Promotional Tips 11…20…

(11) Sponsor a Client’s Event.
Sponsoring a client’s event can get your name out to all of the client’s contacts as well as remind your client that you are a valuable resource to them.

(12) Offer Free Consultations to Potential Customers.
Sometimes just offering the free consultation will land you the job, however, sometimes it won’t. When a client meets with you, you already have your foot in the door, so I think that it is worth the risk (if you are just starting out that is).

(13) Friends and Family.
There is nothing shameful in asking your friends and family to spread the word about your services and how talented and skilled you are. This is what family and friends do naturally anyways. When you first start out, ask them to send out an email to their close friends and family members regarding your new business. It is hard to ask even your closest family members to do this, but it is also important to do everything that you can to start your business.

(14) Is it a Business Card or a Coupon Code?
Instead of leaving all of that white space on the back of your business card, why not place a coupon for your services?

(15) Press.
Find interesting angles about your company to send press releases about your business.

(16) Set Up An Account on Flickr and Other Photo Sharing Sites.
Flickr is very popular and if your designs are really good, you will make a name for yourself by placing your images on Flickr and similar sites. Here is a list of alternatives to Flickr (Photo Sharing Sites). Make sure to place good tags on all of your images. Also try to get your images into groups of similar items. Such as a group called ‘Cool Brochures’.

(17) Print a Calendar for Your Customers.
Wouldn’t it be a nice thought to print out a calendar filled with your designs and give it out to your customers? A calendar is usually displayed where everyone can see it and needs to be constantly referred to for dates. A calendar is a perfect promotional item for your business and is well worth the money.

(18) Networking.
Network (without over schmoozing) every chance you get. Continuously give your business card out to as many people as you can. The easiest way to do this is by asking people that you talk with for their business card. You then have an easy way to give them yours. Take notes and if you were able to get a business card, take the time to send them a short email to thank them for their time.

(19) Printed Newsletters.
Although you are used to emailed newsletters, printed newsletters still exist. Utilizing printed newsletters is also an effective way to promote your business. Also by having a printed newsletter, you are collecting mailing address information about potential customers. Printed newsletters can be virtually free if you use your own printer.

(20) List Yourself in the Yellow Pages.
Get yourself a yellow pages listing. Although I have heard that it isn’t such a great deal anymore since so many people use the Internet.

will be back soon…

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Promotional Tips

Greetings!
Hey i’m back with some of the top promotional tips, what a designer can do for you!

(1) Give Away FreeStuff with Your Design Business’s Name and Contact Information.
Go to where your target customers hang out and set up a booth or table. Give out some FreeStuff and a flyer or leaflet as well. Some examples of freebies include free magnets, rubber bands, rulers, note pads, etc. All of these items should have your information printed on them.

(2) Free Demonstrations of Your Services.
Go to local print shops, office supply stores, and other local stores and offer to give free demonstrations of your services. You can also offer lessons as well.

(3) Go to Your Local Library or Book Store and Place Business Cards in Relevant Books.
This one is a little iffy. Go to your local book stores and libraries and find books that a potential customer might read and place your business card in it.

(4) Flyer / Business Card Exchanges.
Network with other local non-competitive businesses. See if they will display your business card or flyer in exchange for referrals, etc.

(5) Incorporate a Referral Incentive Program.
Offer your customers an incentive for referring customers to you. An incentive could be a discount on future business, a gift certificate, a gift, or whatever you decide that they incentive should be. You might also consider implementing a referral fee.

(6) Hold a Contest.
Offer a contest with a grand prize that would interest your target audience. Promote your contest through flyers, local newspapers, and local radio stations. This will get the word out about your business and will more than pay for itself. (however you have to have the startup cash to place ads in local newspapers and on the radio. If you don’t have startup cash, just use hand printed flyers and place them all over your the place (such as libraries, grocery stores, malls, etc). By holding a contest, you can also get your site listed on dozens of online contest directories.

(7) Directory Listings.
Make sure to list your company in all appropriate free directories. If you can afford it, get yourself listed in directories that require a fee (as long as you have researched that directory and it is a directory that will land you business).

(8) Wear Your Business Information.
Create t-shirts, hats, buttons, and bags with your company’s information and web site listed on them. You might feel like a walking advertisement but that is the point.

(9) Magnet on Your Vehicle.
Shameless self promotion is the key. Custom printed magnets for your car are very inexpensive but very effective. Placing a magnet on your car gets everyone to know about your business. You will even get neighbors to refer you to other people without even having to say anything to them.

(10) Sponsor a Charitable Event.
Sponsor a charitable event that you care about. You will receive free PR for your business and it will feel good to do something for a cause that you care about.

will be back with more…

Guidelines: Sending Digital Files for Printing!!!

