Graphic Design | How-to Guides for running your business from Business.com

Graphic design services help create your professional image. Well-crafted business brochures, logo design, business cards and other marketing materials speak volumes about your business. Turning to experts to handle the graphic design of your printed pieces gives you the assurance that your marketing materials will be of high quality and that they’ll accurately reflect the image you hope to portray.

Graphic design solutions that offer high-quality materials without the high prices include customizable templates for brochures, business cards and other marketing materials. A variety of online vendors offer graphic design services using templates for basic business brochures and business cards for a minimal investment.

Keys to choosing great graphic design services include:

Review the portfolios of graphic design firms to see their client list and to see how well those brands were translated through their marketing materials.
Ask graphic designers and graphic design firms for references for similar projects.
Make sure you know what to expect from the graphic designers in terms of the number of designs and revisions they will provide for their set fee.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Outsource graphic design services to freelance graphic designers

Small businesses can save money by hiring freelance graphic designers instead of contracting with larger graphic design firms.

I recommend: On Guru.com, oDesk or FreelanceDesigners, you can post your job and have graphic designers bid on it, or you can search for freelance graphic designers based on their specialties.

Download design templates for brochure design and other collateral

If you need help creating a basic company newsletter or brochure design, stock templates are a good place to turn. Often, all you have to do is add your copy, logo and artwork.

I recommend: StockLayouts provides graphic design templates to help you design postcards, business cards, ads, business brochures, letterhead, newsletters and flyers. Print Design Templates also has a good variety of graphic design templates available for download.

Find graphic design firms that specialize in corporate identity and logo design

Before you open the door for business, you should have your logo design and business identity ironed out. Update your business identity or logo design when your company moves or merges, or just to keep your look fresh.

I recommend: Logo Design Pros helps you create or update your logo design. TheLogoLoft provides custom business identity solutions in three business days. For a number of graphic design firms that provide business logo design, check the Business.com directory.

Choose graphic design firms that specialize in brochure design and collateral materials

You can outsource small graphic design projects, such as your company's brochure design or marketing collateral materials and direct mail pieces, to graphic design firms that specialize in these types of print projects.

I recommend: Image Works Studio specializes in offering print brochure design and PDF brochures that your customers can download directly from your website. Envision Creative Group offers brochure design while staying within a small business budget. Find more graphic design services that provide brochure design at Business.com.

Quick print graphic design solutions

If you need a brochure or marketing piece fast, your best bet is to choose a quick printer that offers graphic design services on-site.

I recommend: Print-it-quick.com offers custom brochure design packages that include printing and delivery within 5-7 business days. Clark's Printing offers custom business brochure design and printing services with quick turnaround.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

Find out what the graphic designers or graphic design firms provide as a final result. Do they provide artwork on disk, or will they work with your chosen printer to do press proofs?
Some graphic designers charge by the hour; others charge per project.
When getting quotes from graphic designers, find out what the quotes include in terms of delivery of the work, proofing, revisions and set-up fees.

The official source of Graphic Design is the Graphic Design page at Business.com

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