Custom Buttons Blog (Page 1 of 2)
Welcome to The Button Post by Pure Buttons! (Page 1 of 2)! A blog where we discuss all things related to custom pin-back buttons and other custom promotional products that Pure Buttons offers. Stick around for coupons to score cheap pinback buttons, new button product announcements and more!
Here are a few great examples of how to get the most effective use out of your promotional buttons. You’ll notice that the buttons pictured below have a great appeal to them. The designs are great and the copy is short. When designing your buttons always remember that “less is more”. Especially when you are using these for promotional use. You want to have your customers come to you and ask you about the promotion you are currently running.
Last Modified: August 30th, 2009
First, I’d like to say I’ve seen a lot of great looking buttons over the years but, I’ve also seen some of the worst looking buttons over the course of time as well. Which is what struck me to create a post to help everyone create more successful buttons. Let’s face it, the better your buttons look the happier you will be and the more buttons you will sell!
– Less is more
I remember my art teacher back in high school always telling me that when you are working with small spaces “Less is always more”. I’ve included an example of a good promotional button below for you to see.
– Keep things short and sweet. (when it comes to text)
When using text, make sure the design flows. You wouldn’t want to have, on one line or even two lines ie. “ASK ME HOW TO GET FREE GAS” (Examples below). This would be using the space of the button poorly. Therefore, making your promotional button look undesirable. The idea of your promotional button is to spark conversation about the message you’d like to convey. (To draw in your customers and to ask a question about what message is on your pinback button).
Above, are a few poor examples of a promotional button
Here is how I would have laid this pinback button out. Notice how much more legible this is. Also, the worth of this pinback button was improved by simply repositioning the text. (see digital mock up below)
– Use colors that flow.
Sometimes colors look great together on your monitor but, let’s face it sometimes when they print it makes the button extremely difficult to read. A rule a thumb I always tell our customers (when they ask me how there button(s) will look) I have them print their artwork out of there home or office printer. That way they can see if things are legible and the colors are what they are looking for.
– When using a smaller button try to keep the design detail to a minimum. As you can see in the example below this is a highly detailed button design, but also notice there is no text. If there was text on this, it would make it extremely difficult to read.
– Be sure to have a full bleed for your design. I believe pinback buttons that have a full bleed look better and have higher quality value to them. I would highly suggest always designing your buttons with a full bleed.
These simple tips will help your pinback buttons be more successful, and you will also be happier with your button order.
Last Modified: August 4th, 2008
Who are some of your favorite designers?
Whew…I’ll try to keep it down to a few: Andy Warhol, Shepard Fairey, Sam Keith and Chris Bachalo (amongst an obscenely long list of my favorite comic book artists). Frank Kozik and Derek Hess are giant influences on me, especially earlier on. Having gotten to work with Derek on some projects was a big thing for me…still is. I’d feel like a jerk to not namedrop the dudes at Go Media for educating young designers, doing solid work, and thriving in my home (Cleveland).
You’ve had experience designing button packs with us. Any tips on designing a unique button pack?
It’s definitely important for designers to strive for something that’s their own, but I don’t know quite how to explain to someone else how to make something unique. For me, the setup of the packs reminded me of action figure packaging from when I was a kid, so I came at it from that angle, especially with my ‘Space Race’ pack. So I guess my advice would be to take a look at what’s out there, find what gets you going, and just make the thing RULE. (in other words, don’t make it suck.)
Last Modified: July 4th, 2008
I just thought I’d showcase some of our recent button packaging orders. So far the response has been great, keep up the unique designs! Stay tuned for actual photos. For more information about our custom button packaging check out our button packaging page.
Last Modified: June 18th, 2008
I’ve known Jeff for about 2 years now. I met Jeff through my friends over at Jakprints. GoMedia was currently designing some of Jakprints promotional material. After one glance I was hooked! I immediately started to ponder up promotional ideas for PureButtons. As my brain was racing with ideas I decided to contact GoMedia. Within a few hours I had a response from Jeff Finley. Since this point on I’ve sent Jeff numerous design projects.
You can check Jeff out here:
gomedia.com / jefffinley.org / arsenal.gomedia.us
Here is my interview with Jeff Finley
How long have you been with GoMedia and is it true you are part owner?
I freelanced with Go Media in 2005 on a couple projects, but I didn’t start full time until January 2006. And yes, I’m one of three owners.
How long have you been with GoMedia and is it true you are part owner?
I freelanced with Go Media in 2005 on a couple projects, but I didn’t start full time until January 2006. And yes, I’m one of three owners.
Where did you go to school?
I went to The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
How did the idea of the GoMedia Arsenal come about? I see it’s really taking off.
We had always tossed around the idea of selling stock artwork. One of our designers Dave decided to make it happen. He basically started the project officially and we all worked as a team to create it. We planned to release 1 set of 7 different themed packs and see what would happen. The first day we sold 10 packs! We saw that the market was there, so we just kept it up!
Have you encountered people “stealing” your work and passing it off as their own?
All the time. Especially with the Arsenal. Some people are even selling Arsenal stuff illegally on legitimate stock photo websites. We can’t believe what people will do sometimes. It’s a chore to keep up with it all. It’s not as common for someone to steal our actual commissioned artwork, but it does happen.
Do you find it flattering?
At first yeah, but after awhile it gets really irritating.
Who are some other artists you look up to?
When I first got started, I was inspired by Derek Hess, Rob Dobi, and Angryblue. Those three are still going strong today. My current inspirations are Horsebites, John Dyer Baizley, Dan Mumford, Florian Bertmer, and Aaron Horkey.
What would your thoughts be for designing buttons? Any tips?
Well, since they’re fairly small, they’ve gotta be readable from a distance. You can’t really get a whole lot of detail in there, so it’s important to keep that in mind. Make sure you always use the templates! That saves the manufacturer a lot of time!
What has been your favorite piece of artwork you’ve ever designed?
It changes all the time. I’m usually in love with my most recent piece. However, I’m still really fond of the shirt I did for Paint the Stars.
What motivates you to come up with new exciting designs?
A number of things. One is to continue to impress myself, my clients, and my fans. I put pressure on myself to get better all the time. Two, the idea that the work I do can potentially be seen by lots of people. And for three, the possibility of getting more work as a result. All of that keeps me inspired to create exciting work.
Any words of encouragement for new and upcoming designers?
Don’t get discouraged and keep practicing. It will take years to develop a style that you can call your own. Take it one client at a time and always try to do your best work. Continue to exapand your skillset and learn some web skills. In order to stand out, you have to either a) do one thing better than everyone else, or b) do something different than everyone else. And don’t undersell yourself. Don’t let clients take advantage of you. And Google is your friend, if you don’t know how to do something, just look it up. Be a self starter, don’t wait for people to hand you things. Go out and get it.Be sure to check out GoMedia
Thanks Jeff for your time!
Last Modified: April 19th, 2023