The following guidelines will help you to prepare your digital files for Pre-Press Processing (Printing). It contains required information and explanations of common terms to help you communicate better with your printer.
Create documents in Page Layout Programs such as CorelDraw, Freehand, InDesign, Illustrator, Quark or PageMaker

• Document:  Create your document in the exact size of the final trimmed piece. For example, if you are creating a lettersize multiple-page document with facing pages, your page size would be 8.5″×11″, not 11″×17″.
• Master Page: Use the master page to place common items such as page numbers in the same location on multiple pages. (InDesign, Quark & PageMaker)
• Spreads: If multiple-page documents, create in reader’s spreads. If cross-over facing pages, images should be divided into two separate picture boxes and aligned on their respective pages.
• Bitmap Scale: Scale bitmap images not more than 10% up or down from their original size. A drastic enlargement will cause loss of detail and a drastic reduction may extend imaging time and delay your job.
• Bleed: Extend images that bleed off the document page by an 1/8″ (standard).
• Colors: Delete all unwanted colors from the color palette (EPS and page layout files).
• Image Linking: Link images in your Illustrator and FreeHand files. Do not embed them.

Tip: Remember to include any special Quark Xtensions you may have used to create your document.

Tip: Creating files in drawing programs such as Illustrator, FreeHand or CorelDraw can sometimes incur additional charges by printers.

Precautions before saving images

• Mode: Save all PhotoShop files in the CMYK color mode, which includes any nested or embedded files.
• Flatten Image: Submit PhotoShop files only in flattened TIFF or EPS formats (DCS is an EPS).
• Channels/ Paths: Delete any unused alpha channels or clipping paths in flattened PhotoShop files.
• Colors: Delete unused colors in the color palette from Illustrator, FreeHand.
• Compression: Turn off JPEG, LZW, or ZIP compression in your PhotoShop files.

Workspace: There are two types of images: Vector (Line Arts) and Raster (Bitmap).

• Vector: Consistent lines and curves you create in programs like CorelDraw, Illustrator or Freehand. They are called vectors because they can be described in mathematical terms such as size, length and position. Vector graphics are device-independent (they can be scaled up or down with no loss in detail).
  Vector Can be saved at any size and scaled up or down in your page layout program (we suggest 100% for a better preview) and they can only be saved as an EPS.
• Raster: Bitmap images are created in painting programs such as PhotoShop. Bitmaps are created on a grid with small squares called, pixels. Each pixel has a location and color value assigned to it. These images are device-dependent, (they have a fixed number of pixels for a given area). Images that look jagged or bitmapped do not have a sufficient amount of pixel information or resolution. A high resolution image will have more pixels per grid, which allows for greater detail and color transitions.

Tip: A formula for determining resolution (dpi) is: 1.5 x the line screen = resolution. Many still use the old formula of 2x the line screen, but there is no visible loss of detail at this lower dpi and it saves valuable disk space.

Image types

• Bitmap Mode: Typically black & white images (no grays) used for text or logos. These should be saved at 800 dpi, as a TIFF and scaled to 100% of the intended size. The background can be set to none. Use your page layout program to colorize the image.
• Grayscale or CMYK Mode: These are black & white or color images. They should be saved at 225 dpi, as a TIFF or EPS and scaled to 100% of the intended size. Printers prefer TIFFs if there is no clipping paths, because EPSs tend to have a slightly larger file size. The background should be set to white or a color in QuarkXpress.

Tip: If you are creating an image with a clipping path it must be saved as an EPS and the tolerance should be set between 2 and 4, with 2 being a tighter setting for irregular shapes.

Duotone Mode: These images can be Monotones, Duotones, Tritones or Quadtones and must be saved as an EPS.

Tip: Use channel 1 for the darkest color and if you are using black make sure it says Black in the window, not Process Black (your page layout program will see it as a different color). Set the screen angles in your page layout program not in PhotoShop. Scott Lithographing can select them for you upon request.

Tip: Prevent gradient banding: Set the output resolution to 2540.

Color Modes
You may color correct in RGB or LAB, but save images that will be imported into you page layout program in CMYK mode. Importing in RGB will prevent the image from being output properly. RGB is for images that will only be viewed on a monitor.

Tip: Remember to calibrate your monitor frequently and delete any alpha channels to reduce the file size.

Color Selection
Spot (PMS) colors must use the same name in all image files. For instance, if you are using PMS 185 CVC/ PMS 185C in a file and PMS 185 CVU/ PMS 185U in another, your page layout program will see them as two separate colors. Please indicate if a PMS color is to be spot or built out of process colors.

