Graphic designers use variety of software for creating visually stunning and informative brochures, but while designing; only a handful of them think about making the design print friendly. Unlike other marketing materials, such as newsletter and banner ads, brochures are meant for printing. You may create an absolutely beautiful flyer in Photoshop, but if it loses its sheen in the print copy, then all your hard work will go in vain.

Here are a few things you must know to get the best output.

1. Know the Print Size- Before you start designing; know the paper size so that you can create the layout accordingly. For instance, if you create an 8.5 x 11 layout and send it to the press for printing it on 8×10 papers, it will lose clarity. Stretching or shrinking a brochure design is never a good idea.

2. Give Space for Bleed- When brochures are sliced in the machines after printing, due to technical faults, the machines may cut a few centimeters extra from the edge. If you start wring a line from the border area or use an important image just beside the margin, it may get sliced accidentally. Therefore, give extra few centimeters of coverage beyond each edge to prevent any content loss.

3. Resolution Is Important- When you see a 72 dpi image on a computer screen, it looks pretty good, but if you use the same image for brochure design, then you will get very low quality output. Therefore, use at least 300 dpi images for your flyer to get the desired clarity.

4. Choose the Right Paper- Heavier paper adds a professional touch to the brochure and customers take your business more seriously. You can opt for either 80lb or 100lb stock paper to get the best results.

5. Pay Attention to Readability, but Don’t Compromise Style- Make sure that the fonts you select are both readable and unique. People don’t like to read marketing materials and if you want to grab their attention, using an uncommon font is a great idea.

A well designed and professionally printed brochure can make people aware of your business and promote your products/service successfully.

Which image format will you use for my project? It’s probably one of the most common questions that graphic designers face before starting a project. The big debate is always about raster and vector graphics and more importantly, which one is the best? Thanks to the pool of poorly written graphic design articles on web, most people think “only vector image is good.” Due to this premonition, clients don’t even like to hear any argument in favor of raster images.

Here is a list of pros and cons of both file formats. Read them and take a wise decision.

Raster Graphics
This type of image contains thousands of pixels or dots that retain the color information. Some of the wildly known raster formats are jpg/jpeg, psd, png, tiff, bmp and gif.

Why Raster

1.    The dpi or “dots per inch” is the most important element of a photo. More dpi means better resolution and clarity. For instance, if a 1 inch by 1 inch photo has 300 dpi, it means the photo contains 300 dots of color that give it a brilliant and detailed look.
2.    Designers can modify every single pixel to make precise changes. If you love customization and perfection, raster is your best friend.

But…

1.    When you enlarge a photo, it gets blurry and that is why some people think it’s not usable for design purpose.
2.    Since the pixels hold a lot of color information, the file size becomes heavier. If a small picture can contain 300 dpi, then a large photo can easily slow down the page loading time.

Vector Graphics
Instead of pixels, this type of image contains lines and curves. Some of the popular vector formats are eps, ai and pdf. Designers use it to create logo and fonts.

Why Vector

1.    Make the image as large as you wish to, but it won’t look blurry. Scalability is one of the biggest benefits of vector format.
2.    While a 1 inch raster image may need to store 300 pixels of data, a vector image requires only four point of the square shaped picture to recreate it on your computer screen.

But…

1.    Due to this geometrical shape based design and data calculation process, it does not offer the richness of raster.
2.    The real weakness of this format lies in effects. In a vector image you can not apply certain simple effects such as, drop shadow and blurring.

Both these formats can be applied for graphic design. Raster is suitable for graphics rich website layout design and vector is suitable for logo design. Choose a file format depending upon your project and make the client happy.

Concept designs can be very interesting and disheartening at the same time. The former because they let us have a look at the future and the latter because that kind of advanced technology is not possible for us to use right now. Similarly, concept graphic design fosters innovation that cannot be possible to create with the kind of technology available today. But we can definitely prepare ourselves and look forward to the future where those designs would be possible to create.

Let’s take the examples of some innovations in the world of computers that graphic designers can take inspirations from.

