About Laura M. Foley Design
We're a full-service graphic design studio located in Central Massachusetts. Laura Foley has over nineteen years' experience in creative design, graphic production, project management, and marketing. We're experienced in a wide variety of visual communication projects — corporate identity, marketing materials, trade show booths, PowerPoint presentations, etc. — for corporations, educational institutions, manufacturers, retailers, and small businesses.Design Dispatch 
THE NEWLSETTER CHOCK-A-BLOCK FULL OF DESIGNY GOODNESS!
08.13.08 New Logo Coming Soon!
07.30.08 "Lemonade Stand" Advertising
07.09.08 Digging For Treasure On Your Web Site
06.25.08 Championing Streamlined Communication Frameworks
06.11.08 PowerPoint at the Improv
05.28.08 Location, Location, Location
04.30.08 Client Spotlight: Northeast Promotion & Apparel Co., Inc.
04.16.08 Negative Publicity Carries Controversial Product
04.02.08 Logos Are More Powerful Than You Think
03.05.08 Ligatures, Sweet Ligatures
02.13.08 Bad Typography...The Straight Dope on Straight Quotes
01.30.08 Sew...Where Did Our Brand Go?
01.02.08 Embossing Your Print Around
2007 Design Dispatches
12.12.07 Serif, Sans-Serif, and Slab, Oh My!
11.14.07 Get Professional Help
10.31.07 The Scariest Design Mistakes!
10.17.07 Online Photos and Intellectual Property Rights
10.03.07 Will This Marketing Never Cease?
09.05.07 What is an Enhanced PDF?
08.22.07 Photos Don't Lie, Do They?
08.01.07 Web Sites That Blather
06.27.07 What Color Is Your Logo?
06.13.07 Design Standards Manuals
05.23.07 The Logo, The Whole Logo, and Nothing But the Logo
02.21.07 Reading Between the Lines
02.07.07 One Man's Guerrilla Marketing is Another Man's Terrorist Plot
01.31.07 Bitmapped vs. Vector Logos
01.24.07 Looking Down at Trade Shows
01.17.07 Copyrights and Wrongs
01.03.07 Logos With Impact (Korean Air and Pepsi)
2006 Design Dispatches
12.20.06 Paper Can Make the Difference
11.22.06 Happy Thanksgiving! Or Maybe Happy Groundhog Day...
11.15.06 Direct Mail to a Captive Audience
10.25.06 The Power of Branding
10.11.06 Cropping Photos Effectively
10.04.06 How to Throw Your Marketing Budget Away
9.27.06 Typos are Attractive, But Not In a Good Way
2008 Design Dispatches
August 13, 2008
New Logo Coming Soon!
Lately I've been noticing a trend in package design. Instead of just changing the way their products appear on the shelves, companies have been incorporating design change notifications into the new package designs or pointing out a redesign that has already occurred.
A case in point: a bottle of Black Swan wine I purchased recently had an extra label that said 
"NEW LOOK! Coming Soon" stuck onto the regular label on the bottle. I've seen bottles of Black Swan wine produced after this one that sport the new label (which looks great, by the way). But is it really necessary to inform the public of an imminent design change?
Companies change their package designs all the time for a variety of reasons: they want to emphasize a different benefit of their product, they want the edge on their competition, the design is outdated, they want to target a different market, innovative packaging materials have recently been developed that a company would like to use, etc. The bottom-line reason for package redesign is, of course, to sell more product and make more money. It's only recently that I've noticed that companies are calling attention to these changes.
I have always believed effective package design should be almost subliminal, that a wonderful design draws the consumer in without calling attention to itself. Maybe it's because we now live in an instant-message, 24/7 information access world that companies feel they must inform consumers of any changes they make. But is it that important to notify them of what basically is an internal company matter? I really don't think so.
What do you think? Have you noticed this trend as well?
July 30, 2008
"Lemonade Stand" Advertising
Summer is the season of lemonade stands, and what better way to advertise than a sign by the side of the road? This summer I've seen two "lemonade stand" signs used to advertise two different businesses that aren't lemonade stands, one more successfully than the other.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed this sign nailed to a phone pole at the side of a very busy road in my town. It was nearly illegible at 45 mph. Later, I took a walk over to the sign so I could get a good look at it. The sign was handwritten in black marker on white corrugated board. I found no fault with the teaser on the sign ("LIKE TO TRAVEL WANT TO MAKE MONEY"), since it effectively targets the desired audience. But under that teaser was a really, really long URL that went to the end of the sign then veered downward. This business could probably get a lot more customers if it advertised in a more appropriate place, such as a travel newsletter or magazine.
This "lemonade stand" sign is more successful. This sign is located in front of a house in the center of town where the speed limit is 35 mph (but many people go slower). It advertises the roadside business of the kids who live in the house. It's really charming, with swirly letters, lots of colors, and paintings of flowers, and it got me to stop and buy a plant! But if the sign had been too slick and professional I would have doubted that it was actually the kids who benefit from the sales and I wouldn't have stopped.
So know who your customers are and advertise in the right place. If you're not running a lemonade stand or some other childlike venture, don't use "lemonade stand" signs to advertise your business.
July 9, 2008
Digging for Treasure On Your Web Site
"I never use those slashy things." This is what my Aunt Julie said to me when we were talking about navigating the Web. What she meant is she doesn't waste time navigating through a Web site to find the information she wants. Either what she's looking for needs to be on the home page or there has to be an obvious link to it. If not, she looks elsewhere.
People shouldn't have to "dig for treasure" on your Web site. For example, if you're offering an online promotion, you shouldn't tell people to visit http://www.mycompany.com/promos/
july2008/
specialoffers/
big_discount.htm. Nobody wants to type a URL like that into their browser. Just put all of the information or a prominent link to it on the home page at www.mycompany.com.
And make sure that your site is easy to navigate so that people can quickly find the information they're looking for. If your home page is too cluttered, people won't stick around to figure out how it works. They'll just find another, more user-friendly site...maybe your competitor's?
Take a good look at your marketing materials to see if they reference any overly long, complicated URLs. If you find any buried treasure, put it on your home page for the world to find, where it will be much more valuable.
Julia Mitchell is a tapestry artist whose work echoes the beauty of the natural world. Visit her Web site to learn more about the tapestry technique, view her portfolio, and to commission a custom-woven piece.
June 25, 2008
Championing Streamlined Communication Frameworks
English is a marvelously rich language that allows speakers to craft turns of phrase as simple as "She's cute!" or as eloquent as "I'll say she looks as clear as morning roses newly washed with dew." With such a wealth of words at our disposal, it's a wonder that some people feel the need to complicate simple messages with meaningless babble. But all too often corporate buzzwords and jargon make their way into speeches, presentations, marketing materials, press releases, etc., rendering these difficult to understand or just plain weird.
In December 2007, England's Local Government Association issued a press release about clarifying the language used by public bodies. Included in the press release is a list of 100 "non-words" they believe should be avoided, such as "core value," "funding stream," "overarching," and "synergies." Related to this, it was widely reported this month that the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council had banned the expression "brainstorming" in favor of "thought showers," believed to be less offensive to epileptics. Thankfully, the Council states that "This story has been wildly exaggerated."
If you want to get an idea of how corporate buzzwords can get out of hand, visit the Buzzword Generator. Each click of the "enter" button generates such gems as "profound empowering benchmark," "quality-focused 24/7 protocol," and "proactive assymetric strategy."
So if you find that your core message facilitates top-down communications while being a non-value add for stakeholders, perhaps it's time to clarify your message by tossing the jargon.
Sources:
Local Government Association press release, "Councils help battle for plain English," December 12, 2007.
Daily Mail, "Council bans 'brainstorming' and replaces the term with 'thought showers'...for fear of offending epileptics," Steve Doughty, June 20, 2008.
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council press release, "News: Brainstorming," June 20, 2008.
1728 Software Systems, Buzzword Generator
June 11, 2008
PowerPoint at the Improv
PowerPoint. Who in the business world doesn't have an opinion about it? Used well, PowerPoint presentations can bolster a presenter's main points, adding helpful context to the spoken word. Used poorly they can put an audience to sleep in minutes. But what if there were a way that PowerPoint could be used not only to get an audience roaring but also to test a presenter's ability to think on her feet? There is, and it's called PowerPoint Karaoke.
PowerPoint Karaoke was invented in 2005 by a German creative think tank, Zentrale Intelligenz Agentur (Central Intelligence Agency). To play the game, a couple of daring people volunteer to present a random deck of slides gathered from friends, employers, or from the Web. Nobody gets a chance to review the decks beforehand, and each person gets five minutes to deliver an improvised presentation.
As you might imagine, the results are absurd, unexpected, and hilarious! As the speaker either breezes or stumbles through his presentation, the audience heckles, laughs, and shouts out encouragement.
