Postcard Portfolio

One of our team members here at Next Day Flyers, Fabiola Gutierrez, is also an excellent make-up artist. She had a set of Postcard Portfolios printed to feature her work. Below is a Q&A session with Fabiola.

Can you tell us about how you got started in the make-up industry?

I’ve had an interest for makeup and fashion since I can remember. Yet in 2009 decided to open my own online makeup store using private label cosmetics. As I got more involved in cosmetics I discovered a passion for the artistry behind the makeup. It was then that I decided I needed to take professional artistry classes to make it my career and have gradually been building my clientele. I have done makeup work for special events, photo shoots, music videos and film. I also offer makeup artistry classes to teach others all aspects of becoming a professional makeup artist and/or self application makeup workshops.

What do you like about your work? Is there anything you dislike?

Makeup artistry does not feel like a job. It’s a great way to meet and socialize with people and being able to help others is a blessing. Every face is a canvas and even though I encounter people with skin conditions, imperfections etc., being able to use corrective skills and the wonders of makeup is amazing! I love to be able to give my clients basic skin care and application tips and transform them by enhancing their features. Certain personalities can be a challenge as I have come across a few individuals that prefer to stay in their comfort zone making it difficult for us makeup artists to do our job as we know what suits them best. Overall we both look for a positive final outcome and as an artist I do what it takes to make it right. Depending on the job, hours can be long and tiring but so worth it!

Can you describe your target market or ideal customers?

I offer a variety of services; therefore, I have different packages for different clients. I offer beauty/glamour makeup for the ordinary girl/woman as well as makeup for special events, red carpet, photo shoots, music videos and film. I also do special effects makeup which is mostly used for film or hired for seasonal jobs such as Halloween etc. Special Effects can also help those with imperfections by using prosthetics or casting and molding to create a different character. Face painting, temporary and glitter tattoos is targeted for those looking for an artist for their kids parties etc. My clientele base is huge so there is no specific or ideal customer.

How do you plan on using the portfolios?

The images used for the portfolio are professional images from photo shoots which reflect beauty images. Beauty/Glamour is higher in demand and can open opportunities for on air makeup artists and a variety of other makeup jobs. I plan to use these postcard portfolios to promote some of my work and distribute among companies, producers, photographers, models etc that are seeking services for special events, on air, film, music videos etc.

Postcard Portfolio

What benefit do you anticipate you’ll receive from the portfolios?

The ability to reach top producers, directors, film companies and network with a larger client base. The more exposure the more makeup jobs and opportunities may come.

Fabiola

If you’re interested in having your own Postcard Portfolios printed, or have any other custom product in mind, please visit our Custom Items page for more information.

At NextDayFlyers, we print a great deal of CD and DVD inserts and we are often astounded by the quality of artwork and the strength of the ideas that people have. From the local band creating their own records, to the company that is distributing corporate videos at conferences, inlay artwork has become very sophisticated and promises a treat of sound or vision.

To give you an idea of what people use CD and DVD inserts for Here are some examples of CD and DVD insert artwork that people have created for their personal and business projects:

This booklet and insert was created by a local band to sell and promote their CD at gigs. Although this was an independently produced and funded record, it looks so professional and cool. The edgy artwork is a perfect complement to their heavy rock sound.

The jewel case booklet and insert print option (above) is the easy way for bands, singer songwriters, and other artists to create professional CDs.

This DVD artwork was created for a portfolio promotion from a young fashion designer who had just exhibited at an LA fashion show. This DVD is a superb promotional tool for her to show to clients, buyers, and other industry people.

For designers, illustrators, and other creative professionals, making a DVD of your show or a CD portfolio of your work is a modern and effective way to get your work seen by galleries, clients, and art directors

This is a CD booklet and insert made for a Christian orchestra to make money for the church and for charity causes. Released at Christmas time, this was the perfect gift for congregation members and lovers of uplifting orchestra music.

CD’s and DVD’s are often used by religious and spiritual groups for various kinds of worship, nativity, performances and prayer.

Original source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Abradab-OPK-album/146219

This absolutely astounding fold-out poster artwork shows what can be achieved with CD insert printing. Rather than creating a typical CD booklet, the designer, Abradad, has created this impressive and unique folded album artwork to accompany a rap CD.

In a standard jewel case format, you can still create a custom booklet or folded piece for an ultra-impressive CD inlay.

original source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Portfolio/857541

This beautifully designed fold-out CD insert and booklet for a jazz band was designed by, Bia Van Deventer who specializes in designing for events.

CD’s for promoting and recording live music, events, and other outdoor promotions is very popular and easy-to-do

Original source: http://www.dose-productions.com/portfolio/john-bannon-bullet-party/

This incredible DVD inlay artwork was created by talented designer, Sam Hayles, for a magician DVD.

DVD printing is commonplace for independent artists and independent production companies

Original source: http://Kavanwebb.co.uk/portfolio/james-nicola-wedding-dvd/

Another great use of DVD insert printing is to make personal DVD’s of your wedding to commemorate the big day and to give as thank you gifts to family and friends. This beautiful design was created by designer, Kavana Webb for her friends’ nuptials.

