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Definition
Graphic Design’s primary purpose is to organize, plan and arrange page content into art that will influence or market to an audience.  The key ingredient to graphic art is composition which is the organization, placement, and visual appeal encompassing the ideas you want your viewers to act upon.  Graphic Design is the thread you will see throughout advertising, whether it is your logo, business card, website, commercials, etc. In any of these you will find the following essential graphic design attributes:

• Page layout – aesthetic style and positioning of page elements or objects
• Printmaking - producing printable art; prints are created from single flat medium
• Typography - assembling type or character design
• Web Design -  online appeal and communication
• Visual Arts -  primarily visual three-dimensional objects

History
The historical start of Graphic Design began with the birth of the first written language in the 3rd or 4th millennium BC.   Also, paintings found in Lascaux caves of 14,000 BC. Another significant time in history was the start of printing during the time between 4th to 7th century A.D.   These times have all contributed and influenced to our modern day advances in graphic design.

Contribution to Marketing
Bringing across persuasive ideas in marketing is the very key to having your target market take the actions you are looking for. Graphic Design is what makes it possible to apply the visual appeal of your product or service and create the ‘buzz’ and interest in your brand. The influence of graphic design in advertising and marketing is significant. Many marketing occupations require graphic design background, including Advertising & Publishing Art Directors, Production Designer, Web Designer, as well as, Film Production.

Software Tools
Obviously today’s graphic design world is strongly influenced by software tools.  They are imperative to the modern art world.  What software tools are essential to graphic designers?

Page Layout/Desktop Publishing

• Professional: Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress
• Long Documents: Adobe FrameMaker, Corel Ventura
• Business or Enterprise:  FrameMaker, Corel Ventura, QuarkXPress
• Home: Print Shop, Sierra Print Artist
• Small Business: Microsoft Office Publisher, Adobe PageMaker,
  Serif PagePlus

Graphics

• Illustration: Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Macromedia Freehand
• Photo/Images: Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photo-Print

Web Design: Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage

Why does Graphic Design Improve Conversion from Marketing?
We know that graphic design is a major part of marketing, but why and does it make a difference?  Design affects many parts of our life including the buildings we walk into, the billboards we see along the side of the road, to the labels we see in the supermarket, and coming home and watching television. We could continually name its influences, but why are we persuaded more with aesthetic persuasion rather than plan straightforward information. Part of advertising is repeating information over and over, but does graphic design help viewers remember or take action faster to information with visual interest?  Absolutely!  Visual appeal often drives customers to purchase products/services sooner than later.  Studies show that customers buy products/services that appeal to them rather than ones they need. 

Research has proven the psychological process behind the influence of visual persuasion. In the book Visual Persuasion by Paul Messaris, he compiles research speaking about our vision being directly connected to our emotions, which in turn influences our functional, biological, and social needs.   A strong example talked about in the book showing how images can impact emotion, is having a straight-on view of a person in an image.  This appeal’s to our tendency to look back to someone looking at us.  Basically, images are another form of communication, an essential part of language. In advertising images and graphics draw our attention to ads and we associate it to what we feel.  Seeing visuals improves viewer’s ability to figure out and understand the information presented. 

It is obvious from these conclusions why graphic design is an essential part of marketing, it is essential to improved communication by connecting to more emotions of the audience. The brain is able to convert what is seen to better understanding and comprehension. Graphic Design is not only a part of marketing but is the foundation to receiving conversions.  

With the creation of HTML newsletters, it is imperative to incorporate text, many of the following factors may interrupt the viewer’s ability to view the visual aspects of images and graphics and therefore the text is imperative: 

• Code compliance differences with various email programs
• Viewers differing computer settings
• Viewers who can’t or choose not to view the images of your newsletter

Because of these factors, it is imperative that text of your newsletter be accessible to the viewer whether the images are visible or not.  Below are a few do’s and don’ts when creating your html newsletters:

DON’T:

• Make your entire newsletter graphic based
• Leave your pictures without description
• Forget to create a text version of your html newsletter

DO:

• Make you newsletter text based and have minimal graphic or picture based text 
• Add detailed alt description tags to your images and graphics
• Test your newsletter to make sure text will show correctly in various email programs without the images/graphics appearing
• Create a text version of your commercial html newsletter

Disability Reasons
Not only is it important to have text based newsletters for viewing purposes, but also for various disabilities and functional limitations, such as the visibly impaired, physical, language, and cognitive disabilities. Some users may not be able to use a mouse, while others may be listening to your newsletter using a screen reader that sends information to a text-to-speech synthesizer or refreshable Braille display. The blind depend on text versions. For text emails, it is important to have alt tags used to describe images. Having image descriptions helps the visibly impaired ‘see’ pictures through screen readers. Give your viewers every opportunity to access your newsletter.

Code Compliance Reasons
There are many different email programs that your newsletter will be sent through - Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, AOL, etc.  It is important to realize each program has code requirements and therefore you want to create an html commercial newsletter compliant in various versions and programs.  Testing and sending your newsletter to different programs will help you see what improvements to make.

