Photo cards are a great way to share with family and friends.

Are photo cards addictive? I’m just wondering because I see them everywhere anymore. Every Christmas our mailbox is full of photo cards of family and friends. Every time one of her four children takes a new school photo or joins a sport, my cousin sends us a photo card commemorating the event.

Not that I’m complaining. I love photo cards. They’re so much better than off-the-rack greeting cards, especially since I can tack them on the fridge and build my own wall of family and friend portraits with little effort whatsoever.

My grandma loves receiving them, too, and it’s a cheap way to send out new family photos that can be used in frames and on fridges alike. My mother has a curio cabinet that she sticks received photo cards in; my sister-in-law frames them in a large display on her kitchen wall. My son tacks them to his bulletin board.

Ten years ago, photo cards were virtually non-existent. But today it seems as though we receive a photo card every other week. I’m considering sending one of my own every year – Grandma would probably like to get one of the kids – but I’m a little concerned. With the proliferation of photo cards (they’re obviously extremely popular), I don’t want to get hooked into something I can’t get out of.

I mean, I already have hobbies – like aimlessly surfing through television stations when nothing is on – so I’m a little afraid that if I start sending photo cards I won’t be able to stop. I could get hooked, unable to do anything else until I get my photo. It’s already has a hold on nearly everyone in my family!

So, are photo cards addictive? Either that, or… they’re simply fun.

Image use Creative Commons license via Flickr.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

You might be wondering how free bookmarks can grow your business. Let me illuminate: distributing relevant bookmarks to your target audience (assuming, of course, that your target audience reads) lets you brand your company and pitch your products and services every time your customers sit down to read.

Let’s look at a hypothetical real-world example. A T-shirt company makes shirts in a macabre style, and their research has indicated that a majority of their customers read horror novels written by the likes of Stephen King, Dean Koontz and John Saul. The company decides to print bookmarks based on similar themes.

The bookmarks might include a list of the top 10 must-read horror novels, or they might depict images of werewolves, ghosts and psychotic lunatics. Perhaps they’ll draw from a long-dead author whose work is in the public domain, such as Edgar Allan Poe, for macabre poetry reproduction. No matter what they use, we can say that the bookmarks are designed in a vein that the T-shirt company’s customers will appreciate.

On the back of the bookmarks, the company features some of its top-selling products and offers a discount coupon code for online or phone ordering. Then it partners with bookstores, libraries, book clubs, and online book distributors to have them include a free bookmark with every King, Koontz, and Saul purchase, rental, borrow and order.

The customers get a free bookmark they’ll use because it is relevant to their tastes, and they get to discover a great product line they’ll love. Profits from the campaign (tracked via the coupon codes) are shared between partners, so everyone wins!

Image use Creative Commons license via Flickr.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

It seems everyone wants to chip in when there’s a newborn. From the minute they receive the birth announcement, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and colleagues feel a desire – if not an obligation – to shower the baby (and parents) with gifts.

Thus, as a father of two, I’ve come up with three ways you can get more stuff by leveraging birth announcements to subtly tell potential gifters that yes, you are in need, and to direct them to buy what you want.

Tell your story – Most birth announcements simply state when the baby was born, who the proud parents are, siblings and perhaps list extended family members. But why stop there? Offer a brief background of the parents – how you met and how your love culminated in your new bundle of joy (leave out certain details, of course). This establishes your situation, which is especially useful if you’re living out of a half-bedroom apartment above a crack house on the wrong side of the tracks.

Share your plans – You have a philosophy for how you’re going to raise your child, and sharing this philosophy can earn huge brownie points with wealthy benefactors. Briefly explain how you’ll give your baby a foundation upon which he or she can develop into a successful adult. Start with your plan to move away from the crack house.

Direct buyers to what you need/want – Take a small portion of your birth announcement to place a URL or two that lead to baby gift registries. Don’t openly request items, but definitely mention where you’re registered. And make sure a 50-inch HDTV for the baby isn’t on the list.

If you don’t have a gift registry (or already have everything you need from the baby shower), open a college fund for your baby and detail how contributions can be made to that fund. Trust me – you’ll yield handsome contributions from even the unlikeliest donors when they know their money is going toward the education you shunned.

Be tactful in your approach; under no circumstances should you come across as needy or expectant. Instead, subtly nudge those who want to give in the right direction. And, of course, everything should be in the best interest of the baby … Remember, the fewer diapers you have to buy the sooner you can get that HDTV!

Image use Creative Commons license via Flickr.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

You can always count on PsPrint for free resources. Need ideas, links and inspiration? Here’s a host of graphic design tips for specific spring holidays:

• St. Patrick’s Day – March 17
• April Fools’ Day – April 1
• Easter – April 4
• Earth Day – April 22
• Cinco de Mayo – May 5
• Mother’s Day – May 9
• Father’s Day – June 20

Of course, the best design means nothing without good execution.

