Desktop publishing versus graphic design

What is Desktop Publishing?

Desktop Publishing (DTP) is the placing and positioning of text and graphics on the page to produce paper publications such as newsletters, magazines, brochures, books, etc. It can be adapted to create other paper publicity such as leaflets, flyers, postcards, networking material, business stationery, adverts, cards, posters, signs and other visual communication.

How is it different from graphic design?

Graphic design uses art and creative forces to combine shapes, colours, text, pictures, imagination, fashion and other images to produce new graphics and art, such as graphics, logos, illustration, concepts and design. It conjures up something new specifically for the client. The design is then used to create paper or web marketing material.

Whereas DTP takes the designed graphics, logos, illustrations and concepts to combine it with text, layout and other materials onto the page. Desktop publishers excel in arranging the material available in the most efficient, effective and attractive method ready for the printing process. It is mainly paper based, but other media can be used and explored, such as plastics, clothing or whatever.

So in a nutshell, graphic design creates design, desktop publishing takes that design and puts it into a paper format!

Postcard Possibilities

Having browsed through my blog list, I came across this posting about postcards, which I would like to share with you: http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/profiting-from-postcards/

I’ve always liked postcards - they’re such a versatile media to work with. You could pack all your details onto both sides, or design them so they can be popped into the post with the traditional stamp in the corner. They can be enclosed in a C6 envelopes (found in a myriad of colours to match your design) or just have your details on one side to leave on side-tables or counters as walk-past publicity.

Why not try the concept from the post above? Setting up a serial of postcards spread over several weeks to get your message across in small bite-sized pieces is an effective way of drawing attention to youself - I was once bombarded in the same way by a printer touting for my custom and I certainly knew who they were when they called me later to see if I had received them. They succeeded in making an impression because I have remembered them to make this post now!

And watch out for my own new postcard design, just getting it ready to hit the streets very soon!

Do you have just one kind of customer?

Take a look at washing powder. There are lots of different brands in the shops, all containing identical white washing powder. How do you know if any are different from the rest? Is it because what is said on the packet? This brand helps troubled skin, this brand protects your colours, this brand works really well on stains, etc. Are there really any differences, in spite of the specific criteria stated on the boxes? Sure, some may contain additional elements to justify their claims, but underneath it all it’s still just washing powder.

Now look at your service or product. How can you market it for specific groups of people? Could it be adapted to meet the criteria of different target markets? Packaging is the key if you want to make it more attractive to a wider audience, but at the end of the day it’s still the same product or service, just rewritten with a separate process and marketed differently.

Now for the action: differentiate the target markets you wish to focus on, restructure your product or service to suit, and go ask Alice how to publicise it!

Is your networking up to scratch?

Take a look at your networking material, whether it’s your business card, leaflets, brochures or whatever, and consider these few pointers:

• What kind of material (card, paper, plastic) is it made of? Does it look cheap or expensive? Does it reflect the quality you want to portray?

• What colours have you used? Are they appropriate to your product/service? Don’t use your favourite colours if they are not suitable to your business. Also, be aware of how legible they are, eg red or yellow on a white background (does it disappear?), pale text on a dark background (may be trendy, but how easy is it to read?), combination of opposite colours (jumpy or what?).

• How unique is your card? If you got it off the internet, do you run the risk of meeting someone else at a networking event with the same design? Alternatively, if you designed it yourself, is it instantly recognisable as being produced by a home printer? Is it bland, ordinary, uninteresting, boring? Could it catch a prospective customer’s eye?

• Does it say what’s in the tin? How many times have you taken a business card home and you can’t fathom or remember what the company is about? If your business name doesn’t reflect the nature of your product/service, do you have a strapline or description to help the recipient? Does your logo also help in recognition?

Now for the action - if you (or somebody else you know) are not providing positive responses to these questions, and you would like to have marketing material that is professional, attractive and effective, then - go ask Alice!

You’ve designed your product – now what?

I had a very interesting lunchtime meeting with Complete Packaging Ltd, a firm that not only deals with the external visual marketing element of your product, but also the processes from conception to completion – from your initial idea to your client receiving the finished article. Mark Jones, the manager, described to me a series of scenarios regarding some projects he had undertaken, varying in complexity as he coped with situations that arose throughout his progress.

