Mailer

[klugy]

Hi all...I'm putting together a promotional mailer. We're a small architectural office and we are teaming up with a contractor we've been working with for a few years to form a design build firm here in Madrid, Spain.

Working in an A5 format.

I decided to do something rather unconventional, these things can be so boring so why not catch someones attention a bit. The front is pretty straightforward, images and the name of the firm though I'm not 100% convinced that the text on the front is strong enough.

The back panel is using text in an unconventional way...either it will work nicely or be total crap...I'm playing with kerning, text size, etc that will graphically be interesting as I realize that most folks dont ever actually read a mailer, but may stop to do so if it is funky enough...any thoughts would be appreciated. And it is still a work in progress...the contact part of the back panel needs....something....

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4653/a5mailerfrontgg9.jpg

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4320/a5mailerbackke8.jpg

[budafist]

You need to work out a margin for the page. For an A5 I would use about 10mm. Keep everything important (text) inside this margin.

At the moment you have text running right up close to the trim edge. You risk the text getting cut off completely when the job is trimmed....Unless the white border is the trim edge...Hmm...It looks like there is a white border indeed. So you have put the text right up the white border on purpose? I'm don't think this looks very good. It creates a lot of tension on the page between the text and the border. Are you doing this on purpose?

The orange colour looks out of place. Is this to be your company colour? If it is, and it's going to be used on everything, this is fine. It's a bold colour and will be recognisable to your company should you choose to use it for your company branding.

If it's not your company colour, I would choose a colour from the photos on the reverse side to use.

Photos - they look a bit dark and may need to be colour corrected.

I don't know what the text says, I guess it would be clearer to me if I did.

Just fix a few things and you should be good to go.

Just a thought - around here, the postage for an A5 is twice the price as for a DLE or postcard. Is it really important to you to double for A5 or could you save some cash and make it a standard postcard size or DLE instead?

[klugy]

Budafist, Thanks for your imput.

There is a white border, that was done on purpose. Running the text to the edge of the color area was a concious desision. We were trying to find a way to create some tension in the work without resorting to cliché fonts, catch phrases or zoomy graphics, maybe we went a bit too far...

As for the color...Its a strong color, quite common on a construction site as metals are painted in this color for rust proofing...The color is also in the images on the front of the document, pretty much the only color in there aside from the blue of the text...I think if it lands on someones desk, they'll certainly take a look at it, which is the idea, whether they get a bit annoyed by it is another story...

What the thing says...

REFORTEC
design build

A colaboration of architects and contractor
with years of experience in the design
and execution of the constrution of
RESIDENIAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACES.

DESIGN - LICENCING - COMPLETE PROJECT

For information, references and more...
Contact us...

Telephone
Email
Web Site

[John G]

Nothing connects the back with the front. Not your fonts, not your colors (well the color does a little bit, but you don't really emphasize the color on the front, you've all but ignored it).

Type treatments are hard to read as they are. Too much meddling. Hardly any hierarchy in it.

i.e.
A colaboration of architects and contractor
with years of experience in the design
and execution of the constrution of
RESIDENIAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACES.
is the same weight as

DESIGN - LICENCING - COMPLETE PROJECT

is the same weight as
For information, references and more...
Contact us...

Telephone
Email
Web Site

this ordinarily wouldn't be a problem but with your text weights and sizes all to skew you mess up any readability you have. Pick which order and emphasis you want to give each, but they shouldn't be the same as they are now, it gives it a very un-unified slapped together look. It's like a crowd shouting "look at me" "look at me" you don't know where it looks like a lot of text and you say "psh, I'm not reading all that".

the white border with nothing else white doesn't make any sense either. You're going for simplicity it looks like, why not keep the whole back of it orange and tie that orange color in on the front (like a bar at the bottom of the front page with your wording over it).

Your orange is also that fuzzy in-between color where both black and white don't read well at all. Try lightening or darkening it whichever text color you use.



One more thing, the bottom right pic on the front. Not sure what it is, but it looks run down and mildewey or something. It's lines are nice, but I think it needs some photoshopping to make it look neat and healthy imho.

[PrintPharmacist]

I have to agree with John G.

Nothing except the staircase on the front screams architecture to me, and the back is in extreme need of a typography overhaul along with color. A few of my suggestions:

Use pictures that are backed off and show the true essence of the rooms "essence", not pictures that look like you may be selling furnishings instead (i.e. lights, stove, kitchen equipment, etc.)

Get rid of the bottom right hand picture all together. I think taking it to photoshop would be a waste of time imo, take it to the trash can instead.

I suggest being a little more playful with your grid, and not using the halved technique you have going on with the front. This should be no harder to do, but yet will have a much more dramatic statement... especially for architecture.

Loose the white border. Take it away. My suggestion? You may try making the whole back the light blue that you have the name in on the front and reverse the type out in white (you could also try this with the orange as well). Use the orange color for accents to the text. The black on orange really looks tacky... and consider some other type... possibly the one that REFORTEC is in for emphasis or overall typestyle. Two different Serif fonts can clash usually, and I think the font on the front makes a bolder and more presentable statement. I also feel it fits the Latino market a little better.

Don't be afraid of some much wider margins on your sides. This will help with the focus and your leading from being fully justified. I see the style you are going for, and this can easily be helped by doing this. Right now, you have to much area for too little of type.

Hope this helps...

[budafist]

Nothing except the staircase on the front screams architecture to me, and the back is in extreme need of a typography overhaul along with color.

You're right! I didn't even think about critiquing the image selection. The 2 left photos look more like interior decoration or product shots. I couldn't tell you what the photo on the bottom right is!

Perhaps you should find 4 of the best photos of your work and that really tell the client what it is you do.

[tZ]

That staircase photo is the perfect opportunity to use type in an interesting way.

The hand railings could be used as baselines and from their your possibilities are endless!

It hurts me to see such a beautiful opportunity like that not utilized effectively.

The staircase photograph with typography that follows the linearity is you mailer – forget the rest!

[budafist]

If you use the stairs as a focus point, this poster (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22784) might be inspiring to you. Someone posted it up for crit, but it has some lovely and dramatic lines and tension going on.