I had the pleasure of meeting with soon to be graduate Melanie Lanuza today. She will have a degree in Communications _ Advertising and Art - Graphic design under her metaphorical belt come this August. I sat down with her to ask a couple questions about what she has learned in her trades and how those lessons can help us (small businesses) all out. She has fresh eyes to the world of design which is sometimes a very good thing! (insert Martha Stewart joke here)
#1 - Try not to convey EVERYTHING about your business in a small space.
I agree with this whole heartedly. An AD should look graphically pleasing and convey enough information that the client/consumer can find out more information on their own accord.
#2 - Always use High quality images
It does make your files larger, but the outcome will bring a more professional look to your graphics. Mel says having to work with low quality images makes excess work for the designer. The standard for printing is 300 dpi. (most images saved by right clicking and saving pictures off the Internet are 72 dpi)
The Marketeers offers a FTP site to handle larger files which are too big for email to accommodate them.
#3 - Dot gain is important to Newspaper ads
Mel learned about dot gain when dealing with a newspaper AD where some objects were very dark and details went missing because of the dot gain. Dot gain is the measurement of how the dots of ink will expand on the newspaper paper. Typical dot gain is 30%.
#4 - Stroke on text is to be used with caution
Mel and I came to the agreement that text with a stroke around each letter is a blessing and a curse. We never could come up with set rules of when to use and when to not use it so basically we cited some circumstances where we knew it did not work for us. First, small text almost never works. The typeface is just too small to handle a detail such as a stroke. Second is the lack of using a contrast color to enhance the text.
Mel proclaims herself as a typography snob. (And rightly so she is.) She went into greater detail on how centering text is hers (and mine) least favorite justification. I do believe it has it's place, but for the most part I almost never center text to start with.
We hope to hear from Mel soon after she throws the tassel at graduation and says goodbye to college!
I agree with this whole heartedly. An AD should look graphically pleasing and convey enough information that the client/consumer can find out more information on their own accord.
#2 - Always use High quality images
It does make your files larger, but the outcome will bring a more professional look to your graphics. Mel says having to work with low quality images makes excess work for the designer. The standard for printing is 300 dpi. (most images saved by right clicking and saving pictures off the Internet are 72 dpi)
The Marketeers offers a FTP site to handle larger files which are too big for email to accommodate them.
#3 - Dot gain is important to Newspaper ads
Mel learned about dot gain when dealing with a newspaper AD where some objects were very dark and details went missing because of the dot gain. Dot gain is the measurement of how the dots of ink will expand on the newspaper paper. Typical dot gain is 30%.
#4 - Stroke on text is to be used with caution
Mel and I came to the agreement that text with a stroke around each letter is a blessing and a curse. We never could come up with set rules of when to use and when to not use it so basically we cited some circumstances where we knew it did not work for us. First, small text almost never works. The typeface is just too small to handle a detail such as a stroke. Second is the lack of using a contrast color to enhance the text.
Mel proclaims herself as a typography snob. (And rightly so she is.) She went into greater detail on how centering text is hers (and mine) least favorite justification. I do believe it has it's place, but for the most part I almost never center text to start with.
We hope to hear from Mel soon after she throws the tassel at graduation and says goodbye to college!
1 comment:
yay.
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