We are visual people with a better understanding of what we see rather than what we read or hear about. If you have a brilliant invention idea, you may need to convey its usefulness before the prototype is developed. That means you’ll need some kind of imagery of what it may look like and what it does. Product illustration is the visualization of your idea, a conceptual representation. It is used to show and tell before you have the actual product to demonstrate. Eventually product photography will take its place, but for now illustration will do a great job simplifying the subject, making it easily understood.

The best time for product illustration is right away when you need a visual. You couldn’t send a product developer a flyer full of only letters and words. That would do no justice to the idea. An illustration will generate almost as much interest as a photo, so put it on a brochure to send out if you want to create some buzz early on or if you want to test the waters to see what kind of attention your idea generates. It could even be the drawing that you show to an engineer to help him or her decide on how to produce the prototype. They have to base their calculations off of something.

Different Options

There are multiple ways to illustrate a product: either with a computer or traditionally by hand. Either way works fine.

Computer Illustration

Computer illustration is the most common and can sometimes be quicker with a more realistic look. There are a few different illustration software programs that are the standard in use. Some work strictly in 3 dimensions while others act as more precise drawing tools. They can provide all sorts of textures and effects to make the product look alive.

Rendering By Hand

Rendering by hand can be done with pencils, paints, pen and ink or any art materials. The choice really depends on the product, like a soft and fuzzy stuffed animal, which could get that look through colored chalks. Charcoal will give an aged, hard look while watercolors would create more delicate artwork. Before anything, you’ll need to decide on your product’s branding, or its personality, that you want to convey to your audience. That will help determine the illustration style.

Multiple Viewpoints

Most likely you’ll need at least a couple views of the product to show its dynamics. The basics are front, back, side, top and bottom. There should also be an angled view to show the product more 3 dimensionally, which could also look up or down at the product. The views used just need to make sense with the most important details of the subject at the forefront.

A few more variations to reveal more detail are the cutaway view and the exploded view. If used, a couple basic views should also accompany them.

The cutaway view takes away external areas of the product or makes them transparent in order to see the inner parts. This allows someone to understand the internal workings of the invention in relation to its outward appearance.

The exploded view is literal in the sense that the parts of an object have exploded in an orderly manner. They are floating and separated slightly to show their relationship and how they fit together. This type of drawing shouldn’t ever be the main image to represent the product. It may do a good job explaining how the product works or how it’s constructed, but it doesn’t do an adequate job showing what exactly the subject is.

Technical Illustration

Going beyond product illustration, there is a style that is more complex and technically accurate, hence its name: technical illustration. The two styles are similar and can cross over categories, but they are used differently. Technical illustration includes all of the details, workings and parts drawn in perfect proportion and perspective for precise interpretation. Think more like careful drafting. If needed, it would usually be developed more toward or after engineering. If your brochure is introducing the product, you may not need an overly detailed image, so something more straightforward would do. However, if your brochure is intended to include assembly instructions or all of the product’s working parts, etc., then technical illustration (or an exploded view) could be the way to go. And when the product starts manufacturing and selling, technical illustration may be needed for its instruction manual.

Product Animation

Another step further is animating the product in use. It is an expensive process, but 3D animation does wonders for a demonstration. A good animator can program physics into the moving image creating an accurate representation of how your product would work and move.

Producing your invention’s illustration shouldn’t be difficult. You’ve spent time thinking about what this product looks like and how it works, so you’ll have a strong mental image and probably plenty of rough sketches to work from. You may not be a great artist or you may have no idea what software to work with, but there are professionals to help. They have the listening skills needed to translate your ideas into pictures and ultimately this drawing will translate the product’s ingenuity to your audience with smooth efficiency.

Contact Josh Wallace with any questions on product illustration.

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Your product is incredible. You developed the next innovative gadget or the handiest new tool. All mediums are significant to its advertising: brochures, flyers your website, etc., and a huge part of those is the product photography. Great photos establish the credibility of what lies behind your product, reflecting its excitement, importance or practicality. There are a lot of fine details in photography through your camera’s settings, the environment, lighting, background, angles, etc. There are professionals for a reason, but they can be too expensive for many inventors, so if you want to attempt it yourself, here is a list of guidelines to follow.

