Corporate Identity means many things to many people, but in general it is creating a company’s personality and then presenting it effectively, through differing types of communication. You will then enhance the perceived value of your product or service, helping to differentiate your company from your competitors and creating your own ‘Corporate Brand’. Your company needs to be readily recognisable in order to stand out against the many different and mixed messages in the mainstream. You need to identify how you want your company to be portrayed (your brand values) and then acting accordingly to make it happen. Below are some tips of how to get started:

1.    Take your company’s brand values, then think about how they might be portrayed visually through your company brochure, business cards, website, letterheads, adverts, e-mails, signage etc. (your Corporate Design). You may have an idea of an image that best represents one of your brand values, or a particular typeface you wish to use. Or you may have an idea of the style you wish to get across, i.e. businesslike, creative, fun, down-to-earth, friendly.

2.    Think about the physical applications in which the identity will be used – i.e. your logo may need to be seen on letterheads, websites, even large posters or vehicle liveries. All these different applications need to be taken into consideration when creating the guidelines for using your logo and associated corporate design.

3.    Then comes the stage where you will probably need to take your ideas to a professional designer to help develop the visual look of your new identity.

4.    The designer will normally begin by designing and developing a series of logos, based on your brief, going through a staged process bringing you closer to the one which is your final identity central to your corporate design.

5.    The designer will also consider different applications of the logo – i.e. it will need to encompass all usage requirements in spot colour, full colour and single colour applications. It may need to be ‘reversed out’ for use on a darker colour background, or a low-resolution version made for use on PowerPoint presentations or websites. It may need to work on a vast scale, i.e. for billboard advertisements, or considerations may need to be taken into account if your logo is to be animated.

6.    Once the final logo is agreed, the rest of the corporate design will then be developed choosing the right typefaces and sizes, complimentary colours, placement and size of logo, strap line usage, additional graphic treatments, etc. This is needed to ensure a visual consistency across all your non-verbal communications.

7.    Your designer may then use these guidelines to create a series of literature for you as required, and/or create a ‘corporate identity’ or ‘brand’ guidelines document that sets the rules to ensure your new identity is applied consistently.

Now that you have your new identity and have invested time and money in its creation and development, ensure you use it! A well-designed Corporate Identity won’t hide flaws in your product or service however, but as long as you don’t have them, your new identity will almost certainly make a strong statement about the kind of company you are!

This article is written by Rachel Toy, a freelance Graphic Designer working in the design industry for over 15 years. Her company, Spirit Creative Ltd, is a full Graphic Design Agency serving Beds/Bucks/Herts, providing logo design, business cards, leaflets, brochures, web sites, web hosting, exhibition graphics and more! If you would like us to help your company with any of the above then do not hesitate to contact us on info@spiritcreative.co.uk

Letterpress Work on a Proofing Press

Well after a really interesting course at St Martin’s College learning how to print using letterpress techniques, I thought I would share with you some of the things I learned.

The best part of the course was being able to work with actual, physical, moveable type. This gave me a much better idea of the physical size of type, spacing and it’s relation to the page. I feel computers, whilst they help speed up the process, take the physical side of things away from us. It does wonders for your creativity no end if you get away from it once in a while and revisit a manual process.

Typesetting

Letterpress printing is a physical process. It starts with the type itself, the size of which and the spacing around it. You can get type (individual letters) in metal or wood blocks, in various sizes. They are measured in points, picas or lines. There are 72 points to one inch, and if you recognise the term, it is still used in computing today to select the size of text you use in your document. The spaces between the words and the lines themselves are also measured in points and again are physical pieces of lead. These are used to help set the lines or paragraph of text and have pleasing spacing between. The term leading comes from the actual piece of lead that sits between the lines of type to separate them from each other. There are other pieces of furniture for creating space around the type area, and to fill the frame it sits in (called a chase, ready to be put on the printing machine later, to take the impression from). There can be made of lead, metal, wood or plastic. When setting up a page in the chase the pieces must fit exactly. A bit like a jigsaw puzzle really (and this part was really good fun!).

Letterpress Typesetting

So, the first thing was to get used to setting a line of type. This is done using a composing stick and you set the width of the line of type using the adjustable knee. As it all needs to be accurate, a piece of furniture of the required width should be used to set the line size initially. Then a piece of leading is placed in the stick before composing to help with removal of the body of type later.

