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ASK
OUR EXPERTS...
I am planning on hiring a graphic designer to create my business card
and brochure. What do I need to have in place to make the process run
smoothly?
By Illiki Rai of Rising Women Magazine
The first step is to ensure that you have a high resolution business logo on
file. If you don’t have a logo for your business, this then is the first
project for your new graphic designer. To make this process run smoothly
(and cost effectively), do some of your own research before hiring someone.
Gather examples of logos from other businesses that you like and look for
samples of images and font styles that reflect the message you want your
logo to portray. Having these visual examples in place will give your
designer a head start in creating a corporate identity that reflects your
business image. Logo development can be a very long and costly process if
you don’t have a solid idea of what you want the final image to look like.
If you already have a logo created, make sure that the copy you have on file
is a high quality image. If you had your logo created by another graphic
designer you should have already received files from them that are usable in
a variety of formats, such as a high res .tif, .jpeg or .pdf. If your
designer did not supply you with these files formats, contact them right
away and have them email them to you. The same goes for any other graphic
images you plan to use for your business cards or brochure. If they are not
high resolution, the printing quality will be crappy.
The next step is to decide on the content. For a business card, the text
displayed need only include a short tag line describing your business and
your contact information. If you are planning to have text on the back of
your card, keep it simple - point form works well. For your brochure, plan
each page as if it were a story. What information do you want to present? As
a basic example for a three fold brochure (an 8 1/2” x 11” sheet of paper
folded in three), the “cover” page displays very general information
including a quick business intro and contact information. The interior can
display paragraphs about your different products or services. The right hand
fold is a great place for testimonials and the very back page (when folded
in three) is an excellent placement for information about you (your bio) or
the mandate of your business. This page should also have your contact
information present.
Having all your text written and edited in advance will help your new
designer quickly create a format for your cards and brochures (and your
website) that fits the text, leaving room for visuals and an interesting
design.
To have your marketing questions answered by our panel of Experts,
email experts@risingwomen.com
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