Save Money On Print Advertising #4 - Fonts & Typefaces

No one really knows how many typefaces are available but they are in the tens of thousands. Just look at a few of these capital G’s. The purpose of showing them is not to intimidate you but to excite you by the variety of typefaces that you can choose from when planning the graphic design of your printed piece.

Everyone has heard of fonts and typefaces, but what is the difference between the two?

A font is a complete set of characters in a particular size and style of type. This includes the capital and lowercase letters, the numbers, the punctuations and all of the special character and diacritical marks you get by pressing the shift, option, or command/control keys.

A typeface contains a series of fonts. For instance, Times Bold, Times Italic, and Times Roman are actually 3 fonts (even though people often refer to one entire font family as a "font.")

There are 3 basic categories of typefaces:
Serif, with little "feet," is a more traditional-looking style. Common serif typefaces include Times Roman, Garamond, and Palatino.

Sans serif, with no "feet," a more contemporary looking style. Common sans serif typefaces include Helvetica, Arial, and Avant Garde.

A decorative typeface is everything that doesn't fit neatly into the other two categories. This would include script typefaces and many others.

There can be many variations of the same type design within a single typeface. Most typefaces have at least 3 variations: normal, italic (slanted), and bold. Some have other variations including condensed, expanded, light, demi, demi bold, black, heavy, or ultra, among many other possibilities.

Typefaces have personalities to an extent. They can be called masculine, feminine, casual, rugged, delicate and so forth. A delicate type may work well in a brochure on fine glass and rugged type would be fitting for a parts list of machine gaskets, so matching the character of a typeface to the subject matter should be a consideration when choosing your fonts.

The height of a typeface is described in points. The size of a typeface is often chosen from a series of set sizes, such as 10 point, 12 point, 14 point, 24 point, 48 point, and so on. Thanks to modern computer technology and a handy utility called Adobe Type Manager (ATM), you can enter any point size for your typeface and have it appear smoothly on your screen and in print. One thing to take caution about is that type sizes are not standard. Meaning, one size in a particular typeface is not necessarily the same size as the same point size in another face.

Here are eighteen k's, all in 24 point size. The band of color defines the lowercase height which is the predominant feature in establishing the actual size.

Point size is not always an accurate indicator of actual size. Don't ever say, "Nine point is too small for text reading." It depends on which font you use. Below is a convincing example of how different fonts affect the point size and line length. Both lines are shown in bold and 8.5 point size. The first line is set in Times. The second line is in Verdana.

All Good Men Must Come To The Aid Of Their Country.

All Good Men Must Come To The Aid Of Their Country. 

About the only way to save money when choosing fonts and typefaces is when it will save space on the printed page. In other words, using a certain font might leave space for a picture, more information or condense the text to use fewer pages.

Next in my series of "Save Money On Print Advertising" is #5 - Legibility. 

Please leave a comment if you have a question or concern about your printing or advertising.

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CHT has worked in the printing business since she was 16 years old. She has hands-on experience in every aspect of the industry from running presses, typesetting/graphic design, sales, customer service, management and ownership.

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By using the latest technology, Sun Financial Online offers secure handling of all electronic transactions for retail, mail-order and e-commerce businesses. We provide credit card processing, check systems, gift cards, wireless solutions, e-commerce solutions and cash advance programs to small, medium and large sized businesses.

Save Money On Print Advertising - # 3 - How To Save Money on Design

Wow, this is a huge subject so I will have to stay with generalities. Let me say that the printing and production costs all start with the design. Working in the business, I have received design work from many fancy advertising/design companies that have designed absolutely gorgeous pieces but when it came to producing the product the cost was too prohibitive. That’s why I always advise: LESS IS MORE!

Which ad is a better design? Which of the two excites you? Which one makes you want to buy their product?

Content: Have you ever looked at a print ad that is so “busy” that you can’t tell what the subject is? There is a fine balance between saying too little and saying too much. Your objective is to entice the potential customer to contact you so you can discuss their needs, invite them to your place of business and close the sale. A few well-composed sentences or paragraphs, some intriguing photos and a good design is all you need.

Special Production Effects: The price of production increases greatly with special effects such as embossing, debossing, die cutting, extra trims, unusual folds, etc. In years past, these types of treatments were used to make the piece “stand out”. Today, with so many design software programs, you can achieve wonderful special effects through the design work itself. Save your money and stay away from the fancy finishing.

This sample is poorly designed; too busy, hard to read and lines of copy all over the place. But check out the special effect of the 3-D arrows.
Look at this second example.

This is a great design! It's clean, readable and says just enough. You don't have to go overboard when designing.

Standard: Use standard everything; standard finished sizes, standard sizes and types of stock, standard folds and so on. If you stay within the standards, you will stay within your budget.

This postcard is a 9 x 6 inch full bleed. (A bleed is where the images run off the edges of the stock). This would be printed on 6.25 x 9.25 stock - not a standard size. It's very nice looking, great design but has expensive finishing touches.

This postcard is an 8.5 x 5.5 inch standard size with a 1/4 white margin (the black line indicates the finished size). Still nice looking, same great design, still gets the point across but it COST LESS!


