The Basic Principles of Design
Effective design depends on the six basic principles of design. These six principles are balance, proximity, alignment, repetition, contrast, and white space. The application of these principles determines how attractive your design will be but may vary from one document to another. For instance, brochure printing has to take into account the fold, while posters only have a single page layout.
Balance is achieved through symmetrical, radial, or crystallographic arrangement of the design elements so that no one section is heavier than the other. Sometimes elements may be intentionally off balance to create a certain mood. The various types of balance are:
• Symmetrical Balance - a central axis dividing the composition in the middle, horizontally or vertically, with the same design on both sides, a mirror reflection.
• Radial Balance - a central focal point in a generally square compositional format. Ex.: targets, and traffic signs (yield, stop).
• Crystallographic Balance - all over balance, within a grid-like composition, certain variation is introduced to direct the eye throughout the design, with many focal points. Ex.: quilt design or a game of checkers in the middle of the game.
Creating a Unique Indicia with Postcards
For those of you looking for the ultimate way to customize your postcard printing campaign, you should consider creating your own unique indicia. The indicia is the actual sticker or ink stamp that will go on the back of your postcard in place of a postage stamp. This is a great way to add an extra touch of professionalism to postcard printing. If you do not want to take the time to create your own indicia, you can even work with current versions available and just add a little extra touch of your own.
The To-Do List For Promoting Local Services
Businesses who rely almost solely on a local target audience, such as dentists or medical doctors or landscapers, have the somewhat difficult task of making a personal connection with customers while also showing themselves to be on the same professional level as larger competitors. If you are a business that offers services locally, you may find yourself at a loss as to where to start with your promotional efforts. You know that some kind of brochure or poster printing is necessary, but what is the most important steps to take first and how exactly do you complete these steps successfully?
Illustrator Tutorial: Halftone Gradients
Even in Photoshop the process for making halftones can be tedious, but at least in Illustrator the process can be automated. What’s more, the halftone’s can be fully editable and still remain in vector format. In this tutorial we will show you how we created a halftone gradient process that you can use easily whenever you want.
1. Start with a new document in Illustrator.
2. Go to View and make sure you Show the grid and check the Snap to Grid option as well.
3. Zoom into an area where you can see a clear part of your grid. Grab your Ellipse Tool and draw a circle that starts at the intersection of the grid and extends to the next grid line:
Thoughts on Graphic Designer Paradoxes from a Freelance Writer
In a recent blog post by Kansas City Art Institute entitled 10 Graphic Design Paradoxes by Adrian Shaughnessy, a list of graphic designer paradoxes presented and explained by Adrian was compiled. The author of “How to be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul,” Adrian puts forth some very eye-opening yet true paradoxes that designers must embrace to be successful, such as “There’s no such thing as bad clients: only bad designers” and “When a client says the words — ‘you have complete creative freedom,’ they never mean complete creative freedom.”
As a freelance writer/blogger, I found these paradoxes to apply to my line of work as well. Recently, I tried to explain the basic concept of SEO to a client to give her an idea of why she needed the work I recommended. She agreed with me and we went over the topics she needed me to focus on. We left the meeting, I wrote one of the articles to show her exactly what was needed, and she came back to me with an okay and a request to substitute some of the budgeted work for another website. Obviously, she took away my “complete creative freedom.”
But maybe it was my fault. Another paradox that Adrian presents is “Ideas usually fall not because they’re bad ideas, but because they’re badly presented.” This statement has encouraged me to look at exactly how I explain my process to clients. Maybe my client just did not see the importance of why I do SEO marketing the way I do it. Or maybe I just made the mistake of not knowing my client, for, as Adrian says, “If we want to educate our clients about design, we must first educate ourselves about our clients.”
Essentials of Brochure Design
A brochure needs to well designed or it will end up in the trash. Brochures should clearly tell the customer what it is you are offering them, how to get it, and why they should want it.
1. Decide exactly what you want your brochure to achieve.
Your goal with brochure printing should be simple and easy to identify, and everything about the brochure should work toward this goal. Don’t overcrowd your brochure with too many products or too much information. A brochure should get the customer interested in the products and tell them how to get them or how to get more information. Clarity and brevity are the keys to a successful brochure.
