We are excited to learn that one of our recent project – the Bindlestiffs has won the American Package Design Award from Graphic Design USA. We spoke with the graphic designer Sydnee Davidson on this project and other topics on package design.

1. What is your inspiration for the Bindlestiffs DVD design?
The Bindlestiffs series is about a family circus and the struggles and hard work it takes to keep the show running.   I figured a grungy, vintage style circus poster might work, with some political elements as one of the ad campaigns for the show was to vote Kinko, the clown, for president.

2. What are some of your favorite techniques to make the title or the marketing message pop?
The title should always be clearly visible, and we wanted to make sure that each of the characters in the show were represented by demonstrating one of the acts they participated in to give the potential buyer an idea of what the series is about.

3. What is your suggestion if the main photo is taken poorly – blurry, pixelated, out of focus etc?
Improvise.  In this case we did have both high and low-res images for the cover.  The main image was a high-res photo, the rest were low-res video captures.  So I gave all the images a few Photoshop filters and hand-drawn outlines to essentially create a new set of images that all worked together as a family and that suited the design style I was going for.

4. Can you offer some tips on basic design for a beginner?
Have more than one idea, browse the internet and/or magazines for inspiration, research the product you are creating artwork for, and put all your thoughts and ideas into the design.  It’s also always good to have people to bounce ideas off of in case you get stuck.

5. What questions to ask a printer before submitting an artwork?
What kind of paper stock do you offer?  Do you do spot varnish?  How do you want the file set-up for spot varnish?  What file format is best (PDF, AI, PSD, etc)?

To learn more about the Bindlestuffs, visit http://www.thebindlestiffs.com/ and check out more of Sydnee’s work on her website.

Clients often fall in love with the reverse board because of its rustic feel and textured look. You may be surprised to know that designing for reverse board requires consideration from the very beginning.

Here we have a few examples that compare with the final print from the pdf proof, viewed from monitor. It shows you how drastic the reverse board changes the artwork, and how you can make the best use of this interesting stock (click on the images below for full-resolution photo):

1. Color: The main reason why reverse board is so special is that it makes colors look muted, washed out for that ‘vintage’ look. It is especially more visible with darker tones.

2. Fine details: As you can see from these examples, reverse board printing works best with images with high contrasts and definitive boundaries. If the object of the image blends in with background with no clear definition, it will lose even more details on reverse board. Illustrations, images applied with various filters will work best in this case.

3. Hard copy proof: When it comes to reverse board, it is the best to see a hard copy proof before to running with production. You may be surprised by the way your print comes out otherwise.

Touch it! Don’t judge the print effect of reverse board with what you see here. Always get a sample to get a true feeling of the texture of the paper material, you will see why this is quickly becoming one of our most popular options!