Second Nature Graphic Design's Blog

Some Upcoming Articles:
Here's a few of the topics we're planning to cover, if there's something else you'd like to see send Kelly an email and let her know.
• Fancy Stationery: On any budget.
• Packaging: Labels, boxes, CD/DVD covers...

23 July 2008

Wedding Stationery: Some Tips and Answers to Some Frequently Asked Questions

So this entry is a little different, and not at all business related! But, I've been doing a lot of wedding stationery recently, and these clients are just as important as our corporate clients, so this one's for all the brides to be.

To start with, you'll have a wedding theme, even if it's just a colour theme. If you're having trouble choosing a colour theme, I've put some points to consider at the bottom of this entry. Click here to go straight there, but if you already have your theme sorted keep reading.

Papers, papers and more papers! There are so many, and you can get them to match anything. Patterned, textured, metallic, plain, translucent, and many have matching envelopes. If not you can contact us and ask us to send you a template for an envelope, free of charge, if you want to D.I.Y. and construct them yourself, out of any paper. We can also source and order your papers, if you just can't find what you're looking for

If you can't find the exact paper colour or pattern you're looking for, it can always printed specifically for you. We're currently working on our own designer range, so keep an eye out for those too. We'd love some feedback on what patterns and styles you'd like to see around, so if you have any suggestions, please contact us. If we create something based on your idea for our own range we'll send you enough for your invitations free!

Handmade invitations were very popular, with layers of paper, and other embellishments, but recently printed options, created specifically to the couple have taken off. Photos can be incorporated, images can be drawn, recently we designed one based on a tree and tulips for a garden wedding, something specific to the area in the park the couple were getting married in. Anything you want can be done. If there's something you're not sure about feel free to ask us. Printed invitations can also be cheaper than handmade options.

"Branding" your wedding stationery with a monogram or image, doesn't have to be restricted to invitations. There are RSVP cards, envelopes, guest tree cards (if you want an unusual alternative to a guest book), bomboniere boxes, place cards, table numbers, signs for disposable cameras, order of service, seating arrangements, menus, wishing well or gift registry cards, guest books, labels, seals, anything you like.

Printed options don't always have to be flat, single sheets of paper ether. There are unlimited options. If you are having a Japanese themed wedding you might want your invitations to fold into paper cranes. Menus can be turned into lanterns, bomboniere boxes can be any shape you like, you might have a wishing well poem printed on an envelope for your guests to put money or vouchers in, the only limit is your imagination, or your designers.

If there's something that you have been looking for, but just can't find, contact us, we might have the solution.

We also have some bomboniere box templates, and CD/DVD sleeve envelopes (so that your guests with digital cameras can send you their photos from the big day) which we're happy to send you, free of charge. They're PDFs, and you can print them on your choice of paper and construct them yourself. Just contact us and let us know what you're looking for, and if we can help you we'd be more than happy to.

Colour Theme Tips:

Red represents passion. In China, red is considered lucky, and is used in weddings and most important celebrations.

Green is generally related to nature, environmentally friendly, plants, and is calming and a cooling colour.

Blue is cool, calm, and would suit an ocean or beach themed wedding.

White goes with anything, but is a mourning colour in some cultures, particularly with Buddhists. An alternative to bright white could be cream, ivory or champagne. Lots of white will make your reception room look more open and spacious, and white also works wonderfully with Spring and beach themed weddings.

Yellow and orange are fun, bright, happy colours, warm, associated with Summer, sun and very cheerful.

Purple is often linked to royalty and is very luxurious.

Pink tends to represent love, a more innocent colour than a bright, passionate red.

Browns are very earthy and natural, and come in so many different shades, from a light tan/beige up to a deep chocolate colour. Browns can accompany many colours, and look great with greens and purples, and would suit a vineyard wedding.

Black is a stunning colour, it's very formal, and looks lovely with red or silver, while charcoal tones are another good alternative. Lots of black tablecloths and chair covers will make your room look smaller, which could be a good thing if you want it to be more intimate, but at the same time it could be a bad thing, it really depends on your setting and the rest of your wedding theme. A small amount of black teamed with bright pink can be stunning.

If you have a favourite colour but can't find something to match with it, feel free to contact us to see if we can suggest something.

Click here to continue reading from where you left off.


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15 April 2008

Direct Mail: How to Make it Work for Your Business

Direct mail can be successful, but most of the time it has no impact. The reason isn't that direct mail doesn't work, the problem is how it's done.

