HispanicBusiness

Maybe it's just me, but have you ever seen a piece of clip-art, a photo or a font for the umpteenth time and groaned? Using the stock graphics supplied with your page layout or presentation software doesn't exactly scream "unique" or "innovative." And custom design work looks fantastic, but costs accordingly. How can you set yourself, and your slides, apart from the crowd without breaking the bank?

While compelling photos and drawings can really punch a project up, fonts do most of the heavy lifting. Most folks have a few dozen to choose from these days -- some would say too many. A good rule of thumb for professional communication is to use clean, angular, modern sans-serif fonts like Helvetica, Arial and Geneva for headings and more traditional serif fonts like Garamond, Palatino and Times New Roman for body copy.

Whimsical headline fonts, such as graffiti, stencil or script characters, are best used sparingly if at all. Microsoft's playful Comic Sans, for instance, has been so over- and mis-used that a movement of sorts, "Ban Comic Sans," has found many admirers. Try dafont.com for free downloads of both original creations and knock-offs of the classics if you get bored with the defaults on your system.

When it comes to graphics, be careful using clip-art. Basic shapes and icons are best -- colorful, cartoon-y images often clash with not only somber text but even each other. When looking for graphics, choose "vector" images in formats like EPS, PDF, WMF and SVG. These will scale and look crisp whether printed tiny on letterhead or blown up larger than life by a projector. Openclipart.org offers public domain graphics in SVG format, and open source illustration software Inkscape will convert the files to EPS format supported by most word processing, page layout and presentation software.

Thanks to inexpensive, high-quality digital cameras, taking your own photos is easier than ever. Need an image of a well-dressed professional on the go? Have a coworker in a freshly laundered shirt pose! It's certainly cheaper than buying a set of royalty-free stock images. A photographer ultimately owns the rights to any picture they take, and if you use an unlicensed image in an advertisement you're infringing on copyright and could end up paying stiff penalties.

However, the Creative Commons licensing terms allow shutterbugs to give permission in advance, allowing you to use their work for free as long as you credit them. Selecting the "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content" and "Find content to use commercially" on photo sharing site Flickr's advanced search page will filter the results so that only images you are free to use (again, with proper credit) are displayed. Visit the Creative Commons Web site for more details on using CC-licensed works commercially.

"Technology has made improving look and feel much easier, giving us a more attractive and varied aesthetic world," remarked respected business reporter and author Virginia Postrel in her book The Substance of Style. Technology has also meant generic graphics copied and pasted from business software, dozens of ugly options on font menus and low-resolution images stolen from the Web projected twenty feet tall. Investing a little time into making your business communication is attractive, creative and unique should certainly set you apart from your competition.

Jackson West is a writer and web geek living in San Francisco, California and he can be found online at jacksonwest.com.