One of his main criteria is to provide a service that covers all aspects of promotion, which include initial concept and efficiency of design, packaging and compilation, distribution and transit, returns and feedback. The idea is his company can manage the entire process in-house: continuous communication between the different stages, with efficiency and effectiveness going hand in hand, expertise in packaging and distribution becoming married together, and the customer’s expectations all taken care of.

Mark’s experience in distribution and transit held him in good stead when he realised that so much of his loads were so poorly designed they were unable to survive their journeys. His company undertake research into not only how the packaging looks, but also into compilation efficiency (putting the boxes together and using suitable materials to protect the contents), storage effectiveness (for warehouses and transport transit), eliminating damage processes (handling and distribution), and refining each process to the final stage.

Design doesn’t only include creating leaflets and brochures or products and packaging, the process of getting them out to the customer is just as important. That’s where Complete Packaging Ltd comes in, should you need help in the next stage with your publicity material.

Many Layered Word Cake

Last week I ventured into the world of words in business. One aspect to consider is the words used in a website. Your webpages should be relevant to your campaign, so research into your target audience and then produce benefits for them: find the pain and offer a solution.

Dont’ forget to elaborate on your individuality or speciality, and you can make it more important by relating a successful scenario, or provide a series of examples and think up a brilliant call to action they cannot refuse. Gather customer details in return for something of value, to be used to form a relationship. But above all eliminate the complication factor: take your customers by the hand and gently lead them in the right direction: make it obvious but not condescending, enticing and relevant, worth-while but not dull.

Investigate into relevant website keywords by taking a step back and thinking like a potential customer; undertake research into what people type into a search engine to find your business and go to websites like Wordtracker.com to find out what the latest trends are and how surfers think.

If keywords are the building bricks of a website, then the tags in the code (behind the scenes) represent the mortar. These use the keywords to provide the necessary food to please the ‘spiders’ (search engine robots) and give them something varied and interesting to do. Links also contribute to spider happiness and come in the form of anchor, incoming or contextual (internal, external or descriptive), leading to lots of activity rewarded by recognition and eventually a higher search engine position!

Does your home-cooked marketing still taste good?

I attended my first NRG networking session and one requirement is to make a 2 minute elevator pitch, using their ‘meeting aid-memoire’ as a guide to content. As well as stating your name and business, think about a typical client, the problems they may have and what solution you can provide for them. Adapt it into a story about one of your successful clients: describe their symptoms before they worked with you and how this affected their business, then elaborate on what you did to help and the effect it produced. Try and relate an actual scenario, it comes across better and is probably more realistic.

This is my example: A friend of mine recently bought a franchise, and realised he needed to have some stationery done. He got himself a new laptop and a reasonable printer and started to experiment with creating his own. His first brave attempts certainly saved his bacon at networking events, but he soon realised that his competitors had better quality business cards, snazzy brochures promoting their wares, and were stealing a march with their leaflet drops. He really needed to have better quality and properly printed publications. So after working with me, he then hit the networking circuit armed with a box of professional business cards sporting a polished logo, a modern colour scheme highlighting his corporate identity with matching business stationery, a wodge of well-designed leaflets containing relevant pictures and catchy headlines, and a pile of punchy postcards displaying special offers and call to actions. We’re now working on his new website to further his publicity.

This true-life story has already convinced one person that her self-produced publicity has now passed its sell-by-date. Perhaps yours could do with a pick-me-up too?

Landing pages – how to attract visitors

People search the web for information. They type in either individual words or a question into a search engine such as Google, and this throws up a series of websites whose SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) relates to that request.

Therefore it’s important to make sure the ‘landing page’ your customer visits is relevant to their search. This is not necessarily your website’s homepage, the ‘spiders’ (robots who roam the net for the search engines) may offer up another of your webpages that contains the information requested. Don’t assume your homepage will always be the first point of entry, you should treat each webpage as a potential ‘homepage’ for the product it represents; it might be advantageous for you to present one item per page in order to make it easier for the viewer (as well as the ‘spiders’) to read and digest.

Here’s another thought. Once the surfer has ‘landed’ on a webpage, which, of course, contains all the information they are seeking, how easy should it be for them to leave? If they do, where do they go? To the rest of your website? To a sign-up form for more information, a freebie or a newsletter, leaving their contact details behind them? Or back to the internet, never to be seen again?

