With more than 20 years of experience designing print projects for Suttle-Straus and our clients, I've seen a lot of projects go "off the rails." Delays are often preventable and introduced in common spots in the life of a project. Here are my top tips to make sure your design projects run smoothly and efficiently:

An annual report delivers information back to a brand's supporters at the end of the year, whether they are shareholders in a for-profit company or donors to a non-profit. Shareholders want to see the financial results from the past year, plus the strategic plans for the next year. For non-profits, its an important opportunity to thank their donors and show the social impact of those donations on their supported causes.

It’s been four years since we attended our last HOW Design Live conference, and we were excited to hear it was in Nashville. A quick refresher, this is one of the top design conferences for creatives and Suttle-Straus sent three members of our Creative team on varying days throughout the week. We had the opportunity to see a variety of sessions by amazing speakers, including the first ever "HOW Women Lead" pre-conference. Here are the top three trends our team wants to share:

You're a new designer, fresh out of school, and you've just been assigned your first print job. Congrats! Now what? Before you rolodex your print production knowledge and excitedly overwhelm yourself with the thought of grommet binding or special UV coatings, revisit some basic considerations for a successful first go.

While this could be as simple as knowing who to contact, to something more specific like proper file setup for print-ready pieces, no detail is too small to overlook. Ease into the process with this broad overview and dig deeper with the resources linked here.

Many high schools today outsource their yearbook printing to national yearbook producers. But some local Wisconsin schools choose instead to give their students the opportunity to fully design and manage the local print production of their yearbooks. This allows creative flexibility in design and a hands-on experience of what being a publication designer is really about.

Here are some design ideas for custom printed yearbooks that we have seen at Suttle-Straus while working with local school districts:

For all of the challenges that 2020 has thrown at us, there have been some bright spots as well. Most recently, the Adobe MAX conference was converted to a digital experience, as so many things have been. But more importantly, the registration fee was waived for all. Adobe saw the need to do its part to spark as much creativity as possible, while showcasing its incredible suite of tools for the creatives of the world of all experience levels.

Here are some of the most interesting new design tips and tricks our team took from the conference:

Rectangles and squares are great, but creative people like to think "outside the box." Sometimes four sides, 90-degree corners, and parallel lines are just not enough. That means that it is time to cut… die cut that is.

Did you know that common mistakes in logo design can cost your company thousands of dollars for the lifetime of brand logo use? It's true. Many people design logos with a "web first" mentality now. However, every logo has to be printed at some point - what startup tech company CEO would go without business cards? Therefore, logo design can impact the cost of company stationery and other marketing collateral for life. When contemplating designing (or redesigning) your company logo, don't make these errors:

Using metallics in design and fashion has been trending in 2019 and looks to be continuing into 2020. Like many other company cards this holiday season, we applied a shiny copper foil to a set of eight different thank you cards. Since most designers don't have a lot of experience with foil applications, we thought that we would share our top tips for designing print with foil stamping.

Just like adding different spices and seasonings can create unique flavor profiles for a meal, using a specialty coating on your marketing piece can help communicate your distinct style or add a tactile reinforcement of your messaging.