Direct mail can be in many forms, addressed letters, unaddressed letters, flyers and leaflets, post cards, and various others.

It can also be targeted, sent only to specific business types, or to potential clients or existing clients from your own database, or sent to a large group, without targeting one specific market.

Many businesses won't benefit from direct mail unless it's targeting a specific market. Sure, a pizza store can send marketing material, such as vouchers, out to everyone in their area, but a commercial office cleaner has to target businesses, or real estate agents, and a racehorse trainer will only benefit from targeting racehorse owners, or people looking at buying a racehorse.

The biggest problem businesses face with direct mail is getting the right message across. Once you've selected your target market, you need to know how to target them. This is where a copy writer can come in, if you're not great at writing, get a professional to do it for you.

What is your offer, or reason that a potential customer should call you? Most of the time a business will offer a discount, but that's not always the best option. There are many other incentives, without discounting your products or services. Possibly a competition, a great guarantee, or something that sets you apart from your competition, such as an electrician who is always on time, or a pest control technician who only uses child and pet friendly products. Some discounts can be beneficial, but explore other options too.

Now that you know what you're offering, it needs to read well. A great headline, to grab your potential customers' attention is a good start. Catch their interest and give them a reason to keep reading, instead of binning your letter or flyer with the other junk mail. The rest of your offer or article needs to be clear, well written, and make sure there's no spelling or grammatical errors. Your business needs to look reliable and professional.

Now, it's the medium that needs to be chosen. If it's a letter, especially unaddressed, consider "lumpy mail". Lumpy mail makes people curious, and want to open the envelope, just to see what's inside. Pens are great for this, and cheap to post, but all kinds of other promotional material will work too.

Marketing cards, made from heavy card, often laminated, or postcards are another option, and probably cheaper, but the amount of information you can fit on them is limited. Post cards are a good option, you can address them personally, and they're great to send out to people you've met or collected details from at networking events, expos or trade shows. Flyers are the cheapest option, but they also look like they're the cheapest option.

Lastly, it's the actual design that needs to be considered. Are you having one or two sides, full colour or spot colour? Does your layout fit your branding? Does it reflect the message that you're trying to send? A classy, luxurious item, such as a day spa really shouldn't have great big fluro stars with "CHEAP!" all over them, and a kids' indoor playground shouldn't be black and white, and dull. Do your fonts and colours work? Are your images good quality? I recently was sent a flyer for a photographer, with really bad quality images, and that did their business more harm than good.

If you're not capable, or confident with designing a good flyer yourself, leave it to the professionals. Here, at Second Nature Graphic Design, we can generally design artwork for marketing cards, post cards and flyers within a day or two, and artwork is included in our quotes for printing all of these items.

We can also organise promotional material for "lumpy mail" and recommend a copy writer to you if needed.

Most of these rules apply to email marketing campaigns, however, with email campaigns (and text messages) you can only send your messages to people who you have legally added to your database, otherwise you'll be breaking spam laws and could face hefty fines.

Comments & Questions about this Article:

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04 April 2008

Copy Writing: Proposals,Tenders, Annual Reports, even Brochures

I frequently hear comments from new clients "letterbox drops/direct mail just don't work" or "magazine/newspaper ads don't get us any results" and they believe that it's the advertising medium that's the problem, where as often it's the message or the way the ad is presented that's not working.

In business, you cannot be everything. Most business owners/managers are aware of this fact, they have an accountant to do their tax, an IT person, they get a builder in to do renovations, but for some reason they overlook this fact when it comes to marketing.

No matter what the medium, advertising and promotion require well laid out ads that present a message to your potential clients that grabs their attention. The problem could be as simple as needed a high impact headline, or a unique selling point, or you could simply be sending the wrong message to the wrong market.

Just like you should have a designer put your ad together so it looks professional, you should consider a copy writer to help with the writing. The same applies to product descriptions for brochures, and there's specialist web copy writers to help with your website, to get you better search engine results.

Spelling and grammar are important, nothing looks more unprofessional than a poorly designed ad or flyer with spelling mistakes all through it, but there's a lot more to good writing than running your document through spell checker. If in doubt, get a professional. Remember, marketing is an investment, not an expense, and you want good returns from your investment. Wasting money on printing or advertising with a poorly written ad is a bad investment, you won't see a return.

