Marketing materials are a form of communication.
It’s important that they reflect your business in the best light and are consistent with your visual brand.
With graphic design software easily available at our fingertips, more businesses than ever are creating their own marketing materials. If you are a small business owner or manager making your own promotional flyers, postcard mailers or brochures, consider these three design tips:
Use clean, simple design. Keep the layout of the piece clean and simple, with plenty of whitespace. This is important to make the design inviting and easy to understand. Be careful not to have too many elements competing for attention. This is overwhelming and confusing to the viewer. Prioritize what you want the viewer to focus on. Be mindful of the design space and how the eye will travel through the visual elements. Does it feel comfortable and inviting to read? Does it get your message across clearly?
Create contrast. Contrast helps make the design eye-catching and easy to read. Use dark type on a light background or a dark background with light type.
Choose fonts carefully. Select the fonts to match your branding, business personality and message. Conservative? Playful? Hip? There are fonts to match. Do keep in mind that one of the most common mistakes inexperienced designers make is to use too many fonts, which ends up looking unprofessional. Keep it simple—use one font for the headline(s) and another for the text. Or try a sans serif font for one and a serif font for the other. Another effective font strategy is to stay in the same font family and use bold or semi-bold for headers, and regular for the text.
It’s also helpful to pay attention to graphic design you find appealing and effective. Study it and ask yourself: What makes this work? Why is it appealing to me? Then remember and apply what you’ve learned to your own designs.
We wish you success in your marketing endeavors. Remember that Bellingham PR and Communications is here to help. If you would like some professional assistance for your graphic design and marketing, give us a call. Our Bellingham/Lynden graphic design team are excited to chat about your project.
