Graphic Designers from our Community

Health Insurance For The Self-Employed Freelancer - Many freelancers fail to secure health insurance for themselves because they think that it is too difficult to obtain, too expensive to afford or too bothersome to deal with at the current time.

The Debate Between QuarkXpress vs. Adobe InDesign - Since Quark become victorious, they slowed production of their software, and slowed updates. Years later, Adobe came to release InDesign, which is to be the “Quark Killer”.

Creative Marketing Ideas for Graphic Designers - Marketing-savvy designers who complement their design service with copywriting can expect more lucrative projects and plenty of on-going work.

Tips for Organizing Your Graphic Design Project Files and Folders - When you are in a designing environment, it is always important for you to be organized. Here are some tips for how to better organize your files and folders.

2 Arguments on Macs vs Pcs for Graphic Design - Which is better for graphic design: Macs or PCs? Is there really an answer to this question?

Preparing Artwork and Documents for the Printers - Love it or hate it, you just can’t escape printed materials, especially if you are a graphic designer.

The Importance of a Graphic Designer - Illustrators and graphic designers are practical artists who put their talents at the service of commercial clients.

Humongous List of Freeware Fonts Sites - In this blog entry, we have collected a huge list of free fonts sites and free font foundaries to go with the recent fonts usage article.

10 Steps to Attract New Clients for Your Graphic Design Business - Do you need more clients for your graphic design business? This article will give you a few pointers.

Different Types of Fonts and How to Use Them - Learn about the different types of fonts as well as how to install them and use fonts properly.

How to Become a Graphic Designer - You may be one of the many individuals who look at a logo, an advertisement, or perhaps a website and wonder how it may have been created. Behind all of those magazine ads and brochures lies a graphic designer.

Tips on Managing Your Online Graphic Design Portfolio - Something every graphic designer needs is their own portfolio to showcase their talent, and work they have done in the past. This is a vital item in the success of you as a designer.

A Dead End? Trust The Creative Process - A creative dead end can produce wonders.

Clarify Your Message With Clean Design Element - Use the following tips to make your messag clear and easy for your readers to grasp.

How to Rescue Your Graphic Design Project When All Else Fails - 10 tips to surefire do-it-yourself graphic design, for business executives who want professional-looking results without the hassles.

Print Publishing vs Electronic Publishing - Actually, "versus" isn't the best word. The two mediums are different, but they're not mutually exclusive. Meaning, you can publish the same book in both mediums. In fact, that's my goal.

Thoughts on Creating a Positive Brand Image - For any business to become truly successful, it needs to create positive brand recognition for its product.

Training Your Creative Self: Five Tips for Ultra-Creativity - If you knew you could be as creative as you wished, whenever you wished, what could you achieve?

Business Card Design - How to Stand out and Get Noticed - One of the most powerful, yet over looked weapons in your marketing arsenal is your business card. If designed properly this little 3 x 2.5 piece of paper will not only let people know how to contact you it will also tell them why they should contact you. In order to be effective and get you more Business your business card must stand out, and get noticed.

CD ROM Business Cards - CD Business Cards Created properly, an extremely effective marketing tool - It's a great concept, - and it has a 'cool factor' of 300%. Many people will pop these into their drive just because of image appeal alone. What's really neat is when one is so well done, so informative, so interactive, that everybody wants one. This type of viral marketing can be very effective and create residual traffic to your business. The point I would like to make here is, don't undertake these projects without specific goals in mind. Yes, they are cool, yes, they (themselves) are not that expensive, but without a well done message, or purpose, they lose the 'cool' effect very quickly. The point is to keep interest, no matter what your selling, or announcing, or rolling-out.

How to Make Your Business Card Call for Action - Most business cards whisper. If they speak to your prospect at all, they do so quietly. Many don't say much at all. And because of that, a potential customer never learns about your award-winning service department, or your extended hours, or your playroom area for the kids. Instead, your card is tossed into the wastebasket and your competitor's card is carefully tucked into a Rolodex. True, business cards do more than convey the information that's printed on the card. A card that's ugly, dirty, printed on perforated paper or full of corrections screams loud and clear that you're an amateur. No matter how many wonderful services you offer, your card brands you as unprofessional and you lose business. A clean, creative, professionally printed and visually attractive card, on the other hand, conveys a positive first impression that lingers long after your initial meeting.