How do you keep your visitor once they’ve landed? Research shows you have about three seconds to make an impression before they go elsewhere. Three seconds for them to act, whether it’s to realise this is the correct webpage they want, read the content, click on a link, sign up for something, note down your telephone number, send you an email or decide even to buy from you.

One way to keep your customer’s attention is through the headline on your webpage (this is both at the top of the page and within the head code). Hit them with a catchy, scintillating and, most importantly, relevant first line that says exactly what’s in the tin. Stuff it full of adwords, yet don’t make it too long; it should be clear, concise and uncluttered to entice the visitor to read on. Try offering a provocative question, make an outrageous statement, provide a solution to a problem, play with the words through alliteration or a popular phrase, but above all, avoid ambiguity.

Be aware of what is immediately visible on your webpage. If you have a lot of relevant and necessary content (the more you can say, the better chance you have) which results in a long page, position your most important information at the top. The space ‘above the fold’, ie what can be seen before scrolling down, should contain an enticing summary with links to further material elsewhere on that page. Make sure you include everything that is needed to get your visitor to take action: sign ups for freebies or a newsletter, great graphics, your telephone number or email link, an effective navigation bar, all presented as clearly as possible from the beginning. Don’t loose anything by placing it too far down to be noticed, you can’t guarantee further exploration.

And one final point – don’t clutter up your webpage. Avoid unnecessary gimmicks such as Flash and moving images, they only distract, annoy and do absolutely nothing for your SEO. Simplicity is the key, with clear, relevant graphics (you could make them into colourful and noticeable links), suitably enhanced with alt tags; a restrained use of colour, keeping it to maybe just three including the text colour; a white or pale background: using reversed text and graphics on black results in reduced legibility; and carefully constructed text written by an experienced copywriter: the correct use of adwords is vital for SEO, especially if they match your metatags.

How to encourage your target market

I’ve been talking to my daughter Josie about marketing and how products are sold to customers. She is very astute and keeps on referring back to my business. Her main question is: ‘Who, exactly, are your customers, Mum?’ and I’m afraid I had to hesitate! All the marketing advice out there says work out who your customers are and then build your business around them. I suppose I have to find potential customers to match each of my products (at least I’ve pruned those down in recent years) – not exactly the right way to go about it.

I can say I am looking for organisations who want to have information, publicity and promotional material in paper form using graphic design, eg membership organisations who would like to have a well designed newsletter or magazine to promote themselves to their existing and prospective audience, or small businesses who would like to have some paper marketing material to promote their services or products in a colourful and eye-catching form to their target market – but how do you say that in only a few words?

Josie and I have been Christmas shopping and one place she took me was the Build a Bear shop in the Oracle in Reading. A fascinating place as regards marketing goes – and I got Josie to try and analyse them for me. She was aware of the range of different bear skins to choose from, the fun idea of stuffing them yourself, going to a computer to name your bear and get a certificate for its ‘birthday’, and then choosing your outfit for your bear. She recognised the fact that the rich range of outfits would encourage bear-owners to come back ‘for more’, the upselling of other products in the form of accessories for your bear or finding a ‘companion’ for it, and the layout of the shop encouraged young prospects to enjoy their time there with bright colours, ample space and fun activities during their stay. When she asked me where were the same ideas in my business I realised I had a lot of thinking to do!

Obviously I can’t be the same as a bear shop, but I can make the process of visiting my website a more enjoyable experience. Why not offer an insight into graphic design, the different styles of paper marketing material, the potential of each commodity in relation to small businesses or organisations? I need to encourage my visitors to my website to ‘do’ something rather than just ‘surf’ and disappear, through offering freebie information packs and a well-written newsletter explaining and reminding its readers about my services. Undergoing research to find out more to impart to my readership, and to enhance my own experience and design work, will, of course, benefit everyone. What a positive way to look forward to the New Year!

Can packaging turn your customers off?

The Friday business profile in the Reading Evening Post is an excellent opportunity for small businesses to get some free PR. This week a couple who sell special fruit juices have taken the slot. Everything sounds wonderful (and probably tastes that way too) until I looked at their packaging.