The type is then taken from a wooden type case or drawer which contains all the characters of a particular typeface and type size. Each character has it’s own set place in the drawer, and a map is often used to help find them. So each character needed is taken out of the space in the drawer and placed in the stick reading upside down, and left to right (so it is right reading when printed onto a page). Each line is separated using a piece of leading, and each character separated using the required spaces again (en, em, thick, thins, quads etc).When setting it is important to make sure everything is square, level, tight and all the lines are the same length (inserting extra spacing as needed)  to help you later on. Care should also be taken not to move the body of type once set, or let it fall out of the stick as you will have to start all over again!

Letterpress Type trays

Two terms may also be of interest - type high; which is the standard height of the type blocks 0.918 inches, or 23.3 mm, and kerns which are the parts of the letter that stick out, such as in “f”. When setting these next to another letter they do not fit right due to the overhanging piece, so a special ligature should be used such as “fl”, another term that has been transferred to computer typesetting today.

Once the body of type  is set, and if setting large amounts of type, when the stick is half full it is time to transfer it to an imposing stone with a type galley at the ready. The type is carefully slided onto the galley ready to assemble into the final forme, and then locked into chase (metal frame used to hold the type in the printing press).

Letterpress forme in the chase

Letterpress Printing

Various printing machines can be used, such as the smaller Adana presses gradually making a comeback today. It is this we will take as an example (as we have also bought an Adana 8×5, with associated bits from an old printer on e-Bay!).

The  first step is to transfer some ink to the platen. This is done by placing a small blob of ink onto a sheet of non-absorbent material such as sheet metal or glass and using a hand roller to evenly distribute the ink over the surface. The inked up roller is then used to transfer the ink to the platen in a thin layer, again evenly.

Then it is time to insert the chase containing your forme. The machine rollers should be in their lowest position whilst you do this. There is a bed next to this area with a laygauge to help position your paper (the bed should be packed with suitable material to help raise the paper to the appropriate height to help a good impression). The sideways position of the paper is fixed by a small piece of lead glued in place, or a laygauge pin.

Positioning the lay gauge on the Adana Letterpress

The gripper is then positioned correctly and the handle should be depressed lightly to check positioning when it will be fully depressed. Care should be taken so that the laygauge and gripper does not hit the type, as this will damage the type.

Once checked, the handle can then be depressed several times to ink up the rollers (transferred to them from the platen), then with the paper or card in position, depress the handle firmly until it makes contact with the paper and makes the impression.

This first print is referred to a trial ‘pull’, and can be used to check positioning adjusting as required. Going back to the point above, if the type is uneven, more packing can be used in the bed to help this. As you print your work, check regularly to ascertain when re-inking of the platen is needed.

Letterpress Business Cards

Useful resources

[Book] General Printing, an illustrated guide to letterpress printing ISBN 0-9785881-4-2

http://www.caslon.co.uk – suppliers of reconditioned Adana machines

http://www.ebay.co.uk – great place to find old letterpress machines, associate equipment and old type

http://www.harringtonandsquires.co.uk – traditional letterpress printers

http://www.csm.arts.ac.uk/shortcourses/ – letterpress courses at St Martins College, London

http://bpsnet.org.uk – The British Printing Society

http://www.gfsmith.com/ – Gorgeous papers!

This is something I’ve revisited lately after my New Year’s resolution to be more organised in business. It’s easy to let time and job management slip when you are on an interesting job, get bogged down with details, or the deadline is gaining on you. But if you get yourself organised in the right way from the start, it should only take you a few minutes to keep your system up to date, giving you all the information you need about a job at invoice time, or should a client ask you for an update.

So, here is an outline of the system I use which has evolved over time from various influences, such as past employment, web articles, software and how I need to work today. You don’t need expensive time/job logging software, just a few simple tools that you will probably already own.

1. Start a job numbering system and log all jobs that come in on a spreadsheet or notebook. I use the syntax SCxxx, where SC stands for ‘Spirit Creative’, and a consecutive number at the end.
2. On your spreadsheet or notebook, set up a few columns such as “Job No., Client, Job Title, Deadline, Value, Date Invoiced” etc. This should give you an historical and quick summary of all your jobs, past and current, seeing what has and what needs to be done. Make sure you fill the information out as you go!
3. Then create a job sheet for each job, again this can be done on a spreadsheet, or you can design one in your graphics software of choice,  and print off as you need them on your laser printer, keeping in a ring binder. The details you put on this sheet will depend on what you need to know about a job, but an area to keep a time log on the job, with details about what you did, would be a good place to start. On my job sheet I have also set up a few Excel formulas to add up the number of hours, multiply them by my hourly rate and put the total into a table/area called marked ‘Invoice details’ which I then cut and paste into my Word invoice template when the job is complete. This table also has room for the clients name and address, along with the job title. It is an invoice within the job sheet if you like.
4. When you begin the job, start a new folder on your computer with the job number and title in it’s name. Keep everything electronic to do with the job in here e.g. information, text and pictures from the client, your design work, PDF proofs etc.
5. You might also like to set up a whiteboard system so you can see quickly at a glance (without having to look at your computer) which jobs are currently in (or live), and need working on. Again the columns you might use are “Client, Job No., Description, Due, Status”.  As the job status changes, is completed, or a new one comes in, you can quickly rub out, or add what is needed. My status codes are P (proof), C (contractor), Pr (printer), H (hold) and INV (invoice). I only ever have live jobs on here and they get rubbed off when invoiced. Again this can be done via a spreadsheet or with Google office tools (great if you need to share the information with colleagues not on your site).

