| It's almost 5 o'clock on Friday afternoon. Do | | | | for repeating certain elements throughout |
| you know where your newest marketing pieces | | | | your piece to make the whole piece come |
| are? If you're a small business owner, they | | | | together visually. For example, use the same |
| may be buried on your desk because you've got | | | | color, shape, and size for all your bullets. |
| so many other important details to handle. Or | | | | Also make all your headers the same size, |
| they're still sitting on your assistant's | | | | color, and font. Go for more and repeat |
| desk where she's staring at them hopelessly. | | | | specific graphic elements (e.g., boxes, |
| She's an admin assistant, for heaven's sake, | | | | banners, rule lines, etc.) throughout the |
| not a designer, and she knows what she's | | | | piece. A word of caution: When you review |
| produced so far is not very memorable or | | | | your work, make sure you've used all of these |
| effective. | | | | design elements consistently. |
| | | | |
| All of us would like to think our product is | | | | 4. Pay attention to proximity Proximity |
| so good, our services so unique, they'll | | | | refers to the exact spatial relationships |
| simply sell themselves. Not so! Strong | | | | between elements. For example, you create |
| branding, powerful images, compelling web | | | | visual relationships between photos and their |
| pages and outstanding marketing pieces make | | | | captions by keeping the captions close to the |
| or break that upward sales curve you crave so | | | | photos. For subheads, a pro positions them |
| urgently. In today's market, your customers | | | | closer to the text below than the text above. |
| and clients are influenced more than ever by | | | | Apply this principle of exact spatial |
| the visual presentation of your marketing | | | | relationship to all other graphic and text |
| pieces. If they are well designed, they're | | | | elements where appropriate. When you review |
| likely to be read, remembered and respected. | | | | your work, make sure you've applied this |
| | | | spacing consistently throughout. |
| Here are five simple, but essential tricks of | | | | |
| the designer's trade that you can use | | | | 5. Know when to use serif and sans serif |
| immediately, at little cost, and with | | | | fonts In general, when you have a large |
| excellent results to profit you both short | | | | amount of text, it is best to use a serif |
| and long term. | | | | font because it is easier to read than a sans |
| | | | serif font. Serifs are the tiny horizontal |
| 1. Take advantage of quality clip art and | | | | strokes attached to the letters which help |
| stock photos Chances are you're not an | | | | the reader's eyes flow from letter to letter. |
| illustrator or photographer, but that | | | | Bold sans serif (without serifs) are good for |
| shouldn't stop you from using professional | | | | headlines and subheads because they slow the |
| illustrations or photos in your marketing | | | | reader down thus bringing more attention to |
| piece. You can use clip art--sometimes at a | | | | each word or concept. Some examples of serif |
| very low price--to enhance your layout. Check | | | | fonts that are good for body copy are: Times, |
| out the Internet for sites that feature clip | | | | New Century Schoolbook, Garamond and Goudy. |
| art or stock photo libraries that provide a | | | | Some examples of sans serif fonts that are |
| wide variety of quality and prices to choose | | | | good for headlines are: Arial Bold, Helvetica |
| from. Use the same style of graphics | | | | Black, Univers Bold and Trade Gothic. |
| throughout your piece to create a consistent | | | | |
| look. | | | | It's 9 o'clock Monday morning. You're smiling |
| | | | because you have incorporated these important |
| 2. Add dramatic contrast Using contrast means | | | | design elements into your marketing strategy. |
| having clearly apparent differences among the | | | | You're ready to face a new week with vastly |
| design elements that come together on a page, | | | | improved opportunities to keep smiling at a |
| business card, or computer screen. These | | | | growing bottom line. |
| include contrasting colors, shapes, fonts, | | | | |
| and sizes of text and graphics. A high degree | | | | Karen Saunders is the author of the book, |
| of contrast helps create dramatic interest | | | | "Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to |
| and draws the viewer's eye to specific areas | | | | easily transform your marketing pieces into |
| of your page. White space also provides | | | | dazzling, persuasive sales tools!" Karen has |
| contrast, aids legibility, and gives the | | | | helped thousands of small businesses to |
| reader's eye a resting point. Controlling the | | | | increase their sales over the past 15 years |
| amount of white space you use affects the | | | | using her award-winning marketing design |
| overall page design. | | | | strategies. For more free tips by Karen, |
| | | | visit . |
| 3. Repeat certain elements Good design calls | | | | |