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Four Easy Ways to “Talk the Talk” with Designers
In the spring issue of our newsletter, we discussed how to “talk the talk” with printers. This time, we thought we would share some insight on talking the talk with designers. Of the many design topics we could have chosen, here are four we think will help to get you started.
Audience
First and foremost, understanding and describing your audience to your designer is key for a design to be successful. The demographics of your targeted clients help to define what size and type of font(s) would work best, what colors would be most appealing, what images would be the most effective, etc.
Image Quality
An important aspect of image quality is resolution. Resolution refers to the number of dots per inch (DPI) in an image. The ideal resolution for print is 300 DPI, and for web is 72 DPI. If an image is low resolution, it will look pixelated — you can see the pixels (or units) that form the image rather than the details of the image itself. (“Pixels” is a word derived from picture elements.) When providing images to your designer, it is best to supply original images straight from the camera that have not been compressed, resized, or otherwise adjusted. (See our Winter and Spring 2009 newsletters online for more image tips.)
Colors
Colors — and the combination thereof — can be the most difficult design decision. Pantone is a great resource for you and your designer. (See "PrinterSpeak" in this newsletter for a definition.) Also, look around you at other publications or websites for color examples you like. Having visuals to show your designer are a big help. Do some marketing research online to determine what colors might be most appealing to your target audience. Choosing a color that becomes identifiable as part of your brand can be very beneficial.
Fonts
Deciding on a font can be challenging, since the options are endless. Again, if you see something you like, it’s good to have visual samples to show your designer for reference. Considerations to keep in mind include readability, breathing space, and harmony among layout components. Here are several terms that might be helpful to know:
• Serif fonts have a counter stroke or extender at the end of the main stroke. Examples include Times and Bookman.
• Sans-serif fonts do not have serifs on the letters. Examples include: Arial and Helvetica.
• Ascender is the part of the character that reaches above the baseline. Characters like b and h have ascenders.
• Descender is the part of the character that reaches below the baseline. Characters like p and j have descenders.
