Save the Environment

As a responsible company, TILT is assisting to play a small part in safeguarding the world we live in. We have been advising our clients, who are environmental friendly, to use printers who are FSC certified if their budget allows for print production. TILT has a long standing relationship with our printer-partners and coincidentally, they are all FSC certified.

So why should anyone use printers who are FSC certified? Just like using recycled paper, using FSC certified paper helps to protect our environment. The cost is approximately 50-100% more expensive than normal paper. The percentage is dependent on the quantity printed. If clients choose certified printers, we can then include the FSC logo on the artwork.

So what is FSC?
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a certification system that provides internationally recognized standard-setting, trademark assurance and accreditation services to companies, organizations, and communities interested in responsible forestry.

The FSC label provides a credible link between responsible production and consumption of forest products, enabling consumers and businesses to make purchasing decisions that benefit people and the environment as well as providing ongoing business value.

Trying to do the right thing and buying responsibly produced products can be confusing. The FSC label makes it easy to make the right choice when buying timber and paper products as well as other forest products. Here is why choosing FSC makes a difference:

Only FSC
• prohibits conversion of natural forests or other habitat around the world
• prohibits the use of highly hazardous pesticides around the world
• prohibits the cultivation of genetically modified trees (GMOs)
• respects the right of indigenous peoples around the world
• controls each certified operation at least once a year – and if they are found not to comply, the certificate is withdrawn

As such, if the opportunity arises with budget allowances, let’s all try to do our bit to save the environment.

Where U Truly Matter

It seems just like yesterday when we started working with Education Services Union (ESU) on their re-branding exercise. In the early days of 2008, we were recommended by one of ESU’s contacts and ESU decided then to hear us out and listen to what we have to say about their rebranding exercise.

The tagline which we subsequently proposed “Where U Truly Matter”, successfully encapsulated what all union members can experience when they join ESU. What followed then was a series of re-branding work which includes the following

Design of Corporate Stationary

Design of Corporate Brochure & Folder

Production of Corporate Identity Guide

Building of Stock Photography Library

Design of Launch Video (in Flash)

This relationship continues till this day and with the recent conclusion of the production of their corporate video, we look back and we are truly happy that both parties have truly benefitted from this relationship.

The First Youth Olympic Games

The Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC) has produced a brochure to publicise about the First Youth Olympic Games.

In their process of designing the brochure, they realised that they do not have a strong cover photograph which they can use. SYOGOC, then approached TILT and asked if we can assist, out of goodwill, in taking a good brochure cover photograph. Through our communication to them, we understood the requirements which they have and we immediately went about sourcing for talents and venue to take the photograph required. Through our clientele contacts, we managed to contact Republic Polytechnic to assist in this area and within 2 hours, we have the talents and venue secured. Very quickly, we reverted back to SYOGOC and informed them about the art direction as well as the confirmation of talents and venue.

Within 24hours, the photograph was taken and we emailed over to SYOGOC. Below is the response from SYOGOC.

Wow. I really like what I see.

Ellen NG
Senior Executive, Publications
Communications and Public Relations Division
Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee

We are glad we have played a small part in assisting SYOGOC in producing their brochure.

To view the full brochure, please click here.

Design Matters: Version Control

In the last few years, we have seen how Adobe Creative Suite had been upgraded from CS to CS 2. It took a while for the CS 3 version to come out but within weeks of its launch, CS 4 surfaced on earth.

There are some people who had been on the relentless pursuit of upgrade. Each version offers some newer options which are very valuable that the older version will not be able to achieve. In TILT, we have been on a slow and constant upgrade. In fact, we have Adobe CS 2 on 1 computer, Adobe CS 4 also on 1 computer and the rest of our computers are on Adobe CS 3.

So when this happens, how can our workflow be such that it can still be seamless and be inter-changeable such that everyone in TILT can work hand-in-hand to complete a massive project?