All these suggestions work well whether you contract with a graphic designer, advertising agency, printer or if you are doing the designing yourself.

Next: Save Money On Print Advertising - Series 4 - Fonts and Typestyles.

Do you have a question about printing or advertising? Please leave a comment and I'll give you an honest reply.

_______________________________________________________

CHT has worked in the printing business since she was 16 years old. She has hands-on experience in every aspect of the industry from running presses, typesetting/graphic design, sales, customer service, management and ownership.

_______________________________________________________

By using the latest technology, Sun Financial Online offers secure handling of all electronic transactions for retail, mail-order and e-commerce businesses. We provide credit card processing, check systems, gift cards, wireless solutions, e-commerce solutions and cash advance programs to small, medium and large sized businesses.

Save Money On Printing & Advertising - Series 2 - Design

Graphic design means planning and arranging type and illustrations to convey a message. Designing is often misconstrued by laymen and even people in the trade. There is a tendency to think of the design only as aesthetics: making it attractive, choosing the right colors and so on. A "design" is the WHOLE picture. What follows are broad descriptions of the four main designs.

 
Symmetrical: Lines and/or images are centered on the page and usually with equal margins.

 
Asymmetric: Balance is all-important but hard to achieve. An effective way to organize material.

 
Flush left: 
Setting the text with uneven right-hand edges often harmonizes with the display heads.

 
Grid or Modular:
The design must stay within the patterns that are vertical, horizontal or both.

Some people might ask, "Why bother with design? A good design will draw notice. That's what it is all about, right? You want an advertising mailer to yield high returns; a business card that will be remembered; a flyer that will impel a decision or a brochure that will entice curiosity.

Good design is something that you can take pride in. Most of us do not like to be seen dressed in shabby clothes so why would you want your business dressed shabbily? We should have respect for what we print.

Next article: Series 3 - How To Save Money On Design

If you have a specific question or problem about printing or advertising, please let me know in the comment area and I will be happy to help.
__________________________________________________________________________________

CHT has worked in the printing business since she was 16 years old. She has hands-on experience in every aspect of the industry from running presses, typesetting/graphic design, sales, customer service, management and ownership.
__________________________________________________________________________________

By using the latest technology, Sun Financial Online offers secure handling of all electronic transactions for Retail, Mail-Order and E-Commerce businesses. We provide credit card processing, check systems, Gift Cards, wireless solutions, e-commerce solutions and cash advance programs to small, medium and large sized businesses.

Save Money On Printing & Advertising - Series 1

My forte is print media so I will leave radio and TV advertising talk to someone else. The "Save Money On Printing and Advertising" series is for the person who has the dubious job of telling the world the who, what, where, when and how of their business or organization. It is very important and someone has to do it. You have to spread the word; make contact with potential customers; ADVERTISE!

The old adage of "You have to spend money to make money" is unfortunately true. BUT it doesn't have to break the bank - that's where I come in!

In these series, I will give you hints, tips, advice and information on how to promote your business or organization. We will discuss specific projects such as business cards, forms, brochures and much more. Whether you do it yourself or pay an advertising company, graphic designer or printing company, these articles will show you how to SAVE MONEY on printing and advertising.

Series 1 - Writing and Copy Preparation

There are very few absolute rules for good writing. Three primary ones are: know the subject, be interesting and be grammatical. Fancy graphics, brilliant photographs, first-class paper and printing cannot salvage poor copy.

Here are a few other points to keep in mind when writing print material.

As a general rule, use short, concise sentences. In the same way, use a short word instead of a longer one if the two are synonymous.

In order to keep your copy fresh and alive, use ordinary English rather than jargon or language that is inflated and pompous. The sentence labeled (a) below is far easier on the reader than the one labeled (b).

(a)    Parents must often discipline their children.
(b)    Children must receive parental input that often places restrictions and limitations on behavioral patterns that seem acceptable to the child but are clearly intolerable to the parent.

Be specific. Use concrete examples. Sometimes this can be challenging. How can a writer introduce lively, concrete images into the summary of an auditor's statement in an annual report? That's difficult but most subjects are less abstract and will allow for the use of concrete details if the writer will only try.

Don't hesitate to rewrite your material. A beginner is apt to think of the first draft as something sacred, and resist any attempt to improve it. Don't let your ego get in the way. No matter what the item is, you should re-work it several times. Don't rush the project. It helps to set it aside for a few hours and then look at it again to get a fresh perspective.

When you have finished your final draft, have someone else look at it. Someone with a different view will often point out weaknesses, spots needing changes in emphasis, and actual errors of fact.

Proofread - Proofread - Proofread. No matter what the project, proofreading will eliminate spelling errors, grammatical errors, clear up passages that are unclear and check for consistency of style. At any rate, careful proofreading should be done before proceeding. This is the first place where you will save money. Changes after this point could be very expensive.

Next article: Series 2 - Design
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CHT has worked in the printing business since she was 16 years old. She has hands-on experience in every aspect of the industry from running presses, typesetting/graphic design, sales, customer service, management and ownership.