Other good personal DVD ideas to share with your nearest and dearest:

• Baby’s first year video
• Family event, tournament,  or other party gathering
• Family cruise or vacation
• Collection of family sporting events

Original source: http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2007/06/page/2/

DVD’s and CD’s can be a powerful business tool. Like this how-to-video created (above). Producing a helpful DVD is a a way for companies and business  experts to package and sell their skill and know-how. Great design on these color-coordinated DVD training courses too.

For businesses, creative’s, and entertainers, making your own CD/DVD can represent the epitome of your artistic and promotional endeavors.  Getting your inlays and booklets printed in high –res offset quality ensures that you receive a professional product that does you justice. Start yours today!

• NextDayFlyers makes DVD covers and  booklets as well as CD inlays for both front and back. We also produce specialized CD and DVD products upon request. Here is a quick guide to our many inlay folds:

While I don’t purport to be the world’s greatest design expert, I’ve been in the design and marketing business long enough to know when someone’s made a massive business card booboo!  Moreover, working for a company that specializes in business card printing has given me a particular insight into the kind of eye-offensive business cards that cause design and marketing people to drop to their knees, pleading with the Gods of Style & Good Taste to please stop the hurting!!!

Before you start designing your card, here is a list of some of the biggest business card errors!

A car crash mixture of different pixel dimensions conjoin to make a truly hideous business card…keep away!

1. Pixelated graphics

“Low resolution stinky pixels!”

Pixilated! Yuck! Don’t people see this mistake? A pixilated design looks like it’s caught some kind of nasty digital blur infection! I actually try to avoid putting my hands on pixilated business cards in fear that I’ll catch this terrible condition. I do not want my hands to suddenly turn into a big mess of undefined pixels. (Just you try playing ping-pong, typing a letter, or eating a sandwich with pixel-hands…you can’t!!!)

She couldn’t hold onto her chicken dinner for very long thanks to her pixel hands….curse you pixilated business card disease!

When you get pixilated images, you’ve either:

• Designed your card at a miniscule 72dpi (or lower) instead of the required 300dpi.

Or

• You’ve grabbed a tiny (72dpi) image from somewhere on the web and tried to enlarge it to fit in a much larger 2”x 3 ½” (300dpi) space? Either way, the resulting prints will be a hideous blurry mess of pixel stink.

Here is a common thought among people who want to design their own business card;

“Hey! I really like this tiny bitmap image of a cat wearing sunglasses I saw on the internet!  That would look crazy-cute on my business card!”

No it won’t! It will look like an unholy mess! Not because you’re putting a picture of a cat on your business card (although that’s not a good idea either unless you own a pet store), but because you’re trying to force a low-res image that was created for web use into a design that needs to be created for print? The two things are not compatible.

Don’t ask me why people do this? You cannot magically transform an 180px by 180px Facebook icon into a crisp hi-res portrait! Pasting a graphic or picture from the internet into your design and enlarging it to 50 times its original size will not achieve the effect you want!

My advice is to use a proper business card design template that is already prepped and optimized for print purposes. It is also advisable to avoid right-clicking/saving  random images on the internet for use in your print projects. Try to use  stock sites and other high-res image sources for your inspiration and design imagery.

Before setting up your business card design file, check the following essentials:

• The size of your standard business card should be 3½” x 2” or 1050 pixels x 600 pixels
• Your business card image resolution should be set at 300dpi
• You MUST design your card in CMYK mode for print (not RGB web mode)

• If your image looks pixelated on-screen in a 300dpi environment, it will look even worse when printed!

This is pretty basic file info for most programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Corel Draw, etc,) All these programs have their own issues and limitations but if you can at least set your file up in the right pixel size, you are starting your design out on the right track.

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Awww! Yeah!!! Cool guy rocking the Word designed Business Card!

2. Using the wrong software

“I don’t have Photoshop… will Word do?”

Trying to design a business card in Word, Open Office, WordPerfect, or similar programs is the artistic equivalent of using crayons to create the Mona Lisa. You just don’t have the right tools for the job! These programs are great for typing reports and manuscripts but they were never really meant for graphics.

You might have some success creating a very simple text-based card if that is all you require, but anything graphically complex is near impossible. Word programs don’t handle graphics very well. They function inside a very tight grid of space that is meant for basic text, graphs, paragraphs, and tables. Even if you are able to set-up a word doc with the dimensions of a business card, the margins, tabs and other functions that make creating a manuscript an absolute snap, cause massive problems for someone trying to design a business card. Have you ever tried positioning an image on a Word doc? It’s like playing a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey; the image just won’t pin to the document in the place that you want it, and you end up chasing it around the screen, trying to line-up your text in some way that makes sense?

