Thursday, February 26, 2009
30 tips for a better portfolio
I found this from Computer Arts out of England today. There are some excellent suggestions. Including one who foregoes portfolios entirely as too unwieldy and ineffective.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Skilled Workman: Scientific study on the effects of good font use
The Skilled Workman: Scientific study on the effects of good font use
I posted this on my new blog. I thought you might be interested.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Mailer design by Bevi Chagnon (from Blueworld InDesign list)
Bevi is always one of the better sources of info on this excellent list. I thought I'd share it with those of you who don't use the list.
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Bevi Chagnon | Adobe ACE: InDesign CS2 | www.PubCom.com
PubCom | Trainers, Consultants, Designers for Web, Print & Acrobat
Bevi's online tutorials | http://www.CommunityMX.com/author.cfm?cid=5931
...........................................................................
(The Original Question) John Posada wrote:
Hi, guys...In my newsletter, on the last page, I want to put a panel
that meets the USPS requirements for mailer layout.
(Bevi's Answer)
Although I used to be a certified mail piece consultant, my training in mail
piece design was about 10 years ago so my info might be a bit out of date.
However, I haven't heard that the PO has changed their regulations on
mailing panels.
AFAIK, there are few regulations about mailing panel design (there are a
slew, however, about envelopes, postcards, business reply mail BRM, etc.).
You can consult with an USPS Mailpiece Design Analyst through the Post
Office:
http://www.usps.com/replymail/mailpiece.htm
Info about bulk mail is here:
http://pe.usps.com/businessmail101/getstarted/bulkMail.htm
The PO's Domestic Mail Manuel is here:
http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/dmm300_landing.htm
The National Postal Forum (industry non-profit) might have some info for
you:
Here's a summary of key points (and yes, this is the "short" version):
-------------------------------
Size and position of the panel:
The Post Office doesn't give a hoot how big the panel is, where it's
located, whether it's right-side-up or sideways or upside down.
It doesn't care about the panel's size, as long as:
-- it has the preprinted indicia or live stamp in the upper right portion,
-- it has a return address in the upper left,
-- they can clearly read the delivery address, and
-- there's 5/8" white space below the last line of the address where an
address barcode can be imprinted.
A bigger concern is what your mailing house wants.
Depending upon the size of your mailing labels and the equipment the
mail house uses, you'll be instructed by them where to position the panel:
for example, along the lower left folded edge.
Mail houses that inkjet the addresses rather than apply sticky or Cheshire
labels will have their requirements, too.
Keep in mind that a bulk mail piece will be fed through at least 2 sets of
equipment during its lifetime:
Once at the mailhouse when it is labeled and sorted, the other at the Post
Office when it is re-sorted and routed to its destination.
Most of my mail houses recommend that the label's bottom be along a folded
edge to prevent jams in mailing equipment. Sometimes that forces me to
design the mailing panel upside down on the last page of a 4-page
newsletter.
So talk to the mail house. Send them a mock-up. Every mail house is
different, so don't assume what you design for one project will work on
another. I've had mail houses ask me to move a mailing panel down 1/4" so
that it fit their equipment better, or flip the panel sideways so that it
had fewer jams on their equipment.
OK, so all this hasn't yet answered your question.
Here's the PO's official poop on this:
http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/102.htm
And here's the "Cliff Notes" version:
http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/002_OCRreadarea_t.htm
It boils down to this:
1) Start with the size of actual mailing label or the blank area your mail
house needs to inkjet the address.
2) Add 1/2" clear space to both the left and right of that label area.
3) Add 5/8" clear space below the label area for the Post Office's
OCR/barcode.
Make this OCR/barcode area at least as wide as the label itself, but
if you can make it an inch or two wider, it'll help make sure the PO's
barcode can be imprinted correctly and your mail piece get delivered on time
to your audience.
When we designers skimp on this blank OCR/barcode area, we hinder
the PO's ability to deliver the piece to our readers.
4) Add the postal indicia to the upper right of the label area. (I like to
leave 1/4" clear space between them to help the sorting machines hone in and
read the address correctly.)
5) Add the return address to the upper left of the label area. (I like to
leave 1/2" clear space between them to help the sorting machines hone in and
read the address correctly. I also make the type very small to again force
the machine readers to read the delivery address, rather than the return
address.)
6) Leave the background of the entire panel white. Don't tint it with a 10%
screen tint, or make it a solid color box. You want clean, unprinted paper
behind all this so that the machine readers and barcode printers can do
their job.
--------------------------------
Those little sealing dots
For thick pieces or multi-page items (booklets, newsletters), the PO
generally requires that the open edge be sealed with those little round
adhesive dots to prevent jamming (they're called "tabs" or "wafer seals").
Sometimes they don't require them. Depends upon the design of the
piece and what mood the PO clerk was in when your bulk mail was dropped off
at the PO.
Design your piece to accommodate these sealing dots: last week I
received a gorgeous newsletter...but I had to ruin it in order to unseal the
sealing dots. Tore off some of the body text of a great article.
USPS info about tabs/wafer seals:
http://pe.usps.com/text/QSG300/Q201b.htm
--------------------------------
Preprinted mailing indicia
Size doesn't matter, as long as it's readable. 8 pt type is fine.
Just make sure the wording in correct (there are different types of
indicias), that the permit number is correct, and that it's positioned to
the upper right of the address.
Your indicia will most likely be a simple square/rectangular box
with text inside it. You can use caps or UC/lc: your choice. It won't be
pretty, but it doesn't have to be ugly, either.
USPS website:
http://www.usps.com/send/postagepermitimprintsandmeters/howtodesignapermitim
printindicia.htm
--------------------------------
Return address
Size doesn't matter, as long as it's readable and to the upper left
of the address. 8 pt type is fine.
Hope this helps.
The smallest panel I've designed is 3-5/8" wide x 2.5" tall, give/take 1/8"
or so. But the mail house didn't like it: their "landing area" was pretty
tight!
--Bevi Chagnon
........................................................................
Bevi Chagnon | Adobe ACE: InDesign CS2 | www.PubCom.com
PubCom | Trainers, Consultants, Designers for Web, Print & Acrobat
Bevi's online tutorials | http://www.CommunityMX.com/author.cfm?cid=5931
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Monday, February 02, 2009
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