by Kirby Hasseman
It’s wonderful when a plan comes together.
Back in September of 2020, when we first posted the job of Jr. Designer at Hasseman Marketing, we had high hopes. We wanted someone that had some training in design but had not had a chance to show off their skills. In addition, we wanted someone that was a quick learner and a team player. And of course, we wanted someone that was willing to jump in and work hard.
Luckily, we got all of that and more in Katlyn McIntire.
Katlyn joined our team in November as a Junior Designer and has exceeded expectations. That is why we are so happy to announce that Katlyn has now been promoted to Graphic Designer on our team! As a part of that role, Katlyn will work on designs for clients, help with virtuals for promotional products projects, and will run our production printer. She can be reached via email at katlyn@hassemanmarketing.com or by calling the office at (740) 622-7429.
For more information about all of the services Hasseman Marketing has to offer, feel free to explore our website at HassemanMarketing.com. And if you need to chat about your marketing or branded merchandise needs, please click here and we can schedule a time to talk.
by Kirby Hasseman
Innovation is a buzz word that is being thrown around a lot right. And it should be. Technology is changing so much about our world at a crazy fast clip. This sort of innovation makes it an exciting (and scary) time to be alive. So innovation is a good thing, right. Well…not always. As someone that travels quite a bit, I spend my fair share of time in hotel rooms. For the most part, I really enjoy travel. I love to see new places and meet new people. But it seems like in every new hotel room I check into, the designers have decided to innovate in one unnecessary area…the shower. To me, if there is any place that uniformity would make sense, it would be a shower in a hotel room. I mean, by definition, you have new people using the room nearly every day…in every place. And in many (if not most) of these establishments, you have road-weary travelers that just want to start their day off on the right foot. They don’t need to start their day with a puzzle. But in nearly every room there is a new and creative way to turn on the water, turn on the shower, and adjust the heat. (Oh…and if you need to have directions on how to turn on your shower, it’s a dumb design). You might look at this as designers who are trying to innovate. They are exploring creative ways to make the showers function differently, and in many cases, scald the visitors. And you might be right! But they missed one very important point about innovation. It needs to solve a problem. Many times, we create new and different ways to do things…because we can. But the best innovation (and dare I say the spirit of innovation) comes when we have looked at the way we are doing things, and think of something better. That is when we truly innovate. If we are just changing things to change them, we are not innovating in a way our customers will appreciate. We are just getting them wet…and making them made. Oh…and don’t get me started about taking away the headphone jack in my phone! Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for our VIP newsletter here. Oh…and if you want to check out some innovative promotional premiums, you can head to our website here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Here’s hoping that each of you had a GREAT Thanksgiving holiday! The holiday season is certainly now upon us, so we hope you enjoy it! Now for a quick list of content the team at Hasseman Marketing created this past week. We hope you get a lot out of that too! 3 Mistakes with Print Design: One of the best ways to catch your customer’s attention is through great design. But not everyone can afford to pay a professional. So here Josh Williams gives you some things to watch for when doing your own design. Click here to read more. Weekly Word: It was Thanksgiving week, so the Weekly Word reflected that. But have you taken the time to say “thank you” for your customers, employees and stakeholders? Now might be a great time. Here is your reminder. 50 Books: Kirby set the goal at the beginning of the year to read 50 personal development and business books. He is at 47! Here is his list. Some great books on this list. Let us know if you want input on any of them. 11 Tips To Lift Your Spirits: This can be a tough time of year for some people. So here are 11 Tips to get you on track for the holiday season. The Right Reason: Trying to mask the “real reason” you are doing something can slow down your progress. If you want to make real progress, stop looking for the “right reason.” Read more here. Delivering Marketing Joy: The Delivering Marketing Joy webshow has been rolling along each week for more than a year now! Hard to believe! This week we take a look back at some of the best questions Kirby has been asked…and how he tackled them! Watch this episode here! Creating Your Christmas List: Most of us has been asked to do this. Create your own Christmas list. Write down all of the gifts you might want so that your relatives can go and get them for you. But do you take that much time to write down the things you want to provide yourself? Maybe you should. Read more here. A Second Coat: We end this week of Content with a quick post about not giving up on the first try. The fact is, sometimes we just need a 2nd coat. Read more to find out what this is all about! Considering it was a short week, we got a lot done! We hope that you get something out of each post. Please let us know!
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by Kirby Hasseman
Graphic design is about the eye and the mind. It’s about finding a new and creative way to solve an old problem. A trained designer will understand how to answer these questions and solve these problems in the best way possible.
