More than anything else, good printing design is determined by the target marketing you are trying to reach. There is no point designing an outstanding looking flyer or leaflet, if it does not attract the right kind of client.
But how do you know what will attract your target market? Well, I am going to put down a few tricks within the context of a common type of flyer design - nightclub flyer designs.
Be specific about the target. When profiling there is a tendancy to generalise. Obviously, a nightclub is trying to target a young audience (primarily 18-30), but for a well targetted design you need to break this down much further. There is a big difference in the tastes and social standing of a 29 year old London professional, and an 18 year old student for example. Try to think of a single, typical customer rather than a large group and examine their personal tastes.
Use other brands to help. A quick and easy way of profiling a customer type is to look at the brands which they like. If you isolate a popular brand within your sub-group then you can effectively lift the imagery and tone which these brands use for your own purposes.
Look at their interests. Within the context of what you are advertising, look at your target markets' interests. In the nightclub flyer designs example, the obvious thing to look at is taste in music. If your target market is into dance music, then look at the imagery and approach used by dance music magazines, CDs and websites. Likewise, if they are into urban music then look at hiphop magazines etc. The idea is to find the key elements which attract the interest of your group and bring them into your design.
Pick a key selling point. Every good flyer should pick one key selling point as the centre of the design. You need to consider what aspect of the thing you are advertising will appeal most to your target market. Back to the nightclub flyer design, if you are targetting a student audience then you may want to emphasise the value for money (2 for 1 on drinks, cheap entry cost . . ). If you are targetting a young professional you may want to emphasise the exclusivity of the event. Just think of that one thing, which alongside the targetted design elements you are using, is most likely to pursuade your target to act.
Welcome to the Add Design blog pages.
We are a UK design + print agency which creates outstanding marketing literature for clients across the UK and beyond. Here, on our blog are posts about design, tips for budding graphic designs and also information for businesses on how to get the most from their marketing budget.
Booklet design - presentation and printing.
When budding graphic designers are studying for their future career, one element which they are hardly ever taught is how to prepare work for print. When we employ a new printing design designer, we always find that while they are always familiar with the software and can layout a simple and striking design, when it comes to converting this to a format the printer can use there are always mistakes.When it comes to prepping work for print, a booklet design is always difficult because the numerous pages increase the chances of mistakes. So these are things to look out for.
Number of sheets per page. Always ask the printer how they want print work presented. Traditionally, printers have always wanted the designer to do the hard work and layout the pages for them either in spreads, or in printers pairs. However, printers with new software most often want each individual page laid out on its own, in order. They simply feed this into their software and it compiles the booklet design document for them.
CMYK conversion. Make sure all colours are pictures are converted correctly to CMYK.
Crop Marks and Bleed. When work has no bleed, printers get nervous. Make sure that each page has at least 3mm bleed. On the design side, also make sure that all the text and pictures you want are safely inside the crop marks.
Embedded fonts. This one is a killer, as mistakes are often really hard to spot on printer's proofs. Make sure that your fonts are properly embedded, or converted to vector paths. Otherwise the font you expected to see will be replaced for a slightly different 'standard' font. If this happens to a logo font, then you are in trouble and often the whole booklet design will have to be reprinted.
Colour Choice. Unless you are working in Pantones, colours will always vary in print. Make sure you play it safe and there are adequate differences in your colours so text stands out against the background.
Provide clear instructions. Printing is a very competitive business, and many printers will not take long prepping your material. Make sure any instructions are made really clear and never assume that a printer will do what you expect - it is better to be considered patronising, than to have 100,000 copies of your booklet design printed with a stupid mistake.
Number of sheets per page. Always ask the printer how they want print work presented. Traditionally, printers have always wanted the designer to do the hard work and layout the pages for them either in spreads, or in printers pairs. However, printers with new software most often want each individual page laid out on its own, in order. They simply feed this into their software and it compiles the booklet design document for them.
CMYK conversion. Make sure all colours are pictures are converted correctly to CMYK.
Crop Marks and Bleed. When work has no bleed, printers get nervous. Make sure that each page has at least 3mm bleed. On the design side, also make sure that all the text and pictures you want are safely inside the crop marks.
