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