Blog Archives - JL Davis Design

Does this confuse you too?

Jeanine Davis — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 21:02:10 +0000

Something that comes up regularly for my nonprofit directors is receiving quality image files and knowing which file format to use when. When I started my career as in-house graphics at The Metropolitan Opera, it was simpler. The images were for printing, there was one size, LARGE, we retouched, and color corrected them. If one of our star’s headshots turned a ghastly green versus a natural skin tone, I might as well not show up to work the next day! The image needed to be the correct color, and it certainly couldn’t be pixelated. Nowadays, a bigger problem is the lack of understanding of file formats. Oh, and everyone thinks they know how to use Photoshop (just because you can do something in the program doesn’t mean you should). Here is what you need to know about photo/art files.

Where do we start and what file format is best? Well, that depends. Is the image a logo/icon or a photograph? Is it for print or digital?

JPG: In general, digital photographs that come from your phone or photographer will be a jpg. The size can be small or large and used on the web or digitally for Powerpoint, etc. The goal is to have the original file before it has been “resized.” You can go from large to small but not back (yes, you technically can do it in Photoshop but DON’T). And, never, ever take a photo and convert it to a PNG! Don’t try to use a jpg that you converted from a PNG either; the quality was lost and is gone forever.

PNG: These files are for non-photo images like logos and some illustrations. They are an excellent file format for your logo to have a transparent background on your website or to place over a background on your slide deck. They are small in size and perfect for the web and digital space, not for print.

TIF: When I am creating something for print like an annual report, I convert the photographs from a high-resolution jpg (300dpi) to a TIF because it prints really well. Not very technical, but know this is the preferred file for printing.

Vector: Logos and icons should be vector. A vector file is scalable without quality loss and can be converted to many file formats for different purposes. You would send that file to your printer, embroiderer, sign company, and graphic designer. It could be labeled as any of these formats: AI, EPS, or PDF.

I hope this gives you a better sense of which format to use and why it’s important. One last thought regarding file size, JPGs should be as small as possible for websites and social media, so they load fast, but they need to be large for print. A great free resource for making your images load fast on the web is tinyjpg.com.

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What I learned from AFP’s Fundraising Day

Jeanine Davis — Thu, 27 Jun 2019 18:08:25 +0000

AFP’s Fundraising Day was a treasure trove of information. I sat in four different tracks to glean as broad of view as I could. Here’s what I learned:

Direct Mail: There was a 22% higher response rate when they bumped the letter font size to 15pt versus 12pt, (it made the letter 3-pages, but the additional cost was nominal to the increase in response). People love seeing their name. There was an increase of 15% by bolding the donor name.
Planned Giving: Use “gift by will” rather than “bequest.” Create 1-page on your website in a large font for legacy giving. Remember to add a legacy giving check-off box on your response device and piggyback on your impact statement or annual report with a donor highlight story.
Special Events: How to honor someone “working in the trenches”? It was suggested having a big donor or corporation sponsor the honoree. Also, cocktail events are doing as well or better than sit down dinners, and it keeps the cost down.
Sustainer Programs: Thanks to Netflix and other programs, consumer behavior around monthly giving have changed. The average monthly gift is $23. And if your donor stays past three months, they tend to stick around. The numbers show getting a 13thgift is usually a better payoff than trying to upgrade, and it’s easiest on Giving Tuesday.

There were many more insights, including a powerful keynote address from Fatima Shama, Executive Director of The Fresh Air Fund. If you have never been to Fundraising Day in NY, I highly recommend going next year (June 5, 2020).

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How is your non-profit including people with disabilities?

Jeanine Davis — Mon, 06 May 2019 18:39:38 +0000

I read an interesting article in The NonProfit Times recently; it was on how non-profits haven’t been very good at including people with disabilities. The study titled: “Disability in Philanthropy & Nonprofits: A Study on the Inclusion and Exclusion of the 1-in-5 People Who Live with a Disability and What You Can Do to Make Things Better” was from RespectAbility, a nonprofit working on inclusion efforts for people with disabilities. It went on to say there are simple things that can be done to show how your organization can be inclusive to people of all abilities.

