December, 1997
Note-worthy pads...
Advertising specialties with your company name, logo, and phone number
are a great way to remind people of your product or service. Note pads are
an inexpensive way to make sure your name stays on you prospect's or customer's
desk. Call us to learn more about this effective promotional piece.
Do-it-yourself?...
Expert Robin Williams believes there are 13 telltale signs of a do-it-yourself
desktop publishing job. Here are some of them:
- Helvetica type font. It was very popular in the 60's
and 70's but now it gives your piece a dated look.
- Straight quotes. Use the curved typographer's quotes.
The same goes for apostrophes. The straight ones are for inch and foot
marks!
- Hitting the return key twice between paragraphs. Learn
to use the "Paragraph space after".
- Two spaces after punctuation. The standard professional
typographic practice is one space.
- Gray boxes behind text. This makes the type very difficult
to read. Find other ways of making the type stand out: heavy lines, lines
above and below the article, a dramatic headline font, etc.
- Centered layouts. They create a sedate, formal look,
but can also be deadly dull. If a piece is centered because you want a
formal look, that's one thing. Make sure it's obvious.
Snap it up...
When organizing you web site, break up your information
into a series of short pages no more than two screen high. Shorter pages
mean snappier performance! Shorter pages not only load faster, but seem
to read faster too. A long web page is like a book with any chapter or subheadings.
Visitors prefer to click their way through a series of short well-organized
pages, then to scroll endlessly down one page.
Presenting?
People retain 20% of what they see, 20% of what they hear, 50% of what
they see and hear, 85% of what they become involved in. If you wish them
to make a purchase, 79% will if you use visual aids, but only 58% will if
you don't. Reasons: the brain takes in information at 500 words per minute.
People speak at 140 words per minute. Visual aids prevent boredom from setting
in.
Quote of the month...
"The Chinese use two brush strokes for the word 'crisis'. One brush
strike stands for danger; the other for opportunity." Richard Nixon
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