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Thinking about adding gloss to your business cards or marketing materials? The price of adding a UV or gloss coating to printed materials has come down, making it a very attractive option. Here are a couple things to consider and discuss with your graphic designer before deciding if you want to go glossy or stick with a matte finish.
Gloss coating brings out the dark of your piece, and makes it darker than what you see.
Gloss coating generally cannot be written on. If you’re going to use gloss on your business card, you might want to consider keeping one side uncoated so that when you give it to someone they are able to make notes somewhere.
Gloss can make your image really pop off the page. On the other hand, some images, with subtle shading or where you want a more sophisticated look might be better served with a nice matte or even satin coating.
You might also want to consider using a spot varnish… a process where the glossy coating is applied to only part of your image. This can really add a nice touch to your piece, creating an area of focus. Or by applying a spot gloss over a solid matte color, you can create a nice tone on tone effect.
Bottom line… glossy can be nice. But don’t automatically assume it’s the best route to go.
Do you prefer glossy or matte business cards and materials?
Is it important to plan out your marketing initiatives and the graphics you are going to need in advance? Short answer… Heck yeah! If you plan out your marketing initiatives somewhat in advance, you may potentially save work and or money on your graphic design.
I recently attended a short seminar on home based business best practices, put on by the Brighton, Michigan Chamber of Commerce. One of the topics they very briefly touched on was the importance of a marketing plan. While I won’t get into the specifics of marketing plans here, there are a few points on how your marketing plan should apply to your graphic design needs.
- If you know in advance that you are going to be putting out a series of mailers or ads, you can come up with coordinating graphics all at once … saving time and money. You can also potentially save on the printing costs by upping the quantity you are buying.
- By planning in advance you can work your mailers or ads together and be sure that they will graphically relate and have a bigger impact (coordinating marketing materials lead to more brand recognition)
- If you know in advance that you are going to be updating something large with your marketing – say your website – you can work with your designer on how to time the updates. Perhaps it makes the most sense to design anything you send out in the meantime to coordinate with what will end up being your website.
- And last but certainly not least, if you plan in advance that you will put out so many ads or so many marketing pieces, having the actual plan will force you to actually do it, thus keeping regular contact with your potential customers, and making sure you stay front of mind.
How far in advance do you plan your marketing initiatives? Do you include any graphic design updates as part of this planning?
Once the logo had been designed for Howell, Michigan based Dream Kitchens, it was time to put together business cards. Colleen liked the look of flowing, organic shapes and lines and wanted an elegant, yet professional look for the rest of her materials. For the business cards, I developed a relatively simple card using deep burgundy and white swirls as a border.
She loved the swirls, so we decided to continue with these throughout the rest of the marketing materials. I redid an ad that she had placed in a local Michigan ad magazine to incorporate the swirls along with one of the beautiful photos of finished kitchens she had. To make the biggest impact, I wanted to focus attention on the kitchen photo.
A similar look was then developed for a leave behind postcard. With the new logo and the swirl being applied to all of her marketing materials, there is a consistent look and feel and as she grows her new company, there is strong consistent branding. 
Your business card can arguably be your most important piece of marketing material, yet many entrepreneurs really don’t take their card seriously. Maybe they are opting for a generic template from an online print house, or even printing even more generic cards from their home printer. What’s wrong with this? Well mainly it sends entirely the wrong message about your business. It says you’re not serious about your business. And while the following is a repeat from a post last year, after attending a couple recent business expos here in Brighton, Michigan, I feel it is definitely worth repeating.
Online print houses can be a great money saving option for entrepreneurs – if they’re used for printing. However, far too many small business people are using these services to also “design” their marketing collateral. Your marketing collateral should reflect YOUR business and personality. This is especially true with your business card. While a stock photo of an outdoor scene might be pleasant enough, it is incredibly generic – only saying something about you or your business if you happen to be an outdoor outfitter.
A business card with a generic background blends into oblivion with your potential clients. Nothing makes it stand out from the crowd, and even worse, it sends a subliminal message that your business isn’t a serious, “real” business. Think about it, let’s say you get two business cards from a potential service provider – say a financial planner. One of them has a stock photo in the background while the other one has a unique, professional logo or graphic. Which one are you going to take more seriously? Which one looks like it’s associated with a legitimate, established and experienced business professional? Who are you more likely to trust and do business with?
Another downside of using the ready made templates – chances are someone else is using the same one. I was recently at a Brighton networking event where I received the same card, from two individuals in two vastly different businesses. And the design of the card didn’t say anything meaningful about either of them.
Putting together a professional, unique business card doesn’t have to break the bank for a new small business, but it does need to be something that has some time and thought put into it. Pay the small amount extra to upload your own logo or images to that online print house. Strongly consider working with a graphic designer. The one time expense to come up with a card that truly says what you mean to say to potential clients is more than worth it – especially considering the negative message that you might otherwise be portraying.
In today’s highly competitive marketplace, we all need every advantage we can get. Do you want to be the one with the card that blends into the background? What are some of the worst business card “sins” you’ve encountered?
What do you do graphically if your company serves a variety of markets with very different demographics? Probably your best bet is to develop separate marketing materials. While it might be tempting to put everything you do for everyone you do it for into one piece for simplicity sake (and to save a little money), in the end you risk not hitting the mark with any of your audience. I also look at this as the “jack of all trades, master of none” phenomenon.
As an example, Howell, Michigan photographer Noreen Owens recently came to me looking for brochure design. She wanted to reach high school seniors for senior portraits and she also does specialty themed photography of smaller children. Although she is providing basically the same service (portrait photography) to each market, there is a different twist and need for each client. She already knew she was going to have to do two different brochures so we started there.
Both types of portraits are ultimately going to be paid for by parents, but the actual target market is different. For the senior pictures, she needed to actually appeal to the seniors who would have a large say in who took their pictures. The brochure design needed to be a little edgier and contemporary to appeal to teenagers’ sense of independence and individuality. For the children’s portraits, the target audience is the parents, particularly the moms. This brochure needed to be classy while also appealing to the emotional and sentimental side of the mothers.
For the senior brochure, I developed a folded brochure featuring a mix of senior portraits ranging from traditional to fun – which showcases the variety of styles seniors can find with Noreen. These photos were put on an industrial, painted metal background image with screws scattered about the page. I also chose an industrial, chunky font for the main headings with a contemporary font for the body text.
For the children’s themed photography brochure Noreen wanted a multiple page, small square booklet. The book is arranged by month, featuring the different themes she has developed (bunnies in March, ducks in April, snowmen in November, etc.). The background of the brochure is a nice stationary type paper image, with the appearance of a ribbon across the page for photos to be placed on. The effect is of a formal photo/memory book.
In the end, Noreen was happy with both brochures that accurately reflect her company while also appealing to her different target markets.
Cover of themed children's portrait brochure
Cover of Senior Portrait Brochure
Interior of Senior Portrait Brochure