If you want to overwhelm yourself, try studying the ins and outs of taking professional photos in a day. I’m sorry, but it’s not as easy as pointing and shooting, although the camera that you’re most likely to buy is equipped to do so. There are many good digital cameras out there, so I’m not going to pick a favorite. Don’t pick the cheapest camera, and since you’re not a pro you surely don’t need the most expensive. They all have manual and automatic settings. If you’re a photo guru, then you’re familiar with aperture, shutter speed and how to set them. Chances are you aren’t a guru, so we’ll stick to some basic settings, but first we will go through how to set up your shots.

Background

First off, you need to keep a clean workspace. Clear the area of dust and fuzz along with your product. Wipe it down to make sure that there are no smudges or fingerprints. You don’t want these imperfections showing up in your photos since they will be noticeable.

As you set up your shot, think of how you want your product represented. Keep its branding, (its personality), in mind. Do you want the photo to tell an amusing or serious story? Do you want to show it in use? Maybe you just want a plain white background. If you have a funky new martini glass and want to portray it in an entertaining way, think of some fun settings that could decorate the scene. A party type atmosphere would be the most obvious. Gather all of the elements and set up your work area on a table. You may want to go shopping before hand to find some interesting pieces: a cool fabric to lie down as a tablecloth or a sheet of painted wood. Be creative. I once bought some window blinds made out of bamboo twigs and laid that down under a sheet of glass for an elegant yet relaxed look. Be sure to use something for the ground below the product and the wall behind it. You could scatter a few party favors and add a slice of fruit on the edge of the glass and beside it (with the glass filled, of course). Work with a color scheme—you don’t want to create a messy hodgepodge of random discoveries from your closets. The scene should complement, not distract from the subject.

It might make more sense to show your product in use. You should still set up a back drop of some sort. It could be a decorated background or plain / white. Then you may need a hand model or full body one. Make sure they look natural. You don’t want to cheese it up like a poorly produced infomercial (unless that’s the look you’re going for).

Lighting

After you set up your scene it’s not yet time to shoot. You still need to light the area. Your camera’s flash is not at all sufficient. It flattens the scene and washes out color. Professionals have it down to a science: they use all sorts of special lighting equipment that you probably don’t intend to purchase. But you can also use the light fixtures with clamps—the kind you’d buy at home improvement stores. I then prefer daylight color bulbs. You can purchase them at photography stores or on the Internet. Most other bulbs will discolor your space and product, requiring you to white balance your camera (instructions are found in its manual).

Clamp three or more lights to some chairs, etc., but don’t point them directly at the subject because you’ll get intense glare or hotspots reflecting off of the product and the other elements in the scene as well as dark shadows that take away from the experience. For simpler scenes or just the product by itself, get lots of soft light into the area. Professionals point the lights away from the scene into umbrellas, which then reflect not so harsh light back. You could set up a similar effect with multiple lights shining on poster board or hanging fabric to reflect light back into the scene.

Completely white backgrounds are produced a little differently. Typically I would do it in Photoshop. I just “cut” the object out of the photo. The product should be lit from multiple directions while against a contrasting solid colored background sort of like the blue (or green) screen for movie filming. The object that you cut out could then be digitally placed on to any color, background or scene. There are also light boxes to purchase or even make yourself (do a quick web search to find a tutorial). The product is set inside and is lit with diffused light shined through its walls. These are great for creating well-lit, completely white backgrounds.

Setting up and lighting your scenes does vary per subject. Experiment. Move things around and try out different situations to find out what works best. Shiny objects like glass show reflections, so keep that in mind. You don’t want your equipment or yourself showing up as a mirror image in your photos. White or very light colored objects obviously wouldn’t work so well with a white background. You want some contrast.

Use a Tripod

We’re getting closer to taking the picture! Put your camera into position with a tripod. There’s really no way around this. Holding the camera yourself permits blurring from the slightest shake. Tripods stabilize the camera and facilitate adjustments for different angles. Set the camera on timer mode so after you push the button the camera shoots after five or ten seconds. This takes away another possibility of a twitch.

Focus

Make sure that the camera is focusing directly on your product and not on any of the supporting elements. For smaller objects use the macro focus setting—the little flower symbol—which means it’s focusing on a tighter area with a shallower depth of field. Zoom the camera in all or most of the way and keep it far enough back so the object is in clear focus and so the scene will fill the picture. Move it back and forth while zooming slightly in and out until you find when it focuses the clearest. Auto focus is usually pretty decent at deciding what your subject is.

