We’re all looking to creatively reach out to potential clients and secure new work, grab interesting projects, and expand our network of professional contacts. Designing self promo print materials are a proven way to get attention. The more creative your graphic design self promotion is, the better you will stand out from the crowd, get noticed by art directors, and increase your odds of landing that gig you’re aiming for. Following are an assortment of print tutorials that use Adobe Illustrator and creative ingenuity to push an artist’s visual style to the front of the pack. Learn how to create a self promotional print campaign that leaves a lasting impression.
Illustrator Self Promo Print Tutorials
Self Promotion: Concept Card Illustration
Von Glitchka shows us how to create a high concept self promotion design in a small space – the size of a business card. Von calls these “concept cards” and they showcase his style, technical skill, and how he creates visual solutions. In this tutorial learn how he made this illustration promotion. He runs through his creative process from concept, sketch, vector build, through to printing.
Design and Print Bold Promo Cards in 60 Minutes
Collis Ta’eed shows us how to put together a graphic design self promotion quickly and easily using Adobe Illustrator, MOO.com’s minicards and a couple of vectors from GraphicRiver. This is a great way to promote your print design services to send out to potential clients and to use as leave behinds after client meetings. Learn how to create a promo for print with little prepress or production skills – do it the easy way.
Self Promotion on a Budget
Learn how to design and print a self promotion on a budget. In this tutorial Luke O’Neill uses Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, numerous card stocks, and traditional design tools. Professional designers have learned that attracting the attention of art directors is a competitive challenge. There’s no better way to stand out from the abundance of online digital marketing materials than with a well crafted, beautiful print creative promotion. Learn how to create a self promo mail-out your potential clients can hold in their hands, and keep in their offices.
Classic Illustrator Tutorial: Design Self-Promotional Postcards
Character designer Andrew Groves shows us how much impact a self promotional postcard design can have. Learn how to maximize the space on these mini canvases to create engaging print promotions that are cheap to produce and will let your clients know you’re available for work. Creative directors often hold onto these kinds of self promotional pieces, pinning them to boards in their studio, and grabbing them when your style is needed. Learn to keep your work in front of art directors by creating a postcard promo campaign.
Create A Promo Pack
Hydro74 illustrated a spectacular illustration self promotion set of stickers in Illustrator. Learn how sticker robot transforms these vectors through the silk screen and die cutting process to make a gorgeous print promo set. You’ll be further transported behind the print production scenes by Vahalla Studios where they run through the postcard print design process. Working closely with your print vendor you can create a sticky campaign that will help you build your reputation with new clients.
Personalize Your Promo Materials
Aaron Miller shows us how to create a themed print promotion design mailer. Learn loads of tips on setting up your booklet, choosing the right paper, and getting your promo piece to stand out from the crowd. While Aaron uses Photoshop here, you could just as easily use Illustrator or InDesign to set this up. The tips you’ll learn in this tutorial will help push your next graphic design self promotion over the top.
Create a Fun Print-Ready Doodled Business Card Design
In this tutorial you’ll use Adobe Illustrator to construct this creative print promo. Chris Spooner shows us how to design a doodle inspired creative business card, which is filled with playful and fun designs – drawn directly in Illustrator. Also learn to use Adobe Acrobat Pro to make sure your business card is set up as print ready.
Design Your Self-Promo Book
Self-promotion is something that can make or break someone in the creative industries. Steven Bonner shows how to create a printed book that creatively promotes a group of illustrators artwork cohesively. The group featured is The Mighty Pencil. Learn how to plan the design, organize the images, layout the book, commission the final design for print, and more. This graphic design self promotion would make a strong impact arriving on an Art Directors desk.
Create a Business Card in Illustrator and Print it with UPrinting
This tutorial by Collis Ta’eed shows how easy it is to create a set of business cards using an online vendor. Business cards are excellent for self promotion. You don’t need to be an Illustrator master to make these cards. They are simply designed and then exported as PDF’s ready for uploading to the print vendor. Learn more about creating this Rockstar Brand, Logo & Styleguide in Illustrator. For graphic design self promotion a strong brand will make a big difference in the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Create a Self-Promotional Book
This timeless tutorial shows how to take pages printed after composing in Illustrator and bind them. The technique used is the Japanese art of bookbinding. This is a great, handmade way to create a graphic design self promotion. With the wide selection of paper stock today you can push the boundaries of what Art Directors expect, and wow them with a creative promo book that matches your artwork’s style.
Perfect Promo Items and Gifts
Dom Hall goes through a selection of successful self promotional print campaigns. Numerous mediums are explored in these promo print runs, from stickers, to books, tote bags, stamps, and t-shirts. Some in here are even more exotic, such as tea sets and custom chocolates. These successful self promos will get you thinking creatively about how to make your money work for you and grab attention. It will need to be well designed, well realized and well manufactured though to hit your goals.
How to Create a Captivating, Self-Promotion Kit
Learn how to design a self promotional print campaign in this Vector Premium tutorial. Illustrator Ben Mounsey walks us through the process of making a stylish illustration ready to use on business cards, postcards and tear sheets. Self promotion is a vital tool for any illustrator/designer, whether its physical media or digital, its important to showcase your work in a striking image.
From a Logo to Business Card, How to Make a Self Promotion Set
In this Vector Premium Tutorial LoungeKat shows us how to create an integrated self promotion campaign. Learn how to use Illustrator’s multiple artboards to set up your file as well as basic tools to create this artwork. Design a logo, business card, and postcard self promo print materials. In addition you’ll discover how to maximize your promotion by working this into your website online as well.
Self Promotion Articles
The topic of self promotion is not limited to print. There is so much you can do online, or to create a broader multi-media campaign. Learn more about pushing your self promotional creations into new market channels and grab the attention of Art Directors that are actively hiring creative pros.
- Selfless Self-Promotion: How to Promote Yourself Without Talking About Yourself
- How to Create a Promotional Snail Mail Campaign
- RLC Talks to Illustrator Rod Hunt on Self Promotion (and more!)
- 10 Rules of Effective Self-Promotion
- How to Impress an Art Director
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