Making a brochure is one thing everyone is able to do today with all of the countless brochure producing software out there on the Web. People that don’t have enough time or even the desire of creating their very own brochures may always use a printing company that offers brochure printing, as well as postcard printing and greeting card printing, that can be found both offline and online at an affordable price. Having said that, it’s these essential tips to develop a high quality brochure that need to be taken into account when coming up with a brochure.

1. Prior to making your brochure, gather and analyze other brochures distributed in your area. Uncover precisely what causes a particular style and design to be more captivating than the others. By thoroughly researching other designs, it is possible to acquire your own feeling of excellent design so that you can come up with an attractive brochure. Upon having a concept of exactly what the brochure ought to look like, you must determine which type of people that you intend to distribute your brochure to once it is printed. Pick a typeface that is most suitable for the style you want, such as a professional, funny or informal one, along with maintaining a straightforward message. Avoid using more than two fonts in the brochure as this tends to distract readers from grasping the core subject matter.

2. Determine which details are essential and organize it according to its value. Produce several drafts of the brochure layout until you can completely visualize where all of the information will be placed. Use design elements like boxes only when highlighting the most important content so that it is easy to follow. Have a friend or fellow employee take a look at your draft concept and ask them if it appears to flow in a logical order that is easy to follow along. You can even ask them what was the main message they extracted from the brochure to ensure you have a proper layout.

3. When designing a brochure it is common to feel the desire to make use of the page and fill up the entire space, however it is best to avoid doing so. When you leave empty space on the page and maintain a simple layout it helps deliver the message to the reader without any confusion. Pictures and graphics are useful, but too many will make the brochure look messy as well as distract the reader from the main purpose.

4. You will find a huge selection of colors available for brochure printing, but the best performing brochures are almost always designed in just one or two colors. Occasionally, grayscale brochures end up being far more stunning than colored brochures. Do not forget that the expense of printing must be evaluated when selecting colors for your brochure. More colors usually means a higher printing cost, but at the same time if your brochure is in need of many colors to generate results and improve your business then avoid trying to cut the costs here. After deciding on the colors, you will need to choose the type of paper for your brochure. Paper is also available in many different colors, dimensions and materials. If you are trying to go green in your business or organization then you may look at using recycled paper. Recycled paper is an ideal way to cut down on the amount of natural resources you use and it’s also a wonderful way to promote yourself these days as more and more people are becoming environmentally conscious. Use recycled paper when doing brochure printing, postcard printing or greeting card printing, and you will certainly stand out with your audience.

5. Upon finishing the design and picking the typeface and paper for your brochure, you must always proofread and analyze your brochure. Go through it quite a few times prior to getting it printed because once it is printed you won’t be able to fix any mistakes you might catch afterwards. As mentioned earlier, it is a good idea to have another person you trust to critically evaluate the final layout and provide their honest opinion. After you have rigorously review the brochure and feel content, then contact the printing company and begin having it printed.

Keep these points in mind when creating the perfect brochure design and you too will have an effective brochure that produces action, brings results and drastically improves your business or organization.

In a newly eco-conscious business world, an environmentally friendly image can make the difference between profit and loss. One of the quickest and most effective ways to let your customers know your business is environmentally friendly is using an eco-friendly printer for your marketing materials, especially for brochure printing.

Being environmentally conscious as a business has become a mark of a forward thinking, responsible and profitable businesses. Besides helping the environment, using eco-friendly brochures is a cost effective, efficient way for new businesses to attract consumers with their environmentally friendly image, or for old businesses to update and improve their image.

It only takes something as small as a tiny icon on the back of your brochure to give consumers the impression of an eco-friendly business. Many images, such as the ubiquitous recycling label or the tree shaped “post consumer waste” label are commonly recognized and are the fastest way to promote an environmentally friendly image. Since people tend to hang onto brochures anyway, it is easy to capitalize on that image by putting a note on the back asking consumers to recycle their brochure when they are finished with it, or making it out of a material that is easily reusable for another purpose.

Eco-friendly materials have come along way from simple recycled paper. Rather than simply relying on color printing to grab consumers’ attention, why not use a more visually and tactilely attractive material? Many higher end eco-friendly printing shops can provide paper made out of materials as exotic as banana plants, coffee, or even rocks. Using such an unusual material for brochure printing can be really eye catching to consumers and opens up the door for very creative marketing that sticks with customers.

Even more traditional brochures can still promote an eco-friendly image by using environmentally friendly inks. Made of sustainable materials like corn and soy, these inks provide the same quality of color printing as traditional inks, and can be a subtle, but effective way to include an environmentally friendly aspect to your marketing. In the long run, using eco-friendly inks or an eco-friendly printer can even save money, as the ink cartridges are refillable and reusable.

With all the benefits of traditional brochure marketing, eco-friendly brochures are a clearly effective marketing tool. While still affordable for companies, eco-friendly brochures are not only an attractive way of marketing, but also give consumers more confidence in your company.

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

Think back to the ads you actually remember. The infamous Mac versus PC ones. The award-winning Mr. W ad with a touching twist. More than likely, the videos were made by former professionals in the film industry. Not convinced?

