Print Designs

Even with digital and online marketing’s rise to prevalence, print designs still have a purpose. For businesses looking to make a physical impression, utilization of print designs is vital. From business cards to product packaging, customer engagement with the physical designs will leave an impact greater than something seen briefly on a screen.

The foundation for effective print designs is the conditioned response from your overall branding. Colors, fonts, logos, everything; print designs should compliment what you have online. If your designs stray too far, customers will notice and likely assume a lack of professionalism or even a different business.

Many businesses make the mistake of cramming as much information as possible on one design. Leave plenty of white space. Good design principles also apply to print. You should avoid an overwhelming design.

No print design is more important than another, even if business cards seem like the one we all think about first. People often leave business cards, but the same practice should be applied to all designs your business prints.

Paper quality and finish can make or break a design. An expensive design can be undone by poor choice of paper and finish. Quality paper can come at a small premium, but it can really elevate the perceived quality of print materials.

Print materials also give an opportunity for design and creativity that may be lost online. Print materials can be shaped or textured in ways that advertising cannot, and common design elements like folds can help maintain the design while increasing the overall uniqueness of the material. However, creativity must be used with common sense so that the design maintains its utility and contact information is still legible.

Print materials, when used with modern design, can create a memorable experience. Design inspiration can come from many places, and it’s important to share any and all design inspiration, even if it’s from unrelated fields, with your designer. Print, though some may consider it an outdated form of marketing, is still a creative and memorable way to make an impression.

Do You Actually Need a New Logo, or Just Better Print Materials?

July 14, 2026August 5, 2026admin

It’s a conversation a lot of business owners have with themselves at some point. Things feel a bit stale, sales might have slowed, or you’ve just outgrown the identity you started with, and the instinct is often to jump straight to rebranding. A new logo, new colours, a whole new look. But before going down that road, it’s worth asking whether what you actually need is a refresh of your print materials rather than a complete overhaul.

A lot of the time, the core of a brand is fine, it’s just the way it’s being presented that’s letting it down. Business cards that were designed years ago on a budget, brochures that look dated, packaging that hasn’t been touched since the business first launched. These things age in a way that can make a perfectly good brand feel tired, even when the underlying idea behind the business is still solid.

Rebranding is also a bigger undertaking than most people expect. It’s not just designing a new logo, it means updating your website, your social media, your signage, your packaging, and making sure customers who already know you don’t get confused by the sudden change. For an established business with existing customers, that can actually do more harm than good if it’s not really necessary.

Refreshing your print materials, on the other hand, is a much smaller job. It might mean redesigning your business cards with better paper stock, updating your brochures with more current photography, or giving your packaging a cleaner, more modern layout, all while keeping your existing logo and colours intact. It’s a way of modernising how you present yourself without losing the recognition you’ve already built up.

One way to figure out which route makes more sense is to think about what’s actually causing the problem. If customers seem confused about what you do, or if your brand doesn’t reflect who you are anymore, that might point towards needing a proper rebrand. But if the core identity still feels right and it’s really just the materials themselves looking dated, a print refresh is usually the simpler and cheaper option.

It’s also worth remembering that print materials get replaced more often than logos anyway. Business cards run out, brochures get reprinted, packaging gets redesigned as products change. These are natural points where you can quietly modernise your look without the disruption of a full rebrand.

If you’re genuinely unsure which camp you fall into, it can help to get a second opinion from someone outside the business, since it’s easy to lose perspective on your own brand after staring at it every day. Sometimes what feels stale to you isn’t actually a problem for your customers at all, it’s just familiarity setting in on your end.

3 Top Tips When Designing

August 30, 2015November 30, 2017Christina

Are you struggling to design for print? Whether it’s professional work or personal work, there are certain things you should always remember.

1) Always find a focus in your design. Work out what the point of the design actually is. Are you trying to give off a message?

2) Consistency is key. When creating a series of designs, make sure there is some consistency to link the designs together. For example, using the same type of font.

3) Don’t overcrowd your design. The worst thing you can do, is put too much in one print. Make sure the focus is one the key element and don’t distract away from it.

Is Print Marketing Important?

February 27, 2015July 7, 2015admin

Is Print Marketing Important? In short – yes it is, but it all depends on the type of business you have. Print marketing is still an effective way of marketing and will be for the foreseeable future.

Of course we know that digital marketing is now more commonly used, but also marketing via print can work to your advantage (even though it adds to your advertising costs). Covering both aspects of marketing means you’re not missing out any potential connections.

Ever heard the term ‘out of sight is out of mind’? When you’re looking at a web page, it’s effective for the amount of time you’re on the site, but the moment you’ve clicked on the next website that’s it. With print material, it’s something physical and can last as long as the audience in question wants it to.