Tag Archives: collateral

The Blogcademy And MagCloud: Poster Crazy!

The Blogcademy MagCloud Posters

When you need to promote an event or get your designs printed on nice quality paper, we all know how quickly that can add up. And, screen printing posters is also very expensive, especially when you’re a smaller business. We’ve been looking for an alternative, cost effective way to print posters and we finally have a solution to share with you! At The Blogcademy, we’ve been using MagCloud since the very beginning to print our workbooks but we didn’t realize they also did double-sided 18 x 24 posters!

The Blogcademy MagCloud Posters

For those of you who aren’t familiar with MagCloud, it’s an on-demand printing service run by HP and you can print as little or as much as you like. They ship around the world, too. Sometimes you just don’t have the quantities needed to go through a traditional printer or you just need to proof a project to see how it’s looking. Having the option to order a single piece is so nice!

Late one night, we put together layouts of our two upcoming Blogcademy dates in Portland and Los Angeles along with posters featuring our fancy new manifesto. We expected the quality to be just okay for $2.00 a piece but were pleasantly surprised when the posters showed up. First off, each comes in its own protective plastic sleeve. Next, the paper is much heavier than poster paper — it’s more like a few steps down from card stock. And the finish is the equivalent of a satin.

The Blogcademy MagCloud Posters

If you don’t have an event to produce posters for, why not try the following:

• Make prints of your original photography. Create a collage on your wall or give out as gifts and promos.
• Posters of old school family photos would be really charming!
• Do a series of patterns you’ve created. Make your own mishmash of wallpaper!
• Print your artwork as posters to sell at conventions, shows or events.

* All posters printed on-demand through MagCloud. Templates can be found here.

* Tassels are courtesy of The paper Jar via The Cloud Parade, an official Blogcademy sponsor.

* Finally, we want to note that this post was in no way sponsored by MagCloud. We just really like the service and hope it is of use to you as well.

xo always,
Shauna, Gala and Kat

A Sneak Peek Into Our Media Kit Plus Extra Insights!

The Blogcademy Media Kit

I just wrapped up a digital media kit for The Blogcademy and I’d like to shed a bit more light on media kits overall. Over the last three years, I’ve switched from traditional press kit folders to digital media kits and my clients have found huge success using them. With sharp editorial-style layouts and clickable links all in a PDF format that’s email-friendly, it’s easy to get the word out in a quick, professional manner whether you’re a blogger or a small business.

The Blogcademy Media Kit

The Blogcademy Media Kit

Historically, digital media kits have been most commonly used by large magazines to provide information including circulation rates and stats of their target audience for advertisers. Often, they also include a brief bio, testimonials and contact information.

The Blogcademy Media Kit

After designing my first media kit for a print magazine in 2008, I had the realization that they would be ideal for bloggers too. Sometimes a one-sheet just isn’t enough information if you’re trying to land bigger gigs and advertisers. I’ve designed a lot of media kits over the last few years — my two personal favorites are for Rock N Roll Bride (this is Kat’s older version — we just wrapped a 2013 refresh that more closely matches her magazine) and Veronica Varlow (who happened to be our special guest at the New York Blogcademy!).

At The Blogcademy, we’ve had a one sheet since the beginning to send out to sponsors but realized that while that was perfect for filling goodie bags, we needed something more robust for larger corporate partnerships that may pop up. It’s important to always be prepared for those potentially huge moments! 14 pages later, we’re feeling much more prepared for what 2013 holds.

In the media kits I put together, especially for bloggers, I usually start by suggesting the following:

• Front and back covers with a visible URL and logo
• An introduction with key accomplishments
• Testimonials from readers and clients
• Stats including traffic and social media numbers
• Rates / packages / availability
• Suggestions for how to make the most out of your partnership (recommendations for achieving the best results)
• Professional images of your brand / blog / yourself throughout
• Contact page with clickable links

From this list, we add and subtract content until the balance feels right. Each media kit should be very specific to that brand. There are some crossover design elements I’ve used but for the most part, every media kit is a clean slate.

The Blogcademy Media Kit

If you’re attending The Blogcademy London, we do a much more in-depth media kit overview during my branding segment. I hope this glimpse inside media kits makes them feel less mysterious!

*All photos in the media kit are by Devlin Photos and Made U Look Photography.

Collateral Update: Business Cards and Stickers!

The Blogcademy Collateral

We’ve been hard at work as of late designing all our business collateral and in an ongoing effort to help you outfit your own business in style, we’re sharing our sources! We wanted our cards to be premium in both look and feel but also budget-friendly and that’s where Moo came in. A lot has changed over at Moo in the last few years; it’s not just mini cards these days!

The Blogcademy Collateral

Have you seen the latest addition to their offerings, the Luxe Business Cards? Featuring Mohawk Superfine paper merged with a rich seam of color (we chose black for these), the quality is really awesome. The matte finish has a noticeably tactile texture and the saturation of the inks is top notch.

The Blogcademy Collateral

Of course, when it comes to branding our business, we couldn’t stop at just business cards. Moo also offers stickers in a number of formats and out favorite part is that you can upload multiple designs to be printed in the same pack! How cool is that? We have plans to use these to seal official correspondence. It’s all about those finishing touches, after all. We have some more goodies in the works — stay tuned!