Next time you're faced with another team-building meeting, conference, or any gathering that could use a laugh, why not suggest a rousing game of PowerPoint Karaoke?
PowerPoint Karaoke in Action:
Sources:
Boston.com, "Slide Show: Are You Ready for PowerPoint Karaoke?", Erin McKean, March 2, 2008.
crisscrossed, "Tired of PPT: Start PowerPoint Karaoke," Christian Kreutz, March 12, 2008.
Thanks very much to Patty Dahlgren, Video & New Media Producer at Dahlgren Creative, for telling me about PowerPoint Karaoke. For your next trade show or sales meeting, turn to Dahlgren Creative for all of your Flash, video, and multimedia needs.
Contact Patty at (781) 271-1313 or patty@dahlgrencreative.com.
May 28, 2008
Location, Location, Location
Good ad placement means the difference between generating sales and throwing your money away. Your message, no matter how well crafted, will be ignored if it's not in front of the right people. If you sell diapers, advertise in Parents magazine, not Wired. Conversely, if you sell Bluetooth headsets, advertise in Wired, not Parents. Sure, geeks read Parents and parents read Wired, but you have to direct your advertising toward each publication's core demographic to reach the people who are most likely in the market for your product or service.
The other day my husband Mike was reading his favorite magazine, Air & Space, when I heard him snort in derision. "Here's the topic of your next newsletter," he said, then he told me about a two-page spread titled "Fashion News," which was in fact an advertisement for synthetic diamond jewelry. The phrase that really stood out for him was "We will not bore you with the incredible details of the scientific process..."
This ad misses the mark for two big reasons. First, Air & Space readers are most likely very interested in the "incredible details of scientific processes." It's a magazine devoted to the minutia of aviation and space exploration, with an emphasis on technology. The other reason is the product itself, basically a diamondlike ring that costs less than $150 (buy now and get a pair of scintillating DiamondAura Classique sterling silver stud earrings FREE!). I'm just guessing here, but I would imagine Air & Space readers are probably fairly well-off and not in the market for synthetic anything.
So do a little research when placing your ads. Tailor the ad copy to the readership, and make sure that you're placing the ads in the right publications.
May 14, 2008
Grassroots Marketing
There is a grassroots effort in my town to influence people to vote for a Proposition 2 1/2 override in order to avoid drastic cuts in town services. (For those of you not from Massachusetts, "Prop 2 1/2" is a state statute prohibiting a town from raising taxes more than 2.5% annually without voter approval). When I visited the group's Web site, I was struck both by its sincerity and how profoundly difficult it was to navigate. With its dramatic language, dense paragraphs, consistent use of bold text, and poor color choices a viewer has to to read every page from start to finish before he understands the message. And nowhere on the site does it detail exactly what cuts in services there would be if the override doesn't pass.
I volunteered to redesign the site at no cost to the town, and my offer was enthusiastically accepted by the group. I wrote new copy for the home page describing the service cuts we could be facing, using bullet points, color, and bold text to draw attention to the important details. The redesigned site used photographs, graphics, and white space to make it cleaner looking and easier to skim. For the supporting pages I kept the copy from the original site since I didn't want to alienate the people who had made the effort to write. Unfortunately, that's exactly what ended up happening.
The participants in this grassroots effort didn't appreciate having their materials copy edited for clarity. After submitting my ideas I received a terse "thanks but no thanks" email. The only recommendations they took from me was to change the background color of their site from dark blue to white and to add a clickable "send email" graphic.
Maybe there is a perception that grassroots marketing materials should look amateurish, that if they seem too slick they would detract from the message. I don't see it that way at all. Presenting information that is clear, compelling, and easily understood is what marketing is all about, whether it's for a multinational company or a small-town organization. But I can't force a client to accept a design that he doesn't want, no matter how helpful I believe it would be.
April 30, 2008
Design Dispatch: Client Spotlight...Northeast Promotion & Apparel Co., Inc.
Every once in a while I come across a product or service that I can't stop talking about. And since I'm a major networker, I love to steer people towards companies I've worked with that provide those products or services. So this week is the debut of the Client Spotlight, where I'll tell you about the cool things my clients are doing.
The Northeast Promotion & Apparel Company was formed last summer by Matt Olivari and three partners. They bring over 17 years of experience in the business and have been going strong since the company's founding. They specialize in branded promotional items--such as corporate gifts and trade-show give-aways--and customized apparel. They also embroider, heat-transfer, or print apparel (hats, t-shirts, golf shirts, team uniforms, jackets, etc.) in-house.
When I toured the facility, I was impressed by two machines in particular. Their embroidery machine is capable of stitching up to six items at once with graphics having up to thirteen colors! The amazing thing from a design standpoint is that it's no more expensive to embroider in a single color than it is to use all thirteen. The other cool machine was an inkjet printer capable of producing full-color graphics of photographic quality on a variety of substrates, including t-shirts, jackets, bags, and towels. In fact, Matt told me that when he and his partners saw this printer at a trade show, they asked the vendor about its capabilities, ink costs, etc. The sales rep quickly brought up all of the information on his laptop...then printed the results onto a t-shirt!
I've been doing business with Matt for a while now, so I know he's a pleasure to work with and turns jobs around quickly. He also helps his customers to develop sales programs that support their fundraising efforts.
Check out Northeast Promotion & Apparel Company online. You can also call Matt Olivari at (888) 340-6372 or send email to mowindow@aol.com.
April 16, 2008
Design Dispatch: Negative Publicity Carries Controversial Product
There are loads of energy drinks on the market. So how did one manufacturer set his energy drink apart from the competition? He gave it a name that has a double meaning and created a provocative marketing campaign. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Happens every day? Read on.
The product is Blow, a white powder that is added to water or a beverage to create an energy drink. The packaging, the marketing, and the name all mimic (some say glorify) cocaine use and the party lifestyle — Blow comes in a vial and ships with a fake credit card and a mirror. The manufacturer maintains that his product is "hip and edgy."
Of course Blow has sparked a lot of controversy. The FDA sent the company a certified letter accusing it of marketing an uncertified drug. And drug rehabilitation counselors, members of law enforcement, parents, and news agencies all fear that the manufacturer's imitation of drug use will encourage people to try the real thing.
Is all this publicity helping or hurting the company? Most of the articles I found online were negative, decrying the drug references. There are mixed reviews as to its taste — some thought it was OK, others thought it tasted horrible. But the company that manufactures Blow been in business at least since a June 2007 press release, and just last week I saw the company's founder defending his product on a morning talk show. So maybe in this case it's the negative publicity that's keeping the company going.
I prefer to generate positive publicity and goodwill. But that's just me.
Sources:
FDA Web site
PR Newswire
The Earth Times, press release, "BLOW: Vials of White Energy Powder Selling Online," June 26, 2007.
April 2, 2008
Design Dispatch: Logos Are More Powerful Than You Think!
A recent study by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and the University of Waterloo, Canada, found that people exposed to well-known national brands exhibited behavior traits commonly associated with those companies' marketing.
In the experiment, 341 university students participated in what they believed to be a visual acuity test, during which either the Apple or IBM logo was quickly flashed. After the exposure (of which the test subjects were unaware) they were asked to come up with uses for a brick besides building a wall.
The Apple brand has always been about creativity, innovation, novelty, and thinking "outside the box," while IBM's reputation is for dependability, reliability, and predictability. Amazingly, these were the traits exhibited by the test subjects who were exposed to the respective logos. People who saw the Apple logo came up with significantly more unusual uses for a brick than those exposed to the IBM logo.
The test was repeated using another pair of logos, Disney and E! Channel. Participants who saw the Disney logo responded to a survey more honestly than those exposed to the E! Channel logos. What's more, in a separate experiment the researchers checked the validity of imperceptible exposure by offering $100 to anybody who could tell what logo was being flashed on the screen. Nobody could do it.
What does all this mean? Certainly it points to the validity, if not the ethical nature, of subliminal advertising. It also gives a big boost to the value of product placement. On the consumer side, it lends credence to the practice of surrounding oneself with inspirational items, such as an artist who decorates her studio with reproductions of famous paintings.
Adapted from a news release on the Duke University Web site.
Sources:
Duke University, "Apple Really Does Make You 'Think Different'"
Science Daily, "Logo Can Make You 'Think Different'"
Advertising Age, "This Brand Makes You More Creative"
March 19, 2008
Design Dispatch: Seeing Double
I design plenty of newsletters, brochures, and other marketing materials where the copy comes from multiple sources. The very first thing I do to every single one of the text files I receive is to remove all of the double spaces and double carriage returns. I can't think of a single job I've done where that step hasn't been necessary.
Double-spacing and double carriage returns are a holdover from the old days when we used to use typewriters. Since typewriter typefaces were all monospace (all of the characters took up the same amount of space left-to-right) it was necessary to insert extra spaces and returns to separate sentences and paragraphs. This changed with the advent of desktop publishing, but for the most part people haven't changed their typing habits.
