DL Design - Creative design and print

14/10/2026

𝗔 £𝟱𝟬 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲.

Ordering the wrong quantity.

Using the wrong size.

Sending the wrong artwork.

Choosing the cheapest stock when it doesn't suit the job.

Or leaving everything until the last minute.

𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

The cheapest quote isn't necessarily the cheapest option if you end up with 1,000 leaflets you can't use.

A little thought before something goes to print can save a lot of money afterwards.

𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙚. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.

12/10/2026

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.

In fact, trying to make it do so can make it considerably less effective.

A leaflet has a job:

• Get someone's attention.
• Tell them enough to make them interested.
• Then give them a reason to take the next step.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘵.

You don't need your entire company history.

You don't need every service you've ever offered.

And you probably don't need six paragraphs explaining what you do.

𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩.

11/10/2026

An amazing day at Brands Hatch.

09/10/2026

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺.

Your customers shouldn't have to work out whether everything belongs to the same business:

• Your logo should look the same.
• Your colours should be consistent.
• Your typography should feel connected.

And the overall style should carry through from your website to your printed material to your exhibition stand.

You don't necessarily need a huge set of brand guidelines.

But you do need consistency.

𝙄𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡. 𝘼𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚.

09/10/2026

https://www.dl-design.co.uk/graphic-design-blog/how-to-design-a-business-card

A well-designed business card should be clear, professional and easy to contact. Discover what makes a business card effective and worth keeping.

07/10/2026

"𝗜𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻."

Printers and designers hear that one quite a lot.

The problem is that your screen isn't a printing press.

There are a few things that can cause problems when artwork goes to print:

• Wrong colour settings.
• Low-resolution images.
• Fonts that haven't been embedded.
• Missing bleed.
• Text too close to the edge.

And sometimes, the artwork hasn't been set up properly for the job.

𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.

𝙂𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙭𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨.

05/10/2026

𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱-𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Sometimes it just needs a bit of attention:

• A redraw.
• Better spacing.
• A cleaner typeface.
• A few proportions tweaked.
• Perhaps the colours need sorting out.

I've worked on plenty of logos over the years where the original idea was perfectly good.

It just hadn't aged particularly well.

There's a temptation to think that a new logo will solve everything.

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙩. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙤.

02/10/2026

𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝟯 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲'𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿.

Especially at an exhibition.

People aren't going to stand there and read six paragraphs of text.

They're walking past.

So your banner needs to make the important things obvious:

• What do you do?
• Who are you?
• Why should I care?
• And what should I do next?

I've seen some beautiful exhibition stands completely undermined by banners that are trying to say far too much.

𝘼 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙚. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥.

30/09/2026

14 pages? Not quite. Here’s why your booklet needs to be 12, 16, 20 or 24 pages.

There’s a simple rule about booklets that’s easy to forget until it causes a problem.
The number of pages in a booklet must be divisible by 4.

One sheet of paper folded in half gives you four pages. Two sheets give you eight. Three gives you twelve.

But fourteen pages? It doesn’t work.

This is something I see fairly regularly when a client sends over copy for a booklet. They’ve got 14 pages of content, and suddenly I have to work out what happens to the extra two pages.

The good news is, you have options.
• Cut it down to 12 pages, and you might find the content reads better anyway.
• Go up to 16 pages, and you’ve got two extra pages to play with – maybe a case study, testimonials, a contact page or some useful additional information.

Or you can leave it at 14 and end up with blank pages, positioned wherever the folding and binding dictates rather than where you would have put them.

My advice?
Count in fours before you start laying anything out.

It’s a small thing, but getting it right at the start can save a lot of head-scratching later.

And if you’re not sure how many pages your booklet needs, that’s something I can help you work out before you get to print.

28/09/2026

One supplier for the design.
Another for the printing.
Someone else for the banners.
And you in the middle, trying to coordinate everything.

There is an easier way.
• I design it.
• I arrange the print.
• I manage the process.
• You deal with me.
Simple.

How many suppliers do you currently use for your marketing materials?