Printer spreads. Image size. Resolution. System fonts. Color mode. There are a multitude of factors that can be controlled during the design and prepress process that will greatly improve a design’s usability in the real world. These rules vary for print and Web design, and it is important to learn them for both mediums. That being said, it is equally important to realize that a designer rarely gets exactly what they want. Sometimes visual perfection is not possible. There are always going to be compromises to be made, but a smart designer knows how to carefully weigh each factor and make an educated decision that benefits the design.

Part two of this blog will focus on “Ensuring your Print Design Can Be Realized in the Real World”.

1. At what point is it acceptable to abandon or ignore a social media tool?
2. When does it make sense to include a new social media tool as part of your social marketing strategy?

It’s clear that social media is here to stay as a tool for spreading the word about products and services. Facebook has worked hard over the last year trying to make the tool business-friendly. Twitter seems to be business-friendly right out of the gate. LinkedIn was built for business. Each of these tools can be a part of a marketing strategy, but you must first  determine which of the tools is right for your business.

If you are currently on one of these sites, you should carefully review your participation in your company’s pages or general activity on each of these sites to determine if they still warrant your attention. If the participation has declined, you might want to look at your promotion techniques. Are you promoting or posting to your page often? Are you ‘tweeting’ compelling content regularly?

Another factor for decreased participation could be that your target market has moved on to another site… the ‘hot, new’ social media platform on the block. Social media users are far from brand loyal. If a new tool comes along that works better and is more interesting, they are really likely to switch the bulk of their attention to the new tool. They probably won’t completely give up on the old tool (right away anyway), but they will spend less of their available time with it, thereby decreasing the possibility that they will pay any attention to your presence there.

New social media tools seem to pop up all the time, but does it make sense to include them in your marketing strategy? Who are the people that are using the tool? Are they your target? If not, it might be OK for your family photos or posting about your trip to the grocery store, but it might not be right for your business.

Further, the revamped user interface is a huge boon to finding what an author needs quickly.  And on the design side, being able to easily select templates to apply to a page now is a wonderful improvement and helps separate the setup and design part of the site from authors’ needs.

However, it’s not a quick solution for any content management system (CMS) problem.  There are many sites which just won’t quite work on WordPress.  For example, recently a client was discussing whether WordPress could handle their many thousands of pages as they migrated from static hand-linked html. (It was good that they wanted to move to some modern CMS.)  However, the site isn’t really designed to center around blog entries, and their static page count is huge. Both of these factors work again WordPress, despite it’s recent advances.

All we had to show them was how long the single page selection menu would be in the administration to give a good example of some of the shortcomings still inherent in WordPress as a full-fledged CMS.  Even with plugins such as Page-mash, there’s only so much effort that’s been put into general site control that you would normally expect in a modern CMS.  So while we’re certainly very happy with the changes that have come out in WordPress, it’s still not everything for everyone.

Quality Web typography improves communication. It also enhances flow and interactivity. Your written content is usually the most valuable element on your Web site. Thus, prioritizing your Web site typography is actually highlighting your most profitable resource. Below are three basic, but important rules to abide by when considering typography on the Web.

1. Establish a Clear Hierarchy of Information with Your Text
Arranging type with varying size, style and weight in a consistent manner will make a big impact on your Web site. This allows you to share with the user what content is most important, so they can easily access the information they want. When your typography works as a visual “cue”, it allows the user to navigate throughout the site with easily with intuition.

2. Limit the Number of Fonts You Use on Your Site
It is best to never use more than three typefaces in a Web site design to avoid unnecessary visual confusion for the user. Minimalists might even argue that using three fonts is using one too many. Either way, limiting the number of typefaces in your Web design will help create cohesive, visual unity.

3. Consider the Space Surrounding Your Type
When designing for the Web, it is important that you create ample space surrounding your typography. It is best to create a visual “balance” between the positive space of the type and the negative space surrounding it. This will ultimately enhance readability for the user.

At a revival, the audience has to be ready to be converted. They know why they are there. At a mission, the audience’s primary goal isn’t getting converted. But, the mission manager is appealing to their hunger and cold in order to get them in the door.

I’ve met many salespeople who want to run their companies like a revival. Only those truly “ready” to consume their service get in the door. The good thing about this approach is that you’re likely to convert more people. But, you will have a smaller audience. In addition, those who convert are more likely to stay converted, because this is the reason they are there in the first place.

Others work like a mission. They use non-sales methods to attract their audience. Then, while they are consuming these ideas/services/etc., they try to educate and convert them. Lead nurturing is like this. The goal here is to meet people’s immediate needs/desires, and then work on serving their “real” needs down-the-road.

Lots of people don’t think the mission approach is worth it. It takes too much time and effort, they say, to deal with these people and eventually convert them. On the other hand, the revival approach seems perhaps unnecessarily limiting. If you allow only a few people into the tent, then you naturally can’t convert more than a few people.

So, which is a better approach?

