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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!
Showing posts with label newsletters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label newsletters. Show all posts
17 April 2008
23 December 2007
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!
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!
10 June 2007
Spacing - can this be cluttered?
Another concept of ‘clear, concise and uncluttered graphic design’ is the subject of spacing.
But I would like you to consider whether a piece of designed work is ‘cluttered’ or not by taking a look at the amount of ‘white space’ in it.
There are mainly two kinds of design to consider: those who don’t have enough, and those who use too much!
OK, perhaps there is a lot of material that needs to be crammed onto a small sized page. Sort out what are the most important areas that need to be highlighted to grab the reader’s attention (like headlines and dates), either through colour, shapes or banners, and and slot the corresponding material beneath. Using columns can create white space and a format to force the eye to go in the right direction, as shorter lines enable quicker reading, like as in a ‘newsletter’ scenario. Pictures, although extremely useful, must not overlap, obscure or fall behind the text, and a fancy background accompanying a lot of information, especially if it needs to be absorbed, can be distracting.
Now white space also is important between lines in the text and before and after headings. Neither should be too close to each other, and it takes an ‘eye’ to visualise how much is needed. A great tip I was told was to hold the page in front of you and screw up your eyes. This will show what merges together as a grey (or coloured) haze. If there is too much, then everything is too close.
Some designs have masses of white space, absolutely blinding you on the page. But then where is your content? Is it presented in a tiny font, ‘cleverly’ positioned in a corner somewhere, either with a huge or equally tiny picture or image, and you have to hunt to find the information you crave? If a reader has to ‘work’ to receive the message, then you’ve lost them.
Design should make it easy for the recipient to understand exactly what you’re trying to say in a legible and easily readable format, eye catching and instantly recognisable. Never mind about fancy imagery, leave that to those who have more money than sense.
But I would like you to consider whether a piece of designed work is ‘cluttered’ or not by taking a look at the amount of ‘white space’ in it.
There are mainly two kinds of design to consider: those who don’t have enough, and those who use too much!
OK, perhaps there is a lot of material that needs to be crammed onto a small sized page. Sort out what are the most important areas that need to be highlighted to grab the reader’s attention (like headlines and dates), either through colour, shapes or banners, and and slot the corresponding material beneath. Using columns can create white space and a format to force the eye to go in the right direction, as shorter lines enable quicker reading, like as in a ‘newsletter’ scenario. Pictures, although extremely useful, must not overlap, obscure or fall behind the text, and a fancy background accompanying a lot of information, especially if it needs to be absorbed, can be distracting.
Now white space also is important between lines in the text and before and after headings. Neither should be too close to each other, and it takes an ‘eye’ to visualise how much is needed. A great tip I was told was to hold the page in front of you and screw up your eyes. This will show what merges together as a grey (or coloured) haze. If there is too much, then everything is too close.
Some designs have masses of white space, absolutely blinding you on the page. But then where is your content? Is it presented in a tiny font, ‘cleverly’ positioned in a corner somewhere, either with a huge or equally tiny picture or image, and you have to hunt to find the information you crave? If a reader has to ‘work’ to receive the message, then you’ve lost them.
Design should make it easy for the recipient to understand exactly what you’re trying to say in a legible and easily readable format, eye catching and instantly recognisable. Never mind about fancy imagery, leave that to those who have more money than sense.
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