Accurate Layout Tricks For Label Printing
Labels are very precise kinds of prints. Unlike big posters or even banners and flyers which have large spaces to work with, color labels have only a limited area by which you can design on. This means that for most designers of labels, accuracy is key in every layout they make. This kind of accuracy does not only come from your artistic discipline, but also with your design software and its features.

In this special tutorial for label design, we will discuss several layout tricks that will help you accurately manipulate some of the major features of the text and images of your design. Just read through these tricks and try to directly apply them to your own label printing.

Text accuracy: Character Spacing

The first trick that should let you manage the text of your labels is character spacing. While there is a standard setting for all your characters in a label layout, you can actually tweak this in some software applications to make the characters sit closer together for further apart.

In image design applications like Photoshop, doing this is as simple as entering a spacing value of plus or minus 100 in the text editing panel. Positive values add more space and negative values makes the characters more closer together. This can save you a lot of space and fit your text precisely where you want them to in your color labels.

Text accuracy: Line Spacing

Another great trick that will help you format your text precisely is to edit its line spacing. Most text have a standard single line spacing set for them. However, did you know that you can actually edit this in most applications? You can of course increase that size to 1.5 spacing or even double and triple spacing if you like.

Beyond that though, some software can also let you set a precise line spacing distance by just setting a font size point value. In this way your 36pt sized fonts can have the line spacing that 28pt fonts have. This helps you manage the space between lines of text, enlarging them or shortening them for a more accurate design and text area.

Image Accuracy: Precise Scaling

Now, in terms of images, you should always try to be accurate when using them for your custom labels. You will not want a distorted image embedded in those all important label layouts of course. Most design applications should be able to let you scale down your images to fit precisely in the area you want. In most cases you can actually enter a pixel value of a set width or height and have the software automatically compute the reduced size with the corresponding aspect ratio. In this way you will not ruin the image of course, but you can fit it precisely to a size that best fits your custom label designs.

Image Accuracy: Precise Cropping

Do not forget that many desktop publishing applications can offers some really precise cropping tools. In Adobe Photoshop for example, you can actually cut out certain elements of images and not just lift rectangular areas from them. Tools like the magic wand tool can help you remove or add the area that you want without bothering the main contours of the primary object that you are working with. This helps you place in more seamless looking images that really fit in nicely with the background and them of your color labels.

Blending Options

Keep in mind also that there are also special blending tricks and options that should help you integrate text and images readily to a label layout. Using blending options like shadow effects and border effects can typically make certain design elements stand out or look something else. With the correct styles and colors, you can make all your elements blend more effectively to your layout, making the whole label look more coherent and of course understandable.

Now you know precisely what tricks you can try out and what settings you can change so that your color labels get the best design that really fits well with the most integrated and coherent of elements.

The Best Calendar Layouts For Everyone

Here let me give you a couple of the best calendar layouts that almost everyone should be able to accept or like.

What are the best calendars that sell effectively to almost everyone? When printing fundraising calendars, deciding on a layout that is applicable to all is important, since you want to sell them to the widest range of people as possible. Keep in mind that not all layouts will attract every person who sees your fundraising calendars. All you can really do is use the calendar layouts that have the best look that everyone can accept. So, let me give you a couple of the best calendar layouts that almost everyone should be able to accept or like.

• Simple table – On the basic side of things, one of the simplest and still widely accepted calendar layout that sells today is just the simple table layout. This is basically your simple flip-out wall calendar with a calendar table for each month.

It can have a special kind of border, with special date markets for major events, and most of the personalization comes from the color scheme, font style and small graphics. This is a cheap, functional and very practical fundraising calendar layout that definitely sells. So always try this as your basic layout first.

• Extended date tables – Now, just an improvement on the simple table layout above, we have the so called extended date table layouts. These are the calendar layouts with the tables slightly larger to accommodate other kinds of information. Some of these calendars have more specific themes that of course require those extended tables. They can be scheduling calendars meant for people to actually write on the calendars to make notes.

They can also be just special theme calendars with extended table designs that use popular trends. You can use this calendar layout if you want to be “in” with some of the design templates out there, hopefully helping you be more competitive in the calendar market.

• Top picture, Bottom table – Now, here is the classic wall calendar layout that everyone really likes. In this calendar layout, we have usually a picture above which changes each month, while at the bottom of course you will see the date table. From supermodel calendars to gadget calendars and P.R. calendars this is the most common and perhaps the most popular calendar layout still in use today. Everybody can handle it, and it can easily be posted in wall for decorative as well as functional purposes.

• Greeting card layout – Now, for your desk, or the desk of a loved one, there is also the so called “greeting card layout” for color calendars. This basically has the picture image at the right or left size of the color calendar when presented. Just like a greeting card, they can open up to reveal the panels side by side, one with a picture and one with a date table. This is a great configuration for fundraising efforts on a budget, since this color calendar is smaller and can more easily be distributed or deployed.

• Desk calendar standee – Finally, we have the so called standee. This is a simple layout where a calendar is situated as a desk calendar with its own “standing device”. These are much smaller desk calendars with little to no images at all. If you want to sell more functional color calendars to businesspeople and other professionals this is the best choice to get almost all of them to buy your fundraising calendars. So make sure you learn from other prints like this.

Great! Why do not you try out these interesting new calendar layouts? Good luck!

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Margarita Webb is a web designer expert working in a fundraising calendars printing company. When not busy on her own site she can be found writing about calendar layouts and post it online.