Take Lots of Pictures

Photography works best when you take tons of pictures at different angles, different settings, different positions and so on. The more variations you have, the more likely you’ll find what produces the best results. Likewise, the more pictures you have to choose from, the more perfect photos you’ll end up with. An easy setting to play with is the exposure compensation indicated as a +/- as its own button or within the options menu. If you add slight increments, it will further expose the picture by letting in more light. As you subtract increments, it blocks out light. I like to take a picture at one angle, add exposure for a couple shots, then subtract exposure for a couple and repeat that for each angle just to make sure that I have a wide range of shots.

You could create the most dazzling brochure, but if it’s backed up with crummy photos it will ruin the reader’s perception of your product. It is worth the time to set up a carefully lit scene to represent the emotion and experience with your product. If you have the budget, hire a professional because they will always do a superior job, but if you trust yourself enough as an amateur, then feel free to try it out yourself.

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Graphic Design – Logos, Flyers, Brochures, Packaging, Product Illustration, Photography and more

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10 Common Logo Mistakes:

1. The logo wasn’t designed for all mediums

The same logo you designed for your business card and letterhead may work on your brochures and flyers, but what about when you develop a website? Will it break up too much as a web graphic? What happens when you find a sponsorship opportunity and your logo is needed for a tiny space down at the bottom of an advertisement? Will it be clear enough to read?  Consider every medium: print, TV, web, embroidery, etc. This may involve having a couple variations of your logo: one that is set vertically and one that is set horizontally. If you have a flashier logo, a simpler version may come in handy when there’s not enough room to be so showy. Keep all logo variations consistently designed.

2. The logo doesn’t work in black and white

You’ll also need a black and white version of your logo for anything that won’t be printed in color. It’s not usually as simple as printing your color logo in black and white. Certain elements can fade away and become less legible or distinct. Develop a black and white version that has the same contrast and impact as the color version.

3. The product or industry category isn’t relevant in the design

I’m not saying that if your product is a guitar accessory you need a guitar graphic in your logo. Just give some sort of essence towards music or sound, etc. Sometimes the company or product name already begins that association. With a name like Wallace Guitar Accessories there may be more freedom for far out designs although you’re usually better off having something that will speak to people at first glance. Abstract logos have their place—they can be interesting and memorable, but that takes more time to establish.

4. The logo is unoriginal or cliché

Make sure to research your product and company category to see what others have used for their logos. You want to become part of the group, but don’t mimic them. Steer your logo in the direction of unique and groundbreaking.

5. The logo uses clipart or generic symbols

What a great way to be unoriginal and cliché! A lot of clipart has terms that don’t allow it to be used for logos anyway, but even if you were able to, why would you want something so commonplace in your design? Same with generic symbols that you can find within fonts such as Dingbats and Wingdings: they are used by millions of people all throughout the world. Don’t expect to be innovative when including them in your logo.

6. Poor font decisions

Can you name any fonts? I’m sure a few come to mind: Times Roman, Arial, Comic Sans… Since you’re not a designer, your list of known fonts is pretty short, so what does that mean about them? They’re too common to make your designs unique. Dig deeper. Most quality fonts need to be purchased. Search the web for the perfect one or consult your designer who already has a library full.

You’ll also need to consider how the font works within the overall logo. It should flow with the design and make sense with the concept. A watery, bulbous logo would work best with a watery, bulbous font or at least one with rounded letters. Don’t compromise legibility for a font that’s too stylized or fanciful. If the letters are too difficult to recognize people will mispronounce what it says, and if the letters are already too hard to read at normal sizes, think about how it will look when the logo is scaled down.

7. No attention was paid to letter spacing

This is one of those minor details that really does make a difference. The spacing between letters is called kerning and proper kerning doesn’t necessarily mean having the same equal gap between each letter. Every letter has a different shape. Some letters match up perfectly, but some combinations leave oddball gaps that should be fine-tuned. It’s more noticeable as you zoom in, so if an improperly kerned logo was ever featured at a large size, its unprofessionally spaced letters would stand out as amateur and look like a mistake.

8. The logo is heavy on text effects / Photoshop filters

This is also a great way to look amateur. When someone first experiments with Photoshop or similar programs, they apply all the effects like drop shadows and bevel/embosses or the filters that make their work look watercolored or plasticy. These  ” out-of-the-box” tools need to be handled with care. Beginners don’t know any better, so they apply them in thick coats with results that look like an overworked project from junior high.