What Business Card are you in Need of? - Have you been in a situation where you are sure that you are in dire need of a business card but then you are perplexed and unable to decide what kind must be chosen? Well, if you’re in that situation, you are on the same boat as thousands of individuals all over the globe. It is a given fact that black and white has an aura of elegance and formality. Nevertheless, in the eyes of the majority it can be perceived as dull and boring. Adding colors to it can make it stand out from the rest. The business card’s appearance is very significant since at the onset it should grab the attention of the holder, otherwise it will not be read and the personality of the business or company will not be extended. Full color business cards create an ambiance of ingenuity and creativity. It can emphasize, beautify, modernify and boost the design of the business cards. You can even incorporate it into the background to effect an outstanding work-of-art.

Ten Strategies to Make your Business card Powerful and Memorable - Marketing is all about making connections and building relationships. Using all of the real estate on your business card is a powerful and cost effective way to do that. If you are designing a traditional business card make sure to use both sides of the card. Most printing companies only charge a few dollars more to print on the second side in black ink. Using both sides will allow you to have plenty of “white space” and give plenty of information so you can start making connections. Some valuable things to include on the back of the card: The name of your book Testimonials from satisfied customers Information about your free ezine A famous quote that reflects your mission and vision…

Small Cards, Big Ideas: Alternative Uses For Business Cards - Aggressive business card marketing isn't about handing your business cards out to everyone you see. The card itself must have a new use, an innovative design, or something other than the usual contact information printed on it. To make your little card stand out, try these other ideas. Print something other than a business card on biz card-sized cardstock. You have seen loyalty cards for "buy 10 get one free" offers; why not print one of your own? Print a frequent buyer card or other promotional offer on a card. The whole card can be a coupon for a free consultation, a discount, or a free gift with purchase. Remember include an expiration date on them! Then hand them out to all your customers.

The Value of 4 Color Business Cards Printing - Business cards are the front line image of your business. To get a good first impression when approaching a new client is the most important aspect in every business. If your business card does not clearly convey how important your company or job within a company is after the first contact, then how can you make a lasting impression? There is clearly no easier way to make a good first impression than having a high quality business card presented to them. And since most of us will judge a business by their image, it is necessary that your business card shows professionalism and high quality.

How to Beat Your Competition Outside the Phonebook With Magnetic Business Cards - What is it about magnets that draw people to leave dozens of them on fridges and file cabinets for years at a time? Many people like to have the contact information handy for common service providers without flipping through a bulky phone book. Magnets are the perfect solution for being seen in this situation. It's a win-win relationship for you AND the customer.

10 Tips for Packaging That Sells Products to Boomers - Boomers are a prime and growing target audience. Does your product speak to them? Does your product's packaging compel them to buy it? If not, you are missing a very important market segment. According to Rick Adler, founder of The Senior Network: "Simply based on population growth trends, if a product is marketed to the 50-plus audience and maintains its market share, it should increase in sales by 35 to 50 percent in the next 20 years. Conversely, a brand targeted at the zero to 50 age groups will be flat in sales."

9 Keys to an Effective Logo - The right logo, with the right characteristics, will boost your visibility, credibility and memorablity – which means more business for you! These characteristics include: Consistency in use of your logo, tagline, materials. Repetition of similar elements, used in the same or similar ways, helps people to remember who you are and what you do. Memorability, so that your logo stays at the forefront of your potential clients' minds. That way, they'll think of you next time they have a need. Meaningfulness, so that your logo can spread the message about the distinguishing characteristics of your business.

Corporate Logo Design – 6 Keys to Success - A corporate logo design should be highly instrumental in building your corporate identity and should successfully exude the company’s attitude. The viewers must have some idea about the disposition, character, or fundamental values of your company through your logo. Following certain basic principles can ensure that your corporate logo design is professional easy to remember and creates a great impact on its viewers while successfully expressing the nature of your business. Go for Professional Logo Designers You might save a few dollars doing your own logo or getting it done from the next door boy who knows the basics of designing but if you are serious about your business you should always go for a professional logo design firm. Your corporate logo is your identity, your customers recognize you by your logo, so the more professional and sophisticated your logo is the better will be your customer’s impression about your company.