If I can’t change your mind about using Word to create your business card, I hope I can at least convince you not to use the choice of “art tools” available. This selection of autoshapes and clip art from the insert menu has barely changed since the 90′s. It represents a garish and fluorescent mix of random images that I last saw being used to ‘spruce up’ my schoolteacher’s handouts! It would also be ill advised to use any text effects from the Word Art menu. The choice of bubblegum-style, gradient-heavy effects on offer will likely make your business card look like you gave it to a high-school cheerleader to design!

If you’re serious about design, then you really should have a copy of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (but that’s a whole other blog topic.) However, there are some great options out there for people who want to create their own quick and easy designs without having to resort to Microsoft Word or similar text-based programs.

• Use an online design program that is specifically meant for quick and easy business card design. (Now you mention it!) We have an online business card design option that allows you to add photos and logos and create pretty sophisticated design with many of the design features of the big-name design programs (It is, at the very least, a far better option than trying to use word to make your cards.)
• Find a pre-made business card template that you can adjust and customize to suit your needs (we have those too!)
• Or get a professional to do it! (call us on 800 251 9948 we also have professional design services)

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Whether on a business card or in 12 ft letters in the middle of the road, spelling mistakes are always so noticeable!

3. Bad Grammar and Misspelling

“I spelled my name incorrectly and you didn’t magically change it on your print press!”

As much as NextDayFlyers will try to fix all graphical errors, resolution issues, and other file errors that we can see, we can’t be responsible for typos, poor grammar, or spelling mistakes. If we had to look at every file for copy errors, we’d need a room of copywriters and a time machine to ensure that all files got printed on time!

Before submitting your files to print:

• Check the spelling and grammar of your business card numerous times
• Triple-check to make sure that all your contact information is correct
• Even better…give your design file to someone else to copyproof. People can sometimes miss glaring errors that another person can spot immediately

All this may seem like you’re going overboard, but you will be kicking yourself after receiving a batch of 500 business cards and realizing you missed a period on your email address, or a digit in your phone number!

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I wanna' put my company name and my office hours and my address and a big-rig and a motorbike and a racing car and my name and a some marketing stuff and all that jazz on my business card!

4. Card Clutter

“I have a million things to say and I’m going to say them in a 3½” x 2” print-space!”

Don’t do it! Don’t try and make too many copy or graphical statements on your business card! Your business card is not a flyer! It should only present:

• Who you are
• What you do
• How to contact you (phone, email, website)

DON’T clutter your business card up with pictures of you, your, house, your wife, your kids, and your hamster! And don’t add a hundred different sales slogans to mystify and confuse people! I say the less text and imagery on a space that’s only 2” by 3½” the better. I’ve seen business cards that look more like mini-sales pitches! This kind of business card not only looks awful, but it also reeks of desperation.

The other problem with adding too many elements is that you lose the important information in a business card. Your viewer should be able to find your email or phone number at a quick glance – these can get hidden amongst a jungle of graphics and marketing copy.

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Some people are just not cut out to be the star of their own business card!

5. Photo Portraits

“Look at me on my business card! I’m so cute! Don’t I look great!!!?”   

Let’s be honest! Does your business card really need your portrait photo on it? The “glamour shot” has been the design standard  of sales, real estate, car dealership and other such companies for many years, but nowadays, it just seems a bit old-fashioned!  If you are dead-set on using your photo-portrait, you should at least make it a good one and incorporate it into your design in a style-conscious manner.

This is going to sound harsh, but we’re not all cut-out to be the stars of our own business cards. Personally, I would never put my mug on a business card (far too off-putting) However I do appreciate the need for Realtors and other people to make that extra-personal connection. If you are going to put your picture on your business card, here are some good and bad ideas for portraits:

Be professional with your business image. Don’t present any image that is non-specific to the job you do.

The business cards shown in this article are particularly poor examples of business cards and they don’t represent the fine work of our customers.  But when all is said and done, it’s important that you get the basic things right when creating your business card, and it’s  also really important to get it printed right. Upload and order business cards from NextDayFlyers and ensure a quality offset print product.

• Do you agree with everything said in this blog? Do you have your own dislikes when it comes to business cards? Ever make an embarrassing mistake on your own business cards? Get involved by posting in the comments below

What is a sell sheet?

Typically, a sell-sheet is similar to a single-page brochure that presents information about your products, company, and the services you are offering. A sell sheet is usually used as a sales tool for sales and marketing people to present their company and the product or service they are selling. Simply put, it’s a sales-pitch in the form of a document to show to customers and businesses.

Used in support of  your sales efforts, as a flyer to go with you to exhibitions and conventions, or as a business-to-business guide to your company, a sell-sheet can be a diverse marketing product with multiple uses.

 A sell sheet should typically answer the following:

• What products or services do you offer?
• How will these products and services benefit me?
• How much will I will pay for them?
• How do I contact you?

With all this information, it is important to present your sell-sheet in a clear and precise manner, to retain your customer’s interest. Before you create your sell-sheet, here are a few essential things-to-know before you start designing.

