The ease with which ineffective advertising can be produced these days makes it more critical than ever for business owners and marketing directors to sharpen their graphic judgment skills.

I’m not trying to put down consumer-friendly graphics software; it has its applications. But the ease with which ineffective advertising can be produced these days makes it more critical than ever for business owners and marketing directors to sharpen their graphic judgment skills.

Here are some general ideas to kick around next time you look over an ad, logo, brochure, newsletter or any other “designed” piece intended to represent your company or product:

• How will the work be used?
  This may limit the amount of detail that will work because newspapers, for example, use a much coarser line screen than four-color brochures.
• Does the design work aesthetically, yet communicate the right information with the right “feel?” A design style that works well for a law firm will not work for a toy store or a manufacturing business.
• Does the design contain elements appropriate to the use of the piece? A billboard, for example, must make its point in five seconds, while a brochure may have five minutes- or more-to do its work on a qualified prospect.
• Do the colors fit? Colors alone say a lot about a company or a product.
• Does your font give positive visual cues about what your company or product does?

Back to top

These guidelines can help you focus your assessments of graphic design. It’s equally important to focus the purpose of a piece, before writing and layout ever begin, then to remain faithful tothat purpose as the work progresses. Every piece has a specific application-a desired result toward which every design decision should contribute. Don’t try to combine all your purposes into one “great” piece because the viewer may miss the real message entirely.

“But come on,” you’re probably thinking. “How much difference can good design really make? Why pay a marketing firm’s designers to manage and execute your company’s image, when you could do it yourself for a lot less?”

I’ll answer that question with a question: Why do companies with professional, consistent and appropriate graphic images have names like Coca Cola, Ford and Microsoft?

Email BRUCE