These extra spaces become a problem when text is placed into documents. It's very hard to control the flow of text with all those extra spaces floating around. You end up with unsightly gaps in the text, or you get paragraphs that end one line before the end of a column.
So if you're a double-spacer, try to stop. It adds an extra task that the designer must complete (which she doesn't do for free, by the way!), and it's unnecessary. And to keep paragraphs from running together, simply set the space after each paragraph to 10pt. That way you'll get a nice division between paragraphs, while keeping your prepress costs to a minimum!
March 5, 2008
Design Dispatch: Ligatures, Sweet Ligatures
Ah...ligatures. So pleasant to say, so lovely to look at.
A ligature is two letters that are set as one character. Like many aspects of typography, ligatures generally do not stand out in typeset copy. Instead, they do the job of enabling your eye to glide across the printed page, unhampered by unsightly gaps or bumps.
Ligatures are commonly substituted for letters whose ascenders (the parts of a lowercase letter that stick up, such as in the letters b and h) would otherwise be too close together or touching, such as ff and fl. They can also be combinations of lowercase letters, such as ae and oe. Some professional typesetting software, such as InDesign, can automatically substitute ligatures if any are available in the font being used. But most software, including Microsoft Office, drops the ball on this particular bit of typography.
The next time you are reading a book or magazine, take a look to see if any ligatures have been used. You'll probably be surprised at how often you'll find them, since when used correctly ligatures tend to blend into the text. And if I do my job right, maybe you'll even be irritated when you find text that should have used them!
Lovely Ligatures
The top line shows a set of sans-serif ligatures and the bottom line features ligatures in a serif typeface. (Image courtesy of John Boardley at ilovetypography.com)
Of course, these guys get it...
Beautiful!
My favorite ligature, the obscure interrobang
This punctuation mark is used to express excited surprise, such as:
What's my deadlineAre you kidding me This is more commonly expressed as "!?!"
Me Tarzan. You bad typesetter!
I love reading to my sons, but I hate the typesetting in their Tarzan book. The "f" and "l" in the word "reflection" could really have used a ligature!
Ligatures look great! Let's never use them.
It's that pesky "fl" combination again, this time in the word "flashed." Don't get me started about forcing the italic on "perfect" instead of using a proper italic typeface...
February 13, 2008
Design Dispatch: Bad Typography...The Straight Dope on Straight Quotes
As a graphic designer I have a keen love of typography. But much like good design, good typography creates such harmony on the printed page that it is rarely noticed. Bad typography, however, can stand out like a fly in the soup.
One of the casualties of desktop publishing has been the correct use of the typographer's or "curly" quote. These are the quotation marks that look like little hooks surrounding the text, the "sixes and nines" you might remember from school. Also gone missing is the correct use of the apostrophe.
Straight quotes should only be used to denote minutes, seconds, feet, and inches. That's it. Curly quotes are used to denote spoken words and setting specific words apart from the text (as I did in the previous paragraph). Apostrophes should always be curly.
That being said, there are some cases where using straight quotes is unavoidable. Since I work on a Mac and send this email out as text-only, I unhappily resign myself to using straight quotes so that the keyboard tricks I use to get curly quotes don't become garbled when viewed on a PC or mobile phone. I don't worry about curly quotes on my Web site for the same reason. But for printed material--advertisements, brochures, white papers, etc.--get your quotes correct!
Correct use of curly and straight quotes
In an ad for Firestone, the typographer got it right. The apostrophe is curly and the straight quotes denote inches. Bravo!
What happened?!?
In the same ad, the typesetter has gone on a coffee break and the intern completed the ad in his absence. The apostrophe is right, but the quotation marks are wrong, wrong, wrong!
Ouch!
January 30, 2008
Design Dispatch: Sew...Where Did Our Brand Go?
I go to a gym that really has a good handle on marketing and branding. They send out regular email newsletters. They have a Web site that they keep current. Their printed materials, such as the binder they give new members and their group fitness schedule, prominently feature their logo and contact information. There are posters all over the place showing instructors wearing their uniforms and that feature the gym's logo. And the punch cards for the group fitness classes are printed in full color, with photos of current instructors and the logo on the front of the cards.
So why did they drop the ball on their clothing line?
This gym sells fleece tops, t-shirts, towels, hats, etc., all featuring the name of the gym. But while some of these items have the gym's logo on them, many of the fleece tops and sweatshirts have the name of the gym stitched in a conservative font. This apparel doesn't look like everything else they're doing; it looks staid and boring.
Remember, nobody is going to see your entire marketing campaign in one place at one time. If something that the public sees does not look anything like your corporate identity, nobody will identify it with your company. And isn't that what branding is supposed to do?
January 16, 2008
Design Dispatch: Cool Typography
Typography is the way type, or words, are set on a page. People don't ordinarily pay attention to typography unless it's really bad or outstanding. This week, we'll explore some examples where designers played around with typography to achieve interesting results.
Bembo's Zoo
Bembo is the name of an elegant serif font, usually used to set body copy. On this Flash site, you'll find the alphabet. Click on a letter, and the name of an animal is spelled out, then the animal is "drawn" using the letters of its name. This is a good site for adults who like typography and kids who are learning how to spell!
Emblematic Poetry
In emblematic poetry, the words of the poem form a shape that relates to the words. Perhaps the most well-known example is "The Mouse's Tale" from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Advertisement for Celebrex
In their ad for Celebrex, an arthritis medication, Pfizer has forgone the usual photograph of active seniors enjoying life. Instead, the designer has created a picture of a man and a woman playing golf using only the sentences "Understand the risks. See the benefits." While the playfulness of the typography is interesting, I'm not sure it is effective in driving more sales.
© 2007 Pfizer Inc.
January 2, 2008
Design Dispatch: Embossing Your Print Around
Embossing adds sophistication to your printed marketing materials. In the embossing process, paper or card stock is squeezed between two embossing dies, which creates raised designs. There are many different kinds of embossing, the most common being blind embossing and registered embossing. Blind embossing is when the pattern is pressed into an unprinted section of paper; registered embossing is when the pattern has to line up exactly with a printed area.
With embossing it's possible to achieve some striking results. In one of my son's storybooks, the texture of the animals' fur and feathers has been embossed, giving the book a great tactile quality. And I remember coming across a brochure with a textured basketball on the cover.
Embossing is not often seen on marketing materials nowadays because many companies choose to print these digitally. Digital-print papers typically can't withstand the embossing process because they're too thin. Also, embossing dies are often custom-cut for each job, making embossing unsuitable for the quick-turnaround digital market. So it's more common to see embossing done on materials that have been printed on high-quality and/or thick paper.
Is embossing for you? It is if you want to stand out from the crowd and lend a certain elegance to your marketing materials. But keep in mind that it is a fairly expensive process that adds production time to the job. Depending on the goal of your marketing materials, though, having them embossed could be time and money well spent.
2007 Design Dispatches
December 12
Design Dispatch: Serif, Sans-Serif, and Slab, Oh My!
When I was showing my son Henry how to write the number "1" I made a single vertical stroke. "That's a 'one,'" I told him. "No, it's not," he informed me, "A 'one' has a little hook on it." Then he wrote his version of the number. Both were correct, only my "one" was sans-serif and his was serif. Thus was his introduction to typography.
There are many kinds of typefaces, but broadly speaking they can be broken down into the following categories: serif, sans-serif, slab-serif, script, engraved, and display. Serif (pronounced "sare-if") typefaces are commonly used as body text since they are easy to read. Serifs are the little "tails" that come off the ends of the type. Examples of serif typefaces include Times New Roman, Palatino, and Bookman. Sans-Serif typefaces have no ornamentation at the ends of letters. This makes them very clear and easy to read, making them ideal for road signs and environmental graphics. Examples of sans-serif typefaces include Helvetica and Arial. Now we get fancy. Slab-serif typefaces have serifs that are the same width as the strokes that make up the letters. Script, engraved, and display fonts (which are exactly what they sound like) are used when more ornamentation is desired, such as for invitations or t-shirt designs.
You have to know what you want your text to accomplish when you're choosing a typeface. Body text is not usually set in script because it's difficult to read. Road signs don't use funny display fonts because by the time you figured out what all those weird shapes were supposed to mean you'd miss your exit.
If you want to learn more about typography, a good place to start is www.myfonts.com. There you'll find fonts listed by category, and you can type whatever you want and see onscreen how it will look set in different typefaces. There's even a way to upload scanned copy to find out what font was used. Check it out and break out of the Times New Roman/Arial straitjacket!