1.  A typical sales sheet layout is as follows:

• Your logo
• Headline
• Intro paragraph
• Product pictures/pricing
• Benefits
• Contact info and call-to-action

Despite being more of a technical document, don’t forget your marketing 101 and include headline and call-to-action. Make your sell-sheet as appealing and convincing as possible. Include copy that explains who you are, what you do, and how this product will help them change their lives/make things easier/ solve their problems/ make them happy/ grow their hair back!

2.  A sell sheet should be more technical and informative than a flyer or brochure. When designed properly, it can represent a virtual tour of your product or services. Use it to communicate as much useful info as you can. If you are selling T-shirts, for example, show all the available sizes, colors, designs and prices. If you have graphs and comparative data to support your product, then use them to inform and educate your customer to the benefits of your product. Be sure to put a call-to-action in closing to urge the viewer to call a phone number or log onto a website. Whatever action you want the customer to take after receiving your sales info.

3.  Here is an example of a sell-sheet that has been designed carefully and with much thought towards layout copy and messaging.

Sell-sheet design

Breakdown of this Sell-Sheet Design

This sell-sheet has all the elements of a good sell-sheet. It has a headline, an opening paragraph, (and most importantly) lots of information broken down into graphics, graphs, and pictures to help the viewer navigate the information easily.

Although this is a sell-sheet with a singular item to sell, the designer has done a good job of including picture examples of how the product looks and the ways in which it can used.

Notice how there is a lot of bulleted information to highlight passages of text and make the info easy-to-read. Big blocks of text are off-putting to many viewers. The person who created this flyer has done an excellent job of making the copy short, simple and easy-on-the-eye.

4.  Be practical with your imagery. It goes without saying that a company with multiple products to sell would illustrate each item with a corresponding picture. However, ALL company sell sheets should try to include some relevant images to break up the copy elements and to make the sell sheet more interesting for the viewer. Use pictures of your staff-in-action, customers enjoying your products, or your products-in-action to communicate something unique about your company.

5.  Before you start your sell sheet project, here are some link to two sizes of blank sell sheet templates to ensure that you design with the right file specs:

8.5”x11” Sell-Sheet

9”x12” Sell-Sheet

Or alternately, you can design your sell-sheet online:

Online 8.5”x11” Sell-Sheet

6.  To create a sell sheet that people are drawn-to, you should consider printing an offset quality sell-sheet to ensure bright color and clear resolution. A sell sheet contains a lot of important info about your company.

Use your  information and design  to educate, inform, and interest people as much as you possibly can.

On Sunday, May 13th, family members will be running around like headless chickens trying to find the ideal  gift to buy mom or trying to find a restaurant that isn’t completely booked up for Mother’s Day breakfast.  Your business shouldn’t miss out on this massive marketing opportunity. People are looking for easy and hassle-free ways to please their mothers. Sending a mailer or creating a special promotion is the smart thing to do to get your name above everyone else’s.

The Mother’s Day period is an essential calendar date for restaurants, florists, jewelry stores, and department stores. It represents a huge boost in sales for businesses everywhere and it’s THE absolute number one day for anyone who owns a dining establishment. Companies such as Nordstrom’s, Olive Garden, Michaels, Zale’s, and Target report some of their best days ever at this time of year and promote heavily with mailers and other print promotions.

But it can also be a big time for local businesses, especially for the florist on the corner or the little neighborhood bistro.  Print promotion has a big part to play in Mother’s Day celebrations and your business can benefit from a special Mother’s Day menu, or a special Mother’s Day discount coupon.

Here are 3 effective print marketing ideas to send to your customers this Mother’s Day:

A salon presenting a Mother’s Day “pampering”  discount and a restaurant door hanger with gift coupon and menu printed on the back – great ideas for Mothers Day Door Hangers

Door Hangers

This is one of the favorite print promotions of local businesses to get their name and number distributed around the neighborhood.  And there is no better time than Mother’s Day for a local restaurant , florist or other business to bring their promotions right to the door of local families who are looking for the perfect bouquet or the ideal Mother’s Day Brunch to take dear old mom too!

Put a discount on your door hanger or advertise your Mother’s Day specials.

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Discount Card Mailer with Pop-out Coupon

This is a great little product available from NextDayFlyers.  Put your offer on a postcard mailer and send an additional discount card or promotion for customers to pop-out and present in your restaurant or store. The perf-out mailer is really different and engaging. Popping-out the discount is an almost irresistible urge for customers. Especially when you make the pop-out portion into a handy in-store gift-card, online discount, or other wallet-sized offer to take-away. This is great product and a great way to stand out from other mailers this Mother’s Day. It’s also available in a number of different pop-out shapes:

• Discount card perf-outs
• Flower shape perf-outs
• Heart shape perf-outs
• Margarita perf-outs

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Menu sent as mailer and used on premises to create a more personalized  Mother’s Day celebration.