Embedded fonts. This one is a killer, as mistakes are often really hard to spot on printer's proofs. Make sure that your fonts are properly embedded, or converted to vector paths. Otherwise the font you expected to see will be replaced for a slightly different 'standard' font. If this happens to a logo font, then you are in trouble and often the whole booklet design will have to be reprinted.
Colour Choice. Unless you are working in Pantones, colours will always vary in print. Make sure you play it safe and there are adequate differences in your colours so text stands out against the background.
Provide clear instructions. Printing is a very competitive business, and many printers will not take long prepping your material. Make sure any instructions are made really clear and never assume that a printer will do what you expect - it is better to be considered patronising, than to have 100,000 copies of your booklet design printed with a stupid mistake.
Catalogue Design - the biggest design challenge?
Within the area of printing design, there is a huge difference between designing brochures and catalogues and they require a very different focus and set of skills. With brochure design the information is very important, but just as important is the design and making sure that it is eye-catching and displays the company in the best way possible. With catalogue design, the information becomes much more important and often the design has to work really hard to present this in the most effective and straight-forward way possible.The design, therefore, has to walk this fine line between being attractive and eye-catching, but also not overpowering the information and the products, or making the information difficult to read or illogically laid out. People have a very short patience for a catalogue which doesn't allow them to find the information they need as quickly and simply as possible.
The answer with catalogue design, then, is to think of yourself as not creating so much of a design, but a framework in which the products and information will sit. By doing this, you put the correct emphasis on the products, but also appreciate how important the design is in 'gluing' all of this information together. Unlike a 'design' which will tend to be inflexible and force you to change the size/shape of the information, your framework should be able to bend and flex to hold the information and keep the presentation strong and consistant.
The answer with catalogue design, then, is to think of yourself as not creating so much of a design, but a framework in which the products and information will sit. By doing this, you put the correct emphasis on the products, but also appreciate how important the design is in 'gluing' all of this information together. Unlike a 'design' which will tend to be inflexible and force you to change the size/shape of the information, your framework should be able to bend and flex to hold the information and keep the presentation strong and consistant.
Flyer designer - what makes a good designer.
Being a good flyer designer means balancing lots of the different talents. Obviously, you have to have good printing design skills but to truly excel as a flyer designer you need to have other skills as well. A good flyer design is one which targets the right customer in exactly the right way.
This means that alongside graphic design ability you need to have sharp marketing skills, and more specifically, a very good understanding of the target market and what might appeal to them. At Add Design, our flyer designers handle projects from all kinds of businesses in all kinds of industries so understanding the target market is not always easy and involves the ability to undertake quick and effective research. It also helps to talk to the client about their understanding of the market, so good communication and interpretive skills are a must.
The actual design, of course, is only half of the flyer design - the text can be just as important so if there is not a good copywriter at hand then the flyer designer also needs to fulfil this role and be able to cut down text into short and effective copy which will work alongside the design to create the right tone to engage the target market.
Lastly, there is an understanding of print. A design may look fantastic on screen, but a good graphic designer needs to be sure that it will also look good in print. Different paper types (silk / matt / gloss) and thicknesses are good for different effects and functions so every flyer designer needs to know which is the best combination to work with their design to make it as an effective piece of advertising as possible.
This means that alongside graphic design ability you need to have sharp marketing skills, and more specifically, a very good understanding of the target market and what might appeal to them. At Add Design, our flyer designers handle projects from all kinds of businesses in all kinds of industries so understanding the target market is not always easy and involves the ability to undertake quick and effective research. It also helps to talk to the client about their understanding of the market, so good communication and interpretive skills are a must.
The actual design, of course, is only half of the flyer design - the text can be just as important so if there is not a good copywriter at hand then the flyer designer also needs to fulfil this role and be able to cut down text into short and effective copy which will work alongside the design to create the right tone to engage the target market.
Lastly, there is an understanding of print. A design may look fantastic on screen, but a good graphic designer needs to be sure that it will also look good in print. Different paper types (silk / matt / gloss) and thicknesses are good for different effects and functions so every flyer designer needs to know which is the best combination to work with their design to make it as an effective piece of advertising as possible.
How to design postcards.