• HTML Inline styles & table tags versus CSS Style sheets & div tags
   
  The main code compliance that will help improve newsletters to work well in various programs is to use HTML tables and inline styles versus CSS style sheets and div tags. Keeping all styles inline, as well as, replace all CSS div tags with table tags.  This will make a significant difference with email program compliance. For example, the newest version Outlook 2007 no longer recognizes CSS and therefore any style rules or div tags will not be recognized and the newsletter will be distorted aesthetically with the CSS code not being recognized.

Text Version Send-Outs
A text version newsletter does not have html code; it basically is taking all the text from your html version and placing it as a separate newsletter to send out. Newsletter programs will send the text version at the same time the html version is sent out. Any subscriber with a text base email will receive the text version.

Branding Logo Graphics
Many fonts are not accessible through basic inline-style font-families.  For this reason often-times main headers or company names/logos are graphics.  This is when alt tags are crucial with describing the newsletter images and graphics.  Any text that you make an image, it is important to have alt tags describing the text-image, especially your logo and company name. Your logo is crucial for company branding, if the image is not showing, alt tags become a crucial aspect to branding your product, name, and logo.

ALT Tag for Header Image

Header Image
 

 
Conclusion
Text is the basis of newsletters and communicating your message whether the commercial aspect can be viewed or not.  Keep text the center focus as you create your newsletter. Always make your information accessible no matter what computer settings or email program a client uses. Clients are less likely to fully open an email if they can’t see what it’s about or the company it is coming from. Text will broaden results and the actions you would like your cliental to take! This is just one more step to success with email newsletters!
 

In email marketing, targeting every electronic communication to each specific customer’s interests makes it easier for them to buy from you. Researchers at Listrak have proven that customizing a newsletter and tailoring it to a client’s specific interests results in better response and feedback.

The key reasons to target and personalize your marketing emails are to:

Build Trust by giving clients what was promised when they signed up for your newsletters.

Satisfy Needs and Wants by giving clients what they desire.

Create Significance and Value by personalizing your email communications to the reader and helping you to remain aware of their needs.

Build Brand Loyalty. Clients perceive quality in a company when it meets their needs.

Strengthen Customer Relationships with regular communication.

Personalization
On newsletter sign-up forms, drilling down to the details about your customers helps you to target your newsletters to specific client needs. The more data you collect about your customers, the more targeted your newsletters can be.

Gather information about your subscribers that can be helpful in your marketing, such as gender, age, marital status, location, occupation, hobbies, number and ages of children, product preferences and more . For example, if you know someone’s address, you can then direct them to the location of your store closest to them or invite them to events taking place nearby.

Demographics
When creating the newsletter sign-up form for your website, begin targeting and segmenting subscribers with form fields that give you useful information, including their specific interests. Obviously, the relevant data you wish to collect will differ by type of business and industry.

In the hospitality niche, for example, you can add a list of specials or packages to your newsletter. This will allow you to find out what each client is most interested in and it can also help you discover their reason for traveling. Adding the right fields to your sign-up form is an important part of organizing data and getting as much information about the customer as possible.

Tracking
Another important way to gather data about your customers is by tracking their actions. Analytics software allows you to see which links subscribers click on in your emails and tell you if they bounce after reaching your website. Use a website tracker, like Google Analytics, to determine which products and pages subscribers look at on your website. Then, offer discounts or specials accordingly. Tracking is a very significant aspect to managing your subscriber data.

Dynamic Content
Instead of sending out an all inclusive email, use dynamic content in your newsletters to send specialized messages to specific subscribers. The crucial aspect of these types of newsletters is the management of subscriber data and targeting individual interests and needs.

Your content can target both first-time buyers and loyal customers. To gain new business, use special coupons or discount codes for first-time buyers. You may also offer different levels of discounts to subscribers. For example, you could offer 10% off to a one-time buyer, 15% off to a two-time buyer off and 20% off to a customer who has purchased from you 3 or more times. Once clicks and purchase history have been saved, the emails themselves are easily produced.

Here are a few other ways to use dynamic content:

Cross Selling
Once a customer has made a purchase, you can send out a dynamic email with related items they may wish to add to their original purchase. For example, with a room reservation confirmation, send out offers for add-ons such as breakfast, champagne or area activities.

Rewards
Dynamic content can also be used to deliver rewards to loyal customers. Rewards can also be given to recipients that forward your offer to a friend. Other perks may be based on the number of times a customer has stayed with you.

Customer Support
You can also use dynamic newsletters is to inform customers about website maintenance or to send out responses to customer inquiries.

Email Marketing Objectives
Email Marketing can provide a wealth of information about your customers and the services you offer. Managing your subscriber data takes work, but once the information is sorted, sending out your newsletters is simple.

Use email newsletter personalization and dynamic content delivery to its full potential and it can give you just the boost your online marketing needs.

The following questions we want to ask ourselves as we maintain the current trends of Email Marketing and receive the best results.

