Your brochure HERE
Break out of the mold by avoiding pre-packaged designs
Fill-in-the-blank templates for Web sites, newsletters, brochures and other marketing projects are available from a number of sources. You can use them to drop text and photos into a designated format with minimal effort. While it’s undeniably inexpensive, this paint-by-numbers approach has a number of shortcomings:
- Originality suffers. Because of their generic nature, pre-formatted templates must appeal to the least common denominator, which does not necessarily cast a business in its best light. It’s a given that other companies will be using the same templates, so your design might turn up with a competitor’s name on it.
- Restrictions are the norm. If a brochure template is set up for three main headlines and you have four, you’ll have to reorganize your information to fit the layout. Do you want to add more images, overlap pictures or silhouette them? Do you want your newsletter to be a self-mailer? You won’t have the creative freedom to make those changes.
- Branding takes a back seat. If your company has established a consistent look and feel, it will be hard to find a template that follows your branding guidelines. Companies with a serious investment in their brand generally do not buy products off the shelf.
- Costs can exceed expectations. Without professional pre-press skills, a printed piece created from a template could become an expensive print job. Professional designers understand resolution, color and bleeds, and work with printers to ensure projects are completed without problems or unnecessary costs. If you hand a template file to a printer, they will print exactly what you give them – and if it’s not want you want, you’ll either live with it or pay to run the job twice.
- Forget value-added services. Do your photos need retouching? Do you need copywriting or editing? How will you distribute your marketing collateral? Relying on a template to create a publication prevents you from accessing services that designers routinely provide.
Outstanding design doesn’t come from paint-by-numbers templates. It comes from professional creative agencies that showcase your thoughts with customized layouts for print and the Web. For more information about how The Simons Group can help your organization with print and electronic marketing projects, contact Lee Zoldan at (312) 252-8900 or lzoldan@thesimonsgroup.com.
