Posts Tagged Company Image
Corporate Identity Standards Aren’t Just for Big Corporations
Posted by Alan G in Business Communications, Creative Tips, Graphic Design on June 24th, 2009
The latest issue of Creative Tips, going live tomorrow, details more about what a style book is and how to make one. Very few small to medium size businesses have a style book, far less use one, because nobody teaches business owners (or dentists, or consultants… name your field) that the marketplace does, 100 percent, judge a book by its cover. (If that’s not so, why do publishers put such enormous amounts of money and effort into designing terrific covers for their books?)
Corporate Image Boot Camp
Posted by Alan G in Creative Tips, Graphic Design, News on May 14th, 2009
The Creative Tips newsletters have proved amazingly popular, far more than I ever expected. There’s an interesting double-effect here: as I write more and get more feedback, I find the newsletters taking on a life of their own. Number 10 is the start of a series on company image that I suspect is going to shock some folks, because the definition of what constitutes “good” design isn’t nearly the constant that some would like to believe. And the more I got into the subject, the more I realized just how many ways there are – none of them rocket science, all quite simple – to sink your company’s image without trace.
So I found myself on a roll for hours, long past the point where one little newsletter could cover it, and the “Corporate Image Boot Camp” was born. If you’re not subscribed to the newsletter, but would like to be, shoot me an email and I’ll add you to the list.
The Battle for Good Looking Documents
Posted by Alan G in Creative Tips, Graphic Design, Typography on April 21st, 2009
I’ve been amazed how many people have told me — enthusiastically — that after reading Creative Tips #5 they are battling to overcome their years-long habit of typing two spaces after a period. Those typewriter habits we learned at our mothers’ (or fathers’ secretaries’) knees are sometimes hard to break, but folks tell me they’re persevering! Oddly enough, the two-spaces thing never was considered correct in the UK, so ex-pat Brits don’t have a problem with it.
It’s all in the interest of better-looking documents. That, and copy that designers can typeset without a fuss. There’s a degree of enlightened self-interest in these newsletters: the better the copy is written in the first place, the less there is to fix before it goes into the brochure, magazine, manual or book.
Getting Rid of Uglies
Posted by Alan G in Creative Tips, Graphic Design, Typography on March 21st, 2009
From the amazing amount of feedback I’ve been getting to the Creative Tips newsletter, it’s clear that there’s a vacuum of basic “how-to” information on simple layouts and making documents look good in standard office-type programs. This is mildly surprising, considering how many books, websites, etc., have been devoted to the topic over the years. On the other hand, I’ve looked at Microsoft’s website and discovered that the good stuff is hard to find. Lots of “Gee Whiz!” but the basics are well buried.