Coloring Your Logo – Pick Out the Best! - One of the important elements in making your web presence entails not only having a well-designed website. Your logo should be installed in your website before your start launching and broadcasting about your web site’s existence in the wide, wide world of the Web. As you seek to design your logo, the preeminent question would be – are the colors you picked for it, the right one? And of course, the right color of your logo will be able to set the mood and tone of the site. Mind you, some users and browsers are also very particular about logos. They are finicky at best and may just easily leave your web site after just a glance at your logo. Yes, it could make or unmake your web site’s ultimate success.

How do you Define a Good Logo Design? - Everyone wants his company logo to be the best but how good is good? How do we define a good logo? Is it necessary to be colorful or an exquisite piece of art? Can a simple design work as a good logo? We are often in a dilemma. Now to define a good logo design we first need to understand the purpose of having a logo. A corporate logo is one of the most essential branding elements for your company. It should be instrumental in building your corporate identity and should successfully exude the company’s attitude. The viewers must have some idea about the disposition, character, or fundamental values of your company through your logo. The functionality of a logo does not end here, I have not yet mentioned the most important function of a corporate logo. Your logo should be able to build a positive, strong and long lasting impression on existing and prospective customers. The very moment a person views your logo, even a part of it, he should think of your company.

Is Your Logo Helping or Hurting Your Business? - The quality of your logo can mean the difference between success or failure. It can be that simple! Trademarks and Logos make up the most international language in the world. An excellent logo can cross many barriers and provide your organization with a means of delivering to your customers an unequivocal and uniform message. Every successful company has its own "personality," and just as human personalities are complex, so too is your company's personality. A successful logo is a means of condensing a complex reality into a single, simple statement, one that can be controlled, modified, developed and matured over time.

The "Right" Logo - Logotype, commonly know as a logo, is a design, a graphic representation/image/trademark symbolizing one’s organization. Designed for instant identification, a logo can appear on company letterhead, advertising material and signs as an emblem by way of which the organization can easily be recognized. Originating in the 19th century, after a surge in industrial manufacturing that led to an increase in output, global distribution, and the commencement of competition, logos were created to differentiate between products within the same industry. Emblems or symbols were included on products, packages and labels so buyers could easily recognize the product they preferred. Logos revolutionized the advertising world. There was a time when only affluent organizations could afford their own crest, emblem or logo. They were, in some cases, a very detailed drawing with many objects. Cost was not an issue and more was considered better. Then, flags were used due to their larger format. They were visible from the craft fields and from long distances. Today, successful companies continue to say that "simpler is better". Especially when the world is advancing so rapidly, you have less and less time to impress your customers. Logo designs, now, are very stylish yet remain conservative, which makes them eye-catching and easier for the brain to memorize.

The Easy Way to Make a Club Logo - Are you a member of a club or association? Have you ever thought how much better your letterheads would look with your own club logo? How about a sign for your club with your logo and club name on it? Well, it is really very easy to make up your own logo. It will be unique to your club too. By using your computer and some copyright free clipart you will have a huge range of material to choose from. Here’s how to begin this exciting project.You are going to select suitable objects from the clipart package and use these to design your logo.

Logo Design Mania - Most companies crave to use their logo for more than jus a single application. Graphic designs that possess gradients, transparences and special effect filters tend to cost more to reproduce and often need to have an additional simplified version created.

Corporate Branding and Professional Logo Design - Any business with the minimum interest to be successful should concentrate on developing their corporate image and when I say “any business”, I mean it, absolutely any business—even if it’s a mom-n-pop shop. “Corporate image” might be a big word for such small ventures, however, what I meant by that is how the business wants themselves to be perceived by their customers. Irrespective of the size of the business it is very important to determine how do you come across to your potential customers? How do you compare to your competitors? These factors are largely determined by your branding and marketing strategies. Branding tools like logo designs, business cards etc goes a long way in creating your corporate image. Any marketing communication material should ideally have your corporate logo on it, which would give more credibility for your business as well as help your client to perceive your business as a professional enterprise.

