Most anyone would agree that adding graphics to your newsletter or layout greatly enhances your work. Logos and clip art images can be used to draw attention to a specific area of text and raise the interest level of the reader. It’s finding the “right” image to illustrate your work that can present a challenge. Knowing where to look and how much it may cost you is more than half the battle.
Most anyone would agree that adding graphics to your newsletter or layout greatly enhances your work. Logos and clip art images can be used to draw attention to a specific area of text and raise the interest level of the reader. Its finding the "right" image to illustrate your work that can present a challenge. Knowing where to look and how much it may cost you is more than half the battle.
Quality versus quantity usually determines the price point for most clip art images. Usually higher quality designs not only look better but they also tend to be more user friendly. Meaning, they are more easily imported and manipulated within popular graphic software. Theres nothing more frustrating than finding a nice piece of artwork, only to find its only available as a jpeg file or some other lesserquality format.
Free, is the key for some creators and illustrators. You will find with most clip art company websites, you can download a certain number of free samples. This may be limited to aspecific format (such as a .jpg or .gif) or may allow several different formats of the same image. If you are able to download more than one particular format, its good to do so and compare thequality of each. You will find that a "vectorized" image will maintain its shape and look good at larger sizes. Raster files tend to "break up" or appear to have "jaggies" around the edges and do not lend themselves to aquality reproduction at larger sizes.
You can find thousands of free clip art images by simply typing in the keywords "free clip art" or "free logo" within any search engine. There will be tons of pages for you to browse and search through while looking for that certain design for your job. However, its best if you can narrow your search by typing in aspecific description or group of keywords that depicts your topic.
For example, if you are creating a newsletter for your church or youth group and looking for a design of a cross or religious picture, narrow your search by typing the keywords "Christian clip art" or "religious clip art" within your search engine browser. This will focus in on clip art sites that offer these types of designs and shorten your search. Its been my experience that I usually find what Im looking for within the top 20 listings and most of the time there are numerous free samples to pick from and download.
If you find yourself needing numerous types of images to illustrate your work or have ongoing needs for designer art. You may find it beneficial to join a clip art subscription program or "logo club". There are many different sites that offer free trial subscriptions or a "try before you buy" type program to get you familiar with their services. Some sites offer different levels of their subscription services that are tiered for users frequency of use. You will find club programs to fit most any budget, from a few dollars a month along with annual incentives that may save you even more money.
You will want to make sure you read and reread any "terms of use" or "disclaimers" that may be attached to any clip art image or subscription service. Just because a certain image may be free to download it may or may not be used freely. Public Domain files are usually free to the public, thus the title or term Public Domain. However, if you are acquiring a corporate logo or an organizations insignia, then you may be required to obtain written permission to use that image. Most images are copyrighted by the creator even if it does not represent aspecific company, so dont think just because its not a corporations logo its free to use.
Trademarked logos usually have a small circle with the letter R inside; representing it is a registered trademark. Likewise the small letters TM or SM (usually found in the lower right hand corner) will indicate this is an image trademarked by aspecific entity. You will want to pay special attention to these markings and respect the owners rights that apply to these images.
You will also find certain clip art and logo companies that offer a digitizing or reproduction service. Allowing you to submit an image via email or fax and they will create it in a digital format, making it useable with yourgraphic software or layout program. This is beneficial if you have a specific logo that has to be "matched" and be reproduced adhering to specific details.
When finding and using free logos make sure "free" really means free and pay attention to any TOS (Terms Of Service) or usage.
