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10 Tips on Designing Brochures
With Mel Fernandez Even with the prevalence of digital marketing, brochures are common marketing materials, used in both printed and electronic form. We use them to present our company and its products...
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Christmas Ads
We’ve written previously about holiday-themed ads and how to best tie into the season to encourage customers to buy products and services. As we approach the winter holidays, let’s take a look at some...
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New Year Ads
What comes to mind when you think of New Year’s Eve? Based on the ads we create at this time of the year for our clients, it is fireworks, balloons and decorations, and champagne. Unlike Christmas,...
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Designs of the Quarter: Pre-Media and Print Ads
Once again in Q4 of 2011, we called for submissions to our Designs of the Quarter contest. This time, we did not limit the categories, so all Affinity Express designers could participate. We were...
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Print Ads for Restaurants
Here’s another round-up of ads our team worked on. (Yes, we work on more than food ads, but those seem to catch my attention most.) I have had this ad filed away for a long time, to use in the right...
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Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Because my first name is Kelly and I was born and raised in New York (where the first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held), I feel eminently qualified to review these holiday designs. So before you go...
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Selling Design Services to Your Customers
We often work with clients who offer printing services to small businesses or to consumers for business cards, brochures, letterheads, posters, invitation cards and so on. But how can you capture more...
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Easter: Bunnies, Eggs and Crosses
Easter comes early this year and brings quite a few ads to our designers from companies eager to tie into the holiday and generate revenue. But not all ads at this time of year focus on business and...
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What We Mean When We Say We Design Ads
Isn’t it difficult to have your ads or marketing materials created by someone in a remote office? Not really. The input we receive from customers varies from detailed instructions to a few scribbled...
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Differentiating with Direct Mail
How many emails did you receive in your business account last week? How many from outside your company did you actually read? For those that you didn’t read, how long did it take you to determine an...
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Hair and Makeup Ads
What is different about hair and makeup ads is that you typically can’t get away with a lot of copy and clutter. A single photo often dominates and communicates the feeling of the company or product....
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Designs of the Quarter: Print Ads
In our first Designs of the Quarter contest this year, we had a slightly different format. We awarded three designs in each of three categories, instead of three designs overall. The categories this...
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Mother’s Day in Advertising
Because Mother’s Day occurs in spring, ads for this holiday often feature pastels and tend to be heavy on the pinks and purples. The fonts tend to look like script or fancy calligraphy and flowers are...
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Designing Business Cards For Your Brand
With Mel Fernandez “If you don’t get noticed, you don’t have anything. You just have to be noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally, without screaming or without tricks.” –Leo Burnett...
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Apparel Ads Speak Volumes with Few Elements
We don’t work on apparel ads frequently as many other types like those for restaurants and the automotive category because they are often national campaigns developed and executed by advertising...
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The Romance of Wedding Ads
Since June is such a popular month for weddings, we thought it would be nice to review a few ads for this category. We get many requests to design ads for the range of wedding-related businesses but I...
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Your Marketing and Design Reading for The Weekend
Do you find yourself at the end of each week with a virtual or literal pile of insightful articles and white papers to read? I’ll bet you were super excited to delve in when you first saw the links...
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Tips on Using Stock Photos
Images are a key component of every marketing design. When used properly, images can have an enormous impact, enticing viewers to stop and take in the message. Finding the right images can be a...
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Christmas Ads of 2012
As the holidays approach, our creative team is very busy designing ads for clients who want to thank their customers or just share season’s greetings. This year we were surprised by the range of...
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Ads Bring Color to the Winter Season
As most of us experience a white landscape in winter, there is certainly one place where our clients like to add color: their print ads. White and blue hues convey the mood of this season and symbols...
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