Affordable small business graphic design

Small business owner’s guide to ad design and layout

noreply@blogger.com (R.L.Roth Graphic Design) — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:18:00 +0000

More businesses are using regional advertising brochures, neighborhood flyers, and newsletters to reach out to local customers. Although creative options are unlimited, there are a few guidelines to be aware of when designing a high impact ad. Whether you hire a graphic designer or opt to do it yourself, here are tips to maximize effectiveness of color ads, black and white ads, and small ads.

For large to medium ads, follow these steps when laying out the ad:

First, grab the reader’s attention with a large, sharp and bright product photo. If you don’t have a high quality photo, hire a photographer. Your photo could ‘make or break’ the ad. This picture should occupy roughly two thirds of the ad space.

Next in size is the ad headline. Keep the headline brief, just a few words. The headline sets the tone of the ad. Reserve the details for the main text body.

Now comes the main text that conveys information about the product. For this ad size, dark text on a light background is the best and easiest to read. No less than an 8-point font size should be used; a 10-point font size is optimal. It’s very important to leave enough white space around the text body so the readers have a place to rest their eyes while scanning the ad.

Last, add your logo and contact information. Usually, this is located at the bottom so as not to detract from the other graphic elements in the ad. By emphasizing the product with a good photo, main headline, and descriptive text, we’ve (hopefully) created enough interest so the reader now looks for contact information to make a purchase.

For small ads:

Ads less than 2 x 2 inches are composed mostly of text and maybe an illustration. A photo won’t be effective with an ad this size. Because less text is used, a dark background with light colored lettering is very noticeable for a small ad. Consider either black or shades of dark to medium gray for the background with white text. As for a larger ad, your illustration and/or headline should be the dominant focus with logo and contact info next.

View samples of ads in various sizes, color and black and white ads.

Professional business card design as a valuable marketing asset

noreply@blogger.com (R.L.Roth Graphic Design) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:11:00 +0000

Business card design is often overlooked when starting a new business. However, when meeting with a potential customer, your business card may be the first thing a person will see to determine if your company will satisfy their needs. Many small business owners don’t like spending money on an item that seemingly says nothing more than name, address, and phone number. In reality, a business card can and should be much more than that. Here are some dos and don’ts for effective business card design.

Do -

Divide the space on the business card into three areas: a focal point, a logo, and contact info.

Decide on the focal point. This should occupy the most space on the card. Pick a few words or brief phrases that effectively describe your business and have this as the focal point, or theme, of your business card. Since we want to draw the reader’s attention to your theme, this part should occupy half to two thirds of the available space.

Display your company logo. Although the logo should be prominently located, it should occupy less space than your focal point text.

Set aside a small area for contact information. This should occupy the least amount of space on the card and should not detract from the focal point or logo.

Use the backside of the card. This is often overlooked. There’s available space there, so why not use it for a map of your location, or other pertinent information.

Print your business card in color. The adage ‘color sells’ is still very relevant.

Select medium to heavy card stock with a glossy surface. A sturdy business card feels good in the hand. Text and graphics appear optimal on a glossy surface.

Don’t –

Cram too much information onto your card. The purpose of a business card is to briefly describe what your company does and how they can contact you. Save copious content for brochures.

Make the text font too small. Business cards need to be read like any other printed material. Eight point font should be the minimum; ten point is optimal.

Put photos on the business card. Unless it’s a photo for the background, covering the entire area of the card, it’s just too small and detracts from the focal point.

In conclusion –

A well designed business card can be one of the best assets for your printed advertising. Your business card is what defines you and your company. Professional graphic design of your business card is thus invaluable for making a positive first impression.

Small business brochures on a tight budget

noreply@blogger.com (R.L.Roth Graphic Design) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:51:00 +0000

What size and layout is best for the affordable small business brochure? A big part of this question is answered by looking at your budget. If money is not a concern, then all options are open, limited only by your (and your designer’s) imagination. If your budget is small, a lot depends on how and where you’ll use the brochure.

Things to consider for optimal brochure size:

Will the brochure be on a display rack at your place of business?
Here, size is not a constraint. You only need to make sure that the brochure is in a prominent place so customers will see it.

Will the brochure be distributed at off-site client meetings or conventions?
This is a little tricky. One opinion is that marketing brochures at these events should be large for easy visibility. On the other hand, it may be difficult for a customer to carry around a large brochure. If the brochure is too big, or has too many inserts, it becomes unwieldy and discarded. In this situation, limit your brochure size to one that fits in a typical pocket folder.

