Cynthia Oswald

Surface Design, Fine Art + Branding for Creatives

Branding

How do your values translate in print?

Print with Purpose: How Marketing Materials Reflect Your Brand

Recently, a customer shared a concern that stopped me in my tracks:

“We’ve been getting compliments on our brochures… but I don’t want customers to think we spent too much on marketing.”

I get it. There’s a worry that polished materials might come off as inauthentic or overly flashy. But here’s the truth: you don’t need expensive print materials to run a great business. However, when your print materials reflect your values and help communicate your message with sincerity, they become powerful tools for connection—not manipulation.

In this client’s case, every word, design choice, and layout decision was rooted in real substance. Their investment wasn’t about flash. It was about clarity, trust, and drawing in the right people. That’s the kind of design I believe in.

So if you’re wondering whether it’s worth investing in printed marketing pieces, here’s the question to ask:

What do your materials say about your business?

Let’s explore a few intentional options depending on your audience, your brand values, and your budget:

🌿 GREEN

Best for brands focused on sustainability
If you want your values to show up on paper—literally—printing on 100% recycled paper with vegetable-based inks can make a meaningful statement. Yes, it costs a bit more, but it tells eco-conscious customers that you walk your talk.
→ One of my favorite green printers: GreenerPrinter.com

🌟 HIGH-QUALITY

Best for brands that lead with craftsmanship and care
When your product or service is all about excellence, your print materials should match that experience. Think: thick, tactile paper stocks, vibrant color accuracy, and printing techniques that elevate your message. Local printers often shine here—and yes, it’s worth going in to see a press check.
→ Try: Brilliant Graphics

💡 AFFORDABLE

Best for newer businesses or those testing different formats
If you’re just getting started or working with a modest budget, you can still create strong, beautiful materials. Just be selective—read reviews, compare paper samples, and avoid the rock-bottom deals that look… well, cheap. A small investment goes a long way in how your brand is perceived.
→ Reliable and cost-effective: PsPrint.com

The bottom line? Your print should feel like you

Whether you’re a high-end consultant, a handmade goods shop, or a sustainability-focused nonprofit—your marketing materials should support and reflect what you stand for.

Even the simplest design decisions can reinforce your message:

  • Paper texture that hints at warmth or minimalism

  • Typography that feels handcrafted or bold and modern

  • Imagery that tells your story without needing to say a word

If you’re unsure which option is right for your next project, I’d be happy to help you figure it out. Your marketing doesn’t need to be flashy—it just needs to be honest, intentional, and true to you.

Have questions or want to chat through an idea? Reach out to me here.

Carefully selecting your brand ingredients

The recipe to help you brand your business:

I was chatting with an award-winning baker recently who shared that she walks to a local farm to pick up her eggs. They are often so fresh they are still warm when she mixes them into her pastry batter. The image of the warm eggs beaten into a batter of organic, carefully selected ingredients, stuck with me. Mostly because I love food but also because I knew there was something very special about how she selected her ingredients and I’m sure it has something to do with the outstanding quality of her baked goods.

I baked a cake for my sister’s birthday this past week. She wanted a very specific, time-consuming, triple-layered Raspberry Lemon Coconut Cake. Many steps, tools and ingredients were required to make this possible. I ran around the kitchen collecting the citrus zester, the sifter, mixer, etc. I realized that my tools weren’t completely up-to-par for making this type of cake but I knew they could get the job completed with a little extra hard work, and admittedly, a second set of hands. What was most important were the ingredients. I couldn’t substitute the lemon zest for lemon juice or the cake flour for all-purpose flour—I had to make sure that the ingredients were correct and of good quality so the final outcome would be desirable.

I look at building a brand in a very similar way. There are tools for all different business levels based on budget. What if you don’t have a top-quality citrus zester? Or in branding terms—maybe it’s your web host. Or your email marketing platform. It definitely makes the job easier, smoother, and takes less time when your hosting provider and email marketing platform are running well … but if you don’t have good content to share on your website or email you might as well not waste your time.

Ensuring that you have all of the necessary ingredients to produce a desirable outcome translates perfectly when you are looking at your brand. I actually think breaking it down into a recipe makes perfect sense. I would list out the tools you need, as well as the content that should be created and the timing for each step of the process. This is typically what I do for each project I work on with a customer. For more information on how I can help you with your brand message me directly here. For a list of basic content that you should collect to better brand your business see below:

Brand Essentials:
1. Your mission and values statements
2. A list of products or services
3. Logo (Full-color, black or one-color version, plus different orientations if necessary)
4. Secondary fonts to accompany your logo
5. Specific colors to be used with and for your brand (outline these by PMS, CMYK, and RGB breakdown for consistency)
6. Textures, illustrations, and/or photographs that serve as secondary brand elements—helping to emulate the style of your business and mission
7. A concise list of content categories that speak to your ideal customer

Do you have a logo in mind that embodies your business or vision, or are you looking to create one? I’d love to hear from you. Share your thoughts or reach out for a consultation to bring your vision to life. And if you’re a designer, why not take these principles and apply them to your next project? Let’s create logos that don’t just exist but make a resonant and lasting impression.

