I’ve often said that the right offer to the right audience delivered at the right time can be written with lipstick on toilet paper and get a pretty decent response.

But smart, thoughtful design can make good words better, great words more powerful. Because what good design does is support the marketing message, like readable fonts at readable point sizes … clean illustrations that makes tough concepts easier to understand … layouts that push prospects through paragraph after paragraphs.

I’m not a designer but I know good design when I see it — and so should you. In today’s Target Marketing, there are two articles about direct response design that I encourage you to check out.

Creative Direct Mail That Sell

Pay special attention to Ted Kikoler’s comments. He’s the DM design guru’s guru.

An Exercise in Email Design

Notice the use of the paper “dummy” to organize your copy and identify “cold” spots. Nice.

•  Enjoyed this post? Get free updates by email or RSS
• Need a copy critique or a consult? Contact the Maven
• Get a free subscription to Website Magazine (aff)

[tags] target marketing, direct mail design, email design, ted kikoler [/tags]