Flyer critique

[Deef]

Hi.
I am new to this forum and after spending frankly too much time purousing other peoples posts I though I may as well jump on in and get some input on a dog walking/pet srevices flyer I am designing for a friend. Not that it matters to the success of the finished design (i.e. the people who get the flyer through their door wont care) but I am really rather new to the world of graphic design after spending the last 14 or so years as a blacksmith. So please slap softly.

The target demographic is basically anyone with a pet who needs the services outlined in the flyer.
I am going for a lighthearted but professional (reliable and trustworthy) feel. The size will be A5.
And as you all know CMYK colors don't translate into RGB at all well (a bit flat looking) so the colours are a bit off to what I have printed out thus far.

Enough rambling.
http://img434.imageshack.us/img434/7982/pawsflier3qw2.jpg
Thanks for any advice and input.

[VoodooChild]

Im finding it hard to read the text to be honest.

[Deef]

Thanks for the quick response Vodoochild.
I see what you are saying about the text. That has more to do with the scaling down (both size and quality) for posting. When printed out full size it's much clearer.

Any other thoughts.
Cheers.

[DesignerScott]

I dig it, but I would probably just and make the grey oval bigger (so it's not so close to the inside text) and change the bullet paws to a solid color with no stroke.
Otherwise I would maybe just consider brown instead of blue.
Good work though

[Deef]

Hi Designerscott.
Thanks very much for the feedback. I have made some changes based on your ideas i.e. background colour, bullet paws and have pulled the text in from the edge of the oval.
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5430/pawsflier4id5.jpg

After I changes the blue background to brown, I will be honest I didn't have much faith in it working at all, but damn, good choice fella. I love it.
That being said (arg!) I have shown it to my client/friend and while they also think it looks great but are worried that as a 'thing' being posted through you letterbox with a bunch of other 'things' does it maybe not have the same impact as the blue. Personally I think it is more successfull with the brown, but I ain't pay for it. Lastly on that note, I am also trying to develop an overall colour scheme for the business, website, stationary etc. and really liked the way the all the colours worked together. Maybe not in this case though huh.
I still have to say though, the colours are reproducing not the same in this file as when I'm in the 'Save for web' window in Illustrator let alone the ai file itself. They look blah!

Thanks again for your help. Greatly appreciated.

[cornfed]

You need to decide on letterspacing for the logo. Pips is way too close together while you could drive a mac truck through paws. I think somewhere in between would be good. I like the brown color scheme, but I think the blue would look really nice if you changed the tan/brown on it to an avocado/grassish green. I also think it may look a little less stiff if you rotated the dog paw a little bit. It looks really head on and straight right now. That's my preliminary thoughts. I want to suggests that you add something that could give it a little kinetic energy like the latter half of a dog walking off the page or something. Not sure what, but it needs something to give it just a little bit of punch.

[cornfed]

Also, I just noticed contact us today. I don't think that's got enough contrast against the brown!

[Deef]

Thanks for your thoughts.
The letterspacing for the logo (I agree I should tweek it) is how the font comes out as typed and I thought it would be best to trust the judgement of the font designer with regard to that i.e. the feel of the font.
I see what you mean about the static feel of the oversize paw.
As mentioned before because the colours are not reproducing the same on screen as when printed so some things quite rightly like the 'contact us today' seem lost or week.
That being said I have decided to err to the side of caution and change it to the same colour as the other text.
Here is what I've done,
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9891/pawsflier5hv1.jpg

Am I getting closer? (Crosses his fingers)

[Deef]

I've done a screen capture and it somehow shows the colours better then 'Save for Web'. Go figure.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1738/pippawsgrabdv0.png

[de51gnr]

Hi, Looks good.
I think 'Pips paws has arrived in your area' should really jump out at the viewer as I think you need something to catch their eye, you have plenty of space to use and I think the size of the typeface is a little small. You only have seconds to grab their attention before they decide to keep it or throw it away so personally I would have a couple of points that 'jump out' at the reader 'we're here to help' is a good one to use. Hope this helps

[Deef]

What do you think? I've also lost the line under "Pips Paws has arrived". Thought it was unescesarry and although they are a company, I don't think it suits the tone of the piece. And it does say what they are in the logo.
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/8596/pippawsgrab2ar9.png

Thanks for the pointers.

I'm ordering 5000 at some point tomorrow so I hope I get this right. :eek: :cool:

Cheers.

[de51gnr]

You're welcome, happy to help. Hope all goes well. One final thought, nothing major but the tel no. seems a little small, the whole point is to get them to contact so I would make this bigger or bold to stand out more. Happy printing...

[cornfed]

I think it's looking a lot better! I really like the paw rotated in this one and the letterspacing on the logo is so much better!!

[budafist]

Looking good. I would increase tracking (space between each letter). It is noticeable esp in the large type, not so much in the small body text.

Also bring the text on the bottom line up a 2mm. It's too close to the bottom.

[BJMRGTIVR6]

Other than what Budafist suggested, I think perhaps taking the Paw Bullets and rotating each a little in opposite directions, no more than 5-10 degrees, might make the bullets look a little like a walking dog and give it a bit of action - no big deal if you don't though.

I think that might help to bring a bit of movement to a somewhat static layout and since it is for a partial dog walking, think it may add some impact. Overall, I like what you have. I was a tad worried with the brown at first but I am beginning to like the look of it. Hopefully an identity color/colour scheme will work out well. I guess you are going for a CMYK print instead of a Pantone print? hopefully the Brown turns out well and not too muddy.

Good job.

[budafist]

Oh you should DEFINATELY pick spot colours for this - it's a 2 colour job. If you do this CMYK and offset you'll end up paying for 4 plates instead of 2.

[urstwile]

Just a little peeve here, based on what you posted earlier: never trust that the font you're using has been carefully adjusted for letterspacing. It may be that the digitized version of the font is nowhere near the font designer's original intention for the spacing. Don't trust the kerning as being what the designer intended, it's probably nothing like what they intended.

Font metrics are an iffy science at best. Always kern your type to look good, don't just assume that the way it comes off the digital font is the way it was supposed to look.

</rant> :)

[Deef]

Hi all.
Sorry for the delay in reply. As you can see I'm in Scotland and after my last post it was time to catch some ZZZZZ.
First and foremost, thanks very much to all of the help and input. I really think the piece has moved on a lot since I first posted it.
Re the printing. I will definately get it printed using spot colours as opposed to CMYK. Saving money and having better looking print is a good idea. :D

Cheers all. See you next time.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

That's a very good concept Deef.

[kant22]

Hey Deef,

Play with the Typography in the headling paragraph. Creats something more eye catching. And try to stay away from having all paragraph text centered.

[effigy4130]

I agree with de51gnr. While you shouldn't go crazy with fonts, a little variety can be nice to create a heirarchy of information and to engage the viewer. I've also learned generally not to punctuate headlines unless it is a question mark or exclamation point.

[Rickster]

My opinion: you started good with different colors, now is it's totaly brown.. Why don't give some important text details an other color? Like the five points in the middle or something, gives a little bit more power ;)