Tote Turquoise

Tote Turquoise

Beyond The Logo – 5 Design Ideas For Promotional Bags

f you've been investigating using promotional bags as part of your small business or retail marketing strategy, you have probably heard a lot about the importance of creating a re-useable, quality product. Promotional bags get their marketing longevity not only from the materials they are made from (jute, cotton or polyethylene as opposed to crinkly plastic), but also from their design. If you can find a way to market your business, while satisfying your customer's need to have and use attractive, but not marketing-oriented things, your branding is on its way skyward! However, it can be a delicate balancing act trying to brand your bags strongly, yet still create an inspiring, creative and eye-catching design. Today we give you some ideas for creating environmental bags your customers will love … and use again and again!

Use bright and contrasting colours

Colour schemes are one of the most important parts of a design, and often you can create a bag that is subtly, but very strongly, branded simply by using a strong or contrasting colour scheme. Black is a particularly good choice for a background, but you can also get background colours from turquoise, to red and orange, to bright pink in the promotional bags range.

Use photographs

Photographs add instant class to a promotional bag. Heat transfer printing techniques mean that photo realism is easily achievable. Chose a photo that aligns with your current branding and products, without being a straight marketing shot. In the example bag, the photograph would work well as branding for a fresh fruit and vegetable market, or even a kids' clothing store. You don't need to pay hundreds for a photographer to take pictures for you – search through the huge number of stock photo libraries on the web and choose a pic for your bag for as little as $1.

Align your graphics with the bag colours

The promotional bag in this photo looks as if the bag was made specifically for the logo … not the other way round! This is a great strategy for creating a strongly branded bag that people will find usable in all sorts of situations. The colours will trigger their memory of your logo, without the branding being too obvious.

Incoporate background patterns into your design

Some promotional bag suppliers have ready-patterned fabrics – but all can print over the entire surface of the bag like this. Don't limit yourself to a little logo in the centre, spread your branding joyfully from edge to edge with a background pattern! This bag could have been quite easily silk screen printed (for cost effectiveness), but has the same visual impact as photo-realistic heat transfer printing techniques.

Don't be afraid of the edge!

As we just mentioned … don't limit your self to a little logo in the centre of your bag! Leaving plenty of white space in a design (or blue space, as the case may be) is a great way to add instant class. The use of the edge makes the promotional bag seem fun, off-the-wall and creative. When customers get to ‘brand' themselves like this – carrying a creatively designed bag makes them feel creative – they will use your environmental bags much more. The little extra time it takes to think of a neat design for your promotional bags is always worth it.

About the Author

Albury Enviro Bags provide a range of green bags and custom printed wholesale bags. Invest in a reusable green bag that is made from environmentally friendly fabrics. For more information or to place an order, visit  Shopping Bags .

Chi by FalchiGenuine Metallic Croco-Embossed Leather Tot...