Font Examples
November 28, 2007
Design Dispatch: Taking My Own Advice
A few weeks ago I was at a walk-in arts and crafts studio, Hands On 4 Kidz, in Gardner, Massachusetts with my two-year-old. I was chatting up the owner and mentioned that I'm a graphic designer. She asked me for my business card, so I confidently whipped out my wallet to find...that I'd run out of business cards. A frantic search of the diaper bag (which for the parents of a toddler is as important to have around as a wallet) didn't turn up any cards either.
Wasn't it just in September I was telling you to keep a supply of business cards with you wherever you go? Didn't I just razz a hairdresser at my gym for having to go out to her car to get a business card for me rather than having some in her gym bag? Well, serve me up a piece of that humble pie. And a side order of crow, please.
It got me thinking of how networking opportunities spring out of nowhere. Now I'm stashing business cards everywhere: my car, purse, briefcase, coat pockets, gym bag, the little bag under the seat on my bicycle, and, of course, the diaper bag.
Think of places where you could put some extra business cards. A golf bag, a toolbox, a beach tote, a laundry bag...any item you take with you to a place where you wouldn't dream of talking shop. Because you just never know when your next networking opportunity will occur. When it happens, you'll want to be ready!
November 21, 2007
Design Dispatch: Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and my family and I have a lot to be thankful for. We're healthy and happy and we have a good home and good food. Sadly, though, there are many people in the world who don't get enough to eat. So I thought I'd direct you to some Web sites where you can do your part to help end hunger.
The first two sites listed ask only that you play a fun game or click on a button to make a donation. The food bank sites allow you to make online donations or to find out about volunteering opportunities in your area.
Free Rice
This well-designed site lets you play a vocabulary game. The software adjusts itself for your vocabulary level based on your early responses, so it's suitable for any skill level, from just learning English to collegiate. For each correct answer, the site donates ten grains of rice through the United Nations. The donations are paid for by the advertisers whose banner ads appear on the site.The Hunger Site
Simply click on a button once a day to donate food to the hungry. You can sign up for an email reminder. The site also promotes a number of great causes, including free trade and disaster relief.Worcester County Food Bank
Make donations online or find out about volunteering opportunities.America's Second Harvest
Go to this site to learn about food banks and volunteer opportunities in your area.
Please take some time to visit these sites to help those less fortunate than ourselves to have a happy Thanksgiving.
November 14, 2007
Design Dispatch: Get Professional Help
Would you fix your own car if it broke down? Unless you're an experienced mechanic, the answer is probably "NO!" We rely on professionals to provide excellent service that inspires confidence, especially in areas where we have little or no experience. Yet many business owners write their own copy for their marketing materials, even though they're not professional copywriters.
"Copy" is text that appears in such marketing materials as brochures, catalogs, advertisements, direct mail, and Web sites. Professional copywriters write copy that speaks directly to customers, so their style of writing is very different from something you'd find in, say, a magazine article. Good copywriting urges readers to perform a desired action, like buying a product or calling a company for more information. A copywriter gets straight to the point, identifying and addressing the need that the product or service is designed to fulfill.
Bad copy is bad news for marketing materials. I've gotten copy written by business owners that tells the story of the company's founding, lists the equipment they have, talks about Sparky, the office dog, blah, blah, blah. The only question on customers' minds is "What's in it for me?" If the copy doesn't answer this question, it won't be effective. If it reads like the Great American Novel customers will become bored. If it is all about your company, customers won't be able to relate it to their own experiences.
The purpose of marketing materials is to let people know about a company's products and services and to compel people to buy them. Well-crafted copy is every bit as important as good design in spreading the word!
October 31, 2007
Design Dispatch: The Scariest Design Mistakes!
BOO! It's Halloween and I thought I'd observe the holiday by sharing with you some creepy errors that three designers, including me, made in their work that struck terror into the hearts of their clients and themselves. What you are about to read is true, based on an article in HOW Magazine by Rick Tharp (except my story, which was painfully extracted from my own memory). But be warned. What you are about to read will send chills down your spine. Especially if you have ever been on the receiving end of a — duh-duh-DUUUUMMMMM!!! — scary design mistake!
Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka in Beverly Hills, CA, had a new client, a $7 billion healthcare organization looking for a new identity. AdamsMorioka presented hundreds of ideas to the client. After working with the marketing folks for six months, exploring every possible avenue, they narrowed the field to one logo to present to the CEO. This approach backfired on the designers. The CEO took the logo home and showed it to his industrial design-trained wife, who asked, "Honey, is that all there is? I can do more than that." The next day, the designers were fired. Next time, you can bet Adams and Morioka will wake up and bring the decision-maker into the process long before they narrow the client's design options down to only one.
Designer John Bielenberg's firm was contracted to create a marketing campaign to help introduce insurance policies to large equipment-leasing companies, sellers, and customers. After running a few workshop meetings with the client, the firm determined that a lot of people in this business end up getting screwed. Out of this research, Bielenberg and his copywriter dreamed up a gutsy, award-winning campaign that consisted of three brochures based on the theme "How to get screwed—or, What's wrong with leasing." The brochures read, "Your customer's lease applications were rejected, so you got screwed," and "You didn't read your lease, so you got screwed," and "You didn't understand your lease, so you got screwed." After implementing this campaign, the client did a little research on his own and found that leasing agents were not actually getting screwed at all and that Bielenberg's entire positioning strategy was wrong. In the end, it was Bielenberg who got screwed. The insurance company went out of business, leaving him holding 187,000 shares of worthless stock he took in exchange for his strategy and design fees.
Shortly after graduating from art school, a young Laura Foley was working as a typesetter for a small print shop. She designed a price list for a client that sold bird feeding supplies and, after a number of edits, the client approved the artwork and the job went to press. This was a fairly large order for the print shop—fifteen hundred double-sided pages printed on a special-order paper using a nonstandard ink, folded to letter size. When the client came in to pick up the finished job, his first question after looking at the sample taped to the outside of the carton was, "What's a 'brid feeder'?" Confused, the sales clerk asked, "Don't you mean 'bird feeder'?" "No," the client responded, "I know what a bird feeder is. But I don't know what a 'brid feeder' is," and he pointed to the price list where, in big, bold letters at the top of the page, the words "BRID FEEDERS" appeared. The price lists were corrected and reprinted at the print shop's expense, and Laura learned to spell check and carefully proofread every job she completed from then on.
Happy Halloween!
October 17, 2007
Design Dispatch: Online Photos and Intellectual Property Rights
I recently read a blog written by a man named Eirik Solheim who was shocked when he discovered a photograph of his son in a magazine advertisement. He had posted the photo online and it was charming enough to attract the attention of a graphic designer, who downloaded it without permission and used it in her ad layout.
He immediately contacted the editor of the magazine, who gave him the names of the advertiser and the designer who had created the ad. When Mr. Solheim spoke with the designer to find out why she had used the image, she said she had found it "on the Internet." She and the manager of the design agency where she works didn't indicate that they were aware of intellectual property rights or that they were breaking any laws. In fact, they were very rude and unapologetic to Mr. Solheim, prompting him to begin legal proceedings against the agency.
Just because an image is on a Web site doesn't mean that it's being made available for free download. Photographers earn a living by selling the rights to use their photographs. And the subjects of professionally shot photographs sign model release forms that grant permission for people to use the pictures commercially or artistically. Downloading photographs from the Web without asking or paying for them is stealing and, in some cases, could be construed as identity theft.
If you're tempted to download and publish a photograph without permission...don't. You could be opening yourself or your company up to a lawsuit. Intellectual property issues and copyright battles are big news lately (consider the recent $220K finding against Jammie Thomas of Minneapolis who distributed copyrighted music on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks), and rightly so. Besides, how would you feel if you came across a photograph of yourself in some advertisement? It's creepy...and wrong.
Click here to read Mr. Solheim's blog about the theft of his son's photograph.
October 3, 2007
Design Dispatch: Will This Marketing Never Cease?
When do you market your business? If you're like many people, the answer is probably something along the lines of, "When I need to drum up some business." The answer should be, "All the time."
The worst time to start marketing is when you need work. During these lean times, it's common to want to lower your prices or offer to work "on spec" (i.e., "for free") to give people a sample of the products or services you provide. Face it, if you're desperate you'll want to do anything to get some business! But those low prices and giveaways will come back to haunt you. Your new clients will be shocked when you start billing at your normal rate!
You should always have some kind of marketing campaign in place that doesn't take much of an effort and that runs without your constant supervision. It can be as simple as an emailed newsletter, such as this one, or the occasional handwritten note to an existing customer. These efforts should be made even when you're crazy-busy with work. That way, you'll be able to follow up when times are leaner.
Yes, it takes discipline to continue marketing your business when you're in the middle of a big job or trying to meet a major deadline. But just as a job seeker must never stop sending out resumes, you must never stop marketing. It will keep those down times to a minimum!