Annual reports, tenders and proposals require excellent writing. This will be going to your investors, potential clients, and may be the first real impression they get about your business. Make it a good one. It needs to look visually appealing, but, when they read it, it needs to be professional, and they need to know be comfortable with you. With tenders you'll be up against a lot of your competitors, you need to stand apart, and look the best qualified and the most capable. A professional writer can help you achieve this.

So don't just assume that you can do it yourself, if writing isn't your strong point, save your time, and use it on something you are capable of doing, and get a professional copy writer to do their job, helping you grow your business.

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29 Feburary 2008

Special Effects

Sometimes you want to give your printed items such as stationery and business cards a real wow factor. Sometimes the normal printing options won't achieve this for you, and this is when you consider special effects.

Here are some of the special effects available to you for your printed stationery, business cards, presentation folders, and other printed items. With some of these you don't even need to print. Foiling can be enough, and replace printing entirely, especially for business cards, magnets and presentation folders.

Metallic Inks:
This isn't really a special effect, it's just another spot colour, but many clients don't realise this. Metallic inks are no more expensive than any other spot colour, and they can look stunning, however, they don't suit all paper types.

Scented Inks (Scratch 'n' Sniff):
Apple, coffee, chocolate, lemon, orange, strawberry, eucalyptus, even car leather, there are so many to choose from, and they're not that expensive, it's just printing an extra ink.

Foiling:
Foiling is where a layer of foil is transfered to the paper or card. It looks stunning. There are many colours and patterns, including high gloss metallic, matt metallic, mother of pearl, clear, white and black for that shiny but not too over the top look, diffractional patterns, rainbow metallic, and metallic reds, blues, pinks, greens as well as the golds, bronzes, coppers and silvers. Foiling is more expensive, and most of the cost is with the set up, including creating blocks with the image to transfer the foil. Repeat orders are cheaper, since you already have the block made up, and with foiling you pay for the area the foil takes up.

Embossing:
Embossing is where an image or text is made 3 dimensional by raising parts of the image. This works best on lighter papers and cards, if you choose a stock that's too heavy it won't work. This can look amazing, and very high class, without being too over the top. Something to consider is that the raised parts on the front of the page will be pushed up, so it will look reversed, and sunken from behind. For letterheads and business cards this normally doesn't matter, but for some brochures it might, especially when it's text that's embossed, because the text will appear back to front on the reverse side.

Lenticular (Moving Images):
Lenticular printing is done on a plastic. It's what the moving images found on little cards and things in cereal packets are. You tilt it and the image changes. Lenticular printing suits business cards and postcards. It's not the cheapest option, but the effects are awesome. You can have a small animation, like a bird flying from one place to another, two totally different images depending on which angle you look at it from, or a 3 dimensional still image with a lot of depth.

Printing on Foil:
Great for Christmas cards, book covers and postcards, you print solid colours over the top of metallic foil card. The heavier the ink the less shiny and metallic, the lighter ink you see the shiny foil through, and on areas with no ink it's full foil. it looks beautiful for some photographs and images, but doesn't work well for others, and the minimum print run is quite high. These can have normal full colour printing on the back.

Most special effects only suit certain items/products, and don't suit all business types, so if you're after something more unusual to make your business stand out from the crowd speak to us. Here, at Second Nature Graphic Design, we'll help you come up with something amazing to make your customers saw "WOW!"

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22 Feburary 2008

Papers and Cards: How to Choose Your Stock

Why have your business stationery printed on plain bond when there are thousands of different options to make it stand apart from your competitors?

Remember, for many of your potential customers, other than a phone call, letters, quotes, and information you send them will give them their first impression of your business. Make it a good one, because first impressions count.

What kind of paper will suit your business?

There are textured papers, coloured papers, old fashioned looking parchment styles, shimmery papers, full on metallic papers, recycled papers, good quality, brilliant modern white papers, there are thousands to choose from. We can show you a range of paper samples to help you decide.

Practicality has to be the most important thing to consider, so before settling on a particular paper order some sample sheets. Make sure your printers can print on it. Letterheads are useless if they won't work in your office printers. Many styles guarantee that they'll work on laser printers or ink jet printers, but always do a test run. This is good if you're choosing a coloured or textured paper and want to see how your letters will look on it too, to make sure it stands out enough.

Paper needs to match your logo, your business type, and your business colours, so consider it carefully, and don't just choose something you like personally, choose something appropriate.