9. Bad color combinations or choices

Red is a bright color that stands out, yes, but does that mean it’ll make your logo stand out? Not necessarily. So many logos already use red, so it’s become sort of monotone. However, if red has some significance to your branding, then take that into consideration. If you deal with medical supplies or tomato juices, the color red will have some meaning and that’s exactly what your color choices should do: have meaning. Colors should make sense, be harmonious and provide enough contrast for legibility. And remember, there is more to choose from than the basic primary colors!

10. The logo wasn’t built in vector-based software

Raster graphics are pixel based-graphics. Pixels are the dots in your screen that blend together to make up the images that you’re seeing. Digital photos, scans and anything produced with Photoshop or similar software is raster. If you’ve ever blown up a photo from the web, you can really notice all the little squares that make up the image. Now imagine if your logo was produced this way. Its quality would break up and look fuzzy as you enlarged it, or it would break down and fade away as you shrank it.

Vector-based software, like Adobe Illustrator, is mathematically based. Every line, curve, square, etc. that is drawn has a set of information that decides its shape. A vector logo maintains those mathematical equations, so when the logo is scaled the math is proportionally rewritten to accommodate that new size. Everything will always be nice and crisp since vector graphics aren’t dependent on pixels.

Like all rules, some can be stretched or broken if done for a very good reason, however, many of the rules above are pretty strict! You want people to view your company and products as important, distinguished and well established, so don’t represent your company with an unprofessional, amateur logo. If you take my list of common mistakes into consideration you’ll be able to move one step closer to those goals.

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1. Common Graphic Design Mistakes and the Solutions to Look More Professional

Creating these images and layouts, which is called graphic design, has infinite possibilities and solutions, so that means there is plenty of opportunity for mistakes. I know I’ve made plenty throughout my studies and career—they’ve morphed me into a wiser designer. I put this list together to help expose many issues I often see with people’s work.

This article will cover general design mistakes and the second article in this series will cover common logo design mistakes.

10 Common General Design Mistakes

1. There is no clear focus

Design should be more than words and images placed on a page. The information needs to be organized to support some kind of sales pitch. Think about the brochure rack at a hotel. There are dozens of pamphlets screaming for attention. If a few don’t clearly suggest what they’re advertising then they’re least likely to get picked up.

2. There is no hierarchy of information

This specifically relates to the order in which the information is looked at. Let’s continue with the hotel’s brochure rack. The top couple inches of each brochure is the only part you see at first, so that needs to be a strong focal point. A thick, bold font with a few words speaking the obvious and maybe a smaller supporting graphic would do the trick. “PIRATES’ COVE THEME PARK” with a skull and crossbones is to the point. Below that could be a nice cover image and a few key attractions or cleverly written copy as to why someone should seek adventure there. Inside the brochure should be a clear order of information: headlines to introduce blocks of copy, captions to define photos and so on. Consider the sales pitch to sell the reader in a step-by-step process. The spot you choose for pricing or the park’s location, etc. should all make sense.

3. There is a lack of whitespace

I work on a lot of direct mail advertising and all too often I have to coach clients into trimming down their copy. They have a lot to say and want to fit it all into their ad even if it’s only in 7-point size type. We typically don’t read through an entire ad anyway, so a ridiculous amount of information is going to bore the audience further. Again, your materials need a clear focus, so don’t cram your company’s entire life story into your ad. Sufficient margins and whitespace give readers room to breathe while allowing headlines and other information to be easily identifiable.

4. The copy is sloppy

There is a lot to mention in this section. Some of it may seem nitpicky, but it all really does help readability and make for a more professional looking piece.

Lack of space between lines of copy makes it difficult to read from one line to the next. If they’re too close, then readers might read a line, then go on to the next line only to find themselves reading the same line over again. That gets frustrating.

Widows and orphans are terms referring to short lines of type that look awkward. One example is where the last word of a paragraph is by itself on the last line. Another example is where the last line of a paragraph is by itself on the next page or column. Similarly, the last example is where the first line of a paragraph is by itself at the bottom of its previous page or column. Fine-tune the body copy to repair these issues.

