Free Printing Tips

How to design an effective business card

Include who you are, where you are and what you do.

Who you are – your logo and business name, your name and your title or your role in the business.
Where you are – your contact details in order of importance, with emphasis on your first point of contact. For example – if you are a rep on the road, your mobile phone number will be your clients’ first point of contact and needs to be emphasised. If you are a destination store, your physical address will be most important and should come before any other contact details.
What you do – if your business name doesn’t say what you do, consider including a one-line summary of what your business does or a slogan that says what sets you apart from your competition.

How to design an effective letterhead

Include the same information that you have on your business card, apart from your personal details.

Who you are – your logo and business name.

What you do – if your business name doesn’t say what you do, consider including a one-line summary of what your business does or a slogan that says what sets you apart from your competition. You might also like to include a brief product or service listing although you can over do it so try to avoid cluttering up your letterhead by including too much information.

Where you are – your contact details - telephone number, fax number, website address, mailing address, physical address.

Note: your personal details are generally included at the close of your letter with your name, title or role, and direct contact details such as your email address, direct phone number and mobile phone number.

Logo design

In an increasingly visual marketplace, having a professional logo design is key to achieving success. Our highly creative design team understands what makes a logo successful and is able to update your existing logo, or design you a completely new one that is an effective identity for your business.

How to design effective marketing material

The difference between good marketing material and sensational marketing material is time, cost, how well it’s written, quality of the graphics and the ability of the designer. It also helps to write a project summary for your marketing material so that you have a firm starting point.

1. Project summary

When you have the answers to the following questions, developing your marketing material will be easy.

What is its purpose?
What are you trying to achieve?
What image do you want to portray?
Who is your target audience?
What information do you have and need?
What is your time frame?
What is your budget?

2. Time frame

If you have a deadline that you absolutely must meet, it is vital that you check with us to find out how long it will take from concept to design to the fully finished product.

3. How much to spend

When working out how much to spend on your marketing material there is a formula to use, but there are so many variables in this formula, it can be a little tricky. To help you, one of us at Graphix Explosion will sit down with you and go over all of these variables to make sure you are not over or under spending on your marketing material to achieve the results you want. This is a free consultation for up to one hour.

4. Make sure it is well written

Often the best person to write the information or copy for your marketing material is you because you know your own business. However, using a skilled copywriter to critique your work ensures it is well written and targeted at your specific audience.

5. Use quality graphics

There is no doubt that good photography and graphics make a powerful impact so if you are including photographs, engage the services of a professional photographer.

6. Work with experts

When it comes to the ability of the designer, so often we see design work that has been put together by inexperienced, untrained people and it just doesn’t look good or do what it’s supposed to do. At Graphix Explosion we have a dedicated team of design experts that will work with you to make sure your marketing material is not only designed to the highest standard but also communicates effectively for you and portrays a professional image of you and your business.

How to decide quantities

As a general rule between three and nine months worth of printed material is a good amount to buy. Less than thee months often means you do not make good use of the economies of scale. More than nine months and you run the risk of having to throw printed material out because contact details or important information has changed. You also tie up valuable cash flow by unnecessarily buying too much in advance.

Obviously you are the best person to make the final decision on quantities ordered.

Please note that every product has a range of quantities and prices to aid you in making an informed decision.

Our aim is to advise you of what is the best quantity and value for money for your specific business.

Specific colour matching

There are three basic types of printing. The method used influences how accurate the colours will be.

Printing with spot coloured ink on our offset presses is the most accurate way to achieve specific colour matches.

Full colour (or process CMYK) printing on our offset presses is more flexible but less accurate. We will do our best, but it is virtually impossible to get an exact match.

Digital colour is easier than CMYK offset but there are also often issues with colour accuracy.

All three methods give great finished results, it is just a case of picking the right method and the right price for each printed job and knowing the limitations of the printing method.

NZ standard & most economical sizes

Business Card
DLE (Rack Card)
A6 (Post Card)
A5
A4
A3
A2
A1

55mm x 90mm

99mm x 210mm

105mm x 148mm

148mm x 210mm

210mm x 297mm

297mm x 420mm

420mm x 594mm

594mm x 840mm

Custom Sizes – we can customise any finished size as required but the standard sizes have less wastage and are the best value for money.

Print stock management service

We offer a print stock management service to those clients for whom we regularly print large volumes. Not only do we print your material, we store it and, when contacted by you, we will deliver what you need when you need it.

For more information about our stock management services talk to one of our specialist print advisors.

Types of paper & card available

Standard Paper and Card
80gsm Photocopier
90gsm White Offset
100gsm White Offset
135gsm Gloss Art/Matt Art
150gsm Gloss Art/Matt Art
260gsm Gloss Art
310gsm Gloss Art
280gsm Ivory
330gsm Ivory

We have a speciality range of paper and card in various colours and thicknesses from 80gsm to 330gsm in weight and in gloss or matt finishes. We will help you choose the right weight and finish for your printed material.

Binding and finishing options

There is a large range of binding and finishing services available. We make sure your projects and documents always create the best impression with your clients and customers. Our dedicated bindery and finishing department has the ability to fold, crease, perforate, number, staple, pad, collate and guillotine your printed material.

We are able to see each project through from conception to finished product, all in-house.

Digital vs offset. How do you decide?

There is no real difference in quality between digital and offset with our modern print machinery, so there are only two factors to consider – urgency and cost effectiveness. Just let us know what quantity you require, when you need your printing by and what it is you are printing, and we’ll work out the best printing method to use.

New Plymouth - 06 758 3247

Hawera - 06 278 9199