6 Things I Know About Postcards That You Don’t - In my plethora of experience tucked away between these ears, I have managed to cull out for you what I consider the “best of the best” – in other words, I took the most proven details about postcards that were significant to you starting a postcard campaign and really winning at it. So here goes the most incisive higlights about postcards.

7 Tips for Successful Postcard Marketing - Simple low-cost postcards have become a valuable business tool for modern marketers. They can produce a surge of traffic to your web site or a flood of high-quality sales leads.The following 7 tips will help you get the maximum response from postcards at the lowest cost.

How to Print Your Marketing Postcards For A Penny and Address Them For Free - This article will show you how to cut your printing costs to a penny and have your postcards addressed for free without doing it all yourself, reducing the time you invest in your mailing to almost nothing. So, you have a list of hot prospects in hand; you need a way to get your marketing message in front of them with the hope that a reasonable percentage will call you. You decide that you want to send a postcard to each prospect. You open the yellow pages and randomly select a printer. After explaining what you want, she gives you a quote of eleven cents per postcard. That seems like more than you wanted to spend, so you call a few more printers. Several phone calls later, you finally get a quote that meets your budget--six cents each.

Multipurpose Postcards - When I was still a kid, my grandma always received postcards from our relatives from other countries. I was always fascinated by the photos that these postcards contain. They are printed in glossy paper and you can actually write your message to its recipients at its back. Postcards have been widely used as a means of communication. They are commonly sent during special occasions such as Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, graduation, birthday and many more. I know, even for once in your life, you also have received a postcard that made you smile and appreciate how beautiful the world really is. Why did I say this? Well, it’s because it’s always good to know that our distant loved ones still think of us and they can actually express that to us through the use of postcards. With a postcard, we also get to appreciate the world more because it features places which might be impossible for us to visit yet it’s being made possible by it.

3 Ways to Gain and Keep Customers Using Postcards - In today’s competitive (sometimes cutthroat) marketplace, savvy business owners need to constantly look for ways to get and, more importantly, keep their customers. When used properly postcards offer a great opportunity to do both.

Postcards: Simply Amazing! - When you are going to hold an important event, whether for business or personal reasons, using postcards is an effective means to promote such occasion. Aside from this, postcards can also be used as reminder messages from your physician because they are more economical compared to writing an entire letter. This means of communication still has lots of other purposes to serve and that is why many people have ventured into the postcard printing business as a primary source of income. At present, postcards have become an innovative way to convey your message to your friends, relative, clients, business partners, and many more. Postcard printing has also become a big hit especially online. One reason why online postcard printing has been widely acceptable is due to the fact that it has lots of advantages. As what I mentioned earlier, a postcard can be really personal when it’s used as thank you notes during weddings, charity events, and other occasions.

Direct Mail Postcard Rules - It’s a fact that your customers are your best leads. This means that the most likely people to purchase your products and/or services are the ones who have paid for them before. It’s also a fact that it costs far less money to keep a customer than it does to go out and get a new one. These are the two reasons that using direct mail postcards to keep in touch with your customer database is a must. There are a few rules to follow when marketing to contacts in your company database.

Digital Variable Data Printing - Digital variable data printing has opened up some of the most creative opportunities in used in the industry of digital printing. It has provided an additional means of printing things. However, enough knowledge is required is you want to have quality outputs. So this article will tackle some tips on how to go about digital variable data printing. In digital variable data printing images are likely to come out differently when printed. The reason for this is that sometimes the resolution of the supplied images may be too low resulting in a not so great image. Nonetheless, there are cases wherein the resolution of the images supplied is too high. In this case the resulting image will tend to have more data on it. Most digital printers are at 600 dpi nevertheless your digital variable data printing provider can give you specific specs for images that you want printed.

The Ultimate Printing Solution - At present, most businesses and companies in the market find various means to achieve effective marketing and generate tremendous sales and profits. One way is through the use of different promotional materials such as flyers, posters, catalogs, brochures, postcards, business cards, and many more. In considering these marketing tools, you are also tasked to find the perfect printing solution that can help you achieve your marketing goal. With the present demand on the different sorts of advertising materials, printing companies have also mushroomed from almost all parts of the globe. Say in your area, you can always expect at least one printer to provide you professional printing services whenever you need them. They truly help businesses to choose the best printing solution and to print in large amount of printing jobs. After all, printing has certainly lots of purposes to serve.