September 19, 2007
Design Dispatch: Business Card Basics
Business cards are one of the most important marketing tools you can use to get the word out about your business. They're small, portable, and can be loaded with information about the products or services your company provides. Here's how to get the most out of them:
- GET CUSTOM CARDS PRINTED: These days, there's just no excuse for not having a business card, since they can be designed and produced inexpensively by any number of online business card companies or copy shops.
- REPRINT OUTDATED BUSINESS CARDS: If you've switched phone numbers, moved, been promoted, gotten a new logo, or something else about your company or contact information has changed, order some new business cards. Nothing looks less professional than a business card with crossed-out information. And Wite-Out is not an option, either!
- ALWAYS CARRY A SUPPLY OF BUSINESS CARDS WITH YOU: Anytime, anyplace, you should be able to put your hands on at least one of your business cards. You never know when your next networking opportunity will arise. Put some in your wallet or purse right now!
- GET YOUR CLIENTS TO HELP: Word-of-mouth advertising is a very effective way of getting new business. Why not provide satisfied clients with a supply of your business cards to give to their friends and colleagues? Some will do it just for the asking, but offering a referral bonus will give them added incentive!
- GIVE 'EM AWAY: Business cards are like seeds: you have to plant a lot of them to get results! Don't hang on to your cards because they were "expensive to print" or you're saving them for the "right customer." You should be going through your box of business cards like it's going out of style!
September 5, 2007
Design Dispatch: What is an Enhanced PDF?
More and more companies these days are putting PDF files (sometimes referred to as "Acrobat files") on their Web sites for their customers to download. Just about any piece of marketing collateral can be made into a PDF: brochures, sales sheets, manuals, catalogs, etc. It's an inexpensive way to extend the reach of your marketing. But it's possible to make these powerful little files even more effective.
An enhanced PDF includes extras such as links to Web sites, navigation, and fillable form fields. Enhanced PDFs provide a better experience for your customers, enabling them to find information quickly and easily.
Consider a PDF version of a catalog. A regular PDF is similar to a printed catalog in that it's possible only to leaf through the pages. But an enhanced PDF can actually drive sales by linking to specific areas of your Web site or allowing one-click emails. And a PDF file with bookmarks and a dynamic index is very easy to navigate; a click on a page number or product name brings the viewer to the correct page in the document.
Enhanced PDF forms are convenient for customers. Rather than printing forms and filling them out by hand, customers enter information using text fields, check boxes, and radio buttons (where only one selection is possible from a series of choices). The form is then printed, yielding legible results that cut your processing time.
If you're not using enhanced PDFs, you're not taking full advantage of this incredible technology!
August 22, 2007
Design Dispatch: Photos Don't Lie, Do They?
Most photographs that appear in print undergo some sort of alteration. This process, called retouching, is done all the time, often to correct problems involving lighting, unwanted reflections, color balance, etc. But this common practice can yield shocking results if taken to the extreme.
The July issue of Redbook magazine featured country singer Faith Hill on the cover. Soon after its publication, the original photograph of the singer came to light. Among other things, the photo editor had erased Ms. Hill's crow's feet, thinned her arm, added more hair, and removed moles. The retouched photo seemed to be of a woman at least ten years younger. Many are crying foul, accusing Redbook of perpetuating the myth of the perfect woman, creating standards of beauty that nobody can realistically achieve.
Journalistic photo retouching scandals are nothing new. In February 1982, a retouched photograph of the pyramids of Egypt was featured on the cover of National Geographic. Two pyramids had been moved closer together to make the photo better fit the magazine's vertical format. And the Soviet Politburo made a habit of changing history by adding and deleting people from photographs as they gained or fell out of favor.
Just because you can "improve" a photograph doesn't necessarily mean that you should. If you use photography to sell your product or service, make sure that you aren't creating an idealized, false reality that could hurt your business should the truth be known!
August 1, 2007
Design Dispatch: Web Sites that Blather
When you look at an advertisement, chances are you look first at the image, then the headline, and lastly the text. If there's too much text you probably skip to the end to find the contact information or just stop reading, right? Well, the same goes for Web sites.
I've seen some commercial Web sites that treat their pages like the owners' personal blogs. They go on and on about the proud history of the company, the interesting things that happen in their community, detailed biographies of the employees, etc., etc., etc. The encyclopedic prose, while informative if one has a spare hour or two to read it, is generally passed over.
When people visit commercial Web sites they generally just skim the text. So if the text on your Web site is too dense, no one will read it. Worse, if the text pushes such essentials as navigation and contact information out of the main viewing area (the area that can be seen without scrolling), many people won't bother sticking around. They'll just surf until they find a more user-friendly site.
Take an objective look at your Web site. If you squint your eyes, are the important points you're trying to make still visible? Or are you relying on viewers to gain insight to your marketing message by thoroughly reading the copy from start to finish. Think short sentences and bullet points...people rarely want to curl up with a good Web site!
July 11, 2007
Design Dispatch: "Make it Look Nice"
Oh, how I dread hearing the phrase, "Just make it look nice." As direction goes it's pretty open to interpretation. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to rework "nice" designs. It's costly to design this way, both in wasted time and dollars spent.
I understand that you don't always know how you want something to look. After all, isn't that why you hire me in the first place? But there are three simple things you can do to help me to help you:
- TELL ME WHO YOU WANT TO REACH. That way I can tailor the design to suit your target audience, capturing their attention and driving the results you want. For example, if I were designing a brochure for a snowboarding company it wouldn't look anything like a brochure for a funeral home. I can make both of them look "nice," but in very different ways.
- SHOW ME WHAT YOU LIKE. Any time you run across an advertisement, brochure, direct mail piece, Web site, etc. you like, save it. Granted, not everything you like will suit all of your own project needs, but reviewing examples of good design can facilitate the design discussion.
- TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT. Do you want to publicize your great new product? Are you hoping to increase Web traffic? Are you asking customers to complete a survey? Do you want to clarify a complicated process? If I don't know what your goals are, I can't create effective designs.
All three areas should be addressed in the initial design meeting. By doing your homework before this meeting you'll save time and money in the long run. And you'll end up with designs that not only look "nice" but get the results you want!
June 27, 2007
Design Dispatch: What Color Is Your Logo?
In May I was working on some PowerPoint presentations for a client of mine. At the beginning of the project, we spent a lot of time designing the template that was to be used by all the divisions of the company. And one of the problems we encountered was how to make their logo stand out on this template.
As is common for PowerPoint documents, we decided upon a dark background to make it easier on the eyes when viewed as an overhead presentation. I chose tints of the blue used in their logo, to reinforce their brand. But there was a problem. The part of the logo that was the same color as the background vanished, leaving only the lighter parts of the logo visible.
I checked with the company's marketing manager to see if their designer had provided them with a light-colored logo to use against dark backgrounds. Unfortunately, he had not. So I had to come up with a way to make the logo stand out from the background. After exploring many different solutions we decided on a faint glow and drop shadow for the logo, which made it legible against the dark blue background.
It's important to your company's brand identity that there are versions of your logo that can be used in any situation (e.g., print, on-screen, embroidered). That way, your logo will have a consistent look no matter what the application. Otherwise you leave design decisions to people who might not understand the importance of having a logo look the same no matter how it's presented.
June 13, 2007
Design Dispatch: Design Standards Manuals
Logos and corporate identities help companies communicate their professionalism and standing in their fields. The correct usage of the corporate identity — logos, colors, design templates, etc. — is essential for reinforcing a company's brand. But often the importance of this is lost on anyone outside of the marketing department. So a roadmap called a design standards manual is provided so that everyone in the company can help to reinforce the brand.
A design standards manual tells people how to properly use the elements of a company's corporate identity system: logo, tagline, corporate typefaces, corporate colors, design templates, etc. Sometimes it provides background on the design process. Most importantly, it stresses the importance of following the rules to strengthen the brand.
These standards might seem arbitrary or overly detailed to people not directly involved in marketing. But part of building a brand is consistently using the corporate identity in order to avoid confusion in the minds of stakeholders. If logos, corporate colors, and design templates are altered at will, it makes a company seem fragmented or unprofessional. And companies don't spend good money on corporate identity systems to be perceived in that way!
May 23, 2007
Design Dispatch: The Logo, the Whole Logo, and Nothing But the Logo
A company's logo is the result of a lengthy design process. Every aspect of the logo — its form, its color, its size — was studied and arrived upon by numerous revision cycles, meetings, and focus groups. The logo is a company's identity.
People sometimes view a logo as something they can manipulate in any way they want. If they're designing a brochure and there's too much text, they might shrink the logo until it fits, even if that makes it illegible. Sometimes they'll divide a logo into parts and use them here and there. Or they'll change the colors of the logo. "Gee, the logo is gray and green? It would look much cooler if it were magenta and chartreuse!"
A logo represents a sizable investment for a company. Using a logo consistently across all marketing channels to reinforce their brand is how companies make good on this investment. Every time a logo is altered — broken up, resized disproportionately, colored differently, layered with other text or graphics, or used in a manner inconsistent with its design — the brand becomes diluted and the company looks unprofessional.
