Designing On a Shoe String Budget

When you are ready to promote an event, product or service for your company, you will always turn to a professional graphic design firm. That is what they do, and that is what makes the most sense. When money is tight , chances are your need for professional design and / or advertising doesn't just drop off.

Take heed, you aren't alone. So what do you do? Do you put it through the guy in accounting or your nephew who bought photoshop? First off, keep in mind a lot of risk comes with project design from someone not trained in the field. Design is NOT just about making pretty images. Proper design evokes emotional and cultural responses to get your customer to BUY! Not knowing your accounting guy, or your nephew, I would highly discourage both options. Instead, here are some alternative budget saving options.

1. Call a College: Call a local school and see if they would be willing to use your company as a test client. Students will get real world experience and you will get a deal. It would be highly encouraged to donate to their art department -- consider this payment for their services. Keep in mind some school's policies may not approve, and you are still working with students with no real world experience. Remember, you are helping further education, you are such a good person!
2. Call a Student: This is the same concept as calling a college. Students are looking for experience and you are looking for a deal. The risk here is that they may not have the skills or experience. This risk can be compensated for by simply requesting their portfolio or sample work ahead of time. Also, make sure to ask about their software version -- if they have an educational license, it might be illegal for them to make a profit using that version.
3. Re-Evaluate the Project: Your project may be too expensive in the first place. Are you embossing, die-cutting, using premium paper, using too many colors, using bleeds, etc.? Ask your design firm where you can cut some costs. Don't be afraid to ask for this!
4. Mass-Application: If you are doing a multi-faceted marketing project. Make sure your design piece fits all facets without adaptation. This will cut down on design costs.

Got any brilliant ideas that may help your budget? Have you offered any internal incentives to employees who saved the company money? Please comment and share with the other readers!

Stock Photos: Pick your poison.

A custom photo shoot doesn't come cheap. Although it is the best approach for your new project, there are great amounts of time and cost involved to get it done right. Because not everyone out there has an unlimited budget, especially in our current situation, stock photos may appear to be your only option. Obviously stock photos hold potential to cheapen your company's public image, and hurt your marketing efforts, so what do you do if a photo shoot is simply not an option?

To lessen the negative potential backlash (sounds brutal!) I have drawn up a few tips before choosing that "perfect" stock photo.

1. Choose the Un-popular: On your hunt make sure the photo you pick isn't popular. Some sites will even tell you how many times the photo has been purchased. Remember, the entire photo doesn't have to be great, you can always crop stuff out later.
2. Change It: When picking a stock photo, change it! Mess with the color or crop elements out of it to make it look different than the original. This lessens the chance of people noticing your photo elsewhere.
3. Pay a little more: Just because you can get a stock photo cheaper than a photo shoot doesn't mean you should get the cheapest photo you can find. Go to a premium stock photo site and pay a premium price. This lessons the chance of the photo being used frequently.
4. Select the Wrong Photo: Search for keywords unrelated or loosely related to the photo you are looking for. For a hospital project, do a search for dentists. Day-care, search schools; painters search window washers Lawn Service search golf courses. This seems odd, but if you find the right photo it will lessen the chance of another company or competitor using the same photo. (Keep in mind you can use photoshop to make the photo more relevant)
5. Change your focus: Examine the ENTIRE photo. Cropping out the main focus and choosing a different part of the photo will lessen the chance of anyone noticing your photo elsewhere.

What can you do to ensure your companies next project is more unique? Have you been burned for using the wrong stock photo? Can you recall some examples of stock photos that appeared in multiple spots for different companies?