Class Introduction
Lesson 1 from: How to Create Marketing Materials for Small BusinessesErica Gamet
Class Introduction
Lesson 1 from: How to Create Marketing Materials for Small BusinessesErica Gamet
Lessons
Class Introduction
04:25 2Defining The Glossary Of Design Terms
26:26 3Adobe In Design Demo Update Your Current Materials
08:44 4Adobe In Design Demo Business Card Part One
39:08 5Adobe In Design Demo Business System Materials
23:55 6How To Procure Free And Low Cost Stock Images
11:51 7Adobe In Design Demo Postcard
16:16 8Object Styles For Continuity
07:40Lesson Info
Class Introduction
All right, today we're going to talk about marketing materials for the small business. So what I'm going to do is sort of deputize you as beginner designers. Okay? So by the end of this course we'll all have a little bit of better understanding how things are designed, some things that go in to it. But for any designers who are listening or watching know, we're not going to make you experts right away. But this is the new group. So this is what a lot of people need to do. We need to do some marketing materials and maybe we don't have it in our budget, we're small business, to hire a designer. But that doesn't mean that we can't educate ourselves and become better at designing. Just because you have something like Microsoft Word does not make you a designer, right? So we're going to look at some samples of that as well. But I get it that not everybody can hire a designer, but what I want to do is give everybody that confidence that they can make some of the marketing materials and maybe...
even learn to, learn a lot more about design. You know to check out more stuff that's available here at CreativeLive and elsewhere and just get a little more versed in the design end of it. But today I'm going to give you some tools that you can use and some way of thinking, so you start thinking a little bit more like a designer and about your business. And we're going to use mostly Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. Now I know people cringe and think, Oh my God those are design tools, and they are, they're what the professionals use. But that's the realm that we're diving off into is a little bit more of the professional stuff. We're stepping out of doing everything like I say in Word or Publisher or something like that, not to only harp on Microsoft, but you know those are business tools that you might have a business. Those are not design tools and so we need to step off into the big leagues a little bit more and learn some of that. But I want to give you guys not just the background but the confidence to be able to say, Okay, she showed me this. We're going to look at things like business cards, postcards, some brochures. Mostly print related right now, but be thinking of how that goes from print to digital as well down the road. And actually one of the later lessons we're going to be looking at outputting into .pdf and I will cover some of the digital versus print options in there as well. Because a lot of us live in the digital world. I actually even though my background's in printing, I do a lot of stuff digitally. In fact more so than printing stuff. But the concepts are the same. The tools that we use to create them are the same and the thought process that goes into the designing them are are same. So I just want to kinda let everybody know that's what they're gonna feel like. We're gonna feel like mini designers, new designers, and give you that confidence to springboard on to bigger projects if you feel like it. You might also find that you're happy doing these few little things and for the big stuff you're gonna pay a designer. But you're already gonna have that confidence and you're going to be able to talk the talk as well. All right so we're gonna do a little bit of background first before we start playing. So we've gotta kinda get, kinda start dipping our toes into this pool of design, right? So the first thing we'll do is talk about we're going to go into some printing terms in just a few minutes, printing and layout terms so that you understand. So you need to be able to talk the talk. Well we're already trying to walk the walk and if we don't talk the talk then people are gonna know that we're not designers, right? So we need to start understanding what people are talking about when they mention these specific terms. But also one thing I always stress, whether it's new people or it's people that have been in the business for a long time, often times people don't think about what's happening to the project when it leaves your hands. Where is it going? What is the purpose? So we always have to work backwards. Think about the very end. What is this piece for? What is it's purpose? Who is it for? Who's the intended audience? What is it we're trying to invoke? What kind of paper is it going on? How are we delivering this? Is it going digital? Is it going printed? What's my budget? That's going to tell me what kind of printing I can afford. And so think of all that as the end and then work your way backwards, and then we get all the way to the beginning where we're sitting down at our desk and staring at a blank InDesign document and how do we start that. So all of that has to be thought of ahead of time. So these are considerations, we'll talk about that a little bit but that's just something I want you to keep in mind as we go though the glossary of terms I think that's even going to be more and more apparent of how that needs to be.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Laure Donteville
How lucky to attend this class in person!!!! So worth it and it was exactly what I needed to have the right tools and give me the confidence to jump start my business. I can't wait to finally put together my ideas to create my business cards and send my very first postcards to reach my future clients. Thank you Erica for such a funny and interesting class on things that usually feel so overwhelming. Yes, you can be a designer!!!!
Cynthia Dauterstedt
Erica is just awesome - did several of her courses and she has a great style, is funny and explains very well the basics and beyond what "Design Dummies" like me need to know to get the stuff done they don't have money to pay an expert for. Good Job, worth each penny!
julie haskett
She said at the beginning that her purpose was to make us confident enough to use Adobe In Design and she absolutely did. Perfect class, perfect instructor. Really enjoyed this and lots of info absorbed. Can't wait to put it in action.