By G. Christensen

Brought to you by Janet Schlarbaum

As an online printing company owner, I see firsthand the orders that come through from the web to print. It is amazing to see the wide spectrum of files that come through from novice to expert designers. It seems as though the majority of time spent on completing a printing order is on the design and setup process.

There are precise specifications for each printed project. For example, when designing a business card, flyer or anything else that requires a bleed off the edge (no white space) the file needs to be set up oversized. Most offset printing companies require a minimum of 1/8 inch over where you want to trim. This allows for enough room to trim all the way around the edge allowing the ink to bleed of the edge, and giving a nice professional look.

Another tip when designing projects to be printed is when you are using the color blue. I can’t tell you how many times we have printed a project with blue ink and it turns out looking purple. There is a reason for this and it is all in the design process. Blue is close to purple in the CMYK color spectrum, and it is very important to make sure to leave at least a 30% difference in your Cyan and Magenta values. Projects come through using 100% Cyan and 100% Magenta which on the computer screen will appear to be blue. But, when printed through the offset process, the project may appear purple. The best solution would be to always use a low amount of Magenta whenever using high amounts of Cyan, example: C-100 M-70 Y-0 K-0.

The printing technology nowadays is unprecedented. The capabilities of these machines are out of this world. I am surprised when I see a project come in that has obviously not been designed by a professional. The printing costs are the same whether you design, or you have an experienced graphic designer do the work. Why spend the money on a project that is portraying your business as less professional? I am of the opinion that it is always better to spend a few extra dollars on design to maximize the impact of any printing project. In fact, some files that aren’t prepared correctly need to be corrected by the printer which there is usually always a fee, so in the end, it will benefit you to have it done right the first time.

Posted by Janet Schlarbaum

By Sam Miller
Posted By Janet Schlarbaum

Let us face it: branding is certainly something that each and every company should acquaint themselves with. This is because no successful company or brand has ever attained its success without employing branding to some extent or degree. And if you are delving into the arena of branding graphics, then you should know the important role that visual vocabulary plays.

Visual elements should always be prioritized by any company, especially when building brand identity. You may think to yourself that the logo should be enough to build a strong brand for your company. If you think all that it takes is just your logo, then you should think again. You should go way beyond the logo because this is just not enough for you to convey to the general public all of the attributes that your brand holds to its name. Visual vocabulary then is the only way to go. And this would be comprised of all sorts of graphics that you use, particularly on your website, to strongly mold the identity of your brand, making it a force to reckon with in the market. Just to name a few of the aspects that comprise visual vocabulary, this would include the font styles, the colors, layout conventions, the shapes, the background, the text treatment, taglines, and the photographic library employed.

Since all of these graphics and visual elements will be used to make your brand stronger, then you should take it upon yourself to employ watermarks all over them. Let us say you are operating an online store that sells all sorts of gadgets, such as mobile phones, digital cameras, iPod players, MP3 players, laptops, and the like. Surely you will be posting pictures of the items you are selling online for your potential customers to see. However, not all of your visitors are actually potential customers. Some of them could even be your competitors, seeking out the competition in the market, and they just might use the pictures that you posted for their own purpose. You cannot allow this to happen, right? Thus, you have to employ the use of watermarking so that you can protect your pictures from unauthorized, and most certainly unlawful, use.

The great thing about using watermarks for your graphics here is that you can use the specific type of watermark. This means you can use the name of your brand or your company for the text of your watermark. This way, you can then use your watermark as free advertisement on the pictures of the products you are selling. What’s more, this would discourage your visitors from lifting the pictures from your site because they would have to deal with the watermark you place on your images. The pictures of the products that they plan to lift from your website would be useless because they would end up just promoting your brand or company.

Thus, if you are delving into branding graphics, then you should consider using watermarks to strengthen brand identity. Aside from brand strengthening, you also protect the interests of your business as well.

Placed here by Janet Schlarbaum