If you use WordPress or another content management system, you already have the ability to provide new and prospective clients with documents through your website. This capability opens up doors for new ways of interacting with people and can help your audience use your site to solve problems and strengthen their connection with your brand. …
We learn the importance of saying thanks at an early age. “Thank you” communicates appreciation, gratitude, and respect. It’s a message that never gets old. Strangely, many businesses and organizations forget about saying thank you or say it in such a perfunctory way that it seems more like an automatic response than a meaningful expression. We believe relationships …
The Mt. Baker Hiking Guides we designed and produced for Baker Birch Bay Tourism last year were a great success and a second print run was completed this month. Go to Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism or ask Shew Design for a copy. The books feature photography by Brett Baunton and writing from Allison Roberts.
We have used our letterpress quite a few times to print onto presentation folders for clients. We recently completed a proposal delivery system for 2020 LED, including a letterpressed presentation folder and updated proposal template. We appreciate the contrast of the rugged 100% recycled stock and the clean blue lines. Combined with the updated proposal …
Framing marketing communications in terms of experience opens up new opportunities for engaging your audience. Our Be in Bellingham campaign is one example of this thinking at work; another is a thank you promotion we recently completed for Shew Design. The purpose of the project was to say thanks to clients and collaborators in a …
Despite all predictions to the contrary, print communications still play a crucial role in how organizations reach out to their audience. Print has changed, though. It is now more an elective than a requirement, and like any choice it benefits from planning and thinking ahead. You must print intentionally. This can include details like a …
Research plays a crucial part in creating good design, and so a designer’s life is essentially a never ending series of opportunities to learn. The best designers are really the best at learning. That’s what I like to say as I help myself to a generous handful of research. My third. “That’s Callebaut, 54%,” Kevin …
Francis Ford Coppola said, “Art is partly being available to accidents that fall into your lap.” I agree. I have experienced some of these seemingly lucky accidents while printing, through something called make-readies. Make-ready sheets are most likely as old as printing itself. When setting up a press and adjusting details like ink levels and …
Recently, towards the end of a branding phase for a client, we were finalizing page designs for their website. The site was essentially a reproduction of the paper materials. While they liked the design on paper, the same design on screen felt cool to the touch – overly so. We agreed with their perception. …
Garamond is one of a handful of typefaces that designers of all eras return to again and again. Apple used the condensed form in the late eighties, and it became the quintessential typographic solution for business communications in the early nineties. People who make lists of the most readable fonts tend to pick Garamond first. …
A recent New York Times article discussing print vs. e-books for children suggests that even many avid Kindle and iPad digital book readers prefer printed books over digital for their children. The experience of flipping through a printed book is inherently more personal and unique. Paper thickness and texture, colors, page sizes and bindery can …
