Friday, September 10, 2010

The 4 Objectives For a Postcard Design



Contrary to what you may believe when you print postcards, the objective of creating those postcard designs is not just for them to be looked at. There are a lot more, deeper objectives in postcard printing that your designs should try to work on. So do not just base your designs on postcard samples that promise your postcard to be seen. You should try to shape your designs considering the proper objectives in printing postcards. Let me give you four of the most important objectives that should get you started in an effective postcard design.

1. The communication objective - The first and crucial objective of a color postcard is to communicate information. More than just "being seen", a postcard must tell its message effectively to readers and of course it must be thoroughly understood as well in the process. This may sound simple enough, but it is a bit more work than you might imagine.

To achieve the communication objective in postcard printing, you have to write your content in a detailed but short manner. Being a postcard, you will not have enough space to write long winded descriptions in your layout. You will need to write concisely with simple and direct words to communicate well with your custom postcards. So make sure you have the talent to write a compact but powerful message or try to hire a professional writer to do your short and sweet messages in custom postcards. This is what you need to effectively get your message across and achieve your objective for your postcards.

2. The impression objective - The second deeper objective in postcard design is to basically impress people. Now, this is not just about pulling all the stops when it comes to the design (though a major part of this is just making the best design). To achieve the impression objective in postcard printing in a far more potent way, you will need to display the right design impression for the particular audience you are designing for.

For example, if your custom postcards are aimed for family and friends, then you would want to design something that is warm, affectionate and very personal. However, if you are printing color postcards for business, such as in a promotional postcard for advertising, then you may want to go for a more creative and energetic design that makes readers more excited. So as you can see, you should not just think of a great impressive design. Think of an impressive design that makes THE RIGHT impression on the target people for your postcards.

3. The "memorable" objective - The third important objective of printing postcards is the "memorable" objective. Basically the goal here is to be remembered by people long after the postcard design has been seen. This objective is most especially important for promotional postcards that need to sell something. You will need to be really memorable so that people will be able to respond eventually to the postcard message.

Achieving a memorable objective is actually pretty simple. All you have to do is add a certain design element that is very distinctive and out of the ordinary. For example, you can use a really wild or funny image that most people have not seen yet. Or maybe you can use very vibrant and unusual background colors that really make your postcards stand out. These and other kinds of tricks similar to them all make a postcard more memorable. The easier it is to remember your postcard, the more effective they are at their job.

4. The influence objective - Finally, you have the "influence" objective in printing postcards. This basically means that your postcard message must have the power to influence people to act. Depending on your postcard's purpose, this can be in the form of getting people to contact you personally, buying your products, going to your place of business, or even just going to your website. This is really how your custom postcards deliver their worth. That is why it is important to develop the influence of your designs.

Achieving this objective is actually pretty straight forward. All you have to do is to tell the readers directly what you want them to do after reading your postcard. You can tell them to "call us at..." or maybe you can say "hurry! buy now!". Most people actually like knowing what they need to do after seeing a letter or a postcard, so a direct statement is a powerful influencing factor indeed in postcard printing.

Now you know the four proper and deeper objectives in postcard design. This should give you on how to really compose your layout to make your postcards more effective, impressive and influential.












Michelle Abreu has been writing articles online for about 2 years now in a printing company. You can also check out this website for more postcard samples and tips on how to print postcards effectively.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_Abreu


 

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