Special Mother’s Day Menu’s

Restaurant owners can get the maximum benefit from Mother’s Day period by creating a special Mother’s Day menu. Printed for restaurant use or (even better) sent as a mailer to local families, it gives the impression that your restaurant is doing something special and personalized. It will make your restaurant seem like the better choice for celebration; mothers will feel far more pampered and “special” when presented with a menu that has been designed especially for them.

By making that extra-effort to make a fuss of mother, it will make your restaurant a more popular choice for families looking for a restaurant to celebrate the big day!

Get all your mailers and other Mother’s Day marketing products from Next Day Flyers! Hurry! The deadline for Mother’s Day marketing is fast approaching!

Time Needed

2-3 hours

Skills

Pathfinder cut-out

Integrating 3d vector elements into Photoshop

Using filters/effects/blending modes

Integrating hand-drawn elements

Resources Used

Girls Profile Stock by Tanit Isis

http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/?qh=&section=&q=burlesque#/d3ak4g2

Texture stock by deliquescedesign

http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/?qh=&section=&q=garden+lights#/d33ythj

<< PSD File>>

Background

This nightclub flyer took a slightly more avant-garde design route.  It was my intention to create a design with a “Lady Gaga” theatrical feel to it. I wanted to create something modern and geometric but I also wanted to incorporate some hand-drawn, “human” elements. There are no complex techniques involved in this design but I think the overall effect is pretty impressive

1__Using your Pathfinder tool, carefully cut-out the girl from her dark background and place in a new file at your desired size

2__Create a new layer in front of the girl and paste the hand-drawn font into the design. Choose the magic eraser tool from the tool menu and click on the white area to erase the background and make the text a floating shape.

3__The hand-drawn font was created in black pen. To transform the text from black to white, go to image> adjustments> invert

5__ Paste the hand-drawn pattern into the design in a new layer behind the girl.

6__Create a new layer in front of the pattern. Go to the gradient tool. Choose linear gradient with a white to clear gradient.  Drag the gradient from the top of the design to the bottom. We want to “knockout” the top of the pattern and leave a blank canvas to add our following design elements on.

7__Create a dark grey or black layer. Go to filter>render>clouds to transform this layer to a cloudy pattern.

8__ Go to filter> blur>clouds to transform the cloud layer to a radial pattern. Set the blur method to  ”zoom” and the amount to around 85.

9__When the effect has been generated, go to your blending mode menu (top of your layers panel) and choose difference from the drop-down menu. You may need to experiment with the position, scale, and opacity of this layer to get an effect you’re happy with.

10__Create a new layer and flood it with the Technicolor gradient in the gradient editor preset menu (make sure you have chosen angle gradient from the global gradient menu to get the right effect.)

11__Using your circular marquee tool, select different sized circles from the layer and cut and paste these circles into your design, experimenting with the scale, positioning and opacity.

12__Position your newly created circles in front and behind your girl figure.

13__Create two larger circles and use your hue/saturation tool (ctrl+u) to control the color on these interlocking shapes. You want these shapes to give the lettering  contrast.

14__From your toolbar, choose the circle frame shape from your custom shape menu. Place your “halo” shape behind the girl’s head.

15__If you want to edit the circle stroke circumference, go to your toolbar, and use your direct selection tool  to select the inside shape. Use the transform function to change the inner circumference.

16__Go to your effects menu (layer style menu) and add a black to grey gradient overlay.  Set the gradient overlay to (black) #0e0d0e to (grey) #545255

17__Cut and paste the circle shape.  Use your direct selection tool again, to re-size the circumference of your inner circle. Change the gradient overlay to (black) #161617 to (grey) #939096. Reverse the angle of the gradient in the gradient menu.

18__ Create a white rectangle shape. Go to filter>pixelate>mosaic.

19__This adds a simple multiplied image effect. Rotate at an angle and add to your design.

20__To add more geometrical shapes, repeat steps 10 and 11 and create another circle. This time, we will use our marquee tools to cut a circle and rectangular shape out of the center of our circle to give it a cool geometrical effect.

21__Copy, paste, and enlarge this same shape. Place in a layer behind the girl. Use our marquee tool to quickly delete one side of the circular shape.

22__If you want to add 3D shapes, you will need to use Illustrator. Draw some simple rectangular and circular shapes and make them into 3D elements by using the extrude and bevel feature in the effects menu. Add a perspective value in this menu to create depth.

23__Copy and paste these shapes as a pixel layer into our main Photoshop document, rotating and resizing as you go.

24__Draw some flat white circles with the shape tool. Create a “lens flare” type effect by overlaying one on the other.

25__Draw some flat black circles with the shape tool. Place around the image.

26__Create a new layer. Use the polygonal lasso tool to select a triangular area of the canvas. Drag a blue (#39959f) to clear gradient from the top edge to the bottom.

27__Copy and paste this layer multiple times, using our hue/saturation tool (ctrl+u) to change the hue each time.

28__Create a new layer. Use a big “fuzzy” pen to draw magenta (#c829c6), yellow (#e7ec60), and blue (#2b9bda) on the left hand side of the girl.