Below are 2 examples using Adobe Indesign as the software (since that is the software which TILT uses for almost all our work):
Work was done in the lower version of CS
Voila! Your worries are solved as Adobe CS, like many other software, is backward compatible. This means that work which was done in Adobe CS 2 can definitely be opened in Adobe CS 3 or 4 and all of you can still work together (provided the first piece of work is done in the lowest version).

Work was done in the latest version of CS
There had been many instances of this situation happening, not only at TILT but in other companies as well (as far as we know). This is a quick tip such that work can still be completed across all the different platforms.
1. Go to File > Export.
2. Set the format to InDesign Interchange. (This will make a .inx file.)
3. Older versions of InDesign can open that .inx file.
4. Open the .inx file in the older version of Adobe CS.

And with this, you can continue working as 1 company!

Design Matters: Is Your Brochure Design up to it?

We have been discussing about brochure design in our past few posts. We certainly hope our readers have beneffited from it. As we all know, you usually get only one chance to make an impression with your brochure design. The stakes are high and you definitely need to ensure it is a favourable impression.

As a recap of all the things which we had discussed previously, an effective brochure design is not about spending your entire budegt on it, which is the way TILT functions as well.

Regardless of the size of your company, we will like you to take a step back and look at your most current brochure design and put your brochure design to this test for effectiveness. As you go through each point, score your brochure with a “+1″ or “-1″. If you have more than 3 “-1″s, perhaps you can drop us an email at enquiry@tilt.com.sg and we can do a makeover for your brochure.

Emotional Appeal
Does your brochure design strike an emotional chord with your prospects? If you can touch the heart of your prospects and connect with their pains or desires, chances are, they will not take your brochure and throw it into the rubbish chute. With the emotional connection, the logical justification will happen.

Professionalism
Does your brochure design look professional? When we talk about professionalism, we are not referring to the brochure design feel but rather more with regards to form. Are the graphics of poor quality? Do you make use of clip art? These will put you on the fast track to downgrade your brochure design.

Personalise
Does your brochure refer to the situation from the prospect’s perspective? With this, we are referring more to copy. If your copy is such that it spends more time talking about your business and not connecting personally with your prospect (from their perspective), then your brochure design is in trouble.

Readability
Is your layout neat and readable? This is with reference in terms of the actual designing. Your brochure design should be pleasing to the eye and where necessary, include bullet points, arrows, boxes or any other graphics. This will guide the prospect to the information which you want them to read.

Say It Their Way!
Does your brochure design include technical language / jargons which your prospect will not understand? We all know that sometimes, it is impossible not to include technical language or jargons but it is vital to remove as much of it as possible. You need to talk in a manner in which your prospect can understand. The simpler the usage of language, the easier it is to connect with your prospects.

Be Focus!
Does your brochure design have only a single message? It is tempting for companies to try to include as much information as possible. Again, this will put your brochure design on the fast track of being thrown away. Packing it with a multitude of messages usually confuses the market and the end result? A waste of money by your company.

Action!
Does your brochure require the prospect to take an action? This is the key item which most brochure designs missed out on. Your brochure design should always be able to direct the prospect to take specific actions (perhaps to email you, make a phone call to enquire or to visit your website).

Vital Statistics
Does your brochure design include vital information such as contact details? This is something which is very obvious and yet is sometimes left out.

The Marathon!
Is your brochure design worth keeping? Sometimes, your prospect may not need your services / products at that particular moment. Make sure when doing the brochure design, there is a reason for the prospect to keep your brochure design.

Brochure designs can really help to brand your company and is a good and effective marketing tool. We hope that through these series of design matters, your or your company have benefitted from it.

Design Matters: Optimising Your Brochure Design

In this next edition of design matters, we will discuss more on optimising your brochure design.

As discussed earlier in Brochure design results with just 3 simple steps, there are elements which can make or break your brochure design.

