and memorable. Anyone can send a thank-you note. Guerrillas do it ASAP.
An offer of an item related to their purchase, tendered about 30 days after the purchase. The offer can be for a product or service.
A questionnaire. Send each new customer a questionnaire to learn more about them and their interests.
A birthday card. Use the questionnaire mentioned above to learn each customer’s birthday — month and day, not year. Then, send them a card when their birthday rolls around. Later, you can expand this tactic by sending graduation cards to the customer’s kids, anniversary cards to the customer and spouse, and postcards from your next vacation. Don’t overwhelm your customers, but continue to acknowledge their existence.
A newsletter, sent monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. If it’s created with customer reverence in mind, it will give more than it asks, provide valuable free information, and still make offers to sell something.
A catalogue of your offerings, sent only to customers or sent first to customers, then to prospects, if your customer list isn’t long enough. Customers will especially appreciate a catalogue that clearly communicates it is for customers only.
A fact-of-interest postcard, sent in the purest sense of customer reverence. Give data that can help your customer, without trying to sell anything. Keep it brief, and customers will actually look forward to your mailings — a dream world for most, but the standard situation for guerrillas.

Here are some of the more popular and creative ways to use postcards:

Thank you cards... have a picture of your business or organization printed on the front.
New product announcements... place a picture of the product on the front.
New employee announcements... feature the new employee’s picture on the front, with their contact information on the back.
Card pack inserts.
Customer follow-up mailings designed to create loyalty.
Low-cost direct mail marketing.

If you don’t stay in contact with your customers, somebody else may win them away from you. By constantly fanning the flames of love and loyalty, you will prove beyond any words that you revere your customers, while at the same time safeguarding against apathy.

Newsletters to Keep In Touch With Customers and Prospects

Newsletters have become one of the most popular ways for companies to keep in touch with their customers. A well-written, interesting newsletter can establish expertise and credibility, inform and educate, as well as increase sales and influence positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Newsletter

Here are some tried and true newsletter do’s and don’ts:

People Like:

Interesting subjects
Short articles
Good visuals
Easy-to-skim designs
Bulleted lists
Content telling how to make money, save time
Clear organization
Calendars
Offers, benefits

People Don't Like:

Intimidating pages
Disorganized information
Long, continuing articles
Overly frequent mailings
Irrelevant content
Impersonal tone
Receiving multiple copies
Chaotic page design
Too many pages

If you’re looking for unique ideas or expert advice on how to create a newsletter, or simply spice up your current newsletter, stop by our print shop. Not only can we provide you with inspiring ideas and printed examples; we can also help you create a powerful newsletter that will boost sales and stay within your company’s budget.

Eye-Stopping Headlines

1.) The problem/solution headline. Readers are looking for products and services that will make their lives easier. By writing a headline that poses a problem many readers may have, and offers the solution your company can provide, you have created a situation that will most likely encourage the reader to take a look at the remainder of your advertisement.

2.) The historical event headline. If there is something newsworthy about your product or service, such as it is the world-premiere, or a limited-time offer, it can prove to be an effective draw.

3.) The testimonial. Providing a testimony from a person that has used your product or service encourages prospective customers to think, “If it worked for him, it can work for me, too!”

4.) Product claims. Include statistics and percentages in your headline to increase a product’s credibility. It is important to credit the source of the information you use because it gives your prospective customers a piece of mind about using your product. Even if the source is not well-known by the public, it should be included.

5.) Outrageous statements. The purpose of writing a headline is to provoke curiosity in your readers - making an outrageous statement relating to your product or service will almost force your readers to see what you have to say.

6.) Questions. Posing a question to your readers allows them to take an active role in your advertisement. The key is asking a question that most people will feel compelled to answer because it is relevant to their lives. People will naturally want to know what their answer to the question has to do with your products or services, and will continue reading your ad to discover what your company can do for them.

Headlines are a key component to successful advertising. Creating intriguing headlines will revolutionize your advertising and will have a great affect on your company’s success.

Graphics File Naming System

One of the least glamorous but potentially most time and frustration saving habits you can acquire is to adopt a good file naming system and then use it consistently. A good file naming system can save you hours of time when you are trying to find an image. This is particularly true if you tend to save several versions of a file.

A complete graphic file name should include: item name, color mode, resolution, and file format. An example would be Trees_CMYK_200.psd. This type of attention to detail in file naming, while perhaps a bit cumbersome, will make your file management and location chores much easier. In addition, it will make it easier to identify your graphic images.

Understanding Compound Paths

Illustrator lets you carve holes inside a path. You can then see through these holes to objects and colors that lie behind the path. A path with holes in it is called a compound path.

If you convert a letter such as B or O into outlines, the letter is automatically converted into a compound path.

To make a compound path, do the following:

Draw two shapes.
Make one smaller than the other. You can use any tool to draw either shape, and the paths can be open or closed.
Select both shapes and choose Object>Compound Paths>Make.
Where the two shapes overlap, the compound path is transparent. Where the shapes don’t overlap, the path is filled.
Edit the individual shapes in the compound path with the direct selection tool.
After you combine two or more shapes into a compound path, select the entire path by clicking on it with the arrow tool. If you want to select a point or segment belonging to one of the subpaths — that’s the official name for the shapes inside a compound path — press Command-Shift-A (Mac) or Control-Shift-A (Windows) to deselect the path, and click an element with the direct selection tool. You can then manipulate points, segments, and control handles as usual.

At this point you might ask, “Why do you need a path with a hole in it? Why not just stick the smaller path in front of the bigger path and fill in the smaller path with the background color?” Two reasons:

First, the background may contain lots of different colors. The “B” on the left is a proper compound path, allowing us to see through the holes to anything behind it.
Second, working with opaque paths limits your flexibility. Even if you can get away with filling an interior path with a flat color, you’ll have to change that color any time you change the background or move the objects against a new background. But with a compound path, you can move the object against any background without changing a thing. You can even add effects like drop shadows without modifying the compound path one iota. It’s flexibility at its finest.

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