Design Tips for Beginners

If you’re marketing a product, service or business, you need to think about offline forms of promotion. Specifically, how you design your marketing materials. The right design should easily catch the eye of a customer or investor and help to sell your offering. But appealing design isn’t easy. It needs to stand out without looking like an eyesore. It has to be unique while still being completely readable. It’s got to have information but it can’t be overloaded. As you can see, it’s a balancing act but we can help make sure your designs are fantastic.

Posters

When you design a poster, it’s got to be eye catching. You need people to stop and look at it. But you also need them to pick up what the vital information is. This is particularly important at an event like a trade show. First off, think about whether you're splitting the poster into sections, or telling one big story. This will depend on the function of the poster. If it’s simply to advertise a product it could be an image with a little text. Essentially, adopting a minimalist design. But if it’s a poster created to offer information you need to be a tad more creative. You’ll have to lay out the text in a way that makes viewers want to read it.
Another important feature of great poster design is colour. Selecting the right colours can make the difference between a successful campaign or a poster fail. Start by working with your brand colours and choose the most vibrant combination to ensure that your graphics capture peoples attention and help them to absorb your message.
Finally, once your poster has been designed you need to frame it well in a poster frame that compliments your design. Take a look at our coloured poster frames to see what's available.
Here are some great tutorials to get you started:
http://colorburned.com/2010/07/create-a-refreshing-beer-themed-poster-design-in-photoshop.html
http://webexpedition18.com/work/design-a-swiss-style-music-festival-poster-in-photoshop/
http://www.pixelonomics.com/how-to-design-a-geometric-poster-in-photoshop/
http://abduzeedo.com/inception-poster-repousse-photoshoc-cs5
http://www.red17.co.uk/blog/how-to-design-effective-posters/

Banners

Banners are different because their primary function is to grab the attention of people passing by. While a poster can convey more information, a banner should be focused on one message. That could be the name of a company or an event. It might even just be a repeated logo but it has to stand out and be recognisable. Again, vibrant colours help grab the focus but think about the writing as well. Make sure it’s clear to read and that it attracts attention. Here's a link to a good resource on typography that will help you to learn which fonts will work best.
Again, don't disregard how your banner is going to be used. Make sure you know what type of banner stand you'll be using before you start designing. You'll need to create your banner in a particular size and shape so make sure you're designing to these specifications.
Here are some fantastic tutorials on banner design:
http://www.fastprint.co.uk/blog/how-to-design-and-print-the-perfect-banner-tutorial.html
https://www.digitalprinting.co.uk/blog/5-tips-to-designing-roll-up-banner-stand/

Leaflets

Leaflets present an entirely new design issue. You can think of a leaflet as a mini poster. Due to this, you need to be conservative when using space. You should not fill the leaflet with information and make it look crowded. Instead, you need to pick the main points you want readers to know or understand. Then, focus on the covers of the leaflet. A big problem with leaflets is they are often binned before they are even opened. This won’t happen with an interesting design that draws people in to read more.
An often overlooked part of leaflet design is considering where the leaflet will be placed once it's been designed. Whether you use a leaflet holder or leaflet dispenser, you need to design your leaflet to stand out from others and be the one that a passerby will choose to look at.
Here are some great tutorials on leaflet design:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaFHDsW4CcE
http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/design-a-ready-to-print-brochure-in-photoshop--psd-3621
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/how-to/make-brochure.html

Flyers

Flyers are the briefest form of offline promotion. Typically, a flyer will be viewed for mere seconds before it’s dropped, binned or pocketed. But the truth is it doesn’t matter if any of these things happen. All you need to do is make sure the information is clear and exciting after one look. Again, don’t overcrowd the flyer. A few words and key details will do with plenty of colour and imagery. If you’re having trouble separating the text from images, highlight it or box the textural information. That way it stands out and it’s easy to read.
Finally, here are some useful tips for flyer design:
http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-create-a-promotional-flyer-in-photoshop--cms-21319
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7eB5wlX9so

Although this is a brief blog post, these tips should help a beginner to design all the different forms of offline promotion. Let us know if you need any more help or if there is any further reference material we could provide you with.