When it pays to use a pro - marketing communications consultants - Column

Home Office Computing, Oct, 1994 by Steve Morgenstern

WHEN THE JUDGES FOR HOME OFFICE COMPUTING'S REcent design contest met to critique the materials readers created to promote their businesses, we sought eye-catching letterhead, business cards, and brochures with nicely rendered graphics and technically polished typography. In the business card category, Marsha Marsiglio's entry was a standout.

Marsiglio cleverly played off the Mars in her names--she named her company after the planet, includes a graphic of it in her logo, and capitalizes the Mars in MARSha, MARSiglio, and MARS Publications. Marsiglio's card made her desktop publishing and video production business instantly memorable, and we chose it as one of the finalists.

Only one problem. When we called Marsiglio to inquire about her entry, we had to disqualify it. Why? Marsiglio used an outside designer to create the business card and logo; we were looking for entries created by business owners (though we sometimes stretched the rules a bit to include family members who labor for love alone) to promote their own businesses.

But even though Marsiglio didn't make the final contest cut, it doesn't mean she's a loser. Her card continues to win respect and business every time she hands one out.

Having a professional designer handle some or all of your projects can do the same for you.

Talent and Technical Know-How A professional designer can enhance the artistic quality of the completed piece. When I work on projects with budgets large enough to hire an outsider, I usually call Greg Wozney in New York City. He's been designing for 24 years and has acquired a bag of tricks and substantial technical know-how. "I think there are a lot of people out there with good taste and the ability to make wise choices," he says. "But they may not know how to create the graphic design that will deliver the precise feeling you're trying to convey."

Jody Levinson, a graphic designer in Atlanta, stresses the advantages of working with a professional, including efficient use of time and knowledge of printing technology. "Someone just starting out might spend a week or so mucking around trying to figure out how to use his page layout program, then another week trying to put his newsletter together. And then he has to deal with getting it output and printed," she says. That same person might find it more cost effective to pay Levinson for only three or four hours--the time it would take the designer to do the job.

Expertise at the Print Shop Such jobs can include help on getting the project printed right. After all, the mistake you make outputting a flier to a laser printer is no big deal--just fix it, load some more paper, and crank out a new batch. But when you use commercial print shops for larger press runs, the cost of mistakes takes an enormous leap skyward. And as you move into color printing, binding, die-cutting (creating holes or unusual shapes in a printed piece), and other relatively complex processes, you need someone you can trust.

Sometimes that's your contact at the print shop, but most small businesses are relatively minor clients for printers, who can't justify a lot of hand-holding time. And most print shops are interested in delivering precisely what they're asked to deliver, not in improving your design and saving you money.

A professional designer understands the complete printing process and works to keep your paper-and-ink costs to a minimum. "There are certain things you can do in the design phase that will enable a job to be run on a less expensive press," explains Levinson. "Say a project needs to be die-cut. Depending on how you design the dies, you might fit either one or two of the items on a single large sheet of paper. If I design it to get two per page, I save the client half his paper cost."

Any designer can recommend reputable printers. Some even arrange printing for their clients, carrying the project from concept through delivery of printed materials. Designers who do this mark up printing prices to cover their time and effort. Since a designer usually gets wholesale prices from the printer, though, the mark-up doesn't have much impact on the bottom-line price to the client.

When Murray Pelta hired Levinson to design a corporate identity package for his business, Stat Power Inc., he got competitive bids on the printing to compare with Levinson's printing quote. "Her printing cost was competitive with everybody else's," he recalls. "I ended up using her printer because of her relationship with the shop, which would ensure that I'd get the quality I want."

Your Source for Referrals A professional designer is similar in some ways to a general practitioner. In addition to providing his own services, the designer refers you to other specialists, including illustrators and photographers. Gaining access to a range of graphic services through a professional designer saves time and money. "You develop a group of people with whom you work regularly," Wozney explains. "They get comfortable with the way you art direct photography and illustration, so the work tends to come out right the first time. And you can negotiate price a little more freely with people you work with constantly."