29__Go to your blending mode menu (top of your layers panel) and choose screen from the drop-down menu.

30__Add the hand-drawn ink-splodge under your girl figures left eye.

31__Place the special texture layer on top of your layers. Experiment with the placement of this layer – Copying and placing to get the best textured effect.

33__Go to your blending mode menu (top of your layers panel) and choose screen  from the drop-down menu.

34__ To finish, add a curves adjustment layer to the whole document (click on the half-moon icon at the foot of the layers menu and select curves) drag the curve pointers until you are satisfied with the result.

The results can be amazing! So good, in fact, that the fan version of the movie poster is often better than the original! The real movie posters often lack the visual cleverness that we see in the fan art versions. These particular poster designs have been created by extremely talented artists and designers who have used amazing visual language, artistic skill, and conceptual thinking to create some inspirational work. I hope that these designs inspire you in your own poster design work!

Simply amazing digital artwork by Richard Davis for his interpretation of The Artist movie

Brilliant neon cool 8o’s vibe for this 80’s aesthetic movie

 Ferris Bueller gets a classic 50’s makeover in this brilliant poster by Mark Welser

The design on this is so rad by Nicole Antonian, I actually want to see this version of the movie!!?!

I’m such a fan of these games! I wish this really was a movie (fantastic illustration by Pikazilla)

James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein  is an outstanding piece of design, illustration and digital  mastery

Minimal design by Olly Moss that is so bold and eye-catching! (based on the famous mirror scene; “you looking at me”)

Simply brilliant piece of design and typography!

 Amazing illustration by Christine Griffin – love this style

Simple but so visually clever and witty!

Superb retro vector illustration by Tom Whalen

Creepily brilliant illustration by Elif Cinbaşfor a creepily brilliant movie

 Great concept and  great execution by Sēbastián

This Fight Club poster by Chris Morkaut has all the edgy brilliance of the movie

Exceptional typographical treatment by Jerod Gibson

Absolutely love this poster by polish designer Piotr – dark, elegant, and beautiful

James White’s is such a skilled digital designer. His version of the Green Lantern movie poster is tremendous!

Graphic genius from Joel Amat Güell – love this Contagion movie poster

I Just love this 50’s style cartoon illustration! Great poster from Atipo

Another brilliant design from James White

Graphic brilliance from Abb-d Choudhury

Travis Price has created an amazingly complex digital illustration for his Big Lebowski tribute

Sublime piece of illustration for the Marvel film

Strong visual concept by Oscar Delgado

Beautiful graphic design treatment for The Adjustment Bureau movie from Matt Needle                                                                                                                                                                         

Another super-cool movie poster by Mark Welser. Beautiful visual style that really pops.

Another movie poster design by Richard Davies – breathtaking digital art mastery!

Great typography and composition by “thescotters”

Jim Tuckwell has Combined two classics here for a funny and cool movie poster

Cool geometrical composition by Vangarde

love the 60′s vibe design from Corey Holms

A super modern graphical  treatment of this movie (makes the movie look far more interesting and cool than it actually is!)

Another design by Grzegorz Domaradzki  - about as graphically excellent as it gets!

This life Aquatic movie poster by Akashisko is so 50’s cartoon cool

Brandon Schaefer’s poster is colorful, simple and visually cool!

Stunning illustration and composition by Emmanuel-B

Brilliantly striking image for the movie Six String Samurai by designer. James Anderson

Alex Eylar’s fantastic minimalist design

Grzegorz Domaradzki who did this tribute to the British classic, Get Carter, is probably the greatest mixed media artist out there! His work is sublime!

Complex illustration and wonderful composition by “MRMSTYLE”

Cool vector poster of the Moon movie by Harry Gordon

Another amazing piece by Polish designer. Piotr – this cool 60’s style fits perfectly with the X Men First Class movie aesthetic

Incredible digital art interpretation of Apocalypse Now

Funny poster by Alexander Ovchinnikov! I’d love to see the eggplant version of this movie!

Visually powerful image of this Disney classic by Monique Sterling

Beautiful illustration by Alice X. Zhang of character Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games movie

One of my favorite artists going! Alex Pardee’s series of Sucker Punch posters are terrific

Amazing design by Noah Hornstein – visually powerful and unnerving

60’s style illustrated chic by Rob Nichols – when Sean Connery was still young and dashing as bond!

Another fantastic movie poster by Mark Crandall

Amazing digital skill from hyzak to create this concept poster for the upcoming Amazing Spiderman movie

Fantastically simple but effective illustration for The Seventh Seal by artist, Atipo

Stickers make us all feel young again. Just as children love bright and colorful stickers, so does the eternal youth  in us all who can’t resist cracking, peeling, and sticking a sticker.  For this reason, it is a particular favorite of  artists, designers, and other creative types who love to brand themselves in this fun, exciting, and often anarchic way.

The following list represents the cool and hip sticker designs of some particularly talented designers.  It shows some unique uses of stickers as branding tool for identity and labeling. 

