Adding visuals that communicate at a glance

Choosing the right visuals for your graphic design job sets the tone and should communicate your message visually

They say that a “picture is worth a thousand words”. But what do you want those words to say about the pictures you’ve picked?

Deciding the right graphic to use in your document involves more than simply choosing something pretty.

The graphics you choose to go in your document should be selected with extreme care. They need to communicate at a glance the content and message of your piece.

You need to ask yourself 4 questions in order to accomplish this:

1. Who is your audience?
2. What is the message of your piece?
3. Why should it matter to your audience?
4. What is the tone of your piece?

Then you should create a list of messages the graphic must communicate.

There are 3 basic decisions you need to make:

1. What types of visuals do you want to include?
2. What is the style of them?
3. What do you want the graphics to say?

Read this issue for my tips for picking the best visuals for your piece. Read it here.

NOTE: This newsletter is available for FREE for the first 10 days of the month. Afterwards, it gets archived for members of Design & Thrive.

Essentials of permission-based marketing

Build your list by offering prospects an incentive and then market to them consistently with autoresponders.

We constantly hear the term “permission marketing” or similarly “permission-based marketing”. It’s an e-marketing term that’s generally attributed to Seth Godin.

It’s becoming harder and harder to get someone to submit their emails for you to send emails to them.

Make prospects want to give you their e-mail

We get so many emails, why would we sign up to receive even more? Well, as that famous movie line says, “you have to make them an offer they can’t refuse.”

In the past, you didn’t have to opt-in to a list in order to receive their e-mails. You would opt-out but only after having received an e-mail from them.

E-marketers nowadays will ask permission to their prospects list before they will send them e-mails, recommendations, and other advertisements (or sales pitches). The prospects needs to opt-in to make sure that they actually want to receive news and special offers from Internet, email, and even telephone marketers.

IMPORTANT: The main advantage to is that you prevent allegations of spam while ensuring that only qualified prospects are on your list.

We’ll cover in this issue the key components to successful permission-based marketing. Read about it here.

NOTE: This newsletter is available for FREE for the first 10 days of the month. Afterwards, it gets archived for members of Design & Thrive.

Strategies for getting paid on time — everytime

It’s all about expectations… Set your price, agree on a payment schedule, and make sure you both stick to it!

One of the biggest hassles I had to get used to when I started freelancing was getting paid. The responsibility was solely on me.

When I was working for someone else, I got paid every two weeks. It didn’t matter if I finished a particular job or not. I was guaranteed a paycheck.

When I started freelancing, I didn’t really think getting paid. The process was:

1. Create a proposal
2. Get that accepted
3. Accept a down payment
4. Do the job
5. Get approval
6. Send off the files
7. Get the balance paid.

Sometimes, it was that easy and, at other times, it wasn’t. You will probably get a client who won’t pay you because he feels (for whatever reason) that he didn’t get the goods he was expecting. Par for the course.

The good news is that there are strategies you can use to make sure you get what is owed to you, and that your client gets what he paid for. Read about them here.

NOTE: This newsletter is available for FREE for the first 10 days of the month. Afterwards, it gets archived for members of Design & Thrive.

Typical prepress traps and how to avoid them

Save time, money and aggravation! Ensure hassle-free printing and steer clear of common printing pitfalls

Working in a print shop, I saw so many jobs come in that, for one reason or another, could not be printed.

I know what you must be thinking … It happened because it was inevitable (could have happened to anyone), that it couldn’t have been predicted, or that it simply could not have been avoided.

And most of the time? It could have been entirely avoided! With a little care and double checking, most jobs can be printed.

You would be amazed at how printing problems are caused by trivial things. Most of them have to do with missing, incorrect, or badly created files.

Problems cause printing delays. Printers will charge you extra if they have to fiddle with your file to get it to print. But worse, it makes you look very unprofessional and that you don’t know what you are doing. You lose credibility with your client.

We’ll cover the key issues to avoid in order to guarantee printing success. Read about it here.

NOTE: This newsletter is available for FREE for the first 10 days of the month. Afterwards, it gets archived for members of Design & Thrive.

Color in Use

Guidelines for choosing and using the right colors for your all your graphic design jobs

Color seems to be one of those things that gives designers some trouble.

It’s probably because color preference is a subjective matter. Everyone has different tastes and reacts differently when seeing a color. While one person may love a shade of blue, you are sure to find someone else who would absolutely despise it.

And, don’t get me started on how colors have different meanings across cultures!

As designers, our job is to choose the appropriate colors for the job — regardless of what our personal tastes are. We need to think not about what we like, but on what is most suitable for the design.

Things you must know before choosing a color for your piece:

• What is the purpose is for the piece?
• Who you are trying to target?
• Every design decision should be based on attracting those prospects.

In this issue, we’ll go over the 10 guidelines for choosing the right colors for your designs. Read about it here.

NOTE: This newsletter is available for FREE for the first 10 days of the month. Afterwards, it gets archived for members of Design & Thrive.

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