A shimmery pearl paper would be perfectly suited to a bridal store or jeweler, but probably isn't the best choice for an environmentally friendly business selling compost bins and worm farms. A better choice for them would be a recycled paper.

Parchments would suit a second hand book store, or a calligrapher, but not a modern furniture store. They would be better off looking at a high quality, bright white paper.

An unusual paper can be a good way to create an amazing looking letter head and to keep your costs down. Many fancy papers aren't that expensive, and you can print one or two colours on them, often halving your printing costs.

Many papers come in various weights, so you can use the same style stock for business cards, presentation folders, and other items you need.

Of course, sometimes bond is the best option for your business stationery, but it's worth considering all your options. Speak to us about your requirements and we'll help you find a solution that works for your business.

Comments & Questions about this Article:

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15 Feburary 2008

Colours, and How to Choose Them

When you choose colours for your business you need to consider more than what your favourites are.

You need to decide on how many colours you want, 2 colour printing is often a lot cheaper than full colour, and with signs and vehicle graphics it generally costs less for less colours too.

There are millions of different colours and shades, the possibilities are unlimited, so put some real thought into all your options.

The most important thing to consider is what colours represent and symbolise, and what they mean to your target market.

For instance, red is considered by most western cultures to represent danger, sexuality, passion, and heat. A swimming pool business wouldn't benefit from using red, their customers want to cool down, not get hotter. A natural therapy business doesn't want to suggest danger. At the same time, in China, red is considered lucky, and is used in weddings and most important celebrations. If your target market is in China then red has a totally different meaning.

Green is generally related to nature, environmentally friendly, plants, and is calming and a cooling colour.

Blue is a very popular corporate colour, cool, calm, professional, but it can be used by a lot of your competitors, and you may want something different to stand out.

White is great for bridal businesses in western countries, but is a mourning colour in some cultures, particularly with Buddhists.

Yellow and orange are fun, bright, happy colours, warm, associated with Summer, sun and very cheerful.

Purple is often linked to royalty and is very luxurious.

With spot colour printing (any number of colours, normally one or two, not full colour) and signs and vinyl car graphics metallic colours are also an option. These work very well for businesses selling up market products, luxurious, high quality clothing, jewelry, resorts and hotels, day spas, bridal, and many more.

Metallic colours aren't limited to gold and silver, there are hundreds of them, including blues, reds, greens, pinks, oranges, and many more.

Spot colours can be printed over full colour documents too, simply a logo or something you would like to highlight over photographs, which can be great for high quality brochures or annual reports, but it does add an extra cost.

Printing costs depend mainly on setup time. Each colour requires the press to be set up, to be printed, and drying time. 2 colours involves half the work of full colour (which is made up of four colours: cyan, magenta, yellow and black , which when mixed can produce any colour except for metallic, and is used for photographic printing). Because of this spot colour, using one or two colours, can often be cheaper than full colour printing. However, this isn't always the case. Some printers offer cheap printing for full colour work that can fit onto a bulk run (many jobs printed at the same time on big sheets of paper), particularly for business cards, DL flyers and brochures. In this case the setup cost and time is split between many clients (maybe 20, maybe 50) so it brings the cost down. Spot colour can't go onto a bulk run because it's unlikely they'll have enough jobs using exactly the same colours.

One more thing to consider is the colour of your products themselves. If you plan on having clear labels over products such as bottles of drink, perfumes, or clear packets you need a colour that won't clash and that will stand out. Fluro pink over a red product will look horrible, and black over a dark brown will be too hard to read.

Here, at Second Nature Graphic Design, we can help you choose colours to suit your business. Ask us how we can help you to achieve the look you're after.

Comments & Questions about this Article:

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

08 Feburary 2008

Making the Most of Your Business Cards: Getting Them Out There

So now you have your business cards... What next?

One problem a lot of people have is simply getting their cards out there, into the hands of potential clients.

So, here's a list of ideas to help you:

• Networking events. Take twice as many cards as you think you'll need, give them to everyone. Don't just shove them in hands and move on, chat to the people, give them a reason to remember you.

• Other businesses. Approach other businesses, not your competition, but complimentary businesses work well. An example would be a car detailer trading cards with a mechanic. You can leave your cards, in a holder, on their counter and ask them to give them out and refer you. Of course, you'll need to do the same, and make sure the businesses you do this with are reliable and honest, if a dodgy mechanic that's just overcharged you recommends another business to you you're going to avoid it at all costs.