Bring your logo to life

7 Steps to Move Through Project Overwhelm

Project Overwhelm

One very good lesson I’ve learned from creating artwork is to enjoy the process. It’s easy for me to envision how I want the final piece to come across, what feelings or thoughts I want to evoke from the viewer, and how the steps I’m going to take will lead me closer to the overall goal. This helps me get past that midway mark—where I feel like the piece is not coming together the way I hoped or perhaps it’s taking too much time. I’ve sat and thought about what went wrong, whether or not the piece was going to be effective, or questioned why I even created it—what purpose does it serve?

I noticed that the time I spent negatively criticizing my idea was not beneficial to the final result. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take a step back and analyze what is working and what isn’t. It just means getting stuck in project overwhelm is useless. If you’re stuck mulling over your idea but not actually moving forward towards completion I suggest that you take the following steps:

1. Picture your project or idea complete. Who is holding it or viewing it? What are they thinking? How do they feel? What is your main objective? Write this down as it is pertinent to the success of your goal.

2. Gather inspiration. Using your descriptive words from the list above start to gather some content. Do your research at this stage. Are there other companies or projects that resonate with you? If so, reference them. Once you’ve done your research create an inspiration board that will help you to visualize what feeling you are trying to emulate. I like to cut magazines apart, or gather content and lay it out in InDesign—you could also use Pinterest.

3. Chunk it down. What materials do you need in order to formulate the end goal? Start with the overall feel and then move through it piece by piece, page by page or chapter by chapter. What components of the project will remain the same throughout and what will change? It could be colors, fonts and layout that stay the same—while the illustrations and written content changes depending on the section.

4. Create a schedule. For example, if it’s a book or a website, when will you need the written content by? When do you need the illustrative/photography elements? When does the final project need to be completed? How can you break it apart into sections that make it less overwhelming? Set up a calendar with reminders and maintain the deadlines you’ve set for yourself.

5. Be realistic. I always underestimate how much time it takes me to do something. Give yourself more than enough time. There is no reason to disappoint yourself by not meeting your goals. If you have a drop-dead due date that is adding pressure alter something else in your schedule that doesn’t have a due date.

6. Be flexible. Details might need to change in order to create the final vision you imagined. There may be one component that you really wanted to use but now that you see it altogether you need to be willing to let it go. It may be too much or perhaps it was just an inspiration but not part of the final piece.

7. Solicit help. I cannot stress enough how important it is to collaborate with others. If you’re a writer have an editor proofread your work—be willing to accept positive as well as negative feedback. If you’re a designer or marketer solicit someone in your network to give you feedback. Working together always produces richer and more meaningful work.

In the end moving forward is always the answer. It’s easy to get caught up in all of the little details that make up the whole. Coming up with an outline or a plan will help you to focus on the bigger picture. Whether you are starting a business, creating a website, writing a book or cleaning your house—I believe this is true no matter what goal you are trying to move towards.

Branding Beyond the Logo

Kimberton Whole Food's Branding
I’m so thankful for my time working in the Marketing Department at Kimberton Whole Foods. Not only did they provide me with creative freedom, but I really had the opportunity to explore what it means to build on a brand. When I started working for them their logo was already created and they were happy with it. However, they didn’t have a style guide or supporting elements—such as fonts, colors, textures, illustrations—to use in addition to the logo to help build their brand.

The challenge was being the only designer to provide elements and structure to all of the different departments representing KWF’s brand. I was constantly thinking on a bare-bones level. How can “XYZ” project elements be used in the future? How can they be integrated in the style guide? There was always a few projects working simultaneously with the style guide gaining content behind the scenes. I was continuously thinking about how the design elements create a voice for the brand.

Why does this matter? I recently worked with KWF for a couple of projects and I was able to complete them in a timely manner because I had these design elements ready to repurpose in a library for their brand. This is essential—not only to create consistency and brand recognition—but also to ensure you’re investing wisely in proper design materials that can be repurposed without becoming redundant.

To view a select number of pages from the Team Member Guidelines recently created for KWF see below. I was fortunate to work with Lydia Sadauskas on this project. She is the Chief People Person at Kimberton Whole Foods and the content creator/writer of this wonderful piece.