Book Excerpt: Plain, Corny and Obvious

From the book: Through close observation, fundraisers have discovered three "Design Laws" — practices that, if we follow them well, encourage our fundraising messages to bear fruit. Those laws are: Make it plain; make it corny; make it obvious.

First Law: Make it plain. A piece of direct mail has to get noticed. If it gets noticed, it may get opened. If it gets opened, it may get read. If it gets read, it may get a response. This fact leads many fundraisers to break the First Law: They over-design the envelope. Cover it with images and type. Sometimes artsy and beautiful, sometimes as busy as Times Square.