What Makes Full Color Format Poster Printing Services Unique? - Large format poster printing is a sure and efficient way to generate full-color, high quality and oversize graphics. Generally, the graphics involve in this type of printing are larger than 11" x 17". Prints are enhanced with lamination or mounting for more arresting appearance. Generally, large format poster printing is done with the use of large format inkjet color printers. These printers are usually 60” wide with ultra-violet pigmented or dye based inks and 1200 dots per inch for good quality indoor/outdoor printing. Large format poster printing uses rolls of paper, poster wood, strength bond, photo gloss, photo satin, wet adhesive back vinyl and vinyl banner as primary printing material. Aside from these materials, printing companies are also using backlit film, fabrics and fine art canvas.

Online Printing Madness - Through the years and with the Internet as a continuous cornucopia of information, online printing has become a biggest part of all businesses and companies for their marketing and advertising needs. With the existence of the latest printing technologies, printing of flyers, posters, catalogs, postcards, business cards, and many more that reflect the reputation of your business or company has become easier and more convenient. Also, various printing services have been offering excellent quality printing options at affordable rates.

The 12 Most Common Newsletter Design Mistakes - Your newsletter’s success depends on its design. An attractive, easy to read newsletter encourages readers to pay attention to your message. However, cluttered, hard to read newsletters discourage readership – no matter how good the ideas contained inside. Before they begin to read your newsletter, your clients and prospects will be judging the value of your ideas by your newsletter’s design. Effective design pre-sells your competence and makes it easy for readers to understand your message. Design also helps set your newsletters apart from the competition.

How to design a newsletter - Newsletters are a great way of keeping your customers and prospects informed of new products and events surrounding your business. As with every other piece of marketing literature, once you've designed a standard format template , future newsletters can be designed and produced very quickly. You don't need a high spec PC running the latest Desk Top Publishing software - MS Word will allow you to design a quite acceptable document, although your design options will widen if you use one of the higher end packages such as CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator .

10 Surefire Ways to Add Sizzle to Your Brochure - Businesses rely on brochures as their front line in communicating their products or services. Yet according to Shannon Cherry, APR, many find them not as successful because they underestimate the skills and resources necessary to publish attractive and effective materials. “Most people forget a brochure is important because it represents you to the world and reflects your image,” says Cherry, president of Cherry Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that helps businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations be heard. “But the best brochures do more than impress,” she says. “Effective copy and design can intrigue, inform, convince and capture customer business just as an effective salesperson does. Brochure effectiveness is linked to an audience-appropriate marketing strategy that drives the design process.” Cherry shares the following top ten list of hints can help your brochure put its best foot forward

The Brochure Making Process - For businesses, having an effective marketing campaign is really a difficult thing to have. In fact, there are lots of promotional materials in the market today namely: flyers, posters, brochures, catalogs, postcards, business cards, etc. The production of these materials is such a challenging task for the business people but it is now being made easy for us by the existence of various printing companies that actually take charge of the conceptualization, design and printing of these materials. Brochures are powerful. They can persuade consumers to purchase what they need from a certain store. But they only become powerful when they are created uniquely and accurately to represent your business in the market. The making of these marketing tools is a collective process among competent writers, designers and printers. They are the people behind the creation of an effective brochure. You are also part of them because you are actually the one that provides them the specifications of the brochure.

The Power of Brochure Design - Basically, brochures serve lots of purposes. It can be used for marketing, during a special occasion, or in general business. Because of this, it is important to focus on the quality of the brochures that you’ll produce. It has to be professional-looking for clients to be interested in spending time to go over its content. It has to achieve its purpose of motivating people to do business with you. And, having a great brochure design can really make it worth remembering. Brochures are intended to let other people know about you and your company even before they get the chance to meet you and talk to you. They actually serve as a handy marketing representative in your behalf. The produce great impact for your products and services thus bringing in more and more customers as time goes by. They can really be considered as the most powerful marketing tools in the market.