2. Speak to the customer.
Don’t just list features of your products; this can bore your customer. Instead, tell them how your products and services will help them. Write your copy with the customer in mind, and make them want your product by appealing to their emotions. Write from their point of view and use words like “you” instead of always speaking from your company’s point of view.
3. Be clear and concise.
With brochures, your space is limited, so you may be tempted to pack a lot of information into a small amount of space. This is usually a bad idea. Write and rewrite your copy until it is as clear and brief as possible. Use plenty of white space around the text, and space between lines, to increase readability. Consider using lists to tell about your product instead of long paragraphs. Make it easy to understand your brochure even if you just skim it.
How To Design a Folded Brochure
Brochures are great to use for promoting your business, selling a product, or giving instructions. When designing your brochure, you will want to choose the right type of fold early on because the fold will dictate how your entire brochure is arranged. Below are some folds that work well for a variety of brochure printing projects.
Tri-fold
Tri-fold brochures are the most common type. They are usually made by starting with the paper in the landscape position. Then the right edge is folded inward one-third of the way, and the left edge is folded inward on top of the first fold. When both flaps are open, the entire paper is exposed. The cover flap of the brochure is used to capture the reader’s attention, and it usually has an image and the business name. The inner flap should contain a little more information, causing the reader to want the product or service that is offered. Then the inside of the brochure can contain more detailed information. Often the inside of the right-hand flap has an order form that can be torn off. The back of the brochure can contain contact information, or if the brochure is to be mailed, this is where you can put an address and postage. As you can imagine, the tri-fold works well for a variety of brochure printing projects.
Gate Fold
The advantage of the gate fold brochure is that there are four inner panels and four outer panels. The outer panels can be used to attract the reader’s attention, and the inner panels provide a lot of space for information. The gate fold is made by holding paper in a landscape position and then folding the two sides inward so they meet in the middle; then the whole paper is folded inward in half. This folding leaves a front and a back, which you open like a book; then there are two inner flaps. And when you open the flaps, the whole paper is exposed. Gate folds are great to use in brochure printing projects with a lot of images and information. Since it opens flat, images can be stretched across the entire front face of the page.
Accordion Fold
Response to Are Instructional Designers, “Designers”?
Design can be illustrated in a number of ways. For instance, the art of teaching is in itself a design being built into the person of the students. Whatever the subject matter, a teacher takes all the various parts that make it up and organizes them, draws out the needed elements, and then relays that knowledge to the students in various creative ways. Students become the canvas that displays in a multitude of ways the lessons their teachers have instilled in them.
Design & Marketing
Design in any application brings various necessary components together in a way that is beneficial to users and hopefully pleasing to the eye at the same time. In the area of marketing, most designs are only meant to be viewed and the message that is conveyed is the important factor. Once the design has been perfected, the rendering of it is next on the list of importance.
Design & Print
Well-designed marketing material is no good without a printer who can create high quality printed material. Go back to the teaching illustration; the design is filtered through an independent entity and the quality of the final presentation is dependent on the pupil. The same is true with a design being filtered through a printing company; and, thus, the final presentation of the design is dependent on the quality of the chosen printer.
Designers & Print
For designers, this makes the choice of printing companies very important. The convenience of an online printing company will not be beneficial to the designer or their client if the quality of the printed materials is inadequate. All elements of the final design must be considered. The quality of the designer’s work and the printer’s presses, inks, papers, and technology will work together to create the final product.
Mistakes to Avoid in Brochure Design
Printing brochures is a useful marketing tool, but there are several mistakes you will want to avoid to maximize your brochure’s success. Your brochure needs information about the products and how to get it, but making your brochure attractive to look at is still the best way to make sales. If your brochure is boring or confusing, people will not buy from it. Give people a reason to look at your brochure, and people will be more likely to make a purchase.
1. Formatting Mistakes.
There are plenty of downloadable brochure templates on the internet and included in software packages, but make sure you are using the right one. To print your brochure the way you want it, a printer has to be given files with the right dimensions.
2. Not using color.
Printing brochures in color costs more, but a color brochure catches the eye more readily than a black and white brochure. If no one picks up your brochure, you won’t make any sales. You should do whatever you can to make sure the brochure catches the attention of customers, even if it costs a bit more. It doesn’t have to be full color; even one color with black can be enough to make your brochure stand out.
