Even non designers with some knowledge of the right software, creativity and the following tips will be able to improve the look of their printed material.
We have compiled a few good tips and tricks to keep in mind. The outcome will be a professional, less cluttered printed piece that you will be proud to mail or give to prospects and clients.
Using Your Space Wisely
1. Do not be afraid of white space. A little white space with nothing on it will go a long way to getting your information read.
2. Don't stick something in a box just because you think a page needs a "little something". Use boxes to emphasize important information, such as a sidebar or a pull quote.
3. Headlines should be visually tied to the text they head. That means you want very little space between your headline and the following text, and a larger space between the end of the text and the next headline.
Text and Fonts
1. Do not center your paragraphs. Line after line of centered paragraph text can be very difficult to read. Save centering for headlines.
2. Do not put decorative fonts in all caps. It makes the text very hard to read.
3. Try using just two or three fonts. You can even create interesting designs by sticking to just one typeface - a collection of fonts all in the same family. Color can also be used for impact but be careful, if everything is in color, or in different colors that impact gets lost.
4. Another way to draw attention to text is by using reversed text (white text on black or dark background). However keep with the motto that less is more, too many reverses make a page look very dark and it is not usually a good idea to reverse out whole paragraphs.
Setting Defaults and Proofreading
1. Most programs come set with default fonts, font size, line spacing, and more. You will want to set these defaults to reflect your finished product. For instance PageMaker has a default to import graphics at low resolution; this causes the graphic to appear fuzzy on-screen. Many people just assume that that's how it will look when printed but this is untrue.
2. Proofreading is more than just spell checking your document. You should actually read your text and even have a second party read it to catch those little errors.
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