Tip: Keep in mind that some spot colors do not reproduce satisfactorily when built out of process.

Tip: If you are using Metallic Inks it is a good idea to aqueous coat or varnish the sheet to prevent smearing.

Fonts

• Be sure to include the printer and screen font for each Type 1 font.
• Check the font usage window to ensure you have included all your fonts.
• If you’ve used fonts in EPS artwork: Either convert the text to paths or include the font(s).

Basic types of fonts: PostScript, TrueType, OpenType.

Postscript comes in Type 1,2, or 3 (Type 1 is the most popular). You will have two fonts; the screen font and the printer font. The screen font is for displaying the font on your screen (the icon shows a single “A”). The printer font is used by printers and imagesetters to create the type mathematically.
TrueType contains both the screen and printer fonts in one file (the icon shows three “A”s).
OpenType fonts are gaining in popularity due to their cross-platform ability and flexibility. They are essentially a Type 1 or TrueType font in a TrueType shell, so you will have only one file per font weight or style (i.e., bold, italics, small caps, etc…).

Tip: Use current and brand name fonts whenever possible (ie.Adobe, Bitstream). Keep a compressed version of your font library and replace any fonts that cause printing problems.

Tip: Use the actual weight of the typeface, such as Helvetica Bold.Do not use menu styling.

Trapping
Printers normally handle trapping, so discuss any concerns you have. If you are comfortable doing your own, you should relay that to your printer. Although, it may make you liable for any trapping errors.

Spelling
As a rule, printers do not check the spelling of documents because they are not privy to the jargon, product names, or special pronouns of other industries. Spell-check and proof-read your document carefully. It’s also an excellent idea to have two other individuals proof-read the text before submittal.

PC Files
Printers were primarily Mac-based, but virtually all of them now accept PC files created in Quark Xpress, Pagemaker, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, and Corel Draw EPS files. It’s a good idea to check with your printer before submitting files created with Microsoft products, such as MS Word or Publisher.

Collecting Files
I strongly suggest using the Collect for Output option when using QuarkXpress. Collect all the elements of your job (images, fonts and final files) and place them into one of three folders: Artworks, Links, and Fonts. Do not send files that are not pertinent to the job. Please be aware that Quark will list the fonts on the collect for output report, but it will not collect them for you.

Tip: I strongly recommend using FlightCheck or PreFlight to submitting your files.

Media
Printers accept just about any media today (CD, DVD, Flash Disk, USB Chips, MMC) and many have FTP sites that can save you travel time. Your printer should have a list of acceptable media.

Archiving
Many printers archive your work for the purpose of rerunning it, but do not count on it! Be sure you have a back-up copy of your project. I suggest a regular archiving procedure to ensure you have your work in the future. Personally, I use DVD with Digital Indexing, and I keep a full Index’s hard copy outside the studio in the event of fire or other loss.

FINAL CHECK LIST:

• All Artwork Electronic Files, Links and fonts on disk.
• All Photos, Transparencies (TPs), or Art to be scanned.
• Any Special Instructions.
• A set of Color Proofs or Laser Prints.
• A set each of B&W Laser Composites/Separations.
• A Mock-up (if applicable).
• A previously Printed Sample (if applicable).

Best of Luck…

Enjoy!!!

Why use a Graphic Designer?

People often wonder how businesses become truly successful. There are several elements that create success in business. One element is graphic design and quality advertising. A good graphic designer can be your best friend for marketing and growing your business.

Graphic Design can be a lot of things to many people. A strong identity design – logo and supporting themes – can be the needed edge to push your company to its fullest potential. When you team a strong identity with an advertising campaign you are sure to boost awareness of your company and create additional traffic – whether it be on foot or online. Quality graphic design is the hidden reason for the success of many companies and the downfall of companies that do not take advantage of the experience and expertise of a graphic designer.

Graphic Designers are your key resource to logo design, letterhead and business card design, print and web advertising, annual reports, web design, and many more design options.

Harsh Desaur has experienced in all these areas of design and will work with you to develop the best designs and strategies for your business and your budget. Browse through the portfolio, then give Desaur a call today and get a jump start on the road to success today.

Hello world!

design | print | pre-press | web | multimedia

Lets start…

My first post all about “Graphic Designers”.

Graphic Designer

A graphic designer is a communicator – someone who takes ideas and give them visual form so that others can understand them.

His idea is the result of subjective and objective thoughts, and the design is a product of the idea. He improvises, invents new techniques and combination. He coordinates and integrates his material so that he may restate his problem in terms of ideas, pictures, forms and shapes.

Design is not just about image, symbols, type, color or material, it is a commentary, opinion, a point of view of social responsibility.

 

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