High Quality Marketing Communications and Advertising Materials That Get Results!
Founded in 1994 by me, Barry Edwards, Edwards Communications’ mission has been to provide high-quality, innovative communications that directly target a product or service's market, resulting in increased sales and exposure. Our goal is to impact the bottom line while enhancing the company’s image in the marketplace. To this day EC’s creative and most production work is conducted by myself.

I conceive and produce every project or campaign with one thing in mind: results! I stand behind my services 100% and ensure your complete satisfaction. Please click here for my complete list of services and portfolio in my easy-to-use Flash site. High speed access is recommended.

I hope you enjoy my work.

Sincerely,
Barry Edwards, principal/creative director

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Special Feature
Award Winning Design
See my 4-color brochure for Lake Metroparks that one Best Publication in the State in 2006. Look under Brochures.
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About the Company
Edwards Communications Provides Complete Graphics and Advertising Services
A lot of agencies today outsource some of their most important creative work resulting in communication breakdowns, inconsistent quality and missed deadlines.

Creative work is our strength! From concept and design to copy writing through production, all work remains within a close-knit team for complete quality control – ensuring that the end product achieves the predetermined goals.

We provide complete creative services from design through production, copy writing and photography (we also have a vast library of stock photgraphy that provides our clients substantial savings).

Browse our portfolio for a look at the standard of quality you can expect from Edwards Communications.

About the President
Barry Edwards, principal/creative director
Starting out in Fine Art, I moved to design in the middle of my college years at Kent State University. Design enables me to use my creativity to solve particular problems, which appeals to me.

Today's use of technology particularly appeals to me as their are fewer boundaries than ever before when reaching out to our target audience. However, I always try to keep in mind the traditional principals of successful advertising and not get caught up in creating things to show off technological skills.

I started Edwards Communications in 1994 after several years of working my way to creative director of another agency. Going solo in Cleveland has provided me the opportunity to secure more creative work and establish important relationships in the industry. I've also been a college Photoshop instructor for more than twelve years in Kirtland, Ohio.

The most notable influence on the advertising end of my work is David Ogilvy -- known to some as the Father of Advertising. I apply the same tried and true principals to my work today that research has found to be so effective throughout advertising's maturation:

The importance of establishing hierarchy and organization is perhaps more important today than ever as our fast-paced world inundates us with information. The importance of our headlines, subheads, bulleted items and captions cannot be overlooked in capturing our target audience's eye. And the need for our copy to speak directly to our potential client's needs clearly and concisely seems to be a lost art.

I invite you to explore the samples in my complete Flash site. Please feel free to drop me an email or phone call to discuss you and your company's needs and goals

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Services
The following all have samples that can be viewed (guess where?) at my Flash site. High speed connection recommended.

Cover art:
when dynamics and professionalism mean the most
This represent a wide array of Edwards Communications' work. The techniques depicted include: graphic lettering, collages, montages, illustrations and photo-illustrations.

Some are created with our own stock photography. Some with our custom, digital photography. And some with client-supplied photography.

Regardless of the source, the end result is always custom artwork that is appropriate to the market and audience. Click on the thumbnails to see larger samples.

Folders and inserts:
a complete marketing package
Potential customers want an overview of your company. They want to know your mission statement and need an outline of your products and services. Most importantly, they want to know how you differentiate yourself from your competitor. Like your logo, this represents your entire company and is often mailed with nothing more than a cover letter–so it needs to be as comprehensive and professional as budget allows.

These communications also act as a perfect sales tool for your representative! With professional photos and strategic headlines and subheads, your marketing folder serves as an outlined reference as your representative introduces your company’s benefits and uniqueness to potential customers. We’ll help pinpoint your company’s strengths and show your prospect why he can’t say no!

Keep in mind that your marketing folder is often filed along with your competitors’ folders. How does yours measure up? Click here for samples.

Web sites:
Today's Yellow Pages - but with unlimited space and color!
Nothing is more economical to reach unlimited numbers of potential buyers than a web presence. At the very least, each company should have an introduction to their products or services and contact information as more people search for services via the internet today than the telephone book.

But a web site at its potential will differentiate you from your competition, enhancing your brand identity while enticing the purchase. Each company is unique and the internet allows limitless possibilities to showcase this.

Edwards Communications provides copy editing, design, animation and graphics calibration that allows you to stand up and be seen (and heard). Click here for samples.

Magazine ads:
Two seconds to sell!
Magazine ads provide identity branding and/or directly promote the sales and services. Ads are a powerful promotional tool when utilized correctly, but are a expensive investment in your company and therefore should be developed with experienced professionals at the helm.

An ad usually has only "2 seconds to sell" - that is, a reader glances over the material for an average of two seconds before deciding if he/she should read further. Therefore, the offer, concept, imagery and text must work in a clear and complementary hierarchy in order to attract the target audience.