With all of the above set up and being kept up to date, you should be able to see at any time where the job is, if it’s been invoiced, have all the information relating to it in one place, be able to invoice for everything, and feel much less stressed as a result!

This article is written by Rachel Toy, a freelance Graphic Designer working in the design industry for over 15 years. Her company, Spirit Creative Ltd, is a full Graphic Design Agency serving Beds/Bucks/Herts, providing logo design, business cards, leaflets, brochures, web sites, web hosting, exhibition graphics and more! If you would like us to help your company with any of the above then do not hesitate to contact us on info@spiritcreative.co.uk

So, after managing to calm down at bit, I began searching for what I could do about it and how to effectively respond. What follows is a summary of my findings, in the hope that it helps anyone else who finds themselves in this awful predicament.

Oh, and the offending party did take it down in the end by the way, after step 2 luckily!

If you find someone has plagiarised your content:

1. Calm down! Try to feel flattered and remember that the person is innocent until proven guilty. Their website may have been created by a third party whom they trusted; therefore they are as much a victim as you. Or if they wrote the content, may genuinely not believe there was anything wrong with copying yours. If you get your attitude right before you tackle the situation, the outcome will be all the better for it.
2. Gather your evidence. Take a copy of the website, whether printing it out or saving an offline copy. Also gather proof that you are the original owner of the website copy, such as information about the age of your site. Print out your Google page rank, Alexa.com and web archive information (http://www.archive.org/web/web.php). A copied website is likely to be new and won’t have all this yet.
3. Send an e-mail to the site owner politely asking them to remove the content immediately. You can probably find contact information on the website, or you can do a Whois lookup on the domain http://www.whois.net/ (this will also tell you who the webhost is which you will need next). You may find some examples of suitable wording on the web.
4. If this does not work, you should then contact the website host directly (as found above). Tell them that their client has abused your copyright and you wish for the website to be removed. Present the evidence you gathered above to prove you are the original owner.
5. You can also file a DMCA infringement notice http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm with search engines and ask for them to remove the duplicate website from their search results.
6. If all else fails you can always expose them to social media sites. I posted my outrage to Twitter and got some great support back as well. It may work by shocking the offending party into removing the content, especially if they don’t want their reputation to be destroyed. It also really told me who my friends are (some in high places too!).

Of course it is always best to seek professional legal advice for any copyright infringement situation (and we are not solicitors or liable for any action you do take as a result of the advice given on this post), but hope the above pointers may be of some help before you have to!

Previously I talked about typography rules and how following them (or indeed breaking the rules) will help your work look more professional, this time we will discuss how to make colour combinations that work.

The Colour Wheel

The Colour wheel is designed so that virtually any colours you pick from it will look good together. Here are some examples:

1.    Complementary – colours that are directly opposite each other in the wheel e.g. red and green.

2.    Analogous – colours that are next to each other in the wheel e.g. green, light green and yellow. These often result in a harmonious scheme such as that found in nature.

3.    Triadic – colours that are evenly spaced around the wheel e.g. purple, dark blue and light blue. This tends to result in a vibrant colour scheme.

4.    Split Complementary – the two colours adjacent to its complement e.g. red, light blue and light green.

5.    Monochromatic – lighter or darker versions of one colour

So in your next design job, try to think in terms of this wheel and you will find your work is instantly transformed.

1. Choose classical typefaces with a proven track record
There are about 30 or so typefaces I would call classical, which work well in any application. These are the ones that have been around for centuries and are designed with consistency among characters and are proportioned well for readability. Some examples are: Bembo, Bodoni, Frutiger, Gill Sans, Helvetica, Garamond, Palatino, Sabon and Univers. Invest in a CD with these classsical fonts and it will be money well spent.

2. Don’t use too many typefaces at any one time
It’s okay to use different typefaces to put emphasis on a heading, or separate one part of text from another. However, avoid using too many as this just confuses the reader.

