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STYLE GUIDES - GETTING THE IMAGE YOU WANT

For use with Design it Yourself Products. A simple guide to becoming an on line designer.
Good graphic design and typography are essential to provide you with an item of print that you can be proud of that communicates you and your organisation in a confident and professional manner.

1 Typeface
with so many typefaces to choose from be sure to choose a typeface that you can identify with. Try to use something distinctive but if you are unsure it is always best to revert to the old favourites of Times and Helvetica. It is usually better to stick to the same typeface throughout, using a bold or italic version when appropriate. If you would like your organisation name to stand out then choose a different typeface for the name.
2 Type size
each line can have a different type size attributed to it. Big is not always best. Often using a smaller size with plenty of "breathing space" around looks excellent. On a business card, 6 or 7 point size should be the smallest size for detail. Usually 9 or 10 point works best for general text (address lines etc.).
3 A note about line spacing
between each text line should be an amount of space that, at the minimum, type from the line beneath does not clash with the type above. If you are using lower case type, the "ascender" (e.g. the top of an "F") should not clash with the "descenders" (e.g. the bottom of a "g"). In most designs we have not made line spacing (called leading in technical speak), variable as this may be difficult to work with.
4 Position of each section
to achieve a balanced piece it is important for the text to appear balanced within the space. A general principal for business cards is for the bottom ("base") line to be close to the bottom of the card with a greater distance between the top of the card and the top of the top line of type. A good way to avoid retyping is to start at the bottom and work upwards (e.g. telephone, fax numbers on the bottom line, county, post code next line up, town next line up and so on).
5 Colour
every line of type can have a separate colour. The colour you use should reflect the image you wish to put across. Too many colours can look unprofessional so for a more professional look use only one or two colours throughout. Other colours should only be used to emphasise an important text line or the text in a logo.
6 Card colour
a background colour other than white can be chosen. Backgrounds are, in fact, printed on top of the white card. Again the background colour shown gives an indication of colour and not an exact match.

Important note
- the colours you see on your computer screen will differ from those on the printed product. This is due to the low resolution of your screen compared to the very high resolution of our printing processes. Also monitors display colour but do not use black whereas printing processes mix colours including black.

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