World Articles » Graphic Design

A Better Blog

Chris Kincaid — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:52:28 +0000

Whether you are blogging as a hobbyist or trying to make a profession of it, you want your blog to be interesting. After all, it's a public forum. I have to assume you want readers. There are many ways to attract readers, but do you retain them? And are you attracting new ones? Let's look at some things you can do to keep your blog fresh.

Freelance Illustration Portfolio – Rich Murray

Kerisha Collins — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 10:37:26 +0000

Freelancing in Canada, Rich Murray is the highly-talented Cartoon and Children's Illustrator, as well as Flash Animator

Link Creative Design Review

Kerisha Collins — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:00:11 +0000

Lindsey's on-line portfolio demonstrates her design talents. This freelancer from Ohio, is a master with Traditional Illustration, Graphic and Web Design.

Helping Young Illustrators To Find There Niche

Gavin Campbell — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:06:18 +0000

The most effective way to visually articulate a story or article is by using some type of illustration. This can be seen In main stream media everywhere, including the internet, T.V and publications. There really are no limit to the types of mediums that can be used to create illustrations. The artists who are responsible for this tend to specialise in a particular niche and style, using a particular or favourite medium, like painting, drawing or digital pens.

Basic Design Preparations for Letterhead Printing

Guest — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:57:19 +0000

Letterheads do not entail as much details as flyer, brochures and postcards, given that they mostly contain contact details of the company only. However, careful planning must still go with the look of your letterhead since they serve a very important purpose. This simple print material will bear professional letters and somehow, give the recipient an idea about your company. Hence, it must represent your company well.

Below is a primer on the details that go into letterhead printing projects.

Content

There are not a lot of texts to play with in order to come up with a very unique look. Instead, most of the aesthetics would come from the design elements that go with these texts.

Common letterhead contents are the company name, its address, contact numbers including landline and fax, email address and website, if you have one. It would be best to limit the texts to these since you have to maintain sufficient space for the letter itself.

The most suitable graphics to add is your company logo. Keep its size proportional to the size of your texts. It should definitely be bigger but not too much that it gets the spotlight.

Some people want to get the watermarked look for their letterheads and this is made possible by printing an almost translucent printout (some require at least 5% color density) of your desired image. This faint print is usually an enlarged and faded version of the company logo.

Typeface and font

If you cannot decide on which typeface would go best with your letterhead, you can try creating several letterheads bearing different typefaces so it would be easier to visualize. Play with the effects such as bold, italics and shadow. For the company name, you can also change the spacing between the letters so it would not appear too cramped.

Color

Aside from the contents, colors help set a tone. Choosing dark and solid colors convey a more professional look while vibrant colors and unusual combinations create a more casual impression. If you intend to include your logo, make sure that it does not get lost in the background color. It should stand out.

Also, be careful with the colors you choose since some do not go well together. Make sure that each hue you add helps create a unified design. When you opt for several strong colors, each one would compete for attention and hence, become compartments instead of elements that make up a single design.

Layout

Letterhead layouts follow a somewhat standard format with the logo and company name printed on the topmost part of the paper, followed by the contact information. However, you can also vary the conventional look by placing some of the texts details at the bottommost part of the page. This way, it creates subtle borders that mark the start and end of the note.

Same with typefaces, it would be best to create different versions of each element so you can decide easily on the look. You can ask a panel to pick the most suitable design or get the opinion of a professional designer before you proceed to letterhead printing.

The Letterhead of the 21st Century

Guest — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:33:43 +0000

I have been in business for 16 years in a variety of industries – but the common factor for all, was, I would never let my staff mail out a letter unless it was on a company letterhead.

How a Professional Letterhead Improves Your Small Business Image

Guest — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:33:30 +0000

If you are a small business, you might have not spent much time thinking about what your image on paper is like. After all, there are the day to day business tasks to take care of, clients to talk to, emails to read, and phone calls to make. However, having a professional letterhead for when you do need to send a letter is a great way to help establish yourself as a professional.

Letterheads Can be Changed

Guest — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:04:48 +0000

I would hope the title of this article is a very well known fact, but I have to admit, Ive scratched my head on a number of occasions when Ive noticed companies who seem to avoid this idea.

Certain images and certain themes come and go, often very quickly, and if a company latches onto something very specific to one point in time or another, they have a habit of looking dated very quickly.

Look at anything from the eighties and then look at something from the nineties and the difference in colors and themes will be immediately noticeable. A lot of the marketing material made during these periods embraced different aspects of the popular culture, and this certainly applies to letterhead printing as well.

Many companies created letterheads that were entrenched in the popular culture, and so when the culture changed, the letterheads quickly looked dated, which made the companies look outdated as well. Whether or not this is true doesnt really matter, because perception can do quite a bit to decide how a person acts towards a company.

Im pretty sure that I know what the problem is as well.

Letterheads are part of marketing, yes, but they arent active marketing at all. Because a company doesnt need to actively do much with them they dont put as much thought to them. This is emphasized by the fact that they will often get such massive orders of letterhead printing, that they can last for a very long time from those first pages done. Even if a company is getting regular printing done they often set up a system to automatically get new letterheads printed when they run out, so they still arent putting much thought to them.

Slowly but surely time marches on, and as it does the styles change and the popular images change, but the letterhead remains the same. Eventually people start getting letters from this company and they shake their head at the outdated look of the letterhead, which then makes the company appear to be out of touch.

All of this can so easily be avoided by regularly updating your letterhead. Really, going beyond the problem of being outdated, its just nice to provide people with something new. Active marketing shouldnt be the only thing youre focusing on. Keep a careful eye on all of your marketing and be sure that you have a nice amount of variety in what youre doing.

You never want people getting bored with your marketing, and even though a letterhead isnt the biggest part of marketing, varying it up can still create a good, positive reaction and improve your sales. If youre staying on top of all your other marketing, it wont take you much longer to stay on top of your letterheads as well, and never risk being outdated.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit Letterhead Printing

Attractive printing letterheads can attract not just attention but new business!

Guest — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:04:47 +0000

A Letterhead is an important tool in business. It is the document, which not only represents your company physically but legally as well. Letterheads also give your customers a generic idea about the companys attitude. While a colorful and vibrant letterhead portrays the company as an enthusiastic, lively and fun place, a more professional looking letterhead with minimal colors can portray the company as proficient, strong and dedicated. Neither one of these images are unflattering. There are a number of ideas in the market today for you to create a letterhead that will best represent your company.

What Goes Into a Good Letterhead?

Guest — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:22:06 +0000

There are some very effective types of marketing out there that are far more subdued and indirect when compared to the more well-known methods. Letterhead printing is just one of these styles.