Understanding the Principles Behind Custom Design Work
Good design is effective design. Across industries, good design can be a major differentiator for businesses, motivating buyers in a crowded marketplace. In order to capture customers’ attention, businesses need strong branding with professionally designed digital and printed materials. Whether it is for banners, postcards, websites, or social media, companies are in constant need of good design work.
From encouraging a buyer to select a specific product to guiding a user through your website, good print and digital design lead to more sales and greater business success. Print and reseller businesses that don’t have an in-house graphic designer can benefit from the full-service offerings of an outsourcing partner. DFS can help with design through fulfillment, providing start-to-finish assistance with orders and artwork.
What do print and digital design services have in common?
Print design and digital design are similar in many ways, with the same overarching goal, communicating with a target audience. Both print and digital design create visual content that shares information, products, or services.
What is Print Design?
Print design is any design where the final design will appear on printed media such as business cards, flyers, brochures, or banners. Print design is all around us and is used by almost every industry and organization, from education to non-profits to retail to corporate. Business marketing still heavily relies on print media to spread awareness of its brand, and there are a variety of ways that customers can utilize print materials.
Some of the most popular printed marketing materials include:
- Business cards – Often serving as the first impression of a business, business cards can also be used as appointment reminders, coupon or QR code cards, customer loyalty punch cards, and handed out at trade shows and event networking.
- Postcards – Direct mail postcards are particularly strategic because they appear directly in a customer’s mailbox. Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) is an affordable and effective method for businesses to reach customers in a specific area.
- Flyers and sell sheets – Great multifunctional advertising tools, flyers, and sell sheets can be used to promote an upcoming event, and they make ideal product sheets.
- Booklets and brochures – Offering more space, booklets and brochures can be a highly-strategic form of promotion and include smart options like mini-catalogs, maps, and product directories.
- Banners and posters – The size of banners and posters allows them to communicate important messages in a big and bold fashion that stands out from the crowd.
- Folders, letterhead, and envelopes – Branded business essentials like folders, letterhead, and envelopes build a cohesive brand look.
- Labels and stickers – Help customers call attention to products and mailings or add special details to packaging with customized labels and stickers.
What is Digital Design?
Digital design is a general term that is often used to describe any kind of design that is created and produced for viewing on a screen. Digital designers may create a wide variety of different types of digital media including:
- Banner ads
- Infographics
- Website elements
- Social Media Content
- Landing pages
- Graphics for reports and white papers (PDFs)
These design assets are key for effective digital marketing efforts. Social media and email in particular are some of the top online marketing platforms where businesses share digital design assets. Online marketing is an incredibly efficient way to communicate with customers, with marketing messages being easy to view where the average consumer is already spending their time. Online marketing has the added bonus of creating a wealth of data for businesses, making it simple to send personalized marketing emails or targeted ads and track customers through the purchasing funnel.
Where Print and Digital Design Intersect
A business may never know where someone will come across their brand for the first time, they might be handed a business card or see an ad on social media. This fluidity between print and digital interaction is why it’s so important to maintain brand consistency and design standards across marketing platforms.
The basic principles of design hold true for both print and digital mediums, namely the use of color, layout, typography, interaction, and usability. However, there are considerations to keep in mind for each medium.
Color – Color displays differently in print versus on a screen and a business will need to make sure colors appear consistent between the two.
Layout – For print designs, the size of the printed item will be a main determiner in layout considerations. For digital designs, it’s important that content can scale to fit various devices, with the layout remaining consistent.
Typography – Beyond simply choosing a font, typography also includes colors and styling. Designers need to keep in mind that the technique of arranging text can have a significant impact on the accessibility of a design, especially ease of reading.
Acting as a design team member, DFS will work with your print business to help your customers grab attention with a wide variety of custom design materials. Your customers will get business cards, checks, forms, and other custom printing materials all exactly how they want them, with solutions designed to fit all business needs, formats, and budgets.
Add expertise, and increase business resilience, without adding overhead. Contact us today to be matched with a DFS business advisor.
Key Takeaways
- Whether it is for banners, postcards, websites, or social media, companies are in constant need of good design work.
- Print design is all around us and is used by almost every industry and organization, such as business cards, flyers, brochures, or banners.
- Digital designers may create a wide variety of different types of media including banner ads, infographics, website elements, and social media content.
- Print design and digital design have the same overarching goal, communicating with a target audience.
- Acting as a design team member, DFS will work with your business to help your customers grab attention with a wide variety of custom design materials.
