NorthPoint Blog: April 2019

In today’s digital age of sending emails and calendar invites, surprisingly one thing that hasn’t been phased out is the business card, and I think it’s here to stay. It’s the quickest way to exchange information face-to-face and is the first impression of your brand. So, it is important to have your business card looking professional and be creative or unique enough to stand out from the rest. Show your contact that you took the time to think and design your card beyond the typical, boring white rectangle.

Here are five ways to spice up a boring business card and make a lasting impression:

1. Paper Choice

From weight and texture to color and finishes, there is a lot to look at when considering paper stock for your business card.

Weight: Flimsier cards are printed on 12pt stock. To have your cards feeling more premium, go for the 14pt or 16pt.
Texture: Do you want your cards smooth or to have a texture? You can get a more luxurious look and feel with textured paper.
Color: Be sure to select your stock color, there are many shades of white. Or go beyond white and choose something that will fit your design.
Finishes: Consider matte, glossy, or soft-touch laminate finishes -- either will change your design and feel.

2. Die Cut & Custom Shapes

The standard size of a US business card is 3.5” x 2” but you aren’t confined to these dimensions or rectangular shape. Making a unique shape or changing the vehicle all together can make for some interesting and memorable impressions.

3. UV & Spot Gloss

Including a design created with UV or Spot gloss can provide a sleek, stylish design. This subtle addition can go a long way – add a tone-on-tone effect, create a hidden pattern, or highlight your logo.

4. Foil Stamp

An easy way to take your design from cheap to high-end is adding a foil stamp. The metallic effect adds perceived value to your card, brand, and you.

5. Deboss

This subtle method can enhance your business card in many ways depending on how it’s incorporated into your design. Add depth and tact to your card compared to a typical flat card.

Not sure where to begin? Sit down with the NorthPoint Design Team to brainstorm and design your next business card and utilize NorthPoint Printing Services as your printer of choice.

Setting up your files for success is important when you want your print looking great for every project you submit. Two important ways to do that is to set bleeds and add crop marks to your print files.

Bleed In the print world, bleed is referring to objects or images touching the edge of the page, extending past the trimmed edge leaving no white margins behind. Documents are printed on larger paper and then trimmed down to the final size you intend it to be.

Before you start your design project, add a .125” (3mm) bleed to your document so you know how much your artwork needs to extend. You don’t want to design your document at actual size because when bleed needs to be added the document will need to be scaled up in order to reach the bleed size, possibly cutting off important elements of your design, so always add bleed first.

Crop Marks Crop marks are short lines around the corners of your document indicating where the edge of your final document size should be trimmed.
Crop marks should be added to print files whether there’s bleed or not. This helps with guaranteeing final trim size and alignment. And if you have bleed, then you need crop marks to trim off the extra sides to give you the edge-to-edge print.

Bonus: Safe Zone The safe zone is the space, at least .125” (3mm), inside from the trimmed edge of the document. Important information shouldn’t be outside this space to reduce the risk of being clipped when trimmed. Be sure to add guides or margin lines so you know if you are outside this zone.

How to add bleed and crop marks in Adobe InDesign:
From the New Document prompt, scroll down to find the Bleed settings section.

Exporting your finished document for print, go to File > Print > Name your document and be sure to change the "Save type as" as "Adobe PDF (Print)" and hit Save. The export prompt will show next. Make your way to "Marks and Bleeds". Check "Crop Marks" and type in your bleed values below. If you already set your bleed at the beginning, save time by clicking "Use Document Bleed Settings" and they will auto-populate but be sure they're correct before hitting "Export."

How to add bleed and crop marks in Adobe Illustrator:
From the New Document prompt, right under the document size, is a section for Bleed settings.

To save your document for print, go to File > "Save As..." or "Save a Copy..." > Name your document and be sure to change the "Save type as" as "Adobe PDF" and hit Save. The export prompt will show next. Make your way to "Marks and Bleeds". Check "Trim Marks" and type in your bleed values below. If you already set your bleed at the beginning, save time by clicking "Use Document Bleed Settings" and they will auto-populate but be sure they're correct before hitting "Save PDF."

Remember to always send us print-ready art with Crop Marks and Bleed included. This will eliminate the chance for any speed bumps when your document goes to print. Have any questions about this topic? Just reach out to NorthPoint and let the experts guide you through!