Two ideas they mention are:

Enable people with disabilities to request accommodations such as sign language interpreters on event registration forms
Use video captions to ensure people who are deaf or hard of hearing can use the content, (captioning services are easy to use and often free)

That made me think of an article I wrote on color-blindness and making sure everyone can read your content, see the post here. Another point would be designing well thought out collateral material that engages your audience of all abilities. Font sizes, colors, high contrast images, and readability, these details, show thoughtfulness and can help set your organization apart in a very crowded space.

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How readable is your message?

Jeanine Davis — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 19:47:37 +0000

Readability [ree-duh-bil-i-tee]
The state or quality of being readable. Typography. The property of type that affects the ease with which printed matter can be read for a sustained period.

Legibility [lej-uh-bil-i-tee]
Also leg·i·ble·ness. The state or quality of being legible.
Also called visibility. Typography. The quality of type that affects the perceptibility of a word, line, or paragraph of printed matter.

How readable is your message? Just like good design helps a message to connect with your audience, so does readability. There are some fonts that we only use for headlines; they are classified as “display” or “script” fonts. They have personality and can add flair. But, it’s critical to use in small doses, especially if the majority of your audience is over 40. I learned this early in my career before my eyes started revolting. It was a 40-something boss who explained this to me. I was typesetting a letter to go out to our patrons; it was clean with a lot of white space. However, my 9 point text and the lightweight font was not reader-friendly to the audience that would receive it. So, even though I read it perfectly well with my 20-something eyes, I learned that I was not the end user. And that was when it clicked; it’s not about me, which is now what I preach to my clients. It’s not about us or what font we like. It’s about the donors and patrons. They matter more and if they cannot read what we send, how is that helpful?

Of course, we can add flair in other ways and use fun fonts for headers, but we have to consider how the information is sent. It used to be easier when you sent things on real paper in the mail. Now you have to think if the email will be read on a tiny phone or a desktop or a tablet. The weight and color of the text might read really well on your desktop but not on someone’s phone. I recommend sending tests and seeing how it reads on different devices and then asking your colleagues or family (of various ages) to give it a look and watch their reaction. It’s a helpful gauge, and you get to see it on multiple devices because it makes no sense to send something that is unreadable to half your intended audience.

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Three Takeaways from The Ask

Jeanine Davis — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 16:24:38 +0000

I came across The Ask and found it insightful. It was published back in 2017, so you may have read it. Laura Fredricks is well known in the development world, and I think this should be mandatory reading for all your nonprofit board members. I liked it so much that I am reading her book, The Ask: How to Ask for Support for Your Nonprofit Cause, Creative Project, or Business Venture, from 2010 as well. Here are a few things I learned:

You need to believe 100% in your ask.
Two sentences and a question. Keep your ask simple, tight and focused.
You have a 75% greater chance of getting what you want if you ask in person.

As a designer who works mostly with nonprofits, understanding and learning effective strategies is a top priority to help my colleagues produce creative and compelling material.

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Are You Ready for #GivingTuesday?

Jeanine Davis — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 15:38:28 +0000

I was reviewing stats and ideas for #GivingTuesday and here are 3 doable tips for your campaign. And check out their toolkit here.

