Get the best results from your design and print projects
Every business is different and we find that we create the best results for our clients when they give us the time to understand their business, their audience and how they’re planning to use their designed and printed material.
We don’t expect war and peace but we’ve put together some of the key elements to consider when you’re putting together your design and print brief.
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- An overview of your business (if we don’t know this already)
- A copy of your brand and design guidelines (if you have any)
- The objectives of your design and print project why are you doing it? what action do you want your audience to take? how long do you expect it to be used for? how will your audience be receiving it e.g. email, face to face event, post
- Your target audience and any specific quirks or patterns that you’ve noticed from previous projects e.g. they use your brochure as a visual reference and book online, they respond better to certain types of imagery…
- Your key messages i.e. what are the key things that would motivate your audience to take action and what are your key business messages
- Competitor information – any businesses that are worth reviewing because they’re either doing great things or are communicating badly
- Any specific print requirements e.g how long you’d like the printed item to last, whether it’s got to be waterproof for outdoor use, whether you’d like it to be pocket or coffee table size…
- Project timescales
- Project budget
- Your contact information and preferred methods of communication – some of our clients prefer to talk things through on the phone, whilst others feel more comfortable communicating via email.
We don’t expect our clients to have all of the answers, particularly when it comes to paper stock and printing methods etc. but the more information we have, the easier it is for us to make the right recommendations and get the project right first time.
Some of our clients manage the design bit themselves and just work with us on the print part of the project…
In these cases we just need to understand how and where the printed item is going to be used and then we’ll recommend stock and print processes accordingly. We also need the artwork files supplying so your material is ready to go straight to print.
Below is a quick checklist to ensure that the project is good to go…
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- Ideally we’d like a high resolution PDF with crop marks and 3mm of bleed. Most applications give you the option to save your artwork to PDF or even go to print – select a postscript printer and save from there.
- The image resolution should ideally be 300dpi for photographs or drawings, with scaling of no more than 120%.
- Fonts should be embedded into the PDF or set to outline in your application.
- You should use crop marks to denote where the artwork should be trimmed at the finished size. This will include removal of the bleed area
- We would recommend a safe area of 3-5mm inside the edge of your document to ensure that text or important items on the artwork don’t end up on the cutting room floor.
Our team here at Print Marshall can support you with all of your design and print needs for your on and offline communication to ensure a seamless, integrated campaign that inspires and motivates your audience to take action. From an impressive email template design through to event stands and brochures.
Give us a call on 01733 340686 or email sales@printmarshall.co.uk