If you are in doubt about how to properly use your logo, ask your marketing department for a copy of your company's design standards manual (you'll learn more about design standards manuals in the next Design Dispatch). Make sure that every use of your company's logo strengthens your brand!
May 9, 2007
Design Dispatch: Watermarks
A recent episode of NBC's The Office had everybody scrambling when an obscene watermark was created by a disgruntled employee. I'm sure that plot line had everyone in the graphic arts industry doubled over — I know I was laughing my head off over it! But what is a watermark anyway?
A watermark is a translucent design on a sheet of paper that is visible when the paper is held up to the light. Watermarks commonly identify the mill where the paper was manufactured and other information such as the paper's cotton content, recycled content, and weight.
Watermarks are created in the paper manufacturing process, either during or just after the molding stage. During paper molding, the wet paper pulp is poured into a mold that contains a watermark form. Since the watermark form is slightly raised from the bottom of the mold, the layer of pulp over it is thinner. After the molding stage a watermark can be pressed onto a newly formed sheet of paper by a metal roller. Either way, thinner paper is less opaque than thicker paper, which makes the watermark stand out.
A watermarked sheet of paper is more expensive than a plain one, so it adds sophistication to any printed piece. It can cost several thousand dollars to order paper with a custom watermark since special molds or stamps have to be designed and you have to order a lot of paper to make it worthwhile for the paper mill. However, there's a much less expensive process whereby designs can be chemically etched into paper. I've seen this service offered online for as few as 1,000 sheets and a few hundred dollars.
A custom watermark, such as a company logo, is a subtle, elegant effect for corporate invitations or any marketing piece that you wanted to give a certain cachet.
April 25, 2007
Design Dispatch: Newsletters
A newsletter is a powerful marketing tool that enables your company to share knowledge with your stakeholders: customers, vendors, employees, etc. Newsletters are usually offered at no cost and contain helpful information on topics a company specializes in.
Naturally, companies don't publish newsletters out of a purely altruistic desire to increase the sum of human knowledge. Newsletters are important marketing tools that can raise your company's profile while offering something of value to the consumer. It's understood that the tacit message of most newsletters is, "Our company is providing you with free information. Please think of us the next time you need XYZ product or service." But of course it's never stated as blatantly as that!
Like any piece of direct mail, a newsletter should be written with the reader's interests in mind. I've seen some newsletters packed with articles about how great the company is, all the hard work its employees do, yadda yadda yadda. The principle of WIIFM? (What's in it for me?) applies to newsletters, so try to focus your articles on items of genuine interest to the reader while subtly reinforcing your company's marketing message.
If your company doesn't publish a newsletter, then you should look into developing one. It doesn't even have to be printed or have lots of pictures — take this newsletter for example! It keeps your company at the top of your stakeholders' minds, where you want it to be when it comes time for them to order your product or service!
April 11, 2007
Design Dispatch: Am I Blue?
A buddy of mine who's a print buyer reported hearing this protest from one of his clients. It was a reaction to a type of proof called a blueline.
A blueline is made by sandwiching the film that will be used to make offset printing plates between a sheet of glass and photosensitive paper and exposing it to light. It's called a blueline because all of the elements on the paper are blue. The paper becomes yellowish when exposed to light. Bluelines, therefore, are not used to check the colors on a print job.
However, bluelines are useful for catching last-minute edits to a job before it goes to press. It is costly to correct errors at the blueline stage, since the film for the job has already been run, but it’s a lot less expensive than catching errors on-press. It is kind of a fail-safe proof, a final check before a job goes to press.
Bluelines are usually only created for large-run offset printing jobs, not small jobs and never for digital printing (because no film is used in the digital printing process). It’s rare for clients to be asked to approve bluelines, as these are generally used to catch technical errors rather than editorial ones and they can be confusing to the uninitiated. But now if you're ever asked to proof a blueline, you won't be caught off-guard!
March 28, 2007
Design Dispatch: Death by PowerPoint
How much PowerPoint is too much? Well, a couple of weeks ago my husband attended a weeklong training session at work. During this time he listened to many speakers present a variety of topics, each relying on a PowerPoint presentation to support what he was saying. The worst session, he said, was the one with the 152-page PowerPoint presentation. No, that's not a typo; the presentation had one hundred and fifty-two pages.
Naturally, by the end of this presentation everyone in the room, with the exception of the speaker, was squirming. Can you imagine how boring it must have been going through slide after slide of information! I can just picture the dense paragraphs of text and intricate drawings representing complex concepts.
Ideally, PowerPoint presentations are meant to support what the speaker is saying by highlighting important information with brief bullet points and clear graphics. Presentations that go into minute detail have another name: they're called "books."
Ask someone outside of your organization to take an objective look at your PowerPoint presentations. If he begins to glaze over, chances are your audience will too. And consider this: I asked my husband what he remembered of the presentation. "Nothing," he replied.
Check out the PowerPoint version of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It's a brilliant send-up of how PowerPoint can destroy even the most moving of speeches.
March 14, 2007
Design Dispatch: Mockups
In this age of computer-aided graphic design, people have come to rely on electronic proofing methods such as proofing documents online and PDF files. This is good in some ways: proof cycles are shortened and proofs can be sent to clients without the designer having to move Heaven and Earth to get to the courier on time to send hard copies! But nothing can replace the good old mockup for visualizing how a finished piece will look.
A mockup (or "comp" as it's also called) is a facsimile of what a finished, printed document will look like. It is created by printing out the document at full size, then piecing it together to form a finished-looking booklet, business card, pocket folder, etc. While mockups are seldom printed on the actual stock chosen for the job, it gives clients and designers alike a chance to preview how the design will work in the real world.
Mockups are particularly valuable for revealing mistakes that are not often obvious on-screen. For instance, you might discover that a brochure doesn't fit into the intended envelope, or that the cool font you liked as a headline looks terrible when used for the body text of your brochure.
You should definitely consider requesting a mockup (or several, if needed) for large jobs. Time and again, mockups prove their worth by inexpensively bringing designs to life before you commit to the expensive print run!
February 21, 2007
Design Dispatch: Reading Between the Lines
I was recently asked by a client to get some posters for his trade show booth. When I told him that I had a vendor who could do large-format printing the client asked, "So I just give them my business card and they can make the poster?" It was then that I realized that many people don't know exactly how to express their graphic design needs.
Part of a graphic designer's job is translating what a client is asking for into visual communication that he can actually use. So I knew that my client wasn't in fact asking for an enlarged, blurry rendition of his business card (which is exactly what he would have gotten if he had approached the vendor himself with this request). What he needed was his logo, enlarged to poster size. He also wanted the poster to tell customers the name of his company, provide contact information, and show a photograph of some of his products.
A good graphic designer often will not take a client's requests at face value. Instead, she will ask questions to ascertain what the client is really asking for and to advise him as to whether or not he will benefit from it. As with any consultant, a graphic designer can use her years of experience to steer her clients toward good investments and away from bad ones.
Just as I don't bring my car into the shop and give the mechanic a detailed analysis of what the problem is and how I want them to fix it, I don't expect my clients to have the exact vocabulary to express their needs. It is only through thoughtful discussion and analysis that I can read between the lines of my clients' requests, making sure they get both what they are asking for and what they truly need.
February 7, 2007
Design Dispatch: One Man's Guerrilla Marketing is Another Man's Terrorist Plot
Aqua Teen Hunger Force. If you'd never heard of them before, you probably found out about them last Wednesday, January 31. That's when the city of Boston practically shut itself down as authorities scrambled to remove what they thought were "incendiary devices" but which turned out to be harmless light-up displays depicting a cartoon character from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force cartoon show.
These displays, installed concurrently in ten major US cities, were part of a guerrilla marketing campaign launched by a New York City advertising firm, Interference Inc., on behalf of Turner Broadcasting, the producer of the show. People in each of these cities were hired to install the displays all over town, generating buzz for the cartoon show and an upcoming movie. Unfortunately, one of the cities they chose for this campaign was Boston. You know, the city from which two 9/11 planes took off. You think Boston is paranoid? You'd better believe it, and with good reason. When the authorities responded to what they perceived as a bomb threat it snarled traffic for miles and struck fear into the hearts of many.
They say that "all ink is good ink." But is it? It's true that the campaign probably raised awareness of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It might have increased viewership of the show and ensured a larger turnout for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie (at least for the target demographic). But it cost Turner Broadcasting $2M USD to settle with the city of of Boston. They took out full-page advertisements in several Boston newspapers apologizing for the publicity stunt. The negative publicity resulting from the campaign is something from which Turner Broadcasting won't quickly recover.
