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Tag Archive: marketing-materials
I recently listened to a conference call over the internet put on by a lady who is literally obsessed with folding! I have to admit, I haven’t really given folding so much thought but listening to her really changed my mind. Her first piece of helpful advise was to mock up your piece and fold it the way it is going to be folded. Then, watch your audience member view the piece. Are they catching the key points that you are wanting them to see in the order you are intending? Sounds like a novel idea, but I don’t think we always find ourselves doing that.
After seeing her many examples of amazing work (very jealous designer here…) where the items are designed around a particular fold, I have to admit, they caught my attention. Let’s be honest, how many tri-fold brochures really capture our attention and make us want to “Read more!” Just turning your tri-fold horizontal is enough of a change to capture the audience’s attention.
My favorite fold has to be with the double gate fold. I received a small piece that came folded down to a 4×6 size. But when I opened it up, it was so captivating and I couldn’t help but read more!
Check out her site for some interesting info on folding – www.foldfactory.com. Confirmed to me that there really is someone obsessed about EVERYTHING!!! My wheels are turning with ideas on how to fold that next marketing piece!!!
In trying to attract more business, my client was interested in creating an ad that she could place at the local golf facilities. The catch here is trying to get men to understand that they too can gain benefits from doing Pilates. Here is what we came up with.
I have done some flash ads in the past and found them to be a great challenge! Now, I have been asked to create a few more. Only small problem is that it has been a few years. So time to pull out the books and brush up on the skills. Let’s hope I remember these like riding my bike! Wish me luck!
See below a flash ad I created a few years ago for Meredith Corp.
I once had a client show me some work I had done that they requested to print on their own. Being a designer, I have developed quite a few relationships with multiple printers in the area and on-line. This client was trying to “cut costs.” A VERY common idea among business owners who don’t really understand the difference in printing qualities.
When she got her letterhead paper printed and shipped to her, she called me right away. The shade of purple that I designed the logo in and the shade they printed in were not even close! One was blue and the other was purple. Then she pulled out the business cards she received. Thankfully they looked much more rich in color and true to what we were desiring, although not to my perfection. The bigger problem for me was the inconsistent branding look that she now had to work with. That is like printing Target’s logo in a lighter shade of red than what we see on EVERY piece of collateral they have. You see that shade of red anywhere and you think of Target! I even see random people wearing that color of shirt and khaki pants at the mall and I assume they just came from working at Target. That specific shade of red symbolizes that store to me. Same goes for UPS’ brown. Always the same shade of brown, never anything different.
The printing company they used is one of those, very common, cheap companies on-line offering so many free items if you just place an order with them. It is so enticing as a new business owner, but I want to caution you! Don’t invest in the designing fees for your marketing materials to only have them come across as very poor once printed. That will only reflect your business to your customer and probably not do you any good, a bad investment.