Graphic Designers and how to choose one, and some Dragon Creative specialities.

Finding the right Graphic Design company to create your marketing material can be somewhat challenging. There are many things you should consider. Many companies put price and quality at the top of their must have list, as they should, but they should also consider;

How fast they turnaround on your job, great service, the relationship between you and your designer.  (We call it the Dragon Standard).

As we mentioned in our last post there are a lot of companies who are “jacks of all trades” which may work in some cases, but you often get a better job done with someone who specializes in a certain type of product. Dragon creative specializes in print design. We have designed everything from large scale trade show booths to small 2x2 ads, Packaging to 100+ page magazine.

Graphic designers are artists. You wouldn’t want to ask a sculptor to create an acrylic painting.  Know your niche, remember!

Good Graphic Designers have distinct purposes. One is they can make your brand stand apart from the rest. Second, they help enhance the appearance of marking material like we mentioned above. And ultimately, they provide us with information – influencing how people think and feel about your product - sometimes subliminally.  We know how to do all of these things really well.  Just tell us what you want.

So now you know how to find a Graphic Designer to suit your needs, we hope it’s Dragon Creative.  But if we are not give us a call anyway we would love to hear from you.

Know Your Niche

In today’s competitive world it can be very tempting to want to cover all bases of your entire market.  When it comes to Graphic Design this temptation is no less.  It can easily be seen with a Google search how many companies trying to do it all.  We are not knocking the full service agencies, however we do believe in specialization.  All too often small business attempt to be jacks of all trades. Need a web site? “No problem we can do that.”. Need a new logo for your start up business? “No problem we can do that.”.  Need a new marketing campaign? “No problem we can do that.”.   So on and so on, you get the picture. 

Being a jack of all trades is not going to provide customers service they deserve.  The great thing about Dragon Creative is we KNOW what we are good at.  You will know what you’re going to get from us when you hiring us.  Yes I am going to say it, the Dragon Standard.  We are very proud to be specialists in rolling up our sleeves and getting dirty for you!  We know what areas we are strong in and will make sure that you’re always happy with our Graphic Design and print services.

We are excellent at your marketing brochures, direct mail pamphlets, conference booth design and posters, infographics, logo design, business card design, web banners, ads, and multiple page booklets (catalogues).

If you need any of the above Graphic Design or print services there is no reason to call anyone else!  We offer the Dragon Standard and are eager to hear from you.

Sincerely,

The Dragon family.

Top 7 Print tips

Most people who are not in the design/marketing business think printing is no big deal. We all have a printer at home right? How different can it be from that? Well, it’s quite different.  And here are some things you should consider.

The first step when getting your marketing materials printed is to talk to your printer. Tell them what you're hoping the final product to look like, let them know your budget, quantity and timeline. Often printers will have some ideas to help you, whether it's cost saving measures, different paper types, sizes, quality, coatings to name a few. They usually have a lot of great ideas. Once you've done this, let the fun part begin! Design it.

Once your material is designed there are a few things you should do before you send it to print. Here are some tips that may seem obvious, but very valid. 

1. Make sure you are not the only one looking it over. Get a 2nd (3rd or 4th) pair of eyes on it. Many people are blind to their own mistakes, and 9 times out of 10 that second person will find something wrong.
2. When you check it over make sure you zoom in. Sometimes objects/text gets shifted slightly. You're spending the money on printing, you want it to look perfect.
3. Print it out. For some reason it is easier to spot mistakes on paper rather than on screen. But know that your home printer colours will not exactly match the professional printers. If you think colour may be an issue, make sure you get a printer proof.
4. USE SPELL CHECK. You'd be surprised how many spelling/grammar mistakes go un-noticed
5. Read it aloud. This will also help with spelling/grammar, and how it flows
6. Most of all, don't rush it. That's when mistakes happen. You want to give yourself some extra time to find those errors. You also have to remember that your printer may need extra time for cutting, ink drying, etc.  They are also working with many customers, so your job will most likely be in a printer queue, or line up. Depending on how big of a project (and how much you're paying them) they may be able to bump you up a couple spots. Be your printers friend, and work with them like it’s a partnership, it will get you further, believe us!
7. Always remember if you approve it and there is a mistake, it is your fault.

Insert clever title here. This is about colours

When starting a project colour is a major influence in the design.  It conveys a lot more than the average consumer thinks about.  For example when designing a movie poster for an action or horror movie you would not likely use pastels or lighter colours, but deeper darker colours like red. Colours like font can create a feeling as we wrote about last time.  Here is a movie poster Dragon Creative did for a documentary about heath and diet.

So let’s talk about what some colours can make you feel unconsciously.  Warm colours are like orange, red and yellow are stimulating and positive.  Remember that big red SALE signs when you were at the mall?  That was no coincidence.  The retailer is trying to get your senses going and make you stimulated about their sale.  Red is a colour that has the quickest understanding of all colours.  This means that you can read and understand a red sign quicker than any other colour.

Blue is a favourite colour of men and represents security and trust that companies want you to see in them. Blue is used often with banks and companies where there is a high level of trust involved.  There are several Canadian banks that use blue as their primary colour

All the above being said some colours evoke more than one feeling.  For example Black (the absence of colour) can be sophisticated, elegant or mysterious, but it can also symbolize death.

If you use black combined with gold it can provide an exclusive, expensive feeling, but if you use black with orange or lime green than it creates a Halloween, or spoke feeling.

Can you think of an example where a colour has influenced you?

Dragon Creative works hard to know our colours and we will make sure to create an image and positioning logo or design right for your business. 

Give us a call!