Graffiti cool logo design by ekiem

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Ekiem-Sticker-Pack/3374989

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This superb logo sticker spreads the name of a cool and hip Indian restaurant on every take-out package and container

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Love-Curry-Branding/3256929

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Design by Code 501 - part of a whole portfolio of character designs turned into stickers

souce: http://www.behance.net/gallery/STICKER-CODE501/2974109

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Mister Tee uses a plethora of awesome and artistic stickers to create a whole "street art" vibe to his graphic brand.

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Mister-Tee-2011/2712359

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Branding a fashion company with "rockstar" sticker designs. Stickers lend themselves to this type of cool and rebellious promotion.

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Wear-your-Soundtrack/1345121

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Stickers as business cards - great business card alternative for designers and creatives

source http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikefr/4846434680/

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Ultra-cool logo stickers for a takeout restaurant - they created stickers to handout as well as packaging stickers for their tacos and burritos.

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Boss-Tacos-Identity/2628559

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Character stickers with uber-cute hello kitty design.

source: http://www.geeksugar.com/Hello-Wars-Stickers-Hello-Kitty-Star-Wars-Combined-3330919

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Character development using stickers - a great way to get your character illustrations seen

source: http://www.pelonoide.com/#161503/Stickers

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Brilliant design by Huesudo - stickers are a great way to show your unique visual style

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/huesudo83/4650521934/

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Graffiti style stickers for street sticking

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qsidp/4369594719/

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Another designer using stickers as cool business cards

source :http://www.behance.net/gallery/CPD-Wee-Man-Stickers-Key-rings-Desktop-Wallpapers/679722

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Super cool vector illustration for this sticker self-promotion

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/THE-B_B_T-%28Bling-Blinh-Tooth%29-COLLECTION-STICKERS/81861

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Sophia Georgopolou uses stickers to send cute messages all over her business cards and other promos

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/SOPHIA-GEORGOPOULOU-LOGO-CORPORATE-IDENTITY/898097

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More cool character design and brilliant design show-off!

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sticker-illustration/1824043

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Illustrator showing their skill through stickers - cool portfolio product

source: http://brianewing.blogspot.com

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Really awesome sticker pack created by King Apparel to promote their t-shirt and apparel graphics - a whole collection of super-fun stickers

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/King-Apparel-Sticker-Pack-Poster/2223882

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Cute and cool character design stickers from Carnivorum. A great way to advertise a vinyl toy line or other hip and trendy design venture

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/20-CARNIVORUM-STIKERS-by-Edu-Morente/2914171

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Awesome and edgy sticker - stickers lend themselves to an edgier and more radical design aesthetic...tons of fun and cool!

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/MIGHTY-GLOWBONE/478523

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Love this illustration style - stickers are perfect for showing the world your unique design style.

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Royale-Airforce/225932

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Superb product label stickers. A great sticker can hugely elevate a brand

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Wines-That-Rock-LogoSticker/363071

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These stickers were designed as Chiquita banana sticker alternatives. Tiny little sticker brilliance and originality.

source: http://cronobreaker.deviantart.com/art/Yeti-Stickers-137722100?q=boost%3Apopular%20stickers&qo=7

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More Graffiti characters for design and street art style projects

source: http://cronobreaker.deviantart.com/art/Yeti-Stickers-137722100?q=boost%3Apopular%20stickers&qo=7

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Awesome band sticker design - stickers are a common way for bands to market themselves (let the fans do the promoting!)

source: http://www.pfahlertcreativelabs.com/

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Love these character stickers designs (want one!)

source: http://lostmolotov.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48#/d17xd7y

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Great motivational messages stuck on stickers to "motivate" people to check out some awesome designs!

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/6-BADGES/1049637

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Another brilliant sticker design - the designer uses it like a flyer or business card with the added bonus of being a sticker

source: http://missmonster.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=sticker#/d2lhyzr

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These little speech bubble stickers add so much cool value to the packaging for this product

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Kreatif-Design-Studio/103880

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Great illustration style - looks particularly brilliant as a sticker

source: http://remcoow.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=sticker#/dg7w7r

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Various sizes of sticker with this super-cool designer branding - so good as a business card or just as a cool giveaway to spread your name

source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Vinyl-Sticker-Design/274727

With this in mind, photographers may want to invest more in their print promotions as the busy season of weddings, proms, events, etc. approaches.  As the summer season nears, sending examples of photography work to clients and customers should be a no-brainer. Great imagery defines the photographer and sending people examples of this imagery is essential.

Working for a major print company has given me an insight into some of the clever and creative ways that photographers promote themselves. The following list outlines three print products that photographers often use for their promotions:

Photographers postcard mailer for event season

Direct Mail Promotions

The postcard mailer above is an example of the type of promotion that can be very successful for photographers during the events season. When delivered to targeted customers in your locale, the postcard mailer is a tried and tested technique that pays off every time. Use your best shots and ensure that you’ll be remembered and contacted.