Paragraph justification should be adjusted. Left justified paragraphs will have a jagged right side, so use (but don’t over use) hyphenation to help reduce the drastic difference between line lengths. Force justified paragraphs, where all the lines are equal in length, may end up having awkward spacing between words—sometimes the gaps are too big, sometimes the words are too crammed. Tasteful hyphenation will solve some of the problems.

Fonts bring another set of issues. Steer clear of the most commonly used fonts. They’re not unique enough to represent you. Choose an easily readable font. You don’t want to slow down readers because the body copy is too wacky or scripty. Don’t use more than a couple different fonts on your layouts. Choose one for the headlines, a different one for the body copy and maybe one more for any special areas that need to stand out somehow. Make sure all of those fonts don’t clash together. Avoid too much reversed type where a light colored font is on a dark colored background. This gets difficult to read especially with a lot of copy. Save it for smaller areas like captions. Don’t ever reverse fonts that aren’t bold enough. Don’t over use areas of all caps. Entire paragraphs of capital letters are difficult to read. Don’t stretch or squish type. There are plenty of fonts to choose from, so if you want a wide font, choose one that is already wide. Stretching fonts yourself distorts the letters. Don’t outline type in clashing colors or large areas of copy in any color.

5. Not enough contrast between the type and the background

Black type on a white background is always the easiest to read since it provides the most contrast. If you add a color behind the black type, make sure it’s light enough. If the type is a lighter color, make sure the background is dark enough. If the type and background are too similar in shades, legibility is sacrificed.

Be careful when overlaying text on photos. If it’s a caption, make sure that it’s strategically placed in one of the corners to provide the best contrast without covering important elements of the photo. Don’t use screened photos (lightened photos) as backgrounds behind type. It looks bad, the type is harder to read and photos should be treated with more importance anyway.

6. There is a lack of imagery

People like to look at pictures. They say a lot more than words. All forms of advertising and design should have a dominant photo or illustration which will be the first thing to attract the reader’s eyes.

7. No knowledge of photo resolution

Many clients tell me to use photos off of their websites for their printed ads because they’re unfamiliar with the drastic difference between the two resolutions. Web graphics are based on your computer screen, so they are set at 72 dpi (dots per inch). Printed graphics are produced with much more photo-like clarity, so they are typically set at 300 dpi or higher. That means a 4” x 4” photo on the web would convert to 1” x 1” in print. If the web graphic is printed at its original size, then it’ll appear fuzzy since you’d be able to see the individual dots that make up the image.

8. The design is heavy on text effects / Photoshop filters

This is a great way to look amateur. When someone first experiments with Photoshop or similar programs, they apply all the effects like drop shadows and bevel/embosses or the filters that make their work look watercolored or plasticy. These “out-of-the-box” tools need to be handled with care. Beginners don’t know any better, so they apply them in thick coats with results that look like an overworked project from junior high.

9. There is no color scheme

Let’s say your living room, dining room, kitchen and a hallway all share common walls that needed painting. Would it look very exciting if you painted all the walls the exact same color? Not exactly. It may be appropriate in some cases, but painting different rooms in different colors would add more interest. On the other hand, painting every single wall a completely different color would be inconsistent. Choose a set of colors that make sense for your message and use them tastefully. One color should be dominant on the page and the rest should be used for accents.

10. You forgot to proofread

Triple-check everything twice. Read through all your information before you supply it to your designer and read through it all when your designer supplies you with drafts. Have someone else read through it as well to make sure nothing was missed. Mistakes happen, but if everyone is doing their job triple-checking, then that possibility decreases.

Like all rules, some can be stretched or broken if done for a very good reason, however, many of the rules above are pretty strict! You want your audience to walk away from your advertisements and flyers with curiosity, fulfilled knowledge and especially the desire to purchase your products, so don’t represent your company as an unprofessional amateur.

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1. Common Graphic Design Mistakes – Logos
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Before I go further, I should first mention stock layout websites that offer pre-designed brochures where you can plug your information into. They look decent and have consistent designs among different formats where the brochure has a matching newsletter, postcard, etc. The problem is these do nothing for your brand and can end up looking half done. They’re not exclusive, so other people will be using your same look. Unless you’re a very low budget beginner looking to settle for less, then work with a designer to build something individual.

Step 1: Research

This should be the first step for all advertising and design. Look at a variety of brochures of all types to see what works best. The Internet is a great place to find examples. Also research design styles, concepts and themes that could tie your branding in with your information. This is how your brochures will take on a more unique personality.

