At Excitaprint, we aim to inspire. Creativity is the heart of design, advertising & business. It’s what gets companies started, sustains & grows them. Inspiration is what awakens us to new possibilities by transcending our own concepts and ideas. So we compiled 14 design tips that could inspire marketing managers & small business owners alike.
1. RGB produces a much larger range of colors than CMYK. Create your files in RGB and preview them in CMYK before converting for print.
2. If it will be displayed across multiple devices and media, make sure your designs scale & have a process for transferring them easily from format to format.
3. Start your designs with a sketch. It can be tempting to jump on the computer first, but sketching by hand is a much better way to communicate initial ideas. Keep a sketch pad or sketch paper within arms reach of your work area.
4. Good typography is crucial to your marketing. Not only does it draw your reader in, but makes reading easier. Keep the message short, simple, one or two typefaces, and legible.
5. Take out what doesn’t need to be there. Does your booklets cover really need a the ornate, distracting border? Would a rectangular, simple border work better instead? A good rule of thumb is if you’re unsure, leave it out.
6. Your color combinations can affect legibility. Make sure that there’s enough contrast between your type and the background to make the document easy to read.
7. The design should match the message. Is your message serious? Frightening? Fun?
8. A good process keeps things consistent. Create brand guidelines including fonts, colors and standards for copy, etc. This not only automates things, but keeps your quality in tact.
9. For logos and long term collateral, signs and the like, avoid trendy designs and typefaces. Trends go from positive to negative quickly and at times without warning. Nothing says obsolete quite like outdated advertising.
10. Too much of a good thing can be a good thing. Repetition can help nail your message to the wall.
11. White space is important. It adds breathing room, focuses and engages the reader.
12. Use the grid. Every document has good & bad ways to organize information. Documents that ‘flow’ well put content together in an easy to absorb, rational manner. Besides layouts can be tough to crack, grids make things much easier.
13. If your on-duty projects are tedious and boring, do some fun side projects. Churches, non-profits, your friends and family would love free or discounted prices. Projects like these are important for staying focused & fresh.
14. You do most of your work in one place. Why not decorate it creatively but practically? For example, print 50 of your favorite advertising ideas & tape them on your wall. A study published by Bēhance says that workers with plants & pictures in their office are 32% more effective.
Harvard Business Review published an article stating inspiration is mostly outside of our control. The best we can do is construct the right circumstances for inspiration & let the magic happen. Or you could always check back with us. 🙂 Over the next few months we’ll be creating a content library for people like you.