Commercial Print Design
If your business needs anything from business cards to for-sale signs, it needs some print design. This category covers a relatively broad spectrum of products. The type of product you might need depends on the industry, the final goal you want to achieve, and the kind of message you want to convey.
For example, if we talk about real-estate business, you might need business cards for your company or your agents. For promoting particular property, you might need flyers, custom floor plans as well as for-sale signs. And for people stopping by your office, you might want to have brochures or catalogs ready.
Among the first examples of commercial print design were stamps and trademarks. As the printing technology developed, so did the commercial printing design. During the 19 century, many artists started making packaging designs and posters for businesses, thus beginning the age of commercial design.
Brochures and Catalogs
Every year millions of people all over the world are impatiently waiting for the new IKEA catalog. It is by far one of the most anticipated publications of this type. Some 180 million copies are distributed around the world every year. And there is an unconfirmed rumor that the catalog takes almost 70% of IKEA’s annual marketing budget.
A catalog offers information on all the products or services the company has to offer. It contains all the items arranged systematically, accompanied by photos and short descriptions of the products or services. Catalogs are still an indispensable part of promotional activities in the hospitality, wellness, and luxury goods industries. You will see catalogs included in the marketing mix of businesses that do not require immediate action from a buyer.
A brochure, on the other hand, is more marketing-focused. It usually highlights particular products or services that are part of the promotional campaign. A brochure can be one page folded in half, or threefold or can consist of few pages stapled together.
Flyers and Posters
As means for mass promotion of ideas, products, or events in public spaces, posters quickly became very popular. They started appearing between the 1840s and 1850s when the printers perfected color print. Visually striking, with bold colors, typography, and graphics, they’ve been designed to grab viewers' attention.
Many famous French artists from the end of 19 century, like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Georges de Feure, and Jules Chéret, also did poster designs. However, Chéret was the most prolific poster designer of the time. He specialized in advertisement posters and will be remembered as the first graphic artist who used sexuality for promotional purposes.
- Advertising posters that brands use for various promotional purposes. They are usually designed with the “wow-factor” in mind, and if well designed, they won’t get unnoticed.
- Political posters became an important channel for mass communication in the UK during the First World War. These posters were primarily used to boost national morale as well as for nationwide recruitment.
- Movie posters are relatively self-explanatory. They are designed with the sole purpose of promoting a movie and inspiring the interest of the audience to go and see it in cinemas.
- Event posters are used for promoting cultural and sports events or public meetings. The most notable in this category are concert posters which became popular collector items.
- Educational posters have become a great way to present complex scientific subjects in a visually pleasing way.
Flyers are usually distributed by handing them out in the street or door to door. They focus on one particular product, service, or event, such as sales or discounts. Their size, paper, and print quality can vary drastically. Research shows that 79% of the recipients either keep them, pass them on to a friend, or take a quick look over them and toss them away.
Packaging Design
If you are a fan of beauty brands, then you already know about Korean skincare products. They enjoy justified global cult status, and there are always a few of these products on every best product list. What sets them apart from most US and European brands, besides great ingredients, is their fantastic packaging design.
Ever since famous Parisian artists made their first package designs in the 19th century, this subcategory of graphic design evolved into a proper art form. Today package designs need to be more than beautiful. They need to offer an unboxing experience as well. Product packages need to tell the story of the product and the brand, but at the same time, they need to relate to the customer.
Today, the packaging is almost as important as the product inside of it. According to the WestRock study, 81% of people have tried something new because of packaging, and 63% have repurchased the product because the packaging was visually pleasing.
Business Cards and Stationery
There is an ongoing debate that business cards are entirely outdated and unnecessary in our hyper-connected world. Yet everyone still has and uses them.
The proponents of digital will tell you that you can generate a simple QR code on your phone and share your contact details. Of course, you can share virtual cards via Bluetooth. Still, nothing beats the first impression that a good business card design can leave.
As a material used for hand and print business communication, stationery helps amplify branding identity. The most commonly used stationery items in an office are letterheads, envelopes, notepads, binders, folders, stickers, and pens.
How Digitalization Affects Print Designers?
Graphic designers today need to have a much broader set of skills simply because the final design needs to be applicable for different use cases. For example, you might be working on a book cover design intended for print. Still, you need to make sure that the layout you are making can be adjusted easily for ebook and audiobook covers.
It’s not enough to know the rules of creating a good-looking book layout. Today an excellent graphic designer needs to learn coding and styling languages like HTML5 and CSS3. They are essential for correct formatting and styling of text in an ebook. A basic understanding of motion graphics is also necessary since posters can be displayed on digital screens and don’t have to be static anymore.
We have covered all the basic and advanced skills necessary for a designer to thrive in the ever-changing world of graphic design. One thing is positive, print design will continue to thrive in the upcoming decades parallel with the new digital formats.
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