Step 2: Decide the Brochure’s Goal

Will you be sending them out to buyers to persuade them to purchase your products? Will you be a tradeshow vendor introducing your new product? Are you advertising directly to the consumer? You’ll need to utilize a couple different types of brochures throughout your career. Your first brochure is generally used to introduce your product or company with key points to generate interest. For further information, you’ll also need the “Reader’s Digest” version filled with a lot more copy and possibly more pages—it’s everything that needs to be known about the product. If you only have one product or one product type, you should keep your materials completely product centered since unnecessary company information could confuse or bore readers. Multiple products may benefit from a company brochure that teaches the mission, ideals and then displays the products that complement them. The purpose of your brochure will determine everything that goes into it from headlines and copy to the images and overall design.

Step 3: Organize Imagery

A brochure’s main focus should be photos, illustration and/ or graphs, charts, etc.—they tell more in a shorter amount of time. If your product is still in the works, have it professionally illustrated. If you have a prototype or manufactured piece, high quality product photography is a must. It’s usually a good idea to show the product in its natural setting or in use. A cooking product should be photographed in a kitchen or being used by a cook. These images need to do the best possible job representing and demonstrating your product. Use a professional whenever possible. Photos taken yourself aren’t usually the best option unless you really know a lot about lighting and photography. Even then, the photos usually benefit from digital color correction and enhancement.

Supporting images are also a bonus. If your product category is law enforcement, then a photo or graphic of a police officer quickly and efficiently communicates this to the reader. Royalty-free stock photo/ illustration websites offer inexpensive imagery for purchase while most designers subscribe to them. Stock can be generic, but 100s of millions of images are available. They could even be manipulated and used more creatively. Avoid images that look too much like amateur clipart. Stay consistent with one style because mixing too many conflicting illustration types or photos will junk up the look.

Step 4: Write Headlines

They’re important because they break up and categorize body copy for easier reading. Writing them first helps outline the brochure. If you want to portray a more unique personality, then get creative with headlines and copy. With an extreme sports product, instead of “Product Benefits”, consider “Crazy Sweet Because…” It may be a great way to stand out by conveying this branding.

Step 5: Write the Body Copy

Writing for your brochure should come naturally. Stay clear of jargon, writing from the reader’s point of view. Take this article for example. The audience is mostly inventors, so I’ve written it from your point of view. Consider all questions your audience may have and answer them clearly. Stay brief without compromising any important information. Bulleted lists are nice when appropriate. Convey product benefits more so than features. Make it well known why anybody would want to purchase your product.

Step 6: Choose a Printer

The list of printers is extensive. Printing on your home printer will look too unprofessional, so check around for pricing and options. Many online shops provide inexpensive printing as long as you stick with their stock papers, templates and quantities. Otherwise a local shop lets you print just a few at a time without shipping costs plus you’ll have more freedom with paper options. Ask your designer for recommendations. You’ll want to consider the use of bleeds—they cost just a little more because the edges are cut off to make color and photos appear printed all the way to the edge for a more professionally finished look. Otherwise you’ll need a white margin around the entire page.

Step 7: Choose Paper

Paper choices are extensive too, so don’t automatically go for the glossy brochure paper. Glossy papers look higher quality and do a better job with photos, but a different option could look more unique. Consider textured papers, colored papers, thicker papers or lighter papers. A textured linen paper may provide a level of class to complement your product or a bright yellow paper may add some deserved zest.

Step 8: Design the Cover

It’s best to design the cover first since it’ll determine the look of the rest of the pages. There should be no or very little copy besides a title or headline. It should be dominant with strong imagery and graphics whether it’s the product itself or something that makes its category obvious. Two-sided flyers could utilize one side as the cover while one-sided flyers should have one large, prevalent image and title or headline before the body copy.

Step 9: Design the Inside Pages

Based on the cover’s look, there should be a consistency in fonts, graphics and colors that flow throughout the brochure in a way that makes sense and makes it easy to read. Everything should be there for a reason, supporting your product and brand.

Step 10: PDF Brochures

You should always have them for emailing or posting on websites for people to download. It’s not always as easy as converting your existing brochure into a PDF file, so some adjustment to the layout, etc. may be needed to optimize it for on-screen viewing. People read brochures in order of how they unfold it, so consider that with your PDFs.