I am a fan of the mission. Without being deceptive, I think it’s important to meet people where they are and move them along gradually. In our business, we can’t expect our future clients to be fully educated and informed and ready to convert. This is especially true in today’s climate of layoffs and overwork. Many of our clients just don’t know enough to find, never mind attend, a revival.

Recently, however, I have seen an increase in the synchronicity of social media. Twitter and Facebook now seem to demand, and receive, constant attention. Status updates get replies in real-time. Tweets are answered in seconds. This indicates that these media have become synchronous: the parties are in communication at the same time. And, in so doing, these media are losing their efficiency. As they lose their efficiency, they become more like work. That is, they demand more and more time from participants. And as this happens, we can expect the use of social media in the workplace to come under increased scrutiny, especially in this economy.

We have to be careful when considering why is it communication that we call social that we don’t relax in what’s on synchronist communication. Synchronist communication apparently risky because they have–require much higher commitment from both parties. Instead, be sure to focus also on a synchronist communication, in fact we’re underestimating the importance and the role of the e-mail.

1. Create your initial logo as a vector file.
“Vector” logos, or logos built in Postscript, allow for maximum usage. You can scale the size of vector files greatly without loss of quality or sharpness. This means that the same logo file that looks great on a business card will also look great on a billboard­. Also, vector graphics are small in file size. This makes them much easier to manage and share. The bottom line—for print design, a vector logo will always look and act best. Your design agency will typically start with a vector logo, but can provide Web-friendly files from this format also.

2. Design your logo in black and white – at first.
It is best to avoid color while in the first round of logo design. If you design a logo that works without color first, you can avoid the possibility of the logo relying on color for its visual impact. This is important because most logos end up being displayed in black and white at some point­—in a newspaper or on a fax or copy. Once you do add color, it is best to limit it to two if you can. Too many colors can confuse the eye rather than helping to focus it. Limiting your colors will also save you money during the printing process. Since there is no limitation to color usage on screen, many companies shave been tempted to overuse color in their Web design. Bad design, however, is bad design in any context.

3. Simplify. Simplify. Simplify
Overly complicated logos are often difficult to read and understand. This is true even at a large scale, but especially so when reduced in size. And since these complex logos are difficult to really see, they are almost impossible to remember or recognize. Companies often mistakenly perceive their logo as their entire brand platform. Thus, they try to communicate everything about their company in the mark, instead of the essential, overarching qualities. You do need to put a lot of complex thought into your logo behind the scenes, but you do not want the viewer to see that in excessive detail work, color, or font usage. It is best to communicate a company’s brand attributes with a clean, simple logo design.

4. Always consider your logo’s size and ratio.
As a rule, logos should be recognizable and readable at a quarter inch. At some point, most logos will need to be reproduced at a very small size—on a plastic pen, key chain or usb drive. It is also best if your logo is not overly horizontal or vertical. Most logos will not be a perfect square, but a conservative width to height ratio is ideal. A balanced mark is adaptable, making it easier to successfully place in a variety of layouts.

Usually, when someone (marketing copywriters especially) puts adjectives in front of a noun, they are covering something up. These offenses take several forms.

• Redundancy—adding an adjective that repeats the meaning of the noun. I am provoked mainly by the adjective “smart,” as in “smart marketing.” Isn’t that just marketing? Isn’t all (real) marketing already smart? If that’s not bad enough, consider the case when you add another common word, “truly,” as in “truly smart marketing.” Yikes! Now it’s not just redundant. It sounds like you’re protesting too much. Why draw so much attention?
• Obviousness—adding an adjective that is already implicit. Here, I am thinking about terms like “great offer.” Why would you offer me something that’s not great?
• False excitement—adding terms that are designed to generate enthusiasm. The most common is “exciting,” as in “an exciting offer.” I don’t need your rah-rah adjectives (or participles, or whatever) to tell me if the offer is exciting or not. I can decide that myself based on the offer.

A great way to test if your adjectives or adverbs are problematic is to substitute their opposite (or at least a contrary) in the expression. If it sounds weird, then your original modifier wasn’t adding any information. If it sounds normal, then chances are your original term was helping. An example here is drawn from above: “a bad offer.” Who would offer something bad?  So, that means that “great” is useless. But, if you say “a limited-time offer,” then the opposite would be “a non-time-limited offer.” There are such kinds of offers, too, and knowing the difference is important. So, “limited-time” is acceptable. It’s actually clarifying what kind of offer you have.

The point of all this is to help you streamline and simplify your copy. Simple concepts and expressions are more powerful and get more results.

Every successful marketing project results in a tangible expression – that is, an item of communication. This piece of communication contains attractive design and well-articulated content. In other words, good marketing puts a company’s best foot forward.

The business benefits of this are obvious: increased leads, sales, clients, and so on. But, there is another key benefit. When members of the company see, read, and understand these materials, they start to see their own company in a new light. Creative, intelligent communications pieces speak well of the company to its own employees.

The more this happens, the more it can contribute to a positive transformation of the company’s culture. At its most extreme, this effect can help transform a company culture from being depressed and pessimistic about future growth to excited and motivated.

So, don’t forget the internal power of external communications. These side effects are real and powerful.