3. Use different variations of one typeface
A good alternative to using too many typefaces above, is to use the different variations, or weights of the typeface family instead. There are many to choose from Bold, Bold Italic, Italic, Roman, Caps and Small Caps (however, use caps sparingly, see below). Try to purchase the full font family and use the official variations as ‘computerised’ versions of font weights are rarely as good as the original version from the font designer.

4. Don’t set everything in CAPITALS
Lower case letters are designed to make text most readable. The presence of ascenders, descenders and the internal patterns between the letters make this the case. Using all capital letters severely affects readability however they can be successfully used in display type. The normal convention is to use both upper and lower case letters as this is what readers are most accustomed to.

5. Don’t underline or use double spaces after a full stop
These practices are reserved for word processing and if used in graphic design has the effect of making the page look amateurish. Instead use different weights of typefaces for emphasis as above. To aid readability again, the rule for typesetting is to use one space only after a full stop.

6. Use appropriate line lengths
Lines that are too short or too long disrupt the reading process, making it wearisome. If the lines are too long, negotiating each line becomes difficult. If the lines are too short it creates choppy eye movements for the reader that can become tiring.

7. Don’t distort type
Well designed typefaces already have visual qualities that make them readable. Don’t distort the type just because a design program gives you the capability to. When type is artificially distorted, again it has an amateurish feel.

8. Use appropriate spacing
Even though typefaces are designed with optimum readability in mind, sometimes you need extra help for those letters that don’t sit well together, such as lower case f and l. Historically these appear too close and special ligatures were created for these, but you can also use a small amount of kerning to add space and get the letters to sit right. The same applies to capital letters at the beginning of a sentence which sometimes appear disjointed from its neighbouring letter. Use appropriate line spacing too, don’t just rely on the automatic settings in a program. The general rule I like to use is for any size up to 12pt use 1 extra point of leading, and anything over that use 2 extra points.

9. Use text sizes that are most readable
The most readable text ranges from 8 to 12 points for text that is read from an average distance of 12 to 14 inches. However be aware of the fact that typefaces of the same size may appear different in size due to their ‘x-heights’. That is the size of the x in the typeface family and can vary considerably. I would say 6 pt is the smallest readable type.

10. When working with colour, ensure sufficient contrast between type and background
Too little contrast in hue, value or saturation results in type that is difficult, if not impossible to read. Black type on a white background is the most legible of the colour combinations and this is what we are accustomed to reading. Reversing the colour relationship, i.e. white text on a black background compromises readability to a degree, but can be effective. Ensure your contrast is effective but still readable.

This article is written by Rachel Toy, a freelance Graphic Designer working in the design industry for over 15 years. Her company, Spirit Creative Ltd, is a full Graphic Design Agency serving Beds/Bucks/Herts, providing logo design, business cards, leaflets, brochures, web sites, web hosting, exhibition graphics and more! If you would like us to help your company with any of the above then do not hesitate to contact us on info@spiritcreative.co.uk

Over the summer Spirit have been trying out a new experience of co-working and hot desking space. Recognising the distractions and isolation that home-working sometimes brings, Rachel decided to have a look at FunkBunk, a collaborative studio in Wing, Buckinghamshire. FunkBunk is designed for creative freelancers like ourselves who need that extra breathing space to focus or bounce ideas off other creatives, and can work there for a half day, day or even full time for the whole week.

We have found the experience to be a very positive one, the guys are very friendly, helpful and creative. We get to keep up to date with industry trends and work in a calming, inspiring space, at the same time networking with other creatives. The hot-desking facility is a great way to dip your toe in the water without the commitment of a full-time office and Rachel now tends to see it as a treat to get out of the home office and feel inspired again. We are hoping to work from FunkBunk much more regularly in the future, so watch this space!

Some exciting news that has come out of the whole experience too is that Rachel got to appear in the promo video! You can see the whole video here.

So how do you create it?

1. Think about your company’s values and how they might be represented visually.

2. Employ a Designer to help create a professional and unique logo, including your company name and portraying your values.

3. Include colours and shapes in your logo as people remember these better than the name.

4. With your Designer’s help, build on your corporate image throughout your marketing material, ensuring it is consistent at all times. e.g. always use the same fonts, colours and images. This will show your potential clients that you are consistent and trustworthy.

For more information, contact us on 01296 668747 or email info@spiritcreative.co.uk

Most of my graphic design work now is still influenced by these early days in my career. I love the clean grid layout and forms of the ‘Swiss Style’, and Helvetica is one of the typefaces that this style just cannot do with out!