Philippine Center for Creative Imaging

The letterhead and calling card are often our first “contact” with a company or professional. As such, they must “put the company’s or professional’s “best foot forward,” to create a favorable and memorable impression.

Many companies think it’s nothing more than putting the logo on top and the address below that, which is what they get when they leave the design to the small print shop or to the printing press. Which is a mistake, because a company’s stationery is part of the branding efforts and image that includes the logo, corporate colors, corporate slogan.

Rather than creating a generic letterhead and calling card, the professional graphic designer is expected to create a design that is not only different but also appropriate for the company’s personality and business. This requires sympathy with the client, knowledge of the logo and its proper use, knowledge of the company’s audiences (clients, suppliers, and business affiliations) and familiarity with the vast array of design possibilities for business stationery.

What will be covered

• What to ask the client
  • Logo usage guidelines
  • Corporate colors
  • Secondary logos
  • Departments
  • Epithet
  • Corporate fonts
  • Contact details
• Design Mechanics
  • Do’s and don’ts
  • Working with numbers
  • Number separators
  • Item separators
  • Descriptive labels, shorthand or none
  • Working with abbreviations
• Design tips
  • Establishing a focal point
  • Creating strong alignment
  • Going small
  • Going big
  • Drawing on the live area
• Letterhead mechanics
  • Letterhead size and margins
  • Bleeds
  • Working with color
  • Right and wrong font size, font choices
• Envelope mechanics
  • Envelope size
  • Envelope flaps
  • Envelope orientation
• Calling card mechanics
  • Card sizes around the world
  • Contact details
  • Job title and company epithet
  • Font size and font choices
  • Two-sided printing
  • Background color
  • Folded cards
  • Off-standard sizes
  • Diecutting

Who will benefit

• Graphic artists/designers
• Art directors/assistant art directors
• Desktop publishers
• Print shop owners/artists

Prerequisites

Knowledge in using graphic design softwares such as Adobe InDesign or Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW

About the Instructor

Ed Yap had a graphic design studio from 1986 to 1995, managing the creative output of a team of graphic artists as creative director. He directly visualized or supervised the work on logos, business stationery, brochures, print ads, posters, magazines, and other marketing materials. After 1995 he went freelance as a writer and graphic designer, producing marketing and advertising materials for clients like The Manila Hotel, Hooven Philippines, Pryce Properties, Mercury Drug. From 2006 to 2012 he was concurrent managing editor/art director and editor-in-chief/art director of three national magazines, i-Mag Photography, Digital Camera Philippines, and Gamefowl.