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.

But using spices and seasoning can be intimidating for an amateur cook who doesn't know the difference between cumin and nutmeg and how much of each to move a dish from good to great. In the same way, designers and marketers need to know how to use a coating to achieve a desired visual affect.

Consider the following advice as your "cookbook" for coatings:

Our Creative team was very grateful to have the opportunity to attend the HOW Design Live conference this year in Chicago. For those of you who may not know, this is one of the top design conferences for creatives. We wanted to share some of the common themes we noticed throughout the conference, as well as our overall experience and some recommendations.

Designing for printed material, big and small, has requirements that don’t apply when you are designing for the web or social media. Here are some of the common mistakes printers see when files are submitted for printing:

Every year, we like to push the envelope with our holiday card, trying new techniques and showcasing our capabilities. With this in mind, our holiday card this year featured an accordion folded card with ten pockets, bound by a belly band, and shrink wrapped to create a self-mailing piece. Recipients were instructed to open one pocket per day, each contained a different marketing resolution idea for the new year. The exterior was made up of two pieces that were rotated 180 degrees to complete the card. Both halves of the exterior utilized a single die, which allowed it to run on a smaller press sheet, helping save on total cost. See a video of how it was made and get a sample of this piece here.

Are you sick of the boring tri-fold handout or stitched booklet brochure? If it's time to mix up your marketing collateral format, try one of these unique folding techniques to stand out from the competition.

Business cards are small, but they are mighty. In fact, they may be the most overlooked piece of marketing material at your disposal. But this small item is the one thing that represents you at your first introduction to a new potential prospect, partner or employee. What impression does it give of you and your company?

The pocket folder. It's a classic piece of marketing collateral that almost every company uses for representing their brand and distributing materials. But it can also be an overlooked area for differentiation for your business. Here are eight ideas for your next pocket folder design:

If you’ve missed our weekly inspiration posts on LinkedIn, now’s your chance to see which creative posts had the highest engagement of 2016.

Halloween time presents an opportunity for companies to get creative and fun with their marketing. We’ve had a lot of fun recently creating some unique and interesting interactive Halloween-themed pieces through traditional print and wide format that we thought we would share for inspiration.