business stationary

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beckham7

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im setting up a new business and would like suggestions where to get good value business cards letterheads flyers etc. i want good quality professional ones and possibly a logo designed without costing a fortune. any suggestions greatly appreciated?
 
Hi beckham7, if you're looking for someone to do the artwork for you I'd be happy to help. I'm a graphic designer. PM me if you'd like a quote, or have a look around Creative Ireland and maybe post your project for some quotes/advice. Plenty of people there who would be glad to help you out!
 
When getting my flyers printed up I used an internet company called flyer24.ie. They were very cheap, and the flyers turned out great. They will only do the print, not the design. I got 10,000 flyers printed for around €250. very good Value, they also do brochures, stickers and other stuff.
 
Maybe get a student in graphic design to design the logo for ya. I know someone that did this and they highly reccommended it.
 
My brother is a student in graphic design, and has done some great project work. He also designed a comany logo, business card, letterhead etc for my boyfriend who started up his own business. PM me if you would like his number - he is in the Cork area
 
BetterBiz said:
Hi beckham7,

A good resource for getting a logo designed cheaply is http://www.sitepoint.com/contests/ here you post a competition and a reward amount. Designers then post there logo ideas and you pick the one you want. This allows you to get a lot of logo ideas very cheaply, as you only pay for the winner.
Matt
www.betterbusinessresults.com
Click to expand...

Low cost and low value. Have you seen the quality of those results?!
If a designer is good he/she is getting paid well for their services and wont bother with competitions which leaves the bottom of the barrel submitting designs.
You might like it but is it good design? Do your customers respond to it? Does it place you on a equal footing as your competition or does it make you look a little rough round the edges?

An important point to consider is that design can be a powerful medium. While good design can do wonders for a business (just look at apple) bad design can equally harm a business.
 
Whilst I agree that you get what you pay for to a certain extent I also believe that if you are starting a business with a limited budget then spending a large chunk of a your start up budget on design and fancy business stationery may not be the best use of funds.

I often encounter small businesses that have spent a tonne of money on getting a fancy website and business stationery designed but have not gained any customers from it. I believe that perhaps getting a lower cost logo created initially and channeling your resources into what really matters - making sales - would be a better use of start up funds.

After all getting enough customers is the key to any new business. When the phone is not ringing and you are wondering how to pay the bills sitting looking at a fancy logo and stationery isn't going to be much consolation.

Matt

www.betterbusinessresults.com
 
I fully agree with you Matt i just dont believe a competition is the way to go and i am urging caution.
It is far better to work with 1 good designer closely for the process and develop a good logo. The better an understanding a designer has of you and your business the better the results. You yourself will also have a better understanding of why certin design decissions were made and how best to implement the logo.
Yes there are many people with a fancy logo and website with no business. Design is only one of the many tools needed to get a business off the ground. At the same time you dont want to spend your time generating leads only to have your business image and website turn them away again. In that case no design is better then bad design.

It is possible to get good cheap design. Designers tend to follow the follow the triangle of Good - Fast - Cheap.

[broken link removed]


When looking for design your options are Good, Fast and Cheap. In reality you must pick two.

Good + Fast
If you want it GOOD + FAST (which is what most people want!) you will pay a premium price.
The designer has to work longer after hours and perhaps bring in others to achieve the quality level in the time frame.

Good + Cheap
If you want GOOD + CHEAP, you will be working on the project for a good deal of time to come as the designer will fit it in around other higher paid projects who need it fast.

Fast + Cheap
If you want FAST + CHEAP, you run the risk of a spotty design that hurts your organization more than it helps.
To do this the designer cannot concentrate on quality or spend much time on it as they have to turn around 10 such jobs in the day to bring in a decent wage. To achieve this level out output all 10 designs will have to look similar and the designer hopes they are not all advertising in the same paper.
Don't just throw something out because you think you have to. Bad design can do harm as much as good design can do good.
 
Sitepoint is the way to go for a logo. All you have to do is have a look at some of the competitions to see for yourself. You will get a lot of rubbish but you will also get a lot of amazing logos.
I held a competition there for the past two weeks and was blown away by the response I got. I got over 150 entries most of which came from professional design studios. If you provide a good brief and give feedback to all the entries you'll be fine.
Having looked at some of the portfolios of the Irish design houses I am glad I went for sitepoint
 
Hi jnealon, do you have any links to these 150 entries so we can judge the quality and suitability?
 
Hi there, I can personally recommend Turner Print in Longford they're very cheap and very good. If you're going to be getting stuff done for your business you won't go wrong.
 
I recently used [broken link removed]. Bit of a pain in the ass to register initially, but excellent quality business cards, stationery etc. load up your logo (if you have one), ship direct to your door. You don't need to register to have a look at what's available and at what price. Comes form Germany though, so 7 day turnaround if that makes a difference to you
 
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I am a designer and I wouldn't post on sitepoint or throw a logo out there in the hope it would be bought. There is too much potential for rip-offs/copyrighting issues. If I was to participate - I would throw out a few old unused designs there and hope for the best. However maybe students use it and the logo may be ok.

If you want to cut costs, be sure of what you want. I know when doing basic illustrations, half the price of the job is cut, when I get a poorly drawn illustration but the idea is already formulated and tacked down no matter how badly. I just need to replicate it in a 'glossy form'. Cuts costs by half.

If you have no idea whatsoever you are leaving yourself open to hours of proofs (which is a designers dream!)
 
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