Get 100% from Every Gift: Make sure your giving form allows each donor to cover the small fee associated with processing a gift. I know Donor Perfect has this feature available.
Monthly Giving Program: Retain your #GivingTuesday support by offering a monthly option and then define gift amounts in terms people can relate to. “One Less Latte Can Change…” Celebrate Giving Tuesday with a $5/month Pledge to “your organization” and then have a link to the pledge form.
Create an Ambassador Program: I really like this one from Heather Mansfield, Founder of Nonprofit Tech for Good; in addition to your own social media profiles launch a #GivingTuesday Ambassador Program. Create an ambassador sign-up page on your website and then immediately provide your new ambassadors, through email, promo text, and social media graphics. In the weeks leading up to #GivingTuesday, email your ambassadors and ask them to update their social media profiles. Email them again the day before to provide encouragement and last minute updates. If applicable, ask your ambassadors to create a fundraising page for your #GivingTuesday campaign. On #GivingTuesday, activate your ambassadors! Send them multiple emails and retweet, share, like, etc. their promotion efforts on #GivingTuesday. After #GivingTuesday, follow-up with a “Thank you!” and save the date for #GivingTuesday 2019.

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USPS Proposal Could Impact Nonprofit Premiums

Jeanine Davis — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 16:02:32 +0000

I was reading an article discussing that your mailing costs may be going up when you send your donors’ non-paper premiums. For the full article, check it out here.

The nonprofit community can comment on the proposal through Oct. 22. Comments and questions can be emailed to ProductClassification@usps.gov using the subject line “USPS Marketing Mail Content Eligibility.”

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Is your site HTTPS secure?

Jeanine Davis — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 19:41:49 +0000

Over the past couple of years, Google started ranking “HTTPS” sites higher than regular “HTTP” sites in non-branded searches. Then in September, Google announced: “Beginning in January 2017 (Chrome 56), we’ll mark HTTP pages that collect passwords or credit cards as non-secure, as part of a long-term plan to mark ALL HTTP sites as non-secure.”

What does this mean for you and your organization? It means the time is now to add “HTTPS” to your list of items to get done sooner than later. If someone searches for your organization by name it will still come out on top but if they search for non-branded keywords you will lose ranking on the top pages because you are not compliant.

How do you do this? It’s working with the company that hosts your website. They will be able to get you the certificate which will cost you an additional yearly fee. It varies depending on the level you need.

How does this relate to working with me as a designer? Your overall marketing strategy is important to me. Every aspect of it can help or hurt your mission. If I find out something that may not be on your radar and it can get better results I will share it, be it design or tech news. Here is an excellent article that dives deeper into “HTTPS.”

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Is your marketing material accessible for all?

Jeanine Davis — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:55:47 +0000

I was re-reading an article on building accessible emails, it talked about designing smart emails so audiences of all abilities can read it, see the link to the whole article here.

Coming from the print world originally, and having had a color blind boss, I had been mindful of color blindness and making sure there is enough variation in color and tones and to steer clear of green and red together. But other elements such as how a screen reader moves through the page of email content was really interesting. Here are some of the stats: “285 million people worldwide are considered to be visually impaired, with 19 million people in the US (or, 8.8% of the population over the age of 18) reporting trouble seeing, even with glasses or contact lenses. In addition, 4.5% of the population are color blind, which can also be a significant impediment when color is used to convey meaning or action in messages, both in email and on the web.”

While the percentage of the visually impaired may seem small, it’s easy to build emails thoughtfully and by doing so, you can be sure all your audience can read your content. We recently discovered my son is blue color blind, it’s definitely made me more aware when creating marketing material. If you’re going to take the time to send it, everyone should be able to read it. That goes for print too!

Give me a call, 516-707-2330, and I’ll be able to help create an accessible email or print collateral for everyone to read.

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Is it time for a style guide?

Jeanine Davis — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 19:37:11 +0000

Lately, several of my clients have been considering either rebranding or having a branding guide built out for their organizations. What’s the difference?

Rebranding can be updating your logo mark and/or additionally reviewing your positioning statement and mission. Creating a branding or style guide is different: your mission and logo stay the same, but the guide helps your staff keep to a consistent look through font choices and a color palette. Quite often departments do their own thing because there isn’t a guide in place to follow. That leads to materials that look unpolished and all over the place. See my visual identity guide to walk you through the process or call me, 516-707-2330, and we can figure it out together.

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