Brochure Design
The first step you want to take when creating a brochure design is to determine what the purpose of the brochure is. Most brochures are made to be informative and sell a product or service. Also, determine who your target audience is. This will help you better determine the kind of publication to make. Publications that target retired people will in most cases, have different pictures or graphics than one that is targeting an audience in their early 20s.
Brochure designed to “sell”
If your objectives are to sell a product or service, then you want to be sure that the content of the brochure does just that. In order to get the prospective readers to continue reading your brochure, you want something captivating on the front. A question that triggers emotion or a provocative statement are both good options the front page of your brochure design. The far majority of potential readers don’t even open brochures unless there is something compelling on the front cover. You must get your readers’ attention, before you can sell them anything.
“What” you say is important, but “how” you say it is just as important. Many people when designing advertisements or brochures will write very technical content, often speaking over the readers’ heads, and creating a much more boring and uninteresting publication. Use your brochure to “talk” to your prospective clients or customers. This will keep readers interested far longer than if you were to address them in an essay form. One of the most important things when selling a product, no matter the format, is to be confident. Use confident statements. “This product could change your life” is much less convincing than a statement like “This product will change your life.” Take out any words of doubt and replace them with strong, compelling words.
Organize the Content so that the most important information is seen. Most readers only skim advertisements, therefore they only actually see the titles and headings of your brochure. Be sure to put your most important benefits and features in the headings as to capture the attention of the readers. Simplistic sells. Bullets are effective in brochures, as long as they are short and easy to read. Use short sentences and only 2-3 sentence paragraphs. It is crucial to leave your readers understanding what step to take next. Insert contact information at every place possible in your brochure design. They should know exactly where to go and what to do in order to take advantage of what you are offering. Also, designing the brochure to list the benefits of the service or product as close to the front of the brochure as possible is a strategically wise move.
Most importantly, your brochure will represent who you are as a company. For this reason, your brochure design must be professional, and classy. If you choose to make a flyer that appears cheap and hurried, you are doing your company a disservice by advertising in this way. Be sure that pictures are professional, that the color is high quality and that the paper being used is the right fit for your company and publication. When it comes to marketing, it is important to stay in sync with all other publications. Use the same color scheme, as to look consistent and assist in the branding process. Use the same logo and the same slogans, as an attempt at heightening the level of recall by your readers.
Informative Brochure
Brochures that are designed as a channel for information or resources will be different than those used to sell a product or service. Informative brochures will have as much information on them as possible, while still being aesthetically pleasing. As long as the brochure design is intended to inform people, and offer information, the more thorough, the more effective the brochure. You must be careful when designing your brochure that you organize your content well, and that the format you choose is easy to read and understand.
Informative brochures differ in that they don’t have to sell their product or service, but offer information to their readers. It is still important to organize your content in a matter that is appealing and easy to read. The more information you can offer, the more effective your brochure will be. Still, keep in mind that brochures filled with information only can look cluttered and are distracting to their readers. Therefore, you want to create your brochure design with enough information to be effective, enough pictures to be interesting, and enough white space to be effective. Negative space on brochures is vital to keep readers focused on the content and keep them reading. While informative brochures need to have enough information to be helpful, they also must look nice in order to keep their audience interested.