graphics experts, please help!

[NancyR]

I know there are some real graphics gurus here and hope you can help me come up with some ideas. My friend needs a part time job badly and I offered to draw up a brochure for her. She is a licensed massage therapist and wants to do massages in her home (or she does have a portable table if necessary). I am going to start by going through pre-made templates but am open to any and all suggestions.
TIA
Nancy

[Hammster]

I'm no graphics expert, but maybe this website can help? Looks like they make business cards and brochures for massage professionals. Maybe you can get some ideas from the site?

http://www.phrizbie-design.com/massage_therapist_cards.html

[NancyR]

Wow, good start, thanks Hammster. That lavender brochure is soooo pretty. Keep the ideas coming folks!

[GingerPow]

I'm no graphics expert, but maybe this website can help? Looks like they make business cards and brochures for massage professionals. Maybe you can get some ideas from the site?

http://www.phrizbie-design.com/massage_therapist_cards.html
I really like that. I used to work in the graphics department at our local newspaper and currently do work gratis for friends, local churches and community organizations. I'll soon be doing promotional materials for a local real estate company. I would definitely go with the graphics Hammster discovered, or certainly similar. I'm very impressed with these images!

A good place to start would be the templates on the Publisher software. They could easily be adapted to something in line with your friend's massage business. I hope to see what she comes up with!

[Gumbeaux]

Here's another option.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/bayoutitan/NancyR2.jpg

[SheRa]

Gumbeaux - don't make me fall out of my chair laughing! that's awesome! hahah!

NancyR - you could also head to a book store and check out some design magazines. Graphic Design USA and Print Magazine are 2 that come to mind right off hand. you could get ideas from there, or looking at page design in magazines that you or your friend enjoy to get inspiration.

[imloulou]

Hi Nancy,
My husband is a massage therapist and we own a massage therapy clinic. I do the billing, business cards, brochures, advertising, etc. I am no expert but have a few ideas:)

I use Publisher and Word (I am currently using the trial version of 2007 which is due to come out at the end of January). Each has templates for brochures. I take a lot of the pictures myself. If you don't want to do that then you can get photos online. I just signed up for BigStockPhotos because I needed some generic massage photos:

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/ - the photos are only a couple bucks each and there is no minimum if you use PayPal.

Here is a search for massage photos on the above site (there are many pages of pics):

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/search.php?photo_name=massage+therapy&x=0&y=0

You can also get some by searching "Massage Table" and "Massage Chair".

Also try out some of the Massage Organizations. Some have Photos and text and may even have brochures already made. Does she belong to any now? If she does see what they offer.

http://www.abmp.com/home/index.html --I was a member of this group a few years ago. They had ready made brochures that were nice and professional. You may want email them to see if they still offer brochures. You do have to be a member to use the photos and items they offer.

http://www.amtamassage.org/a/shoppingmall/ -- American Massage Therapy Organization. You have to be a member to be able to buy brochures.

I know there is more...I need my coffee first...I will post as I find them (I am working on our webpage right now so as I am looking for graphics I will post:) )

[NancyR]

Gee thanks, Gumbeaux, I guess my job is done!

[imloulou]

Hey Nancy...I was printing thank you cards from the HP pages and found this brochure and though of you:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/acProject?project=custombrochuredesigner&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&extcat=homeofficebusinesstemplates

You select a theme, enter your own text and photos and you can then save it as a PDF file to print whenever you need...maybe this would help?
It says to use a certain HP paper but I just use cardstock or heavier weight paper and fold as the project needs. (I use this site all the time for cards)

[MISSINDI]

If you're looking for another site with photos that you can use, I use iStock (http://www.istock.com) a lot. Depending on the size of the graphic you need, most photos are only a buck a piece. Hope this helps.

[imloulou]

If you're looking for another site with photos that you can use, I use iStock (http://www.istock.com) a lot. Depending on the size of the graphic you need, most photos are only a buck a piece. Hope this helps.

I'm not Nancy but thanks for that link Missindi...I'm going to check it out right now!

[MISSINDI]

I'm not Nancy but thanks for that link Missindi...I'm going to check it out right now!

No problem. :) I used photos from there for all the banners on the 15 Well Fed sites (http://www.wellfed.net), and a few other things as well. They also have a free image of the week, which is nice.

[NancyR]

Hey thanks! I'm glad you all remembered me. I am still working on her layout and nearly have it finished but am always open to ways to improve it or maybe even start over. I love how endless the possibilities are with this type of work. In my rough draft I have used several pictures I found just searching on Google Images. This is for a very small local business......surely I don't have to worry about copyright for something like that, do I? Also, one thing I found interesting. My friend is black and lives in a mostly black community. Would you believe I searched some 50 pages or so of google results and only found 2 black people getting massages! :confused:
I'm off to your links.....thanks everybody.
Nancy

[NancyR]

Missindi, Thanks so much for the tip on iStock. I paid one whole dollar for the COOLEST photo and made just an awesome gift cerficate. Wish I could post it for all to see. Now if my friend doesn't like it :rolleyes:

[NancyR]

Just had an afterthought. Do any of the experts here have any advice on the most economical way to get these printed for her? I did a brochure, business cards, and gift certificates. I'm thinking the best would probably be to just print them myself but if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. I should add that, obviously, I am using color and graphics.
Thanks so much everybody,
Nancy

[MISSINDI]

Just had an afterthought. Do any of the experts here have any advice on the most economical way to get these printed for her? I did a brochure, business cards, and gift certificates. I'm thinking the best would probably be to just print them myself but if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. I should add that, obviously, I am using color and graphics.
Thanks so much everybody,
Nancy

Have you visited VistaPrint? I get business cards, postcards and calendars printed there all the time. They always have really great deals, and the quality is very good. Hope this helps. (Glad that iStock worked for you. If she doesn't like the picture, at least it's only another buck for a second one. ;))

[NancyR]

VistaPrint is very interesting, thanks again Missindi. I will compare the prices to Kinkos but have a feeling that I will probably cave and offer to do them on my own printer for her. I'm not sure she could afford the professional printing prices.
As an aside, does anyone here have experience with doing this type of thing as a small business or freelance type thing? DH and I are contemplating retirement and I would love to develop a small business doing something like this.

[MISSINDI]

VistaPrint is very interesting, thanks again Missindi. I will compare the prices to Kinkos but have a feeling that I will probably cave and offer to do them on my own printer for her. I'm not sure she could afford the professional printing prices.
As an aside, does anyone here have experience with doing this type of thing as a small business or freelance type thing? DH and I are contemplating retirement and I would love to develop a small business doing something like this.

Haven't compared, but I'd be surprised if Vista doesn't blow Kinkos prices out of the water. They frequently run specials for free business cards - hard to compete with that. Just ordered 250 for a client yesterday.

As far as the other question, I have a secretarial service on the side, doing typing, data entry, resumes, marketing, editing, proofreading, copywriting, etc. There's definitely a market for it. :)