Postcards are one of my favourite advertising media, but also one of the hardest to work with in printing design. With flyers, you really do have the space to include what you like. However, when you design postcards, you really have to be economical and really concentrate on pushing forward one single and unified message. You also really need to think about how postcards are used. Your advert is likely to be that much more effective if it creates an attractive design and encourages the recipient to keep it. Concentrate on making the front of the postcard something which is simple and striking. An interesting and intriguing image, or something which is likely to invoke a positive reaction in the viewer. You can then save the back to push forward your promotional message. If the front of a postcard invokes interest, then the viewer will instintively flip it over in search of an explanation. Many graphic designers also consider leaving blank space on the back when they design postcards. This increases the chances that the postcard will be used and passed on, keeping your advert alive well beyond its first hit.
Flyer or Postcard Designs - which to choose.
One question that always reoccurs with printing design is which format to use for a cost-effective promotion - a standard A5 flyer or an A6 postcard designs. This primarily depends on what you are going for - impact or longevity. Postcard designs are smaller so they generally have less impact and presence, but in my experience they seem to be more likely to hang about than be immediately disposed of. Because of the positive connotations of postcards (holiday postcards / fine art postcards / letters from friends) they are seen as a less advertisy medium. So, if the postcard designs are appropriate, they may get stuck on a fridge, or tucked into a diary, or even passed to someone else. A flyer, on the other hand, is used exclusively for advertising, and advertising only, so although it may create that initial impact, it is more likely to be binned, faster. So flyer or postcard designs? It may sound like an arbitary choice, but mix the right format with the right design - and your promotion is likely to be that much stronger.
Pamphlet Design - how to create text.
When customers give us text for a pamphlet design, it is invariably too much. There is a tendancy for any information literature to load it full of text, believing that the audience is after as much information as they can get. This is not the case. What the audience is really after is to be given the keypoints in as easily digestable form as possible.
So how can you cut down the text to include in a pamphlet design? Well, firstly, you need to think hard about your audience. Just because you, as the owner of the business, are interested in the details of a certain product or service, it doesn't mean that your audience are interested in the same type or depth of information. Have you ever been to a party where one of the guests simply won't shut up about the details of their boring job? - don't do this in your pamphlet design. Be very selective about which information you include and keep it brief, remembering always about what your audience might be interested in. Bullet points are a fantastic way of sumarising the important information for easy digestion and can quickly point out the key benefits.
Highlighting the benefits in your pamphlet design, of course, is what it is all about so always review the information with this in mind. Try to connect all the information to a key benefit. i.e. 'Established since 1980' becomes 'With over 25 years experience'. 'Made from aluminium' becomes 'Constructed from strong and light aluminium'. Don't rely on the reader making conclusions (people read advertising literture fast and light), be blantent and unsubtle.
Lastly, think about the structure of the information in the pamphlet design. Don't simply have one long narrative. Split your information into different headings so readers can easily find the information they are looking for. Title these sections with headings likely to catch people's interest. It is important to put life into your text, so try to inject some enthusiasm into the tone - even if the subject is not that thrilling.
Visit the Add Design website for more information on printing design.
So how can you cut down the text to include in a pamphlet design? Well, firstly, you need to think hard about your audience. Just because you, as the owner of the business, are interested in the details of a certain product or service, it doesn't mean that your audience are interested in the same type or depth of information. Have you ever been to a party where one of the guests simply won't shut up about the details of their boring job? - don't do this in your pamphlet design. Be very selective about which information you include and keep it brief, remembering always about what your audience might be interested in. Bullet points are a fantastic way of sumarising the important information for easy digestion and can quickly point out the key benefits.
Highlighting the benefits in your pamphlet design, of course, is what it is all about so always review the information with this in mind. Try to connect all the information to a key benefit. i.e. 'Established since 1980' becomes 'With over 25 years experience'. 'Made from aluminium' becomes 'Constructed from strong and light aluminium'. Don't rely on the reader making conclusions (people read advertising literture fast and light), be blantent and unsubtle.
Lastly, think about the structure of the information in the pamphlet design. Don't simply have one long narrative. Split your information into different headings so readers can easily find the information they are looking for. Title these sections with headings likely to catch people's interest. It is important to put life into your text, so try to inject some enthusiasm into the tone - even if the subject is not that thrilling.
Visit the Add Design website for more information on printing design.
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