Are you going to mail the brochure?
For mailing, size and paper type definitely matter. A brochure exceeding standard letter dimensions will cost more to mail. Since mailing costs also increase with weight, paper stock must not be too heavy. An 8.5 by 11 inch tri-fold brochure is the most affordable to mail as it fits neatly in a standard letter size envelope.

Next to consider are printing options.

Color or black and white?
A well known marketing phrase is ‘color sells’. Unless you’ve a good reason to opt for black and white, you really should budget for color printing. Printing in color doesn’t have to be full color. Spot color printing, ie, black and white plus one additional color, may be more affordable.

What about odd shaped brochures?
Many people like the idea of a brochure in the shape of their product, for example, a car-shaped brochure. This is certainly a unique way of marketing a product, but remember, printing a brochure with an odd shape will be more expensive. Standard paper sizes don’t exist for odd shapes and paper is wasted because fewer brochures can be printed on each sheet.

These are just a few of the issues to be aware of when creating a brochure for your business. An experienced graphic designer can help you decide what trade-offs to make for a high quality and affordable brochure.

View samples of single fold and multi fold custom brochure design:
Tri fold, multi fold, booklet and special shape layouts

Which logo style is better for business - illustrative or symbolic?

noreply@blogger.com (R.L.Roth Graphic Design) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:18:00 +0000

Logo design basically falls into one of two categories – illustrative or symbolic. An illustrative logo is a detailed picture (illustration) depicting a product or service. A symbolic logo is a graphic symbol and/or stylized text that defines the look and feel of the company image. Which type of logo design is best for a small business?

Let’s first determine the purpose of a logo. A logo is a pictorial image that defines the company image, provides a solid business identity, and is easily recognized. A professionally designed logo maintains a high level of detail when enlarged or reduced in size and prints equally well in color or black and white.

An illustrative logo falls short of this goal. To clearly show all graphic elements within the illustration, this type of logo tends to be fairly large. Because illustrative logos occupy a large area, it detracts from other necessary text or pictures in an advertisement or web page. In addition, an illustrative logo provides only a limited idea of what a company actually does. This type of logo also demands a high level of detail and many hours of design time go into its creation. Hence, illustrative logos tend to be more expensive than symbolic logos.

A symbolic logo provides greater creative flexibility for the graphic designer, is quickly remembered due to its simplicity, and is cost effective for small businesses and limited budgets. Symbolic logos may contain both graphic elements and text, and suggest a wide range of concepts relating to what the company offers. This type of logo also looks great in small size for the web, or enlarged for print publications. Symbolic logos are especially suited to a limited color scheme, typically no more than three colors, and are economically reproduced for printed materials such as business cards, brochures, and ads. This type of logo is extremely effective as evidenced by the fact that many large corporations use symbolic logos for their business identity.

One last and very important tip - the quality (sharpness/contrast) of your logo must remain the same whether enlarged or reduced in size. Make sure your graphic designer creates your logo using professional illustration software and provides your logo file in pdf, ai, or some other vector illustration format. These file formats preserve the fine details and smooth lines needed if you need to resize your logo. The popular jpg format, although fine for photos, isn't useful for logo design because lines become jagged when enlarged and loss of detail occurs when reduced in size.

In short, for maximum impact in print, opt for the symbolic logo in vector format.

Learn more about custom logo design options:
Unique corporate identity and branding with custom logo design

You are welcome to comment on this post regarding aspects of logo design for small business.

How much does professional graphic design cost

noreply@blogger.com (R.L.Roth Graphic Design) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:18:00 +0000

A graphic designer may charge by the hour or by the job. Typically, expect to pay $50 to $100 per hour for design services. This hourly rate may be more if you hire a large company with several designers assigned to your project. Flat rate charges for a specific job vary quite a bit as well, but here’s a rough idea:

Logos $150 and up
Brochures $300 and up
Small ads $125 and up
Single-side flyers $175 and up
Newsletter, magazine layout $500 and up

Note that these are approximate figures and assume custom graphic design work. The ‘and up’ depends on your specific requirements such as the size of your project, number of pages, or if you need photos or copywriting services.