Always include your address, phone number and web links in your mailers. As an extra incentive, you may also want to include a special promotion, such as, “mention this postcard offer when phoning and receive 20% off my usual rates.”

Example of a booklet we printed for a Photographer that was used as a direct mail campaign

Portfolio Booklets & Mailers

Booklets that showcase your photography are the ultimate in photography promotion. They are often used by photographers to target event companies, art directors, galleries, and other important clientele.  However, they can also be used in larger mailing campaigns for general customer targeting. Especially in the event season when brides-to-be are looking for that “special someone” to take their wedding shots.

A booklet also presents you with the opportunity to show your diversity. This is useful for photographers who specialize in all kinds of wedding, portrait, event, and studio photography.

Use the extra promotional space in your booklet to surface information about yourself and your experience. Good items to message are:

• Your resume and/or experience
• List of large clients and major projects
• Your  rates
• Your process and techniques
• Your enthusiasm and love of photography

Just like with all other print promotions, make sure you include your address and contact details in your booklet promotions.

Examples of calendars for self-promotion - seen every day and very effective

Calendars

Calendars are a fun marketing product that you can give to customers and clients as a gift. The best thing about this calendar gift is that it’s likely to be hung in a customer’s home or a client’s office – a year-long reminder of your talent and the need for your services.

Calendars are especially effective for photographers who specialize in portraits of pets, babies, and other things cute and cuddly! People love to hang cute dogs or babies on their walls. Even if you just want to celebrate your work over the last 12 months with your family and favorite clients, a calendar is the perfect marketing tool to get people to look at and discuss your work.

Be sure to include your numbers, contact, and web links on every page to make maximum use of your calendar promotion and to present your details easily to everyone who may see it.

The Importance of Quality Printing

As a photographer, quality of your visuals is critical.  That’s why NextDayFlyers has always been a favorite of photographers because we can honestly say that our print product is of a consistent quality that does justice to your creative work.  We provide offset printing in higher resolutions to ensure that the fine details in your photographs are not lost.

We can also provide all-in-one Mailing Services  so that you can send your promotions to print and send them directly to your customers – a hassle-free way to self promote.

Sometimes on my break you will find me wandering around our warehouse looking at some of the most cool, awesome, outrageous, interesting, and pretty flyers you will ever see. I have a habit of collecting these flyers and posting them  at my cubicle .  It’s a great way to decorate my work area and a fantastic way to connect with our customers. Every day when I come to work I look around my desk and I feel appreciative of the creativity that others share with us.

Close up of Crystal's cubicle with all the brilliant posters, flyers and prints she's collected

Amazing die-cuts, wondrous illustrations, and stunning artwork cover the walls of Crystal's cubicle!

         CRYSTAL’S 5 FAVORITE FLYERS

Super-cool flyer that draws inspiration from classic Boris Karloff horror!

1. My first pick is this Frankenstein flyer. I grew up with the old horror classics and Frankenstein happens to be one of my all time favorites.  When I saw this flyer with the monsters bride theme,  it caused me to stroll down memory lane!  Friday night at my uncle’s house with popcorn and a good old fashioned scary movie is a  priceless memory that this flyer helps me remember.

This donut die cut looks so real....good enough to eat!

2. My second is this cool die-cut we produced for a customer.  This was given to me by a co-worker who knows how much of a donut freak I am, especially  chocolate covered donuts with sprinkles! It looks so real and yummy! When I’m having an indulgent kind of day ,I look over at this flyer and remind myself to stop by my local donut shop for a sweet treat!  The other reason why I was given this donut flyer is  because they knew how much of a  Simpson’s fan I am, which brings me to my number three pick.

Ummm! Braiiins! (Homer hanging out at Crystal's Cubicle)

3. My third pick is this awesome flyer I came across the other day. Me and the Simpson’s go way back. They were a big part of my childhood (and still a big part of my adulthood.) From the pressures of school to the pressures of just living life, nothing is more relaxing to me than coming home and throwing on an episode of this hilarious sitcom and laughing my stress away! Even a printed material of the Simpsons brings laughter to me! “Working stiff” after 8 hours of typing, my hands can relate to this image.

Cats, Cats, Cats, flyers at Crystal's Desk

4. My fourth pick is this 11.5″x3″  flyer we recently produced. I saw this and immediately thought CATS! It is a simple flyer with the words cats and meow on it, but the words and type remind me of the  musical Cats. I’ve seen the musical Cat’s and it was a great show – the  flyer represents an enjoyable night that I got to experience.

Front and back of the Prom of Doom flyer, pinned to Crystal's cubicle wall

5. My fifth pick is this interesting flyer I saw sitting on a box. It’s interesting to me because it celebrates “Sweeney Todd” and the work of  movie director Tim Burton who is a genius in my book; I follow his movies and love his amazing imagination. I really like the font on this flyer. It  makes the picture seem all-the-more creepy; the headline “Prom of Doom” makes you want to pick it up and read it, another reason why I think this flyer stands out.