Print and Collateral Design

What this covers

Print and collateral design is the printed side of a campaign and of an agency's ongoing outreach: posters, postcards, flyers, brochures, rack cards, pitchbooks, and one-sheets. Each piece has two audiences. The reader needs to understand it quickly, often while standing at a counter, a transit stop, or a community meeting. The press needs a file it can run without guessing: correct size, bleed, color, fonts, and folds.

Most print problems are file problems found late. Type placed too close to a trim edge gets cut, a photo prepared for a screen prints dull or soft, a brand color defined for the web shifts on uncoated stock, and a brochure panel is the wrong width for its fold. These are cheap to prevent in the layout and expensive to fix at the printer, where the fix is usually a reprint or a missed event date.

The work sits between the communications team, the departments that own the content, and whichever printer holds the agency's print contract.

Typical activities

• Production setup. Building each file at final trim size, with bleed where artwork runs off the edge and a safe area that keeps text and logos away from trim and fold lines, to the printer's stated requirements.
• Color management. Converting artwork to the printer's color space, specifying spot colors where brand consistency matters, and checking how brand colors render on coated and uncoated stock before a full run.
• Paper and finishing. Recommending stock weight, finish, opacity, and recycled content, along with folds, scoring, and coatings, based on how the piece will be handled and how long it needs to last.
• Folded pieces. Setting panel widths for the fold type so inside panels of a roll fold tuck in cleanly, and ordering content for how a reader actually opens the piece.
• Pitchbooks and one-sheets. Designing business development and leasing material for brokers, tenants, developers, and partners: opportunity summaries, maps, site data, and contacts, in print and as an electronic PDF.
• Brochures and rack cards. Writing each piece to a single purpose, with a clear call to action and contact information that will not go stale.
• Mailers and postcards. Laying out address areas, indicia, and barcode clear zones to postal design rules, and choosing a format that qualifies for the intended mail class. Postal requirements change, so confirm the current Domestic Mail Manual and Postal Service design guidance before printing.
• Proofs and press checks. Reviewing a soft proof, then a hard proof on the specified stock, and attending a press check when color is critical.
• Accessible versions. Producing large print and accessible electronic versions, and planning how a request for an alternate format is answered.

What you receive

• Print-ready files. PDFs to the printer's specification, commonly a PDF/X standard, with bleed, crop marks, and embedded fonts.
• Working files. Native, packaged files with linked images and a font list.
• Print specifications. Trim size, stock, colors, folds, finishing, quantity, and delivery for each piece, reusable in a quote request.
• Accessible versions. A tagged PDF of each publication meant for the web, and a large print version where needed.
• Proof records. Approved proofs with who approved them and when.
• Mailpiece notes. For mailers, the format, mail class assumptions, and the postal guidance the layout was checked against.

Considerations for public agencies

Plain language does much of the accessibility work. Short sentences, common words, one main message, and headings that say what follows help every reader, including people reading in a second language. The ISO 24495-1 plain language standard and the federal plain language guidelines are useful references.

Accessible print starts with type and contrast. Use a generous body size, avoid thin or condensed faces for body text, and keep text off busy photos. WCAG 2.2 is written for digital content, but its contrast ratios of 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text are a reasonable benchmark on paper too. Large print, Braille, and accessible electronic formats should be available on request under the effective communication requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Confirm obligations with counsel.

Figures in a pitchbook need an owner and a date. Lease rates, available acreage, and ridership or traffic figures go out of date quickly. Each should come from a named department source, carry an as-of date, and be reviewed before every reprint.

Multilingual pieces need their own layouts. A translated brochure is not the English layout with new words. Plan for longer text and have translations reviewed by qualified speakers.

Print procurement has rules. Many agencies buy printing through an existing print contract, a cooperative agreement, or a state printing program, and some require recycled paper. Confirm with purchasing before quoting outside that path.

Printed pieces can be records. Final versions, and sometimes drafts and approvals, may need to be kept under the agency's retention schedule.

Working with HQT on this

HQT designs print as part of the campaign system. Pieces are built from the same templates, type styles, and color definitions as the rest of the campaign, and checked automatically for minimum type size, contrast, bleed, and image resolution before files leave for the printer. HQT coordinates directly with the agency's print vendor, collecting file requirements at the start rather than discovering them at handoff.

An engagement usually starts with the list of pieces the campaign or department needs, the print vendor's specifications, and the content owner for each piece.

Frequently asked questions