• Paper Laptop – As shocking as it may sound, it has been possible to create a laptop using recyclable paper. A green solution that can surely be looked forward to in the world of graphic design.

• Prime Gaming Laptop – The prime gaming laptop, invented by Kyle Cherry, eliminates the constraint of the size of monitor and body and is a sleek beauty.

• Pocket Yoga – A slim and small PC that fits the back pocket of trousers. Now that’s forward-thinking!

• The ARM Tablet – It’s tablet PC and desktop in one! With this, one can separate the body and the monitor and when he wishes, he can join the two and use it as a tablet.

• MADE in China – Ever heard of PC design inspired by traditional South-East Asian objects? Creator John Leung won the 2007 Microsoft Next Generation PC Design Contest with this sleek and slim design of his. Wish graphic design could be this beautiful!

• Portable PC Theater- Invented by Korean designer Jinwoo Han, this has a projection screen inside it. Designers, it’s time to put on your thinking cap!

• The Bookshelf PC from Asus – This breakthrough design breaks computers down into some parts that can be interchanged. With this, users can actually upgrade their computers within a matter of minutes.

• The Philco PC – This design has given computers a retro look. You can also try to take your audience back in time with vintage graphic design.

• The B-membrane – A single-body computer with a projection screen built-in to be used as a monitor.

• HP LiM – ‘Less is More’ is the principle behind this ground-breaking design, which can be followed by a graphic design company.

• Horizon desktop computer – It allows users to expand and contract the screen. The idea behind it is to provide the users the liberty of viewing the picture the way they wish. You can also incorporate this idea in your design to provide your users with more liberty.

• Bookshelf PC – Another bookshelf PC has been created that’s compact and modular. With this computer. Users can stack their multimedia devices, as in a bookshelf.

• Canvas – This is aimed at modern artists and designers who can create digital art on this new-age canvas. Can’t anything like this be incorporated into graphic design india to encourage budding artists and designers?

• Zafiro – This futuristic computer runs by the user’s hand and body gestures. Inspirational for graphic designers.

So, these were some very interesting design concepts that can be the source of inspiration for a graphic design company to not only succeed but stay ahead of its competitors. All you have to do is be more imaginative.

Graphic designers are highly in demand these days because unlike other web related businesses, graphic design gives you the flexibility to work in both online and offline media. All you need is a little creativity and knowledge in designing software to be a good graphic designer. Here are some of the things you should start doing to prepare yourself for a successful career.

1. Get a Degree- Employers prefer hiring someone with a designing degree from a reputed institution. Join a college to sharpen your skills. You may have practiced design softwares at home, but at an institution, you will learn the full possibilities of each tool, and also ways to exploit them.
2. Decide Your Field- Choose your path wisely. You can know all, but can’t be all. In other words, you can acquire knowledge on a vast variety of software but must specialize in designing any one faculty perfectly to be called an “expert”. Ask yourself what excites you? Do you love logo, brochure, newsletter, advertisement layout or website design? Follow your passion dedicatedly and you will achieve success.
3. Make Friends and Learn from Teachers- Start bonding with other students and teachers to broaden your horizon. Teachers will help you identify the mistakes and friends may share some interesting concepts with you.
4. Be Involved in Events- Participate in seminars, inter-college fests; listen to experts to enhance your knowledge. Event organization increases your leadership skills and teaches you the ways to handle pressure. Additionally, search the internet for various online designing contests. Take part in them to get  better exposure. You can also win monetary awards.
5. Try for Internship- During the last semester, start applying in different companies to get an internship. You may not earn much as an intern, but it will prepare you for a professional career.
6. Create a Portfolio and a Resume- These things are absolutely important for a newbie artist. On applying for a job, you will be asked for your educational details and sample designs. So, make sure your resume has all the personal and professional details that an employer would like to know. Highlight your expertise and experience to beat other candidates. Print only the best work for your portfolio to prove your worth as a designer. A website can also help you manifold in attracting online clients or employers.

Chase your dream and keep up the hard work to grab a good job in a reputed design company. When you start preparing for your career at a young age, the chances of success is really high.

All the best!