But sometimes, a quick job or budget constraints mean that you may have to create the artwork yourself. In this case, there are also plenty of measurable skills that almost anyone can use to improve how the final product of their design will come out.
Print is a physical medium, so there are many practical problems that need to be considered when making your artwork. Today, we’re going to cover three things to consider due to the process of cutting, or trimming, the paper. In general, any print job is run on a sheet of paper larger than the final size. For example, if you are making a flyer that is 8 1/2″ x 11″, or the size of a sheet of copier paper, it will most likely be printed on a sheet of paper that is 9 1/2″ x 12″, give or take, and then trimmed down the final size afterward. This physical process gives some speed bumps to consider when creating artwork.
Margins
An easy way to ruin your final job is to put your content, like text or important images, close to the edge of the sheet. When setting up a page, it’s easy to look at your white space and think you can fill all of it with your artwork. This isn’t the case. There needs to be a margin on the sides, top, and bottom to avoid anything important being cut off. If your headlines or text get too close to the edges, they run the risk of being trimmed off by accident. In this case, the printer is not to blame for it, and you are left with a job that is basically unusable. A safe distance to put anything important on your page is at least 1/4 inch from the edge of the sheet. This will give the printer enough room to work with the wiggle in the sheets as they trim them down, without worrying too much about cutting anything off.
Bleeds
In print work, and color or background that is supposed to run to the edge of the page without white showing is called a “bleed”. In order to correctly get this effect, the image needs to “bleed” over the edge. This means that when the art is printed on the larger sheet, the background will be a little bigger than the trimmed size. This may sound like opposite advice from the margin section, but the difference is that the background shouldn’t have anything important, like pertinent information or images, it should be a simple color or an image that isn’t of absolute necessity.
Alignment
Another aspect to easily overlook is the alignment of the artwork. Are all the elements centered on the page, or are they a little farther left or right? This can wreak havoc on your design. Without properly centered artwork, the printer will cut it as sent, which will make your page look lopsided. Sometimes, printers will try to correct it for you and center the page, but this can lead to problems with bleed, or even frustration from the printer from dealing with troublesome artwork.
Simply following little guidelines like this will instantly make whatever you create begin to look more professional. But remember, whenever possible, you should hire a professional to make the most out of your project and show your company in the best light. When the need arises, remember we at Hasseman Marketing offer full-service design, start to finish. Give us an idea, and we will take it to new heights.
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by Kirby Hasseman
Are you ready? This week we threw a TON of content your way. As always, we hope you recieved your weekly dose of “marketing joy!” But just in case you missed some of it…here it is in one place! Add More ZIP to Your Direct Mail: If you have ever tried direct mail, or you do it all the time, this blog post (which is an excerpt from Delivering Marketing Joy) is a perfect way to take it to the the next level. Check that out here. Hasseman Hoedown: If you are reading this and you don’t know about the Customer Show coming up on Thursday October 15th, then let this be your heads up. If you do, this is your reminder! Please join us! For more details or to register, go here. Weekly Word: Yes we have a new one! This week we talk about creating a VISION for where you are going. By doing so, you improve (greatly) your chance of getting there. Want more? Go here for the short video. Delivering Marketing Joy: Maybe you understand that you need to create content, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you don’t know what you want to create. Maybe you understand all of that…but want to create Content that matters. Check out this episode of Delivering Marketing Joy with Tina Filipski! 3 Ways to Control Email: We once read that the Inbox was a place to keep track of OTHER PEOPLE’S priorities. It can become a time suck. This week Jeff Wickerham takes a look at 3 tips to take back control of your inbox! Learn a New Language: Want a new challenge? Want to stimulate your brain to grow in new ways? Consider working to learn a new language! Point Out the Positive: We all know “that” person. The one that finds fault as if there is a reward for it. That negativity can weigh on you. So take the time to look for things that are positive or good in your life and point them out. It will change your perspective. Read more here. Smile. Breathe Deeply. Repeat: Okay so you finally got the opportunity to work on that big project. You are going to present. You got the chance…now what? Smile. Breathe Deeply. Repeat. FAST FIVE: This time we take a look at 5 Products that will help to make your next 5K race (or 10K, or Marathon) really stand out! Take a look at that here. So as you can see, it was a BUSY week at Hasseman Marketing. We hope you get a lot out of this…and it helps you grow! Let us know what you think. Now…we need to get working on next week! 🙂 