Edwards Communications provides complete advertising services: from helping decide WHERE the dollars are best spent, to concieving and producing the ads themselves. Call or email us for more information on how to invest this money more effectively. Click here for samples

Periodicals:
Keeping in the limelight!
Periodicals, such as the newsletters and almanacs contained here, keep you in front of your audience on a regular basis. They help you develop a relationship with them as you establish your image.

The content must be useful and entertaining and the design should increase readability by enhancing the hierarchy and order of the articles. It doesn't hurt for the periodical to look a bit "fun" or innovative as well as readers desire a break from the mundane with such literature. Click here for samples

I've found periodicals a great place to experiment and take a few more chances with my design as they are a temporary piece communicating a variety of subjects as opposed to a corporate brochure that must communicate a singular subject as concisely as possible.

Corporate Identity/Logos:
Your company's first impression
What is the difference between "corporate identity" and "logos"? Or "brand Image" for that matter? They are all related and avenues to the same common goal: brand identity.

First, your logo. Your logo is the first impression of your company. You either spend a lot of time, effort and money trying to overcome an unprofessional first impression or you have a leg up with a professional, well-conceived logo that helps create the desired image and impression (brand image) that you intend.

A professional logo should be a self-contained piece of art. It should have a "substance" to it that allows it to stand on its own while being aesthetically pleasing. It needs to be simple enough to be legible at very small sizes and have a uniqueness that promotes a recognition factor.

I divide logos into two basic groups: Corporate and Consumer

Corporate Logos
Creating corporate logos is one of the hardest things I do. To the casual observer they look easy because they are simple and clean. To reproduce one IS easy, to create it is very difficult. Just as an accomplished guitarist may have no difficulty playing a three-chord rock classic– creating the classic is the hard part.

The corporate logo needs to communicate "quality, professionalism" and "longevity" and the more individual characteristics while remaining as stripped down and simple as possible. It is viewed so often via fax, xerox and newsprint that it can't afford to not look great at this level.

Consumer Logos
Consumer logos are a bit easier as they can, and often should, have more razzle dazzle to capture the audience's attention. A sense of fun can go a long way and they are less often viewed in the challenging formats that plaque corporate logos.

I have an extensive look at all types of logos and corporate id work (thumbnails on right). But what is "corporate id"?

Corporate Identity
Corporate id is often used synonymously with logo creation, but this is not wholely correct. The logo supplies the initial look and image. The design of the business cards, letterhead and envelopes suppliesmost of the rest (colors, fonts and so forth). But if a company really wants to establish a very well-defined image to carry them forward, the next communication (magazine ad, brochure, web site...) should be included in this as well to establish photo treatments and other formats. The first few samples demonstrate this to varying degrees.

Brand Image versus Brand Identity
To try to clarify these often misused terms, I'll simply state that a company's brand image is how a particular company's products and services are actually commonly perceived by its audience. Its brand identity refers to the marketing attempts (such as the corporate identity campaign) at establishing the desired brand identity.

Please browse through my corporate id projects and logos.

Promotional Brochures
Target Your Audience
A good product or service brochure needs to be like your head sales person: it needs to make the reader feel comfortable, define your products or services clearly while differentiating them from the competition, provide credibility and elicit a response.

This needs to be framed in professional design and creative photography that generates the image desired and reinforces the readers trust with its professionalism. Like your logo, your brochure is creating a huge impression of your company. Make sure its creating the image you intend!

Size Does Matter!
A standard 8.5 x 11" tri-fold brochure or something larger? The answer to this is easier than you may think: If its going out mostly in #10 envelopes with a cover letter, and/or sitting in a rack for public consumption, the tri-fold is the best bet. Otherwise, I encourage larger sizes that capture attention and look more unique.

Two-Color? Four -Color?
These days, thanks to technology and increased competition, 4-color (full color) printing is almost as cost effective as 2-color. Considering that marketing statistics show that 4-color is nearly twice as effective, its best not to be penny wise but dollar foolish.

However, when a particular paper stock is needed or the brochure needs changed and re-printed regularly, it is still sometimes better to go with 2-colors and I can get more out of two colors than anyone else I know thanks to some techniques I've developed over the years. I have several 2-color brochures in the samples at the right.

Please feel free to call or email with any questions. Brochures are (or should be) unique to each company and your's requires personalized and experienced attention!
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Edwards Communications Takes the Burden off Your Shoulders
Whether you're looking for a particular advertisement or corporate identity designed or an entire campaign conceived, our experience and talent provides you a vast resource of ideas ready for implementation.

Most of all, know that each step of the way your communications are developed with two things in mind: enhancing your corporate image in the marketplace and depicting your product/service as the clear solution to your target audience's needs.

Let's get started!
With a simple call or email we can get preliminary ideas hashed out we'll figure out how to make this one of the best investments of your life!

Please note that any inquiries without complete name, company, phone and address information will not be regarded as credible (competition).

Edwards is a Cleveland based company, providing many Greater Cleveland area clients with personalized service, but also works well via the internet if a project presents logistical challenges.

NOW, LET'S SEE THAT FLASH SITE!