There's nothing wrong with grass-roots — or guerrilla — marketing. It's inexpensive, usually witty, and easy to do. Just make sure that if you launch a guerrilla marketing campaign you think through all the possible results of your actions. What might seem clever and edgy to you might legitimately frighten others. And although campaigns like this can certainly generate a lot of publicity they can also cause ill will and create a consumer backlash against your company.
TOP
January 31, 2007
Design Dispatch: Bitmapped vs. Vector Logos
Your company logo file is probably present on one or all of your office computers. So if you need to order printed materials such as business cards, letterheads, or brochures you all you have to do is send that file to the printer and he'll take care of the rest, right? Well...yes, but it might cost you more than you think.
It's likely that you have your company logo in GIF, JPEG, or TIF format. Which is fine for when you use your logo in PowerPoint, Word, or internal office documents. But it's not the format that commercial printers use for offset printing.
The problem with GIF, JPEG, and TIF files is that these are bitmap formats. When GIFs, JPEGs, and TIFs are enlarged they become pixilated, that is they develop jagged edges. And the way bitmapped graphics handle color is problematic when it's time to get them printed.
Commercial printers need your logo in vector format such as EPS, AI (Adobe Illustrator), or WMF. This enables them to print your logo in your corporate colors at any size needed, whether it's for a business card or a billboard. If you supply them with a bitmapped file, then they will need to re-create it as a vector file. This, of course, is not a free service!
So yes, it's possible to print your logo from whatever file format you're able to supply. But some formats are less expensive than others!
January 24, 2007
Design Dispatch: Looking Down at Trade Shows
Creating a trade show booth is a lot like designing the interior of a store. Usually the rental of a trade show booth gets you floor space, curtain dividers, a banquet table, and a couple of metal folding chairs. It's up to you to pretty it up.
Everybody knows about getting large-format banners and posters to spruce up their booths. And I hope I don't need to tell you to use tablecloths and table skirts! But the devil's in the details, and it's easy to overlook an important aspect of your booth—the floor.
The recent World of Wheels expo was held at the Bayside Expo Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Know what the floor is like there? It's concrete. That's boring to look at and brutal to stand on all day long. Many exhibitors dressed up their booths with tile flooring. The booth with Lightning McQueen (from the movie Cars) was carpeted. That was good news for all the parents and kids who knelt next to this famous race car for a photo!
It's true that many exhibitors don't worry about what the floor of their trade show booths look like. But booths that have finished floors look more professional, inviting, and credible.
January 17, 2007
Design Dispatch: Copyrights and Wrongs
I recently read an online article that describes how non-designers can make their own logos. "Use anything from old coupons, receipts, tickets, and maps to pages from magazines and clip-art books as the foundation to finding the right fonts and images for your logo," it instructs. But one thing the article never mentions is copyright.
Copyright in the most basic sense is the ownership of artists' creative output such as stories, drawings, photographs, and works of art. These things don't need the copyright symbol (©) in order to have copyright protection; by virtue of their creation they are afforded a copyright. It is immoral (the artist doesn't get paid) and illegal (the artist could sue you for copyright infringement) to use someone else's artwork in your own logo.
If a logo created for personal use incorporates, say, an image of Mickey Mouse, the Walt Disney Company is probably not going to send you a "cease and desist" letter (although it would be within their rights to do so). On the other hand, if your Mickey Mouse logo is for your new widget company and you've used it on all your marketing materials, packaging, signage, and Web site, you'd better get a good lawyer.
As a rule of thumb, you can assume that anything that has been printed, broadcast, published, or put on the Web is copyrighted unless it is explicitly stated that this is not the case. If you're in doubt as to whether an image is copyright-free, then do a little research or find another image.
January 10, 2007
Design Dispatch: Apple Does It Again
Yesterday Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, announced a revolutionary new product at MacWorld in San Francisco: the iPhone. This device is more than just a combination of an iPod with a cell phone. The iPhone is small — about the size and shape of a bar of chocolate — yet packs many robust features. Using newly-developed touchscreen technology it will allow users to surf the Web using Apple's Safari browser rather than some crippled cell phone interface. It includes a two-megapixel camera. The screen adjusts itself when the device is rotated. A QWERTY keyboard and a number pad appear when needed. In short, Apple once again has provided the world with an invention it didn't know it wanted but which everyone will "need" once it hits the shelves. And they have no doubt started another new design trend.
In 1998 Apple did just that when it launched its new iMac. You remember them — they were translucent white and turquoise and entirely self-contained. They were so wildly popular that industrial designers of all stripes began ripping off (oh...excuse me..."were informed by") the colors and design. Among other products we started to see household appliances — toasters, irons, etc. — using this familiar translucent white/blue combination.
Designers of all types — industrial designers, fashion designers, graphic designers — follow trends to create products that will be successful in the marketplace. It will be interesting to see how this latest Apple invention will influence designers in years to come.
And oh, by the way, yes I DO use a Mac. No, I am NOT flogging their latest product. Just admiring its slick design!
January 3, 2007
Design Dispatch: Logos With Impact
Funny how much the Korean Air logo... |
...looks like the Pepsi logo! |
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Photo © 2006 Brian Lockett |
© PepsiCo Inc. |
Ah, from the mouths of babes...
This morning my four-year-old son, Henry, was looking at the latest issue of Air and Space magazine. He saw a photograph of a bunch of planes lined up at Heathrow, pointed to one, and said, "Look, here's the soda plane!" I looked at the photo and saw that the logo on the tailfin of a Korean Air jet looked very similar to the Pepsi logo.
If a four-year-old kid can correctly associate a logo with a company it speaks volumes for the success of that logo!
A logo's success can be traced to two things: a great design and exposure. Well designed logos are simple, elegant, and use distinctive colors. And a logo gains exposure, of course, from repeated applications across all kinds of media, such as print collateral, vehicle graphics, uniforms, and advertising.
Maybe your product or service isn't geared toward four-year-olds. But your logo should be so bold, so eye-catching, so simple that even a child can recognize it.
December 27, 2006
Design Dispatch: Letterpress Printing
Letterpress printing is the process of inking raised areas of a block or type and pressing it into a sheet of paper. Letterpress creates a very distinctive look that can elevate any printed piece into the realm of sophistication.
The process was invented in China sometime during the 4th–7th century AD. At first, large wooden blocks were carved to create printing plates. Later, in the 11th century, the Chinese developed movable type. This was no less than a printing revolution, since the type could be endlessly rearranged into new compositions. Interestingly, letterpress printing was re-invented in the 1400s in Europe by Johannes Gutenberg. It is thought that Gutenberg developed his invention independently and had no knowledge of Chinese printing.
In the early days of letterpress printing, individual pieces of metal type were cast and composed. Nowadays photopolymer plates can be created from computer files, making letterpress a medium of the 21st century.
The next time you are looking for an elegant way to convey your company's message — such as an invitation to a company-sponsored event, a keepsake from the event, or a limited-edition art print — consider letterpress printing.
December 20, 2006
Design Dispatch: Paper Can Make the Difference
It used to be that glossy white paper was very expensive to specify for print jobs. But the advent of digital printing and low-cost four-color printing has made it a lot more affordable and a lot more common. Now it seems like everybody has marketing materials — brochures, white papers, sales sheets, business cards, etc. — printed on glossy white paper or card stock. Ho-hum.
When was the last time someone gave you a business card printed on chipboard? How many brochures have you seen that were printed on a textured recycled paper? Did you receive any black custom-printed presentation folders this year? Chances are you haven't seen many marketing materials like these. Neither have your customers.
Specifying an unusual type of paper for your marketing materials might cost a little bit more and add a little extra time to the production schedule. But these minor drawbacks are offset by the unique look of your marketing materials. After all, standing out in a crowd is what successful marketing materials do!.
December 6, 2006
Design Dispatch: What's In It for Me?
We've all seen marketing collateral written something like this:
"Steve's Suits has been in business serving the area for over fifteen years. Our dedicated staff and state-of-the-art equipment ensure that we get the job done right! And we have earned the 'Best Work Environment' award from Kudos magazine for two years in a row!"
Yeah, that's great. Who cares? What's in it for me?
"What's in it for me?" is what your customers are asking when they read your marketing collateral. If you don't answer this question with concrete examples about how your company's product or service can help with a real need, then you're just writing a puff piece about how wonderful your company is. You need to put yourself in your customers' shoes so that you can write marketing copy that will translate into action.
Here's that example, rewritten with the customer in mind:
"You're a busy professional with no time to waste shopping for clothes. Why not let the experienced tailors at Steve's Suits custom-make the perfect suit for you? Call for your complimentary fitting today. We'll take all your measurements then help you choose from over 50 different types of fabrics as we work together to create a form-fitting, personalized suit. Our fifteen years in business and our state-of-the-art equipment ensure a quality suit — that's our guarantee."
