Author: Fred Hess

It has been said that great artists must first learn all the rules before they can break them. We agree, which is why we continue with some of the “rules” that graphic designers follow in our fourth series: Graphic Design from Start to Finish. Think of these rules as ways to establish boundaries for designing graphics for your business. Steps 10-12 in this series include not getting carried away with fonts, successfully varying fonts, and placing text on an image successfully. Our articles on graphic design steps can provide further information for starting to design (Steps 1-3, 4-6, 7-9). These articles contain resources which assist taking design from concept to creation, even for someone a tad intimidated by the process! Being able to access a few simple tricks can truly impact the way that a company’s graphic design is received by your audience.

Today, we continue to steps 7-9 in our series on Graphic Design Tips for the Non-Designer. Steps 1-3 can be found here and steps 4-6 can be found here. These are full of resources to assist with taking your design from ideas into creation. Non-designers have discussed in-depth about how learning a few simple tricks can truly impact the way that their graphic design stands out. Read on to find how to continue the design process with the next three steps.

Recently we began a series of news topics on Graphic Design hacks for your business. Steps 1-3 were released a few weeks ago, and we're excited to now be covering the next set. Hopefully, those tools were able to get you off the design floor and into creation mode by giving you help with planning, finding inspiration, and researching your audience for your brand’s design. Read on to find how to continue the design process with the next three steps!

The Internet. We shop, order groceries, conduct research, listen to music, read books, connect with friends—all online. So, what about the printed marketing materials that you were thinking about for your business? Paper methods of marketing and communication are very much alive, and studies have shown that people pick up a well-printed, eye-catching piece of paper faster than they click on a banner ad across the web.

Successful businesses have strong marketing and branding teams that use researched based methodology to present their product and services to potential clients. When planning a new year’s marketing strategy, it takes work, creativity and research. Luckily, one of the easiest and most recognizable methods to building a brand is through your business card design.

Sports teams weave together a large part of the fabric of American culture and very little merchandise is more identifiable than that of a sports team. Sports-laden merchandise materializes attached to the bumpers of automobiles, embroidered on cold-weather toboggans, and marking the lapels of business attire. Merchandising is a large part of athletics and our local hockey team, the Ice Bears, are no exception. Recently, Acme Printing worked to update how Ice Bears fans interact with merchandising outputs in Knoxville, Tennessee. Prior to Acme’s assistance, the Ice Bears’ team discussed with us how little visual attention the merchandise area received.

Man, the holidays can be overwhelming. Not only do we have tons of preparation work to do in our personal lives, like shopping, putting up decorations, meal planning, and travel arrangements, but we typically have a high amount of additional work at our jobs. One thing your company or organization is most likely preparing for this season is your holiday greeting cards. Made by a professional printing company, holiday greeting cards can be a terrific way for customers and clients to remember you when budgets are approved for the next year or when choosing their next vendor. With that in mind, we thought we’d give everyone some tips when sending business holiday greeting cards this year to ensure the process is pain free and stands apart from the crowd.