With so many desktop publishing applications available, it’s tempting to do the work yourself and eliminate the expense of hiring a graphic designer. The only thing to say in favor of this approach is that it’s cheap. If you don’t have industry standard software available (and know how to use it), I highly recommend that you let a professional graphic designer create your business identity. I don’t mean to belittle the efficiency of low cost software, but Word and Publisher are not considered industry standard graphic design software. In general, most printing companies won’t accept the file formats these programs produce. Those who do, complain that these low cost alternatives create files with poor resolution and inaccurate color unsuitable for high quality printing.

Printed advertising needs to look polished and professional for a business to succeed. Ask the following questions and see if your advertising collateral measures up:

Sharp text and graphics?
Accurately reproduced colors?
Clean, uncluttered design layout?
Would you buy from a company with similar quality advertising?

If the answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, allocate part of your budget to hire a professional graphic designer.

Coming up . . . Questions to ask a graphic designer.

What print materials are essential to advertise a new business?

noreply@blogger.com (R.L.Roth Graphic Design) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:08:00 +0000

At the very least, effective promotion begins with a logo, business card, and brochure. A significant amount of time and planning should go into the creation of these items because they will be the core of your business identity. It is also essential that your logo, business card, and brochure all have the same color scheme and layout so they can work together to solidify the look and feel of the business. To accomplish this, it’s usually best to hire one company for your graphic design.

Postcard mailers are a good addition to an ad campaign. Again, to maintain visual consistency for all your advertising, the postcard design should reflect that of the other business collateral. Postcard advertising is most successful when using a mailing list targeted to those recipients most likely to need your product or service.

Printed ads and flyers will eventually be needed as you expand your advertising. It’s wise to have your ads available in color and b/w, and also in various sizes for use in newspapers, magazines, and the yellow pages. Single-sided flyers look best and have maximum impact in color.

The next group of advertising materials fall into the category of ‘not essential, but nice to have if your budget will allow’. Logos printed on pens, pencils, stationary, and coffee mugs are popular for company publicity at conventions and expos. Logo designs reproduced on clothing and accessories such as backpacks and tote bags are also becoming popular as a unique form of getting the word out about a new company.

With limited cash, the most effective way to promote a new business is to proceed slowly. Increase your advertising methods as your budget will allow but don’t neglect the heart of your advertising - a solid logo, business card, and brochure.

Do you have ideas for small business advertising? Comment on this post and let me know.

Coming up . . . How much does professional graphic design cost, and is it worth it?

What is graphic design and how a professional designer helps promote a small business.

noreply@blogger.com (R.L.Roth Graphic Design) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:13:00 +0000

Graphic design is the use of images, text, and page layout to visually communicate ideas and messages. The professional graphic designer uses a variety of computer applications to accomplish this task including software for illustration and page layout. Image editing of photos may or may not be included in a graphic designer’s services.

The actual printing of the created materials is a distinct area, not included in graphic design. Whereas some graphic designers may offer print services, most expect the client will take their collateral elsewhere for printing. However, an experienced designer is knowledgeable as to what’s required for high quality print and will prepare the computer files for proper format and reproducible color.

A professional graphic designer can help the small business owner decide what promotional materials are needed for effective advertising and how to optimally design these materials for a particular business. The designer is also a valuable source of information as to current marketing trends and what style of advertising works best. A designer makes every effort to stay within a client’s budget by finding ways to minimize design and printing costs.

Any ideas on how a graphic designer can best help a client? Comment on this post and let me know.

Coming up . . . What print materials are essential to advertise a new business?

Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (R.L.Roth Graphic Design) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:06:00 +0000

Good communication between client and graphic designer is a must to build and maintain a productive print advertising campaign for any business. Experience as a graphic designer tells me that sometimes clients don’t know how and where to obtain high quality, yet affordable, small business advertising collateral such as business cards, logos, and brochures. Many business owners aren’t sure about what they really need for effective advertising in print, and as a result, their needs aren’t communicated to the graphic designer. The designer may create unsuitable and uneconomical print media for the new business.

To fill this information gap, we’ll proceed step by step on the path to affordable small business graphic design by addressing the following:

What is graphic design and how a professional designer helps promote a small business.
What print materials are essential to advertise a new business?
How much does professional graphic design cost? Is it worth it?
Questions to ask a graphic designer.
Will just any business card do the job?
How to select a logo design for small business.
Brochure options for the start-up small business.
Effective business ad design for print.
Should I hire a pro to photograph my products?

Let me know what other topics you would like to see on this blog. I learn so much from my clients. Your input is needed and appreciated.

Thanks for visiting!