I honestly couldn’t tell these cartons contained fruit juice - they looked more like men’s toiletries (shower gel and shaving cream) or – worse – something out of the back room of Ann Summers. The majority sported black backgrounds (with a couple of white ones) with a swirly motif that is reminiscent to the patterns made by swinging those fluorescent rings around that you buy at Guy Fawkes night.

How do these designs relate to fruit? OK, they probably wanted something that stood out from the rest of the fruit drinks, so a design with large images of the fruit in question wouldn’t have caught any customer’s eye. But a black background does not suggest something edible (or drinkable), unless you want to smear it all over your body…

Another look does reveal a description of the flavours on the front, which is the only saving grace it has to suggest it’s a drink. I may not be a brandist, but attractive, edible colours adapted from large, mouth-watering images or using a clever twist with the font from the descriptive words and the fruit colour in question would be much more conducive to achieving a sale.

The moral? Don’t disguise your product, or dress it up so it’s unrecognisable. Blatant, in-your-face designs which say exactly what’s on the tin have always succeeded in the past, with good reason. And keep them clear, concise and uncluttered - overuse of fancy designs can easily obscure your message.

Facing up to Christmas too!

As a continuation of my last blog regarding portraits on business cards, I’ve just read a blog which suggests including your portrait on Christmas cards so that the recipients remember who it is from, considering how many other cards they will receive at that time of year. And to save it becoming fodder for the paper-recycling box, include another item as an aide memoire or provide an action so they contact your company in the New Year.

Facing up to networking

Has anybody thought about putting a small portrait of themselves on their business card? Three reasons why came to mind: 1) so the recipient of your card wouldn’t have to rack their brains to remember what face was associated with this card after a networking meeting, 2) if you were arranging a meeting to, say, discuss a particular project or tout your new product, the other party would know who to look out for across a large hotel foyer or busy coffee shop, preventing the red carnation scenario, and 3) if someone wants to telephone or email you, having your image in front of them can help making that initial contact all that much easier…

Does anybody else have another reason for having your face smiling forth from your networking material?

How images can work better than words

Driving from an event, I noticed a van in front of me. It was coming up to lunchtime and my stomach was rumbling, exasperated by the fact that pasted on the back windows of this van were the most wonderful pictures of various breads and pastries. It was obviously a baker’s van, but the imagery was so powerful, you could imagine the interior packed to the gills with warm, yeasty rolls and sticky fruit buns dusted over with icing sugar.

What a wonderful way to advertise their wares. Just a logo and name of the company would not have had the same impact…

Alice’s Action #2 – Keep Your Images Relevant

My daughter Josie commented recently on some leaflets: “Shouldn’t the picture be relevant to whoever picks it up, so to grab their attention?”

She’s right - aim the visual aspects of your advertising towards your target market. Don’t reflect your personal favourites and be careful about your business’s image. The customer is king (or queen) and everything should be geared towards them and their preferences.

Take a good look at the pictures in your marketing material, and get feedback from your friends or past customers, to see if they work or not.

Sign up for more Alice’s Actions from my website.

Alice’s Action #1 – Clear Directions

Clear signage is vital, especially for directions, corporate identity and general awareness.

Take time to consider how clear your company really is. How does the outside world see your business? Are you recognisable? How simple is it to contact you? Are these details clearly visible? Can you be easily found? Are you approachable and/or welcoming?

You can sign up for more Alice’s Actions from my website.

Technology – does too much affect marketing?

The world moves on so rapidly, and so much is now possible in the world of technology, there is always the urge to use everything that is available. It’s like being a child in a toy shop: Everything’s wonderful! Wow, look at that! How does that work? That’s really impressive! I want one!

But it’s like my soup blog, you can’t put everything into the pot and expect it to taste nice. However weird and wonderful it may seem, is it really necessary? Does blinking adverts and moving images really make a difference? Do they not annoy and divert the customers’ attention from the true purpose of your website? And the spiders on the web interested as well? You may find they totally ignore them and do nothing at all for your SEO!

Moving gallery shows are only effective if used wisely, like promoting a book or showing examples. Opening your website with them totally defeats the object, for unless your surfer has time to wait, boredom or confusion will set in and they’re off. But if you do use a gallery, situate it in a clear background and large enough screen, thus avoiding unnecessary squinting, peering and on-coming headaches.

