Business Cards, Postcards, Leaflets etc. for advertising

161FRBS

Hi there,

I'm interested in finding out what sort of designs people use on their marketing material? I've looked at some of the designs on websites like vistaprint but the designs for accountancy/financial businesses are really dull. A lot of the designs are geared towards weddings, florists etc. I want something to catch peoples eye and look professional but not cost an arm and a leg.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks,
Chantelle

*Jo

Hi, My partner is a graphic designer/printer and ive picked up a few tips from him.

Think about the colours, dark blue is deemed to be proffessional and a simple logo done correctly can look stunning. Red and White are seen as lucky colours together in asia or can signify passion.
Use only about 3 font max to avoid clutterance.
Think if you intend to print yourself or have printed. Small runs can be expensive done proffessionally and are best limited to digital printing (done on huge printing machinery). Lithographic printing is cheaper for bigger runs and you generally get better value. Lithographic printing is better quality too.
Large blocks of colours known as "solids" to printers can be difficult to reproduce.
Certain colours can only be printed on certain machinery so if you pick an unusual shade make sure it can be printed easily. Colours are usually "spot colours" or process colours like your printers at home using cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Spot colours are harder to reproduce on a home machine.
We printed off some of my partners designs for his portfolio at home a while back but it drained our ink way too quickly to be considered as a normal way of printing.
If you intend to use proffessional printers remember they charge because they have the expertise, just the same as someone could get a man down the pub to do their accounts but it wont be as good as a proffessional service.
Colours print differently on different media like paper and card with different finishes.
Doodle a couple of designs yourself and ask for a few quotes off different companies. Once the intial design work is done the costs should be lower as the repeat printing doesnt involve the time doing the vector drawings and making the templates for the printing.
Blue is always the hardest colour to print lithographically as the ink is alot stiffer just as a matter of interest and solids of blue are going to drive your printer nuts!
To keep the costs down keep it simple, you dont need clutter to impress
Jo

Monsoon

Professional tips for accountants:

1. Don't use Vistaprint for your main stationery. Ever.

2. Use a professional printer. I use www.scubaprint.com and they are very reasonably priced, great service too.

3. Get them professionally designed. This doesn't have to cost the earth. If you go to the Tenders forum on www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk and ask for what yuo want, you will be inundated with offers, often from newbies starting out who might be relatively cheap (do check out their portfolio first though).

4. If you must design them yourself, get something like Serif Page Plus (about £30 I think) which will produce professional quality print-ready PDFs. It's dead easy to use.


Investing in your brand is important. Don't cut corners here

T.C.

Agreement with Monsoon - avoid Vistaprint! You can find something on the web, or perhaps put the business to a local printer - this could also lead to some free advertising for you if they allow you to leave one or two of your 'prints' in their office!!! Just an idea!

161FRBS

Thank you for your replies. Very much appreciated.

imeldabye

Monsoon- hello! I am probably being a bit thick but where exactly on the UKBF site should I do this? BTW- saw the new column- great article :thumbup1:

Monsoon

Thanks Imelda

There is a sub forum called Tenders.