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What is Print Design and Its Different Types

By Jyppe Alqui on June 24, 2012 — Updated on October 13, 2014

Print design is a graphic design—creative process of producing a visual communication and presentation that is performed in order to convey a specific message or messages to a targeted audience–purposely made for printing.

The most common types print design finish products are brochure, outdoor banner, vinyl wrap, business card, flyers, product labels and packaging.

Printing on the other hand is a process of producing a hard copy of the graphic design and other documents. It is typically done with ink and paper using a printer.

It has been rumored that printed materials may lost its importance in the world of marketing in the coming years because of the fast moving digital technology but perhaps it would take decades and centuries to make it happen.

Types of Promotional Print Design Products

Banner – A long strip of cloth bearing a slogan or design, hung in a public place for promotional purposes. This is often produced commercially on a tarpaulin.

The industry has developed from the traditional hand-painted banners to banners printed within large, ultra-wide format inkjet printers on various vinyl and fabric materials using different types of inks.

Blister Card – a card behind a blister pack is a term for several types of pre-formed plastic packaging used for small consumer goods, foods, and for pharmaceuticals. Blister cards are a functional and attractive way to display products – it’s no wonder they’re the industry standard. Print design elements on a blister card should not be covered by the product.

Brochure – is a print design in a form of a small book or magazine containing pictures and information about a product or service. Publication consisting of one folded page, or several pages stitched together but not bound. Used mainly for advertising purposes.

Business Card – A small card printed with one’s name, professional occupation, company position, business address, and other information. A good business card should convey the overall image of your business but it is not always easy, considering the card commonly measures just 2 by 3 inches.

Some businesses and professional produces business cards with unique shapes to stand out from the competition but more often, this idea is not advisable if you want your card to easily fit on your audience wallet or business card holder.

Flyers or Flier – (also called a circular, handbill or leaflet pamphlet) is an advertisement usually printed on a page or in a leaflet intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public places.

Gift Voucher – A small printed piece of paper that entitles the holder to a discount or that may be exchanged for goods or services. A voucher is a bond which is worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods.

Label & Packaging – is used by marketers to encourage potential buyers to purchase the product. Marketing communications and graphic design are applied to the surface of the package, may it on the box or on the container of the product itself.

A label in particular is a piece of paper or other material affixed to a container or article, on which is printed a legend, information concerning the product, addresses, etc. or the label print design may also be printed directly on the container or article.

Pre-printed Receipt Roll – is a roll of thermal paper that is pre-printed at the back portion with important information or an advertisement use for receipt printing. Recent innovations allow multi-colored thermal printing technology and the ability to print double-sided receipts using receipt rolls.

Poster – is a large printed picture, notice, or advertisement displayed in a public place in a vertical position. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative..

Shopping Bag – is a bag with handles made of plastic, strong paper or non-woven fabric that is used to transport goods after shopping. They can be single-use or designed as reusable shopping bags.

Vinyl wrap – is a form of advertising in which a vehicle or a building is of completely or partially covering covered or wrapped using large vinyl sheets as decals, thus turning them into a billboard. The wrap can be removed with relative ease, making it much less expensive to change from one advertisement to another.

Other types of print design are done for the following uses:

Book Covers
Calendar
Clothing
Compliment Slips
Continuation Sheets
Door Hanger
Exhibition Graphics
Folders
Flags
Greeting Cards
Invitations
Leaflets

Letterheads
Mailers
Manual
Menus
Notebook Covers
Postcards
Presentation Folders
Stickers
Tickets
T-Shirts
Wine Lists

Packaging photo by mohamed.shaaz

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18 Comments

tatess

June 25, 2012 at 3:59 am

quote”It has been rumored that printed materials may lost its importance in the world of marketing in the coming years because of the fast moving digital technology but perhaps it would take decades and centuries to make it happen.” unqote

The rumor maybe true but as you said ,it will take a lot of years before it happens, not in the near future.
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RonLeyba

June 25, 2012 at 2:31 pm

Print designs are essential for businesses and professionals as well. Having a unique and stand out print design, most importantly for calling cards and brochures, can win customers and clients in the near future.
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- carmel
  
  June 29, 2012 at 4:35 pm
  
  Some business cards look ordinary simply because the owners didn’t put importance on the design; they didn’t consider having cards that look different than the rest.
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  - RonLeyba
    
    July 1, 2012 at 1:17 am
    
    Which is kinda makes them loosing clients. Imagine, if they give their cards via a big event, so people will have lots of cards with them. If you give people an ordinary plain looking card, your card will surely vanish in no time and the card with a great design and purpose will win the customer’s decision.
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metalpig design

June 26, 2012 at 12:06 am

Demand on printed materials may down but not totally phase-out, it will gradually evolve into something else in the future. ^_^
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- RonLeyba
  
  July 1, 2012 at 1:11 am
  
  Yeah, agree. It might go or come in 3D. Or just like the HARRY POTTER printed newspapers and magazines with moving object and people.
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carmel

June 27, 2012 at 9:34 am

Hmmm… let’s see what happens in the future with regards to the importance of printed materials as tangible presentation of marketing ideas compared to their digital/virtual versions. For instance, greeting cards are still very much around and people still buy them.

Reply
- metalpig design
  
  June 29, 2012 at 7:26 am
  
  … and I still like to open and smell every pages of a new book…
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- RonLeyba
  
  July 1, 2012 at 1:02 am
  
  I think it’s here to stay, printed designs. People like me still love to see them in real time. Hardcopy of anything virtual/online is still the best IMHO.
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  - metalpig design
    
    July 1, 2012 at 9:28 am
    
    …. and even iPad, Kindle and other tablets are available for reading online reading, I still preferred the (old-school) printed books with hardcover…
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    Reply
Dinesh Silva

October 19, 2012 at 3:20 pm

The explanation is good,I like to know the working process on the Adobe Illustrator cs3,as I work on the Adobe Illustrator as It is very useful for a graphic designer.

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- Chris Holloway
  
  January 24, 2016 at 1:46 pm
  
  I agree with you. Till now Adobe Illustrator is the first choice by the digital printing businesses and among the designers too. There are few more design tools are trying to take away it’s authority. Like for example, Youzign.
  
  Reply
Jerold Mcomber

April 28, 2013 at 6:34 am

Full color cards, or cards that use many colors, are printed on sheetfed presses as well; however, they use the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) four-color printing process. Screens of each color overprinted on one another create a wide gamut of color. The downside to this printing method is that screened colors if examined closely will reveal tiny dots, whereas spot color cards are printed solid in most cases. Spot colors should be used for simple cards with line art or non-black type that is smaller than 5 points.*

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Arbor Printing and Design

December 5, 2014 at 10:07 am

We believe that advancements in digital printing and materials are opening up new markets for print design. Its not just designing for letter setting anymore.

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Instant One Media

May 14, 2015 at 12:42 am

I don’t think printable materials will phase out in the future. I still believe that having those tangible materials for every business is important. As of for me, I still prefer reading with magazines or books that I can hold with my hands.

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