Some optional ways to help your brochures stand out (if you have the budget) are unordinary shapes and folds besides the traditional bi-fold or tri-fold brochures. An environmentally friendly product could be in the shape of a leaf, for instance. A printer with access to die-cutting could do this. You could also cut them yourself, but that becomes time consuming. Other specialty techniques such as gold/ silver foils, embossing, stamping, letterpress printing or spot varnishing can produce beautiful work, but there’s always the added cost.

One thing to never forget is to proof read your work and triple check everything. Mistakes can be costly. If you want your brochure to direct sales, then use your branding and do the necessary planning to figure out how to advertise your products as cutting edge and meaningful. The best products out there would fail if they weren’t introduced and explained well enough. You’ve worked hard on your products, so don’t sell yourself short with clumsy advertising.

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Run a couple package design web searches and you’ll see this phrase repeatedly: “Packaging is just as important as the product.” It’s almost common sense, really. Some even go as far as saying, “The package is the product.” That may be bold, but nonetheless, packaging plays a tremendous role in selling your product—it’s the last chance (or maybe even the first chance) to advertise just before consumers make a purchase and studies have shown that most people make brand choices at the point of purchase. Spend the time researching packaging while thinking carefully about your audience and the stores you’ll be featured in and brand your product accordingly. Bring a designer into the picture early on and he/ she will help the package design solutions develop from the information and ideas that have gathered.

Branding is important. Companies brand themselves to configure their ideals, benefits, identity and develop their ad strategies from this characterization. Branding helps keep their image consistent, ensuring that their message won’t stray away. Products need to do the same. What are your product’s advantages? How is it different from the competition? What is its personality? You have to do more than inform customers. You must provoke emotions by branding your product with logos, advertising, press releases, etc., and, of course, the packaging. The following are basic steps that all designers must follow for successful packaging.

Research: You’ve researched plenty during the development of your product and you’ll continue to do so throughout the duration of its life. Assuming you’ve already studied the market and potential audience, you should now begin learning about packaging. Your designer is also an avid researcher, but it never hurts to figure out what attracts you and to bounce ideas off of each other. Go to different stores and look at packages. Focus within your product family and the stores you’d be featured in, but also look beyond. You never know where you may discover something useful. Search the Internet with Google web and image searches. Look through publications for packaging info and examples—magazines, books, online—both packaging sources and your product category’s industry publications. Find a handful of inspiring ideas and trends.

Structure/ Materials: A package’s shape and material play a big role in communicating to the customer. Take a stroll down the grocery aisles and notice all the competing brands within the same product category in all their different shapes, sizes and containers that create unique perceptions. Some products aim to be higher end, others affordable. Some are concerned with being all-natural, others would rather be a fun part of your day. A straight and narrow glass bottle will look more classy than a plump, plastic one. An uncoated cardboard box will look more environmentally savvy than a plastic wrapped container. How can your package’s structure and materials expand your brand?

Copy: Figure out what will be written on the package before you dig deep into the design. Space is limited, so be brief and figure out a hierarchy. Leave room for the brand name, the company name, a slogan (if desired), some quick, but important attributes/ benefits/ descriptions and any supplementary copy (instructions, storage info, warnings, etc.). Copy is another branding tool where you can be creative. If you want to be as clever and brilliant as possible, you may consider consulting a copywriter.

Graphic Design: Graphics compel the audience and quickly communicate significance. They can either be printed on the packaging materials or may appear on a label or tag of some sort. The basic design essentials are: color, typography, composition, logo use/ development, photo/ illustration use and the overall style/ concept of it all. This is another area where research is important. Setting up all the elements neat and orderly is a start, but it does nothing for your brand. Let’s say you have an exercise product that’s branded as a high-quality, high-energy, extremely efficient piece of equipment. Research those themes to inspire provocative imagery. What are some sources of energy that you could conceptualize around? How can you tweak it to connote quality and efficiency as well? With these rough concepts in mind, what fonts, colors and graphic elements could interplay in harmonizing your brand identity?

Remember to be practical. Of course you want to stand out, but your package can’t be too outlandish without the budget. Research pricing and be honest with manufacturers about your need for short runs where custom packaging would be too expensive. There are plenty of stock options that can be tailored to your needs, so spend more time thinking intelligently about branding with graphics. Besides, you’ll always continue to make improvements along the way, so this allows flexibility until your product’s growing demand provides you with a larger budget to spend on more drastic branding measures.

