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LEAFLETS,
BROCHURES, MAILERS
...and
things that go bump on the mat
Chris Newton Communications, working with tried-and-tested
specialists, has designed, written and produced hundreds of print
items, from single-colour flyers
to hard-hitting mailers, prestigious product brochures
and many promotional and staff newsletters.
Because I am a communications consultant rather than a
designer I will advise you on the kind of literature you
need and how it should be made to work for you BEFORE getting down to matters of design and
content.
Why
graphic design should be left to the pros
Way back in the 1980s, producing 'camera-ready artwork'
was an arcane process, the secrets of which were known
only to a few senior staff in a handful of advertising
agencies and repro houses with access to bulky and expensive
typesetting machinery. Creative work was untainted by
technology (apart from the airbrush) and involved several
years at art college and the use of deskloads of coloured
pencils and paints.
Now every PC comes bundled with desk-top publishing
software which can create anything from a conference
badge to a full-colour brochure as fast as the operator
can click the mouse (though there may be time for a
good lunch while it's printing out). This has raised
the standards of business presentation dramatically,
but too often there is a fatal missing link - the designer.
Qualified graphic designers cost money, but the alternative
- the well-meaning but untrained person playing with
bundled graphics software - can cost you more. It
takes a designer to know:
- How to interpret a brief
- How to produce graphics that match
your corporate image
- Where to source illustrations that
will create the right effect
- How to choose and use fonts,
weights and sizes - and
where to put them on the page
- How to link text to illustrations
- How to draw (something computers
still can't do on their own)
- How to use colour cost-effectively
- The production implications of different
approaches
- When to stop designing
Without these skills, chances are you will have to
send the work back for repeated revisions - and even
then you are likely to end up with a second-rate,
amateurish piece of design that will make your company
look second-rate and amateurish as well.
When commissioning graphic design, it helps if you:
- Understand what it is you want and
what it has to achieve.
- Give the designer as clear and tight
a brief as possible.
- Resist the temptation to improve,
embellish or modify creative work - accept it or reject
it.
- Remember that if the result isn't
what you expected, that may be because it's
original!
Chris Newton Communications will make sure that your
graphic design is handled by the right professionals
for the job, so your budget is spent wisely.
“Creativity is allowing yourself
to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep”
- Scott Adams
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