Another gimmick is to have wide-screens with rolling Powerpoint shows. This can be impressive, but care needs to be taken presenting your information, with concise text, simple backgrounds and each page not over-full to allow the reader enough time to read it before it changes. Don’t go mad with all the special effects available, as this contributes to cluttering and can look amateurish. A few well chosen simply produced styles can easily aid effective absorption of your message.

People have different attitudes to technology – the younger set react more to the possibilities and, as well as understanding them better, want to use them all the time. But taking a step back and choosing wisely, considering which one is the best use of money, time and resources, will allow your audience to enjoy your marketing, respond favourably and serve their purpose.

Is all junk mail bin-fodder?

More junk mail plops through my letterbox this morning, but two leaflets catch my eye:

One is promoting a furniture store – acres of brown background with tiny, indiscriminate photos that would require a magnifying glass to study what they contained in any detail, plus whited-out text in tiny letters crammed into the corners as if they are an afterthought and you’re not really meant to read them at all. The same hideous design continues inside the brochure, except that some pages have butterscotch backgrounds which means the white text blends in nicely and illegibly like cream. If there are any headlines I can’t see them, the benefits or incentives are non-existent, and the whole effect is a 1970s look which I haven’t decided is meant to be retro or terribly out of date.

Alternatively, the other leaflet is wild and whacky! It folds out into a cube-net (a cross of six squares) and each side provides a benefit/feature of the product, plus excellent pictures for recognition and tear-off discount vouchers for your next purchase. The images are simple, colourful and fill each square brilliantly, the main message is clearly put across with legible, concise text in a readable font, and because it’s different you want to explore the whole product to see what’s next or on the other side. There isn’t a beginning or end, but that doesn’t really matter, as the product is presented smack bang in the middle so you can’t miss it! The whole leaflet is just fun, and such a breath of fresh air!

Conceptual Considerations

More ideas gained through networking! Discussing what you do with all those business cards and leaflets you pick up at these events, my friend suggested promotional literature that is already hole-punched for storing in files, and the information could be designed around the holes. Also, why not have a tag on the side that sticks out further than the rest of the paperwork which contains recognisable details for instantly accessibility. Trouble is, this could be more expensive to produce; I will let you know my thoughts on this later after some try-outs.

Simple Soup Solutions

We’ve all heard the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth”, so does that mean the broth contains too many ingredients? If your stew-pot had all your favourite foods mixed together, do you think it would taste nice? Could you define any of the individual foods from the concoction?

Usually simple procedures are the most effective. Soup made from mushrooms with a hint of garlic and a sprig of fresh parsley is extremely tasty, and you can appreciate that it is mushroom soup and not a disgusting mess.

Now take a look at your promotional material. Is it easily digestible? Does your message present itself effectively? Would an alien from outer-space understand exactly what your company is all about? Is the meaning of your literature obvious at a quick glance? Are the contact details easily accessible? Is your logo clear and your strapline relevant and punchy? Are the benefits of your product/service instantly desirable?

Select your ingredients with care, because the proof of the pudding (or soup) is in the eating.

Separating Subject Matter

I’m always collecting leaflets for research purposes. I had to get my spare tyre replaced (the car’s, not mine!), and while I waited, I noticed the literature the garage had on display. Two factors were brought to my attention: the first was a repeat of the concept stated in a previous blog about cluttered versus simple information, in this case tiny dense writing in wide columns compared with clear diagrams of tyres with appropriate explanations and guides.

The second concept was something I had learned from a recent marketing course, which had spawned from the idea of headings and well laid-out details beneath: separate topics presented on individual leaflets and displayed together as a set. This series of A5 glossy sheets were collated within a tiered-leaflet-holder, each exhibiting their subject in clear, concise and uncluttered terms using the corporate colours and corresponding imagery to best show off their contents. These were suitable both as a group or individually, as customers were able to choose which were the most useful to them.

This concept of separate leaflets enables you to focus on individual benefits for customers and how best to present your solutions in an easily digestible form. Appropriate incentives can then be displayed to entice the public in, each relevant to the subject concerned and updated on a regular basis. Jumbling them up into one 3-fold leaflet may not enable you to adequately get your message across, and is far less likely to get read and understood.