Optimising Your Brochure Design
Here at TILT, we do hear from clients pretty often that “We need to design a brochure.” When we probe further to ask for the materials, very often, we find that the information (especially copy) is not ready yet. To add on, the clients will usually ask for sample designs. There are several times where we will advise the client that the design of the brochure cannot be done unless we have sample copy.

Know Your Objective or Intention
The fact is, to optimise your brochure design, the objective or intention of the brochure needs to be determine first. Having said that, this does not imply that by knowing the target audience, the brochure design objective or intention is known. Of course, knowing the target audience is a must but knowing whether the brochure should be one of an advertising nature or informative nature will bear a huge significance.

Brochure Design Copy
Next up, the copy which will be used is of great importance as well. Should it be written in a formal manner or perhaps in an informal manner? Can we do it in an interview style? How long should the text be? All these are of great importance. This is where copywriters come in. Don’t save the money. Pay for the copywriters as they can better represent your company with the copy which they come up with. With better branding, it is a better representation of your company!

Look Good!
Elaborating from our previous post, Let The Brochure Cover Out, the use of images are also of utmost importance. This can be done through a photoshoot, purchase of stock photographs or usage of high resolution photographs from your stock library. If all things fail, we can always rely on illustration as well. The choice (whichever of the above it may be) can be complicated. Again, on numerous occasions, TILT get requests from clients to

download images from the web

use their images (typically embedded in some word document or powerpoint document)

In the former case, this is an infringement of copyrights. While for the latter scenarion, these will result in the loss of resolution. We could say that choosing an image or picture is more complicated than writing the text for the brochure.

The text and images have to be ready before starting with the brochure design.

Brochure Design Form
In the previous section, What’s in a Brochure, we had given some examples of form. To optimise your brochure design, this is one which has utmost importance as well. When your target audience receive the brochure, the sense of sight and touch is activiated. All that we had discussed previously was based on the sense of sight. In holding the physical brochure, we are now touching on the sense of touch.

The type of paper, format and size holds just as much importance as the concept. In using, for example, recycled paper, the design can be very different from designing based on a gloss artpaper. To illlustrate this, perhaps you can imagine a brochure that is to be printed on gloss artpaper to be very colourful. The material allows the colours to be brought out in a vibrant manner. Whereas for recycled paper, perhaps the design can then be more pastal to bring about a more rustic feel to it. Though in the marketing area, there has still not been a thorough investigation about the importance of senses, but through our experience, we do see the trend where a successful brochure usually has the abovementioned elements.

If you ever need a brochure design, do feel free to drop us an email at enquiry@tilt.com.sg. We will be glad to have a chat with you such that the brochure design for your company can be optimised in the end and you can have a successful marketing tool.

Design Matters: What’s in a brochure

Typically used as a small, lightweight and cost-effective measure by companies, do you know that a brochure can be more than just that? A brochure can be a powerful and an impactful, yet informational and promotional tool for branding your business and thus in the process increase your exposure for your company, be it in Singapore or anywhere in the world.

Here at TILT, our cilents had requested at differing times to ask us to design corporate brochure, product brochure, product update brochure, event brochrues, sales brochure and others.

Most clients prefer their brochures to be of DL size, simply for the logical reason of easy letter-shopping. The truth is, your brochure can be in any size and comprising any number of pages. What is the most important is that the brochure carries the correct message and is able to catch the attention of the target audience. This can be achieved through form, design and copy.

At TILT, we specialised in advising the clients the unique forms at an affordable budget for the clients such that at the end of it, the brochure is something that can reach out to the target audience. This, afterall, is the primary aim.

Touching on the form of the design, below are some of the common forms.

Bi-fold brochure design

Tri-fold brochure design

Z-fold brochure design

Folder brochure design

Less common designs

Gate-fold brochure design

Custom fold & size brochure design

Depending on the information available, purpose of the brochure, each of the brochure design has its own strength and weaknesses. To hear our professional advice, just drop us a note at enquiry@tilt.com.sg anytime and we will be more than glad to advise you on what’s in a brochure.