This week saw the launch of a microsite we have designed and produced for Gambro. It’s home page contains an animation which adds focus and gives the site a sense of movement. Animation was perfect in this instance as we wanted to give on-line viewers more than just a static image.
A Powerpoint presentation containing the animation was also produced together with paper based brochures, note pads, pens and other promotional formats. To see the animation or for more information on Gambro DNA please take a look at the microsite at: www.gambroDNA.co.uk 

Looking for some festive fun with a creative twist? then this website is for you. Snowdays allows you to draw and make your own snowflake and then see it fall. Furthermore you can search for it and see it fall whenever you wish.

Mine called ‘Leigh Titman’ was my first attempt, if you watch for a while your see many really quite impressive designs.It’s amazing  to see how many are being made per minuate,  the flake count ‘number of flakes created’ go up and the number of ‘flakers’ on-line. Happy flaking and all the best for 2008! 

Being involved in a wide variety of graphic design projects I often weigh up the best way forward in terms of promotion effectiveness compared with cost effectiveness.

In terms of promotion effectiveness the difference between a brochure and a folder with inserts really depends on the type of services or products you sell and your audience. But with cost effectiveness the difference is not straight forward. Surprisingly a brochure can cost far less to print when compared to an equivalent folder with inserts.

The trick is to work out how regularly the literature needs to change, be updated or added to. In many cases just one or two pages of a brochure may change over a period resulting in the whole brochure being re-printed. So although a brochure may be cheaper initially, when re-printed the cost could be greater than an initial investment of a folder with inserts as only the affected inserts need re-printing.

Alternatively several smaller brochures or leaflets can be more cost effective than one large brochure.

Another benefit of a folder system is that inserts or smaller brochures can be used separately when required as well as together, adding further flexability and cost benefit.

For a free cost comparison please get in touch.

Last nights Apprentice, week 5, lead by Sir Alan Sugar, was all about selling photography. The teams had to choose photography art to sell. You may ask what the relevance is to the graphic design and the website services we offer? Well we too are in the business of using imagery that appeals to a particular audience to promote or sell goods and services.

It came of no surprise to me that the success of the last nights winning team came down to two things:

1) Target audience size
2) Quality of leads

At the end of the day the greater the audience the more products or services can potentially be sold. In this case the target audience of horse imagery was far greater than that of say the narrow audiences of lip images or seafood.

But the missing trick that the apprentices failed to realise while buying the art was to gain a current client list from their chosen supplier which they could use to sell to. Only one team did this and to me it too was the difference between success and failure.

For more information on the series visit their Website

In this day and age the possibilities for new media and its mix with traditional medium as promotion are endless, but however good your methods are at initially attracting the target audience the follow up is crucial.

Yes, I agree that instant new media methods such as email, pdf attachments etc can work well but more often than not printed literature cannot be ignored.

A well planned, designed, written and produced piece of literature is worth it’s wait in gold, especially when used to back up initial response.

I guess it comes down to good targeting and knowing your audience. It’s true to say that most sales processes still (and will for a long time to come) demand a postable response. Whoever your target audience is though, the confidence given by printed literature is hard to beat.

There are many terms that describe employee engagement, some call it in-house branding, employee marketing etc but the point is that the power of employee engagement is of great benefit.

Former GE Chairman and CEO Jack Welch when asked which measurements “give the best sense of a company’s health” replied: “Employee engagement first. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energised employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it. That’s why you need to take the measure of employee engagement at least once a year through anonymous surveys in which people feel completely safe to speak their minds.â€?

Marking planning therefore should not just focus on the external identity. A few years ago Titman Firth created an extensive identity by rebranding a B2B firm. New brochures, exhibition stands, leaflets, stationery and logo were the initial items to benefit from the new branding. The plan was to introduce this to the outside world (clients and potential clients) but in this case the opportunity was not missed to launch the new brand to the staff. I travelled from Peterborough to London to present the graphic design proofs in a bid to get buy in from the employees. The message was clear, with all the time and money invested in the new brand it would have been a shame if the staff did not realise the value of the work or believe in it.

It’s true to say that exhibiting at trade shows can provide an excellent opportunity for your customers to experience your product. But this opportunity is also true of your office. When clients or potential clients come to visit they are influenced by what they see around them, your firms identity. Whether you exhibit at trade shows or not it is a missed opportunity not to have some form of graphic presentation on display.

Display stands make that perfect medium. They are attractive and fail not to impress as long as they are designed correctly. Here at Titman Firth design quality is paramount and we never design anything without the target audience in mind.

The stands available vary greatly but we have a range of display stands and pop up stands available suitable for most office environments. We offer packages which include the graphic design of the stand, 2 PDF proofs and the printing and production of the stand itself.

Their are few things that come to mind that give such impact for such little investment. Plus, the beauty is that the stand is then there for whenever it might be needed.