Now the copy speaks to the customer ("You're," "you") and addresses a real need (to get quality suits without wasting time). It includes a "call to action," which is what you want the customer to do ("Call for your..."). It also touches on Steve's Suits' years in business and their state-of-the-art equipment. The award isn't mentioned because it doesn't translate into a benefit for the customer.
Writing to your customers, rather than at them, will help you get the return on your marketing dollars you're looking for.
November 20, 2006
Design Dispatch: Happy Thanksgiving! Or Maybe Happy Groundhog Day...
Here in the United States, Thanksgiving kicks off the so-called holiday season. Whether it’s because of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Eid, or some other observance, the months of November and December see a spike in mailed correspondence. Everybody wants to wish everybody else a happy/merry/festive/joyous/prosperous whatever.
Traditionally, it’s the time of year we all start to receive greeting cards and calendars from the companies we do business with. These usually end up on the walls of our homes and offices, adrift in a sea of other cards sent by legions of well wishers. At the end of the season they all end up in the same place: the trash (or the recycle bin!).
Why do companies always insist on sending cards during this “holiday season”? Wouldn’t your company stand out more if it sent out Halloween cards? Or how about cards for Groundhog Day (February 2), April Fool’s Day (April 1), Earth Day (April 22), or Administrative Assistants’ Day (the Wednesday of the last full week of April)?
Next year, try sending out greeting cards for a holiday that you don’t usually associate with greeting cards. If you can choose a holiday that somehow ties in with your product or service, all the better! Your card won’t get lost in the shuffle and, if you’re creative enough, could generate goodwill, leads, or sales!
That said, happy Thanksgiving everyone!
November 15, 2006
Design Dispatch: Direct Mail to a Captive Audience
Direct mail can be a very effective use of your advertising budget. When you send a targeted message to a specific list the response rate can be quite good. Chances are you probably already have an excellent customer database and the means to send them your pitch inexpensively. How, you ask? Statement inserts!
Think about it. You’re already sending statements in the mail to your customers. Why not enclose an offer in the same envelope? As long as everything weighs in at under an ounce, you won’t need additional postage.
There are some things to keep in mind with statement inserts. First, limit your pitch to a reasonably priced product or service. Since the customer is getting a bill, he won’t be receptive to shelling out big bucks for something else. Also if you have more than one item of interest, group them on a single insert, either a folded page or a flat sheet. And make sure that if you include a form leave enough room for the customer to write. Nobody likes trying to squish lots of information into a tiny space!
Statement inserts are not a substitute for a well-executed direct mail campaign. But they’re a great, inexpensive way to supplement your marketing efforts!
November 8, 2006
Design Dispatch: Logo Re-Redesign
Redesigning a corporate logo is a major undertaking, especially for large, well-established companies. After the new logo has been created it must be reviewed internally and externally to ensure that there will be no infringement on existing logos. Once the new logo has been decided upon it has to be applied to every piece of marketing collateral a company has — business cards, stationery, Web sites, PowerPoint presentations, uniforms, vehicles, promotional giveaways…you get the idea! Mistakes can be costly, both in the actual dollars spent executing the change and in negative public relations. Last year, Quark, Inc. learned this the hard way.
This manufacturer of graphic design software unveiled its new logo in September 2005 with much fanfare. But it didn’t take long for the design community to notice the new logo’s striking similarity to that of the Scottish Arts Council. And there were other very similar logos for different companies that came to light soon after. Soon the jeering got to be too much for Quark so they had to start all over again and come up with something new. The redesigned logo was released in March 2006.
Nobody’s saying how much this gaffe cost Quark in actual dollars, and it’s impossible to know how much it cost in goodwill. So if your company is considering a logo redesign, make sure you allocate the time and resources to thoroughly research the new logo before committing to it. It’s a hassle, to be sure, but it’s much more painful to correct a bad logo after it’s been made public.
November 1, 2006
Design Dispatch: Color My World
I recently made a batch of scary bug crackers for my son’s school Halloween party. I dyed the cream cheese bright green and the creepy snacks were a big hit. But when I made a turkey sandwich using some of the leftover green cheese, I could hardly look at it because I was afraid I’d lose my appetite!
Color evokes powerful emotions in us all. And the color choices you make for your visual communications may be appropriate for one venue but not for another, as illustrated by my example.
For instance, if your company makes a high-tech product, its colors and packaging are probably not brown, gold, and dark green. These colors bring to mind the fall season and harvest time. And to people who grew up in the 70s it reminds them of appliances painted in hideous shades of “chocolate,” “harvest gold,” and “avocado.” These colors certainly do not connote speed, modernity, and cutting edge. A better palette would include ultramarine blue, silver, and black — the colors of technology and precision.
When deciding on color schemes for your products, packaging, and marketing materials consider the impact you want these to have on your audience. Just because a color is trendy or stands out doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for your particular use. Make sure that your palette is suitable for your project.
Click on these links to learn more about the psychology of color:
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html
http://www.pantone.com/products/products.asp?idArticle=112&idArea=16
(Including these links is not an endorsement of QSX Software Group or Pantone, Inc., respectively.)
October 25, 2006
Design Dispatch: The Power of Branding
“You see that M? You see that M that’s yellow? That’s Old McDonald’s!”
He may have a different name for it, but my four-year-old son recognized a McDonald’s restaurant from its “golden arches” logo. He also knows what the Dunkin’ Donuts and Hood logos look like. The fact that a pre-literate child can correctly identify corporate logos speaks volumes for the power of branding.
A company’s logo often acts as an ambassador, the first “handshake” that a prospective customer or other stakeholder receives. Successful logos are clean, strong, and immediately associated with their companies. They use bold colors and abstracted shapes to communicate a company’s message.
Does your logo convey, simply and powerfully, the essence of your company? Does it stand out against your competitors’ logos? Or is it mired in a tangle of words or a literal depiction of the goods or services you provide? Try to see your logo as a child might, without reading any of the words it may contain, to assess whether or not your logo is working. Remember, in the language of logos, less is more. Just ask “Old McDonald.”
October 11, 2006
Design Dispatch: Cropping Photos Effectively
I don’t know what’s so sacred about photography, but if you ask the average person to cut up their pictures they go all weird on you. Graphic designers cut up photos all the time and never think twice about it. Cutting pictures, or “cropping” as it’s called, is a way to focus the viewer on the subject of the picture or to direct attention away from distracting details. It’s also a way of eliminating elements of a picture you’d rather not show.
Most software cropping tools cut photographs into square or rectangular shapes. Some software, such as Photoshop, allows you to rotate the crop area, which gives you extra flexibility to eliminate unwanted areas. If you really would prefer an oval, round, or other random shape for your photograph consider an old-school solution: cut an actual photograph with scissors, a craft knife, or scrapbooking tools and scan the resulting shape.
Even if you don’t have Photoshop you can still find a cropping tool in many other software packages, such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
Cropping can make an otherwise dull photograph into a sizzler. So don’t be afraid to cut out the parts you don’t want!
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Before Cropping: We want to focus on Chris, in the white shirt, but our eyes are drawn to the man wearing blaze orange. Whose head is that in the foreground, anyway?
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After Cropping: Here’s what we want this picture to convey...victory! |
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Before Cropping: Sure, the kitchen is nice, but if I wanted to see that then I’d have asked Michele to get out of the way.
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After Cropping: Look at that smile! |
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Before Cropping: Here’s a happy couple. But what if you only wanted a photograph of the woman? And that half-a-kid is waaaay too distracting. |
After Cropping: Here she is! I rotated the crop area so that she doesn’t appear to be looking up. |
October 4, 2006
Design Dispatch: How to Throw Your Marketing Budget Away
Big companies spend millions of marketing dollars on television ads, print collateral, newspaper circulars, and Web sites. Companies like these have large marketing departments whose mission is to get the word out about their products or services while strengthening the companies’ brand identity. So how does a giant like Staples throw their marketing budget away?
| When you think about Staples you probably envision their signature red and white logo, red shirts, and distinctive in-store signage. Maybe you recall their “That Was Easy” advertising campaign and marvel, as I did, that they sell big red buttons that say “That was easy!” when you press them (imagine having customers actually pay to receive your marketing message!). Business cards that have been designed by a student at the local vocational school probably don’t spring to mind, but that’s exactly what the copy center at my local Staples is distributing. |
A student-designed card for a |
| It gets worse. They have a second version of their card that was designed by a senior staff member that looks totally different. What’s more, both cards are printed crookedly and cut to different sizes. When I asked her why there were two cards and why neither incorporated the Staples logo, she stated that the copy center’s colors are blue and black so that’s what she used in her design. It never occurred to her to follow any company guidelines. |
The Copy Center manager’s design |
The message here is clear. If you don’t educate all of your staff members about what a company identity is and why it’s important to keep it consistent, then they’ll go off in any number of different directions when designing things like PowerPoint presentations, brochures, and business cards. In a way, your entire staff is your marketing department, so make sure to involve them in presenting a consistent marketing messa