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.

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.

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

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(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piece design was about 10 years ago so my info might be a bit out of date.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:

http://www.npf.org/index.html 

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 

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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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bergsland.org or radiqx.com