Maybe it’s because I just saw that “Helvetica” movie, but I thought I should share this with you: Brian Hoff’s “10 Common Typography Mistakes.” This is a great primer for anyone DIY-ing the design of their own marketing materials. Even if you have no professional design training, using these tips will get halfway to having a professional-looking brochure or web site. via swissmiss
Ever need a handwritten font that doesn’t look like a cheesy cousin to comic sans? TripWire magazine has come to the rescue, curating a page of over 45 free handwritten fonts that are actually good. Be careful what you use these for, though. Each one has its own license, and not all of them are okay for commercial use.
Ever wanted a font that looks like your handwriting? One that gives you the speed of typing with the thoughtful look of longhand? You can have that free too, courtesy of fontcapture.com. Just print out the template, fill it in by hand, then scan and upload it back to the site. Voila! Your handwriting is now a downloadable font. Grandma will never know the difference.
This fall, Lifestyle Crafts (a division of QuicKutz, which makes scrapbooking stuff) is due to come out with the “L” Letterpress system, a kit that you use with a tabletop die cutter/embosser like a Cuttlebug or QuicKutz’s Epic 6. The starter kit will come with impression plates, paper, and some ink, and will retail for $69.99. A kit including both the L pack and the Epic 6 will be available for $149.99.
At first glance, I was thrilled. I’ve always wanted to try lettterpress printing, but the only way for me to do it is to spend $300 on classes at the Center for the Book in order to be able to rent time on their presses. Something like the L would eliminate the travel, education and rent required to use a large press.
On the other hand, I remembered how excited I was to get a Gocco screen printer, which only works well for very specific projects (i.e. greeting cards). The Gocco is also only compatible with its own proprietary supplies, which became a huge issue the last two times they were discontinued. The L appears to have a very similar setup. Only small paper can be rolled through the press, and I can’t find any indication of its compatibility with other manufacturers’ plates and inks, or information about printing on surfaces like cardboard. One of the reasons I’ve never bought a tabletop die cutter like an Epic 6 is that it’s nearly impossible to make your own dies for it, but you can order custom letterpress plates fairly easily. Though it’s much more competitively priced than the Gocco, I’m still going to wait for more information before I add the L/Epic 6 to my Christmas list. Besides, there’s probably a way to hack something similar for a fraction of the cost. Project, anyone?
Today at the UPS Store
Me: Hi. I’d like to ship another of one of these boxes I sent last week.
Clerk: Oh yes, I remember you (types in my phone number). Same address?
Me: Yes, please.
Clerk: Okay, that will be $37.50.
Me: $37.50? It was $13.50 on Friday.
Clerk: Yeah, but this box is bigger. See, this box is 14 inches wide, and the one you sent last week was 13 inches wide.
Me: This is the exact same box, holding the exact same contents. The dimensions are printed on the side. See? Thirteen inches.
Clerk: Yeah, but it bulges out in the middle here. I have to measure it at its widest point, not across the top. I’m not trying to overcharge you, but I have to follow what the computer says.
Me: It’s just plush toys in here, I can fix this (taking box off scale and smushing in the sides). Try it now.
Clerk: Okay, let’s see…. Oh no! It’s puffing out again!
Me: Measure it quickly!
Clerk: Thirteen inches (punches it into the computer). What do you know? $13.50. One inch makes three times the price!
Me: Does that seem weird to you?
Clerk: It’s not my fault! It’s the computer!
Me: I know it’s not you, I just find it amazing.
Clerk: Yes…it is amazing….
For someone who used to teach computer classes, my e-mail newsletters were ghet-toooh. I’m talking drafted in Apple Mail and then sent to just five recipients at a time so it wouldn’t get filtered out by spam. It took so damned long they usually went out at around 3am, ensuring that they would get the worst possible response. Deciding it was time to grow up, I did a cursory look at the e-mail marketing programs my friends and colleagues use: Constant Contact, Vertical Response and PHPList.
Although it’s very pretty, Constant Contact is too expensive for me. I only send about six e-mail newsletters a year, so the lowest monthly fee ($15) would still cost me about $30 per newsletter. PHPList, on the other hand, is like the ZenCart of e-mail marketing. It’s a free, open-source manager with so many possible features it gives me a headache. There’s so much stuff and so little user interface that I just don’t have time to sort through it all. So, like Goldilocks, I went with the happy medium.
Vertical Response offers both monthly and pay-as-you-go pricing, based on the number of recipients you have. For my six e-mails a year it costs me about $3.75 per e-mail, or 1.5 cents per recipient. Here are some things I like about their service:
There are also a couple of things I didn’t like:
All in all I’m quite happy with how everything turned out. I’m especially happy that I never have to type or paste all those e-mail addresses ever again. I’m still pretty new to all this, so if you have any tips on e-mail list managers or on e-mail marketing in general, please share them in the comments section below.
If you don’t already use StartupNation on a regular basis, you probably live under the same rock as I do. I was a little appalled at myself to have just discovered the site this morning. It’s extremely comprehensive and well-written, but what differentiates StartupNation from other entrepreneurial web resources is its integration of information and services. For example, in an article about timing a good PR campaign, you can click right to a page that gets you quotes from pre-screened PR firms. The best part? Everything at StartupNation is 100% free. You don’t even need to sign up for anything. You just visit the site and use whatever you want, barrier-free. I’m currently loving the ten-step plan for growing your business.
In addition to the web site, StartupNation also runs a weekly radio show, which you can download as a free podcast. It’s great for commutes, though it admittedly has a “boomer emphasis.”