For St. Patrick’s Day, print green die-cut flyers in the shape of shamrocks.

Use humor in your flyers, postcards and banners for April Fools’ Day.

Whether your customers are Christian or not, Easter symbolizes renewal, so remember that theme when creating postcards and brochures.

Want to do good and get your business name out there? Adopt a highway for Earth Day!

Throwing a fiesta is a fun idea for Cinco de Mayo. Be sure to include lots of bright colors and Mexican icons in your promotional items.

Take a good look at your mailing list when get around to Mother’s Day. Pay close attention to your demographics and keep your marketing tuned in to those clients.

Memorial Day (May 30) and Flag Day (June 14) call for pride. Flags and the use of red, white and blue are obvious, but be sure to keep the right mood and theme for these holidays. Have fun, but be respectful.

Father’s Day may be for dads, but don’t forget that women do a lot of the shopping. Giveaways are always a big hit, but be aware of your clientele when deciding what product to give away.

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Photoshop alternatives. Graphic designers have been depending on Adobe’s Photoshop for almost 20 years, and while it’s a great product, let’s face it: It’s expensive, it takes up a lot of RAM and it can sometimes just be more than what you need. Often I just want to resize a photo, and that’s where programs such as GIMP and IrfanView come in. They take just a second to open up and do your thing, and they’re often free downloads. Photoshop isn’t going anywhere, but it’s good to have alternatives to Adobe products.

Mousepads. I use a trackball, yet I still love my Lady of Guadalupe mousepad.

Free resources. There was a time just a few years ago when entrepreneurs, telecommuters and freelancers were mostly on their own. If they had questions or wanted to bounce ideas of off others, there weren’t many options. But with the explosion of Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, you can amass a following of people to exchange referrals, thoughts and banter. Sites such as Business.gov and PsPrint.com offer a bunch of resources for small businesses – everything from how to start one to how to market it. No more consulting fees or flying by the seat of your pants!

Travel mugs. Could there be a better invention? It keeps your coffee hot, and it keeps you from buying paper cup after paper cup, only to throw them away.

Aeron chairs. These are downright luxurious. Manufactured by Herman Miller, Aeron chairs are ergonomic and adjustable and provide the perfect lower lumbar support that you didn’t know you craved. The mesh also provides circulation. And the chairs are 94 percent recyclable! I’ve been known to steal these from other cubicles – that’s how much I love ’em.

Newly sharpened pencils. They smell good, there’s a satisfaction to the sharpening process and it means the difference between a fine line and a smudged stroke.

IM. Remember when you used to have to get up to communicate with your co-workers, and they’d be away from their desk, so you’d have to sit down, only to get up and return again? Instant messaging has been slammed for eliminating face-to-face communication, but I love it because I can ask a question of a co-worker without feeling like I’m interrupting, and in fact, I can check in to see if the person is available for some one-on-one time.

Snail mail. An actual, physical thank you card beats a hastily typed e-mail any day.

Mix CDs. They’re faster to make than mix tapes and easier to distribute than MP3 playlists. Plus you can design CD cover art. They make cheap gifts and marketing tools!

Coffee. Or tea or energy shake. The morning ritual is comforting.

Keyboard shortcuts. I’ve been addicted to using the Apple key since I started on computers. There are times I don’t even know how to execute certain commands without them. While designing, it’s often faster than scrolling all over the place, especially as monitors get bigger and bigger.

Cute websites. Surfing for puppies on Cute Overload and lolcats on I Can Has Cheezburger has been my equivalent of counting to 10 many times.

Your turn – what do you love this Valentine’s Day?

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Image courtesy of Bob Jagendorf

The Chinese New Year begins on February 14 and so far on the PsPrint blog, we’ve given you a rundown on what the holiday entails, and how to create a Chinese New Year calendar and greeting cards!

I will usually say that a printed communication works better than a digital one, but if you are looking to send Chinese New Year e-cards, there are a few great sites out there with original designs that you can customize.

There are also sites where you can upload your own image and create a Chinese New Year e-card from scratch. So while I encourage everyone to send real, printed greetings, you can check out these e-card sites for inspirational ideas to use in printed materials and for sending out e-cards.

The first seven sites listed are standard e-card sites with set designs that you can customize with color choices, music and text:

1. 101ChineseNewYear.com
2. 123Greetings.com
3. BlueMountain.com
4. Care2.com
5. ChineseNewYearEcards.com
6. EcardMountain.com
7. Zazzle.com

The remaining two sites allow for a more customized e-card, either using images provided through the site or your own uploaded images. To find original images, such as the one associated with this blog post, try searching the Wikimedia Commons for “Chinese New Year.” Just pay special attention to each image’s creative licensing.

8. Pingg.com
9. Delivr.net

©2010 PsPrint Blog. All Rights Reserved.