Double the Effectiveness of Your Company Brochure - Let's face it - most brochures go straight into the bin. But if you know the big mistake to avoid, as well as the secret to make people keep your brochure - and read it, over and over again - you're laughing. The big mistake I'm talking about is that brochures too often focus on the company itself. They describe, in great detail, the company's commitment to excellence, how pro-active the company is, how many awards the company's products or services have won and how innovative they are. Prospective clients, of course, couldn't care less.

All I Really Need Is a Brochure - How many times have you thought that all your business needs is a nice brochure? Nothing fancy, just something to pass out at trade shows. It would surely solve a lot of your sales problems. You may even think it shouldn't cost much. It would look great printed on the new office color printer, right? Unfortunately, nothing in life or business is quite that easy. Many small businesses rely on brochures as their first form of sales communication but find them unsuccessful because they underestimate the skills and resources necessary to publish effective and attractive materials. The appearance and content of brochures and other sales material are so important because they represent your company to customers, suppliers, investors and employees. This is the first impression and, basically, your sales materials are your company in many people's minds.

The Marketability of Brochures - Brochures are generally used to give clients or customer some necessary information regarding the products, services or events of a business or company. They can describe the benefits in buying something from a company and can also present pictures for better understanding. Similar to the other advertising materials, they are also designed to generate more sales and profits for a business, and create interest among consumers. Basically, there are lots of options when it comes to brochure printing. The type of product or service you are advertising must be presented in the most attractive and interesting manner possible to draw the attention of your readers. Therefore, you have to consider your target audience in the production of your brochures. You might need to incorporate more colors and a compelling design in the brochures if you want to capture the interest of your target clients.

6 Tips How to Make Your Brochures and Promotional Materials - It takes a reader just a few seconds to decide whether the brochures and flyers they are reading are getting their attention. When planning your promotional materials, flyers, brochures and websites, here are just a few ways to stimulate the reader’s interest in what services or products you have the following items.

6 ‘Must-Have’ Elements of an Effective Brochure - Most brochures that businesses put out today end up doing little to impact the sales of that business. By applying the 6 must-have elements listed below you will transform you brochure from trash can lining into a powerful sales tool.

Does Your Brochure Pass the Test – or Is It Headed for the Trash? Part Two - In part one of this article we discussed the importance of the look or appearance of your brochure. The look or image that your brochure conveys is vastly important. In fact, the appearance will determine how most people form their initial impression of your company. But, the message on your brochure is just as important. Ultimately you need to say something of value in your brochure if you want it to move people closer to the sale. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to ensure that your brochure has the right message.

Does Your Brochure Pass the Test – or Is It Headed for the Trash? Part One - The decision on whether or not someone will read your brochure is usually decided in the first 5 seconds they look at it. What kind of message are you communicating in that five seconds? Will you make a favorable impression with your prospect? Will you move your prospect closer to the sale? There are really only two key elements that will determine how well your brochure is received by prospects. These two elements will ultimately make the difference in your brochure being a tool that makes you money, or just something else that costs you money.

Perfect Company Brochure for Your Growing Business - It is necessary for a business to have its unique way of attracting customers and retaining old ones to gain stability and raise profit. Brochures are one of those campaign and marketing printed stuffs that will help you along the course of your expanding business. The company’s brochure and other printed marketing stuffs play a decisive role in inviting new customers, maintaining the current ones and earning more and more profit for the business. The printed materials will be there for you incase you are out of reach so, it is a must that it looks presentable with qualities that would definitely speak of you.

Promotional Brochures on the Rise - With lots of promotional and marketing tools that continue to come out one after the other, brochures are still one of the best means to advertise a company’s products or services. By definition, brochures are single-sheet informational materials that are printed on one side or both sides with no fold, folded in half, thirds or a custom fold. We can take note that in this competitive corporate world, a brochure can definitely help a company to stand out from among its competitors. In the Internet, you’ll find lots of different colors and designs for your desired brochures. There are also lots of brochure printing services at affordable rates. When you decide to use brochures for your company, you will certainly experience lots of benefits. All of us know that brochures can build your company’s image or identity, promote an important event or occasion, advertise a new product or service, and update product specifications. Aside from these advantages, there are still hundreds of other purposes that brochures can serve. It’s for you to find out about these benefits.

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