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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!
17 April 2008
10 April 2008
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!
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!
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!
• 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.
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!
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!
18 January 2008
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?
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?
10 January 2008
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.
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.
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