Does presenting the content in your email newsletter impact the results you receive?

What should an email newsletter look like?

How do you arrange it so that the newsletter draws customers to your site?

Does the layout depend on the topic and target market you are trying to sell your product to?

Email Newsletter vs. Website
The first concept to grasp is that email newsletters are not websites! When you send a newsletter, customers are not expecting your website. Obviously, you want your newsletter to continue branding your website, remaining strong with the overall image, but a newsletter should have a very different layout from your website. Think about the word Newsletter, what other forms of news do we look at and how do they draw us in? Newsletters should have a similar feel as a newspaper or a magazine. Newspapers always give you the main topic of the article first. Your reader should be able to figure out the main idea of your email newsletter from the first glance at the top of the email. Think about how a magazine or a newspaper pulls you in with headlines and teasing featured articles. You want to do the same as you setup your newsletter. One idea to consider is to bullet point the main topics of the newsletter at the top of the page. The bullet points can also work as a table of contents linking to different parts of the newsletter. Remember to draw your readers in with key points, maintaining a layout of news and not a website.

Email Blasts vs. Full Articles
Deciding what your content is about is influential to formatting the newsletter layout. You want to have a clear goal whether your newsletter will drive traffic to your site or build your reputation and relationship with the reader. If you want to drive traffic to your site, don’t give the complete information in the newsletter. Build links to your website that will tease readers to click on them. Skillful ‘teasers’will drive traffic to your site. If you decide your newsletter is more about relationships and reputation, then your newsletter should provide the complete information, giving the full content to the reader.

Prioritizing Content
To organize content, you want to target the reading styles, putting more emphasis on certain areas of your newsletter. Some readers skim subject lines and may never look at the email, others will skim the main headers and key bullet points of the newsletter. The following are the areas that are important to emphasize in your newsletter:

• Dynamic Subject Lines

Some readers look at the subject lines of their emails, if it doesn’t appeal to them, they will delete the email without opening it. Making your subject line dynamic is a crucial aspect to bringing results.

• Call to Action

You always want to make it easy for your reader to take the actions you are wanting; in your newsletters have a primary place for the reader to click your call to action.

• Sectioning your Newsletter

Placing your content in sections, help readers gain the main points, and makes it simple for readers to quickly find the area of the newsletter they are most interested in.

• Headlines

It is easier for readers to get the main point of your newsletter, if they have headlines to outline the key points. Headlines go along with sectioning your newsletter, helping to organize the content for readers.

• Image Blocking

You want to make sure your newsletter can be read even if the pictures are not displaying. Make sure your layout allows for this aspect, readers can still read your newsletter even without the pictures.

Conclusive Testing
Remember the above key points as you think about the layout of your next email newsletter. You may want to test different layouts to see what works best for your. This will help you see the impact layouts have on your results. With tracking programs, you can try different types of newsletters and track the actions of your readers.

There are many different ways to layout a newsletter; however here is example template highlighting placement and key attributes discussed in the article:

You may wish to make it easier for foreign vacationers.

Travelers coming to the United States from other countries often try to make online hotel reservations, however with difficulties completing the required fields for their address. This is just one basic example of what it means to make your website usable for international purposes. This is why it may be important to test and evaluate from a universal perspective. We call the Internet the World Wide Web, and with this exposure there is a responsibility of designing sites ensuring international use. Below are some key areas to keep in mind when designing a site with a universal perspective.

• Diverse Technology: Support broad ranges of hardware, software, and network access
• User Diversity: Accommodate users with different skills, age, gender, disabilities, literacy, culture, income, language, character settings (ex: currency symbols), different business manners, etc.
• User Knowledge Gaps: Bridging the gap between what users know and what they need to know

A key area to creating a user friendly site is making your site compliant for the disabled and functional limitations. The Internet has become a useful tool for handicapped customers. For example, a person who stutters may want to purchase online rather than deal with speaking with someone, or a person with walking limitations may want to make purchases from one simple click rather than walking through a store.

Of course, there are many more limitations to consider such as the visibly and hearing impaired, color blindness, cognitive disabilities, and those prone to epileptic seizures.

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Social Internet has become a new way of communicating, learning.

Wikipedia, Myspace, Forums, Blogs, RSS … all these words form and represent a new way of using the Internet, and has come to be known as Web 2.0. The web is no longer just about finding information, but also having the ability to influence it from a social perspective. Web 1.0 was about reading, advertising, companies, encyclopedias, home pages, and taxonomy. While Web 2.0 is about opinion, writing, word of mouth, communities, wikipedias, blogs, and folksonomy.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

As we take on this new way of learning and communicating, how does it affect the user’s experience? How can Web 2.0 be used to help make the experience a better one? As so many discussions about Web 2.0 focus on the technology and methods, it is often forgotten the most important part, usability, the experience of the user.

Web 2.0 has brought technologies that can be used to create a more interactive and better experience for the customer. Some of the technologies that have been developed include RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and Ajax.

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