Identity Package for Your Micro-Business
Crystal posted this on February 4, 2008
“You recognize that famous sign?”
~ Zorro
It’s no accident that designers call your coordinated set of business cards, letterhead and forms a “visual identity package”. Your skills and effort are the brains behind the business, but the items you distribute present its unique personality.
This is why it’s critical to have interesting and memorable materials that are uniquely yours.
Beyond Your Inkjet
Still, printing services can be expensive, so most micro-business owners make do with home office tools and materials to save money. Unfortunately, most pieces are printed with run-of-the-mill inkjet printers with lukewarm results. With fuzzy images and indistinct text, they scream “Amateur!” at every reader.
Inkjets are far better than they used to be, but you’re still better off with waterproof, monochrome documents printed with an affordable black-and-white laser printer than color documents printed with one of the better inkjets.
If you want color in your identity package and don’t own a color laser printer, have your pieces printed at Kinko’s, your local quick printer or an online printer like CatPrint.
What’s Inside?
As you’d expect, business cards and letterhead are the key parts of an identity package, but they’re only the beginning. Everything you send to potential or existing clients should coordinate and wear your logo, business name, phone number and website address. Be sure to include your tagline wherever possible:
Typical identity package items:
- Business cards
- Letterhead
- Envelopes
- Return address labels
- Forms
Not-so-typical items:
- Customized Post-Its®
- Postage stamps
- Mailing labels
- Note cards
- Invitations
Your identity materials are the things that get mailed, dropped off, handed over, passed over, tacked up, referred to, filed and remembered. They speak for you when you aren’t there to speak for yourself, so make sure they’re saying what you want people to hear.
And hey, if you don’t feel up to the challenge of creating your identity package on your own, hire a design pro.
TIP:
If you’re creating an identity package on a tight budget, get fewer cards or sheets rather than settle for cheap paper. Choose one or two colors—instead of or in addition to black—over quantity. If color is unaffordable, try for colored paper. Better to have only a handful of cards on quality paper than a crateful of cards on flimsy stock.
Did I leave anything out? Leave a comment if you think of a something fun and personalize-able to add to an identity package.
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I was searching for Blogs about printed invitations and found this site. I am interested in your content and appreciate sites like this.
We also used to do our catalogue on a CD rom with a printed cover and printed label on the CD all linking in with our “Identity Package”.
Recent blog post from Phil: Showrooms re-vamped