• Send them out, with every invoice, every letter, everything you mail to you clients and potential clients, and send a couple at a time. If your clients are happy with you they're going to hang onto your card for when they need to contact you, so give them more that they can give their friends and colleagues when they refer you. They're not going to give away the last card they have, so give them plenty.

• If you have presentation folders don't just put one in the card slot, put a few, for the same reason as above. Make sure happy clients have cards to give out when they refer you.

• Community notice boards. Pin a few up, and keep restocking them as needed.

• Use them as "scrap" paper. This only works if you have a blank back, but if you get asked for directions, a phone number, or refer another business, and need to write down the information for a stranger write it on the back of a business card. Not only will they hang onto the card for the information on it, but you and your business will be remembered favourably as helpful and the card will probably end up in their holder or wallet in case they ever need your products and services.

• Give a handful to friends and family. The more people who hand them out for you the better.

• Are your kids organising play dates? Give them business cards to give to their friends at school. Their parents will need your number to organise a time anyway, and now they know what you do, what you provide and where to get what you have to offer, from someone they trust.

• If you sell products both retail and wholesale consider putting your cards into the packaging so that people who buy your products from a different store learn where to buy them directly.

• Show bags. If you're going to trade shows, or have friends, family or business contacts with stalls at fairs, shows or expos get your cards into those show bags.

* Give them to people you're hiring, or who are trying to sell you products or services. If someone's going to give you a call or send you an email about putting up a pergola or washing your dog, give them your business card instead of telling them your phone number or writing on a scrap bit of paper.

• If you can, consider an acrylic card holder outside your office. This is only worthwhile if a lot of people walk past, and you'll have to keep an eye on it in wind or rain, but potential clients who want to avoid you trying to sell things to them until they have done a bit more research, had a look at your website, or have decided for certain that they need your services (and there's a lot of potential customers just like them out there) will feel more comfortable taking a card from outside than from a counter with a receptionist.

• There are businesses who rent space in large, business card holders that are placed in high traffic areas. If you're considering this approach do your research first. As well as researching before, make sure you monitor your results. One way is to get two lots of business cards printed, a standard one for you to hand out and another one especially for these holders, with a discount voucher or special offer, so you are aware of what sales are coming from your investment. Remember, all marketing is an investment, and if you're not getting returns it's time to invest elsewhere.

Comments & Questions about this Article:

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01 Feburary 2008

Our blog is live! This is the first of our articles, written to help your business build a better image and gain better success through clever design.

Designing a Business Card that Works

Business cards are only going to work if the people you give them to hold onto them. A business card isn't going to get you any enquiries or sales if it's in the bin. If it's not being kept it's not getting you sales, and if it's not getting you sales it's costing you money instead of making money for you.

Second Nature Graphic Design can organise a unique business card, that works for you, with one of our suppliers.

Here's a few things you can do so that your potential clients want to keep your card instead of throwing it away.

Sometimes simply looking better or being unusual is enough to have your potential clients hang onto your card. We have many unusual and attractive options ranging from unusual papers (or plastics), scented inks (scratch 'n' sniff), metallic foils and inks and embossing to engraved metal look plastic or lenticular (moving and/or 3D) images.

How about a discount voucher or special offer printed on the back? Now the card is worth something and most people will hang onto it simply because it's worth something. A good example are rewards cards, often used buy cafes and fast food outlets, buy 10 coffees and receive the 11th free, and similar offers. Other options are scratch off panels, good fun, and with a discount or prize under the panel.

There's also the option of having a "useful" card. A business card that doubles as something else. The most common option is a magnet, but there are other options, including engraved metal bottle openers, fully functional, but the size and shape of a standard business card, and these can be single or double sided. Nobody's going to throw away a bottle opener.

Extra information can also help. Instead of leaving the back of your card white put a list of your products and services there. Existing clients might not know that you sell potted vegetables as well as being a landscaper. If you have that there, for them to see, they'll probably bypass the nursery and go straight to you. Give them information that will help them to choose you over your competitors. Make it easy for them.

A card that works doesn't have to cost a fortune, it just needs to have some extra thought put into it, and be created to suit the business it's representing. At Second Nature Graphic Design we put that thought into our work and can give you some suggestions that will work, and to stick to your budget.

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