Important elements:

If you are interested in designing your own business cards – use Minuteman Press free online design tool!

The reader’s attention needs to be attracted, either by content, design or format. There are many different types of newsletters and the task of creating compelling content can be tackled in three steps – branding, content and production.

The first step is to brand the newsletter to match the look and feel of the company. It is a good idea to choose a personality for the newsletter, be it light hearted, serious or educational. A colour scheme and font should also be chosen. It is better to keep these consistent across the newsletter as it looks more professional. The company logo should feature on the masthead of the newsletters. Decide on printing or e-mail delivery options, taking the demographics of the target audience into consideration. For example, pensioners prefer to receive newsletters in a printed format but corporate executives will prefer a concise e-mailed version.

Creating content for your newsletter

Content development involves deciding on the number of sections and articles, which includes both written and graphical elements. Newsletters generally have four sections – for example, a tourism insurance company may have Tourism News, Insurance News, Wildlife News and Company News.

Royalty free images can be sourced from websites such as Stock Photos and these can be used to improve the overall look of the newsletter by breaking up large chunks of text and providing points of interest on each page.

Newsletter production can include the following elements:

• Design or template – a graphic designer can produce a unique newsletter template or a template can be downloaded online. These are easy to edit and different colours and fonts can be used.
• Create an email account – another option is to subscribe to an online email newsletter service and create the newsletters using the online templates.

Remember to always proofread the newsletters before sending them out and be sure to follow up on the traffic or comments generated once it has been received.

Contact Minuteman Press Silverton for all your printing needs.

Your brand reflects the character and message of your company. If you’ve got more than two people sending out communication or representing your business, company stationary is definitely an investment you need to make.  While you may not need each and every type of stationary available, it is wise to invest in the basics for your business.

Company stationery can include:

• Business cards;
• Letterheads;
• Envelopes;
• Complimentary slips;
• Disc sleeves;
• Invoices;
• Electronic templates (emails, etc);
• And any other template for documents regularly used by the company, especially where dealing with the public.

Consistent application is important when it comes to your company’s image. Applying your identity to company stationery will normally follow a set of defined guidelines, including:

• Colour palettes
• Typefaces
• Page layouts
• And logo application (black/white/colour background, shape and size, resolution)

Using company stationary isn’t only a branding or marketing exercise – it also makes sure that your clients instantly recognise your communication. Applying branded templates also allows for your company contact info to be readily available to customers, keeping you always within reach and easy to contact.

Be sure your company’s brand is strong, recognisable and memorable by utilising company stationery as a branding tool and ensuring that all templates reflect the marketing message of your company.

Contact Minuteman Press Silverton for all your catalogue design and printing needs.

Some of these popular mistakes are easy to avoid. Here are a few newsletter design challenges that you should be aware of so that you can avoid them:

• Unnecessary graphic accents: One mistake to avoid in your newsletter design is the use of excessive graphic accents. These include shaded backgrounds, borders and rules that may not even be needed. The overuse of these accents might contribute to making the newsletter seem stuffed and cluttered instead of actually making the newsletter look better and easier to read. Steer clear of this all too common and costly mistake.
• Not enough white space on the page: This too is a common newsletter design mistake committed all too frequently. Simply allowing enough white space in the newsletter will add visual impact to all the other graphics, images and text present in the newsletter. This will make your newsletter stand out amongst other newsletters, make it easier and more enjoyable for your readers to read and emphasise the main points you are attempting to get across.
• Too much colour: In a designer’s enthusiasm to create a lively, colourful and interactive newsletter he or she might overuse colour in the newsletter design. Most interestingly, it is plain to see that when colour is used sparingly, it will have the most striking effect. It can make the newsletter difficult to read if too much colour is used in the newsletter design and your entire message might become lost in the mix. Thus use colour sparingly for the biggest impact on your readers.

For professional newsletter design and printing in Silverton, contact Minuteman Press.

Contact Minuteman Press Silverton for all your newsletter design and printing needs

Some businesses still shy away from using colour postcards in their marketing campaigns due to the costs involved with the printing of colour postcards. Yet more and more companies are discovering that colour postcard printing has never been more affordable than it is today.

Full colour postcards’ effectiveness derives in part from its ability to instantly catch the attention of the consumer. It is also a fantastic way to make contact with your customers or approach new consumers.

Colour postcards

Following are a few tips to keep in mind when considering using colour postcards in your marketing strategy:

• Say what you need to say: When working on the message of your postcard, remember to work on only one main message. Trying to convey too much information on one postcard will affect the effectiveness of your postcard.
• Use high quality paper: Your postcard will travel through the postal system before reaching your target audience. If you use cheap paper during the postcard printing phase then your postcards will not reach your consumers in a good condition and its effectiveness will definitely be compromised. You also don’t want anyone to associate cheapness with your brand.
• Know your audience: Remember to tailor the design and message of your postcard to your intended audience. You will approach a stay-at-home mom demographic differently than that of full time students or mechanics, for instance

There are many strategies to follow with colour postcard printing that will help you get the most out of your investment. Partner with experienced professionals that are able to help you.

Contact Minuteman Press Silverton for postcard design and printing

Keep in mind that while designing your own invitations will save you money, you should still get your invitations printed at a professional print shop. Normal desktop printers won’t be able to give you a professional look and feel.