Do you think the package is the product? When it’s on the shelf introducing itself to shoppers, the answer is definitely yes. You want your products to fly off the shelves, so this is not the place to cut corners.

Related posts:

1. Give Your Business or Product a Makeover!
2. Creating Great Product Photos
3. Creating a Strong Market Presence

May is International Business Image Improvement Month.  Is your business or product’s image stale, tired or out-of-touch with your target customers?  Try a makeoever!

Makeovers have become a popular trend with people because they like the idea of reinventing themselves and the attention they gain from the experience. The same concept can also be applied to your company and/or products. You could rework your current logo into a more modern, professional symbol. You could update your brochures, promotional and marketing materials with a new look, focus or attitude. Or you could come up with a brand new, unique ad campaign to put yourself in a different light. There are many possibilities and any route is going to generate interest.

Corporations get makeovers all the time. This process is called rebranding. A brand is the overall experience and association with a company, its products and/or services—it’s the identity that makes the company stand out. The central point of most brands is the logo, which can sometimes even become the reason why people spend their money on certain products. Logos never stay the same over their lifespan. Companies need to progress with time and with their marketing focus. Here are a few examples.

logo evolutions

After the logo comes everything that it’s printed on. The rebranding flows into the look of the business collateral, the experience of the website, the feelings behind the packaging, the direction of the advertising and so on. 

Rebranding is prominent among corporations, but every company large and small has a brand experience that could be tweaked. Rebranding (and branding for that matter) can cost millions at the corporate level, but at a smaller scale, it doesn’t need to be so intense. Start with your logo(s). How long have you been using this logo? Could it use an update or does it make sense to keep it the way it is? Does it work as well as it could? Does it target every possible audience? Does it succeed locally, nationally or globally if needed? Your logo is your most important advertising piece and a new or updated version can really improve your image, amend the confidence with your current customers, create a new sense of interest with potential customers and ultimately generate more sales. 

If you update your logo you’ll also need to consider everything else that is used to promote and advertise your company, services and products, but if you decide that your logo is fine you should still ask the same questions to figure out if your collateral does the best possible job portraying you.

One key factor to remember during any rebranding is to keep your clients in mind throughout the procedure. Depending on the depth of the rebrand, a methodical approach should be used to refrain from alienating your existing customers. It never hurts to consult a branding specialist if your plan calls for radical restructuring, otherwise consult an advertising/design professional to help you revamp your materials.

Rebranding can be a useful process to re-identify and reposition yourself in any way that you see fit. It can be as detailed or as simple as you need or have the budget for. No company has a perfect brand experience, but periodic improvements will ensure greater success. It’s all necessary to stay fresh in the eyes of your customers and to gain the market share that you could be missing.

Josh Wallace is the graphic design associate at the One Stop Invention Shop.  To learn more about Josh, click here.  To see a list of his services, click here.

Related posts:

1. Is the Package the Product?
2. Creating Great Product Photos

Josh Wallace

We have been working with Josh Wallace for a few years already. Josh has never ceased to impress our clients and so when we started thinking of a graphic design associate, Josh was the first person to come to mind.

Josh even does all the graphic design work for us now too. He designed all of the great images for our new website and you can see much more of his work at his website: JoshWallace.com

Here are some of Josh’s many accomplishments:

• Graduate of the Art Institutes International in Minneapolis, MN.
• Attended state of the art advertising school, Brainco: Minneapolis School of Advertising, Design, & Interactive Studies.
• Recipient of the Merit Award for Art Direction and the Merit Award for Copywriting from the Advertising Federation of Minnesota.
• Illustrator for the critically acclaimed series, The Adventures of Papa Lemon’s Little Wanderers.
• Best of Show Award from the Art Institutes International Art Show.
• Design / Production Manager at Ambassador Communications Corp.
• Has worked with Don Debelak and a variety of inventors on flyers, brochures, instruction manuals, photography, product illustration, etc.

To visit Josh’s associate page, click here.

To find out more about all of the graphic design work he can do for you, click here.

Related posts:

1. Introducing Our Third Associate, T2 Design!
2. Introducing Edith G. Tolchin, our Second Associate!
3. Give Your Business or Product a Makeover!