Just check out the list of credits behind the two to three minute YouTube teasers on GreenWorldAds. Many hail from a history of doing independent film work or music videos. Read the rest of this entry »

A Green Printer interview with Carmen Spagnola, entrepreneur and owner of m.

1. What made you want to start m?
I started m because I was a frustrated consumer.  I decided that  if I want to have access to smarter, more beautifully designed, more  responsible products and amenities for my home and family, I was going to have to create more demand.  Markets are a bit of a chicken-and-egg  relationship.  Many retailers will tell you that they only provide  what their customers want.  That is only part of my modus operandi. I want to showcase the possibility of a better performing future, so  much of what I sell and promote is currently considered ahead of the market.  But how will the market know what it wants if we don’t inspire it to want more?
Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

This week, we scoured Google, we marveled and finally chose three design resources, trends and case studies from around the globe that inspire in their boundary pushing work. You’ll probably re-think using the colour green in your branding palette. And that’s a good thing.

1. Did you ever wonder what all those old marketing posters for saving the endangered spotted owls could be made out of? In 1980s, you could have conjured nasty words like ’subterranean chemicals’ or ‘volatile organic compounds‘ (VOCs). Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

Here and there in 2007, I saw the idea of the ’share economy’ pop up.  In 2009, car sharing, bike sharing, vacation sharing and even, clothing sharing seem to have more clout as tidalwave trends as opposed to mere passing trends.

From conference keynote titles like “Is the Share Economy the New New Economy?” at the May 5-7 Next09 Conference to the hit $40 annual fee Smart Bike Program in Washington, D.C., sharing is on the rise amongst even ‘mainstream’ consumers.

Sure, when times were high, the idea of car-pooling with the guy next door who grows petunias seemed like a nuisance best avoided (”I have to get to my superimportantmeetingnow!”). Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you to Daniel Schutzsmith for this fabulous tip.

Green Printer has interviewed rockstar interactive and strategic marketing, design and development firm Core Industries before (who clients include Live Earth, Pepsi and 1% for the Planet) and has been in touch with Megan MacMurray, Production Designer at the agency.

So, we were excited to learn that the Brooklyn-based MacMurray, along with fellow artist Angela Pablo, showcased her Garden Electric exhibit at the Futuresonic Festival and Conference in Manchester, England. Read the rest of this entry »

A Green Printer “Design Goes Green” dispatch. An interview with Deb Ozarko, Director, Creative Services of Clearly Green Design.

[digg=Being “green”, socially aware and committed to the planet doesn’t mean that design solutions have to be serious and dull]
1. If a client comes to you saying that they want to market themselves as a green company, what kinds of advice would you give them in terms of identity and design?
Before I would give them any advice, I would accurately determine their motives. As both a visual communicator and a social/environmental activist, I have a very large responsibility to the public and the planet - as well as my own personal ethics. Clearly Green Design takes our commitment to the environment, animals and social justice causes very seriously so its critical that we understand the motivating factors for a company before we go any further. A green claim or green identity no longer has the same validity that they used to because of excessive greenwashing. Greenwash is rampant because so many companies have simply jumped on the green bandwagon in order to keep up with the trend. Personally, I find this really sad because there is alot at stake here - namely, planetary survival. A glaring example of greenwash are the green claims made by the Walmart corporation. I honestly don’t know how the folks at the communications agency who market Walmart can sleep at night. Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch

As we are gearing up for week full of interviews from Clearly Green Design and the Futuresonic Festival and Conference (a sneak peek photo of the Futuresonic interview above!), this week’s uber-short post is on some valuable and unique tools for business owners looking to refresh their green marketing efforts.

1. Widgetbox allows you to search for widgets and once you find a good match for your busines, it lets you customize the mini-application and add it to your own Web site or blog. Green Printer even has one too.

2.  Volusion. Because Barack Obama used it in his campaign and well, look where it took him. No seriously, Volusion’s Gold Plan edition offers new social commerce features and affordable plans for tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

3. Besides Google AdWords, Clickable Pro for Advertisers is an affordable and simple online advertising Web service that helps small to medium sized businesses to create and manage search marketing campaigns from a single location.

That’s it! We told you it would be short. Stay tuned for the blog-blitzrieg next week through our “Design Goes Green” series.

For the past few years, corporations have been touting the launch of each new sustainability program - from employee engagement initiatives to renewable energy powered operations. And so, 2009 is an interesting year for Green Printer to check in on the results of these shop floor and boardroom decisions.

In a very interesting article, Anca Novacovici of Eco-Coach speaks about how corporations like 3M and Grossman Marketing group reaped in tangible - but unexpected revenue surges, savings and client kudos - by choosing the greener path.

“Going green can…fatten the top line. Grossman Marketing Group, a US$30-million (sales) maker of marketing, decided to spend up to US$4,000 every year to ease the strain on the nation’s energy grid by purchasing renewable-energy “credits” from two California wind farms. Adding 5% to its energy bill didn’t save Grossman money at the time, but it did attract eco-friendly customers like Google and Green Mountain Coffee. Envelope sales — which represent 45% of Grossman’s top line — grew 20% in 2007, which is a pretty good return on a $4,000 investment!” Read the rest of this entry »