DESIGN TIPS
1.
If your piece has no focus, whether you are designing a business card, an advertising flyer or a newsletter, you will confuse your reader and waste your money. Write down your objectives and organize them according to importance.
2.
All graphic designs start as thoughts which are symbolized, first, by words in our minds. Put those words down on paper and then spend time crafting them. Your design, no matter how clever, can't save a poorly-communicated idea.
When your copy is finalized, type it up.
3.
Here are some common sizes:
| Business Card | 2" x 3-1/2"
Business cards are usually printed 4-up (4 identical images) on 7-1/2" x 4" stock. The extra half inch provides a place for the sheet to be pulled through the press without constricting the area available on the card itself. This is called "gripper." Sometimes business cards are printed 10-up (portrait orientation) or 12-up (landscape orientation) on 8-1/2" x 11" stock, then trimmed to size after the ink is dry. |
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| Letterhead | 8-1/2" x 11"
This size is used for the majority of printed pieces. Some people think it's 8x10, but that's a photographic specification. Turned sideways (landscape), it makes a nice 3-panel brochure. |
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| Legal | 8-1/2" x 14"
Folded in half, to 8-1/2" x 7", this size makes a good booklet. |
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| Statement | 8-1/2" x 5-1/2"
This is actually half of a standard Letterhead-size sheet. In fact, a job this size will usually be printed 2-up on the same sheet, then cut in half. |
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| Tabloid | 11" x 17"
Folded in half, this sheet becomes a 4-page, 8-1/2" x 11" booklet. Major Tip: if you are doing a booklet or book, remember that your total number of pages must be evenly divisible by 4. In other words, you may only have eleven pages of copy, but you will have a 12-page booklet. |
4.
Don't try to create the final design before you do some doodling. Make a few thumbnail-size drawings, indicating the major blocks of copy with boxes, minor areas with a simple line (squiggles optional).
A handy rule of thumb is to divide the area into thirds and make the most important element take up most of two-thirds of the design.
5.
If you are providing a hand drawing for a designer to use for a guide, write out the headlines and uses boxes to indicate the other elements of the design.
If you are creating the final artwork on your computer, here are some practical tips:
Start with a margin all around the sheet that is no less than 5/16" (.3125) to provide the press with gripper area.
Use no more than 2 fonts within the piece. Doing so will make your piece look unprofessional, make the piece less readable and more confusing. You may use variations of the fonts (bold, italic, underline) but keep in mind that if you emphasize everything, nothing will be emphasized.
Do not count on the printer having the clipart you imagine. Images taken from the Internet are almost never of reproducible quality.
Check out our file specifications here.
6.
Committees can seldom create good designs. Rely on your own creativity. The committee can be helpful in Step 2 above, but after that it will tend to diffuse the focus.