Introducing Design for Everyone

If you design any document, from an advertisement to
a magazine, you are an in-house designer. The term “in-house” means that you do design work for your employer – or yourself – instead of sending the projects to an outside firm. The last decade has seen the number of in-house designers skyrocket, while resources of quality are rare.

Sometimes it seems as if executives think a secretary or sales representative,
armed with a computer and laser printer, can easily match the documents
created by a local print shop or media consultant. At the very least,
an acceptable publication should be possible. The software companies,
hyping easy to use publishing software and automated design templates,
make it even harder on in-house publishers. We hope to make your life
a bit easier.

We assume you are not employed as a design artist, of course. This book
is about and for business. In-house designers come in all forms: the
home-based business owner, the administrator asked to produce a newsletter,
or a full-fledged corporate communications director. These pages contain
tips and tricks to make in-house publications look as good as or better
than your current documents.

This Book Won’t Make You an Expert…

You will not be transformed magically into an artist
by reading these pages. No one book can cover the materials design a
student absorbs during his or her formal education. Instead, plan to
get a few pointers on producing excellent documents with minimal art
background.

After a few readings, this book may be cast aside to be used only as
a reference. This book is structured to serve as a reference. Chapters
cover entire processes, not just portions of projects.

…But It Might Pique Your Interest

Design is a passion of ours, of course, so we hope to
intrigue you enough to encourage further exploration. Throughout this
book we’ve placed little marginalia (tips and trivia) about publishing
and design. The history of printing is fascinating. While it is nice
to look at a painting in a museum, the works of these artists are viewed
daily by millions of people.

Additional books and magazines are also mentioned throughout these pages.
If you want to really delve into newsletter production or computer imaging,
our suggested readings offer you a starting point.

Saving Money and, Maybe, Time

Companies turn to in-house design and publishing to save
money. Commercial print shops and designers charge a premium for their
services – as they rightfully should. We can state this since we
think we are worth a lot. Since their time is money, it makes sense to
use these experts only when truly necessary. Technology is simply
not advanced enough yet for everyone to match the quality of the experts
without training.

It’s Your Money

Designing your own publications can save money – if
you are properly prepared. With relatively few tools, almost any office
can create, print, and distribute newsletters, flyers, and book-length
documents. The cost of a computer and high-end word processing software
is minimal, compared to what was needed in the past. A good computer
system can generally be purchased for $2000 and a word processor is often
included. The question is whether or not you will save $2000. Add in
the price of high-end software, and you have to save much more to justify
in-house design.

Time is Money, Too

You should calculate what your time is worth versus an
outside consultant’s charges. First, evaluate how much you can
earn during the time required to prepare a document. Remember, everything
takes longer than an estimate. Now, consider the quality of the work
and the return on investment. If you spend eight hours producing a catalog
no one keeps, the eight hours were quite costly.

Most good designers charge at least $40 per hour, though $50 to $100
is the likely rate for an excellent local designer. Nationally known
artists can charge rates rivaling lawyers. Professional designers work
with greater efficiency, so subtract a few hours before you calculate
charges.

You might find the best approach is to collect the content for a document,
enter it into a computer, and take the resulting data files to a professional.
At least then you are not paying for “grunt” work.

Designs on Success

We hope you find your journey in in-house design exciting – but
not too stressful. Take your time reading this book, since many of the
concepts and terms may be new to you. You might find that it helps to
have a pile of magazines, business cards, newsletters, and other documents
handy while you read. Then, when a design theory is discussed, you can
verify that good looking documents apply the theory.

Summary

• This book is for in-house designers with other responsibilities.
• Other books and magazines focus on technical aspects of design.
• In-house design is not necessarily less expensive than sending work
  to professionals.