Brand Guidelines (also referred to as Brand Style Guide or Standards Manual) are the set of rules that define your brand identity. This rule book contains key information for those seeking how to properly use your brand by explaining in detail what is acceptable and what should never happen. Additionally, it is for anyone who needs instruction on how to use your brand – from your graphic designer to your accounting department. Having these rules defined is important for brand consistency across all channels where your brand will appear.

How to Start: Coming up with a whole set of rules can seem like a large task, but taking it one step at a time will make the process easier. When complete, you’ll have answers to any questions someone may have about your brand.
Start by having your logo design completed. Using that as a reference, you can select a color palette and fonts that go along with your logo. From there, the rest will fall into place.

Topics that should be covered in brand guidelines:

Logos – variations, usage, clear space
Color Palette – Primary colors, Secondary colors, & conversions for Pantone, CMYK, RGB, HEX values
Typography – Primary typefaces, web safe typefaces, & formatting for headlines, body copy, etc. (such as size, leading, kerning, alignment, etc.)

Optional Topics:

Imagery & icons
Tone & personality
Core Values, mission statement, & messaging
Design examples – such as stationery templates, email signatures, and more
And anything else brand related such as trademarks you have, or how words should be spelled, what words to avoid, tradeshow overviews, and more. Basically, if you want something a particular way for your brand, write it down

How do I create them?

A PowerPoint or Word file
Have your marketing team design a branded PDF
Consider a hard-copy print to refer to
A dedicated web page for anyone to access and download assets

When do I use them?

Refer to them when designing new brand assets
Share when working with a designer or printer
Educating a new employee
Your guide should be a living document that should always be updated or added on to

At NorthPoint, we keep a copy of your brand guidelines on file if we need to refer to logos, colors, fonts and other brand rules so we are sure to keep your brand consistent and honor your brand integrity. Be sure to send updated guidelines whenever you have an update.

The way a product is presented can be an important way to get your message across or even enhance the user's experience with the product. Whether it's subtle or in-your-face obvious, thoughtful package design adds value to your product or brand. Have a look at these clever and unique packaging examples below. They may even force you to rethink the way your product's package is designed!

Note. This simple design really hits the musical mark by cleverly packaging their headphones in the shape of a music note.

Hanger Tea. This design combines product and packaging working together to convey their unique idea. The mini clothing hangers hook to the side of your cup so that they don't fall in. They also created the tea bags in the shape of perfect little t-shirts to relate to the box and create the illusion of a wardrobe.

Ford Matchbox. Ford effectively took a simple match box and added advertising to express their message, creating a clever promotional tool for them to use. The match sticks double to look like wood inside the bed of a cab. On the interior box they added the bed of the truck as a metaphor for their extendable cargo bed, which shows as you slide open the box.

Thelma's Cookies. Everyone knows that cookies are always best when they're fresh from the oven, so Thelma's went ahead and crafted their box to look like a stove. Simple, effective, and unique.

Whitebites. These dog treats use a fun cut out on the box to allow the actual treats to show through, appearing as the dog's teeth. With the dog ear flaps at the top, you can't help but pick these up off the shelf and bring them home!

Kleenex. These tissue box designs use the actual tissue in their design. With the tissue on the first box acting as the smoke from a house, the second uses the tissue as paper in a typewriter, and lastly a whale blowing out water. These clever designs make having a runny nose more fun (but still not that fun).

Help Remedies. This countertop shelf which holds their product bearing not much text asks a simple question, "what's wrong?" The message (or answer) on each product is clear and to the point to quickly direct you to relief, whether you need something for a headache, allergies, or a cut.

Klein Constantia Farm. Upscale products can still have fun which is proven with this packaging that has been turned into a Beekeeper's Bee Hive. When you open the inside you'll find bees - just as one would expect!

Japanese Pastry. This packaging uses a cut out to see through to the pastry inside, doubling to also look like the character's hair.

Here! Sod T-Shirts. This clothing is cleverly packaged like the food that each has imprinted.

Now, you're packaging doesn't have to always be as creative as this, but using custom designs and custom boxes when appropriate is a great way to tailor a marketing campaign or add some additional messaging!

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