Design guidelines for wedding invitations

• Theme: When you start thinking of ideas for your wedding invitations, you should think about the theme of your wedding day. You want your invitations to match the theme and colour of your wedding perfectly.
• Graphics: You can decide whether you want to create your own graphics with free programs on the internet or download clipart from the internet. Another option is to use your own pictures as background. Whichever option you choose, you should play with your graphics, pictures, borders, templates and colours until you find the combination that suits your wedding best.
• Printing: Even though it’s best to print your invitations at a professional printing shop, you should still experiment with different paper finishes and print a few invitations yourself so that you can get an idea of how they are going to look and feel.
• Envelopes: If you are designing your own invitations, you will probably design your own envelopes as well. You can fold it to your own style as long as they match your theme and colours.

We can create a memorable image for your wedding with an integrated system of wedding programmes, invitations, reception cards, and much more. You can choose from our samples or have our design department create a customized look from scratch. Contact Minuteman Press Silverton for perfect wedding invitations.

While most people use professional thermal binding services for this type of binding, you do have the option of purchasing a desktop solution that will allow you to do the thermal binding yourself.

How thermal binding works

Thermal binding is one of the few binding methods that do not require holes to be punched along the side of the document that is being bound. Tape or plastic strips are positioned and heated in such a way that the pages of the document or file are firmly bound together. Once the thermal binding process is complete, your pages will be neatly pressed and attached to one another.

Advantages and disadvantages of thermal binding

The two main advantages associated with thermal binding are:

1. Speed: The process involved in thermal binding is quick and efficient. Also, the document can be handled and used as soon as it has been bound.
2. Finish: Thermal binding leaves a document looking very professional and orderly. Using or adding covers to the document before it is bound is optional.
3. Practicality: The book or document will be kept organised and accessible when the thermal binding process is used. Besides books and novels, thermal binding is also commonly used for professional documents such as corporate annual reports.

The only notable disadvantage that this method of binding has is the fact that it is not very cost effective when compared to other binding methods. For example, spiral binding and stitched or sewn binding tends to be more cost effective than thermal binding.

Contact Minuteman Press Silverton for all your binding and finishing needs.

There is a huge range of paper stocks to choose from when printing this way and there is also a lot of room for creative freedom when you choose litho printing. Besides this type of flexibility, it is also the most popular printing technique used for high volume printing jobs.

Why Litho printing for high volume printing jobs?

• High volume means less cost: The main reason why companies choose litho printing for high volume printing jobs is because they work out to be a lot more cost effective. While litho printing (which is an industrial process that requires the manufacturing of customised plates) is pricey if you are printing a low volume of things, the more prints you require, the cheaper the unit cost will be.
• Speed: Another reason why litho printing is a great option for high volume printing jobs is that it prints relatively fast once the plates have been set up. Experienced printing companies can print very large volumes of prints in a short amount of time when using the litho printing machines.
• You do not have to compromise on quality: It is important to note that each print will be of high quality irrespective of how many prints are made. This is why companies choose to print high volumes of promotional material, such as flyers and brochures, this way. Colours and images are reproduced wonderfully well.
• Unique effects and colours: Litho printing also allows companies to print with “special colours” such as metallic gold or silver, which is great for poster printing and annual reports.

Contact Minuteman Press Silverton for high volume printing and all your printing needs

The relief process uses woodcuttings and produces colour or monochromatic prints by a very simple method of cutting the wood and then inking the paper to produce a sort of a stamp. The design is drawn directly into the wood, which is cut into a plank (a process known as wood engraving). The artist then uses a burin to produce a varied assortment of tones that are deeper and richer than the ones that are made possible with standard woodcutting methods.

Europe was home to some of the first colour printing techniques, with one of the first examples being printing in 1457; a book known by the name of Psalter was the result. In the sixteenth century though, chiaroscuro prints begun to be more popular, this was when three or more colours were shaded onto the blocks of wood and printed in layers in order to develop the full range of tones. From roughly the middle of the nineteenth century full colour printing became very popular as the cost went down due to the craftsmen being able to fully understand the art of colour printing.

Contact Minuteman Press Silverton for full colour printing and all your printing needs.

Just because something is tried and tested, does not mean there is no gap for improvement. If you really want to gain a competitive advantage over your competitors, do something new and innovative with your next brochure design. This is necessary as to grab attention and tell the reader that your entity is something fresh, something new and that the service/product you provide consists of the same qualities.

Improving the look of your brochure can be as simple as modifying your brochure design so that it is less complex. Too many design elements, copy or a complicated layout may look like a brilliant piece of artwork – but complex brochures are often too busy and avoided by readers.

A shorter brochure might be a good idea as it can leave the impression that your entity is concise and gets down to business. A longer brochure might be a better idea if your intended reader needs a significant amount of information as your product/service might be of a very complex nature.

Simple brochure design

Clichés exist for a reason. This is also applicable when it comes to designing a brochure (or any other type of marketing collateral for that matter). Here are a few simple brochure design tips:

• Keep it short and concise. There is a big chance that a reader will lose interest half way through a complex sentence.
• Provide enough information so that if the target audience member is interested in the product/service, he or she can contact the company.
• Remember to put your contact details on the brochure (list the head office number and address – not a bunch of branch numbers or contact people).
• Only have one or two design elements – not a bunch of pictures, logos and contrasting colours.

You never want to bore your reader with your brochure printing. They should be able to grasp an idea of the organisations vision, mission and intrinsic identity by just glancing at the respective pages. A more simplistic approach also assists in conveying the objectives an entity wishes to achieve through the brochure. Brochure printers in Silverton possess the knowledge and experience to give you advice and ideas that can influence your brochure design.

For brochure printing and design, contact Minuteman Press Silverton.