Showcasing a hot property for sale, pulling fitness freaks to your gym, attracting the beauty queens to your salon, start with the right brochure. These effective and powerful tools help in two ways: educating the customers and engaging the customers. BUT only when the design is on point.
Just as your favorite dark chocolate needs the finest ingredients to melt in the mouth, a brochure needs compelling design to explain what the business is all about. Design that’s less-than-stellar, looks good in the trash can.
This information rich post is loaded with all the essentials that work together to form an awesome brochure. What you need to create, design and print an extraordinary brochure that brings results and makes that lasting impression on the audience is explained in-depth.
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For that ah-mazing brochure, there are certain things you got to follow religiously.
Do you really know who you are? We are not questioning but trying to make you understand that knowing your brand’s personality is a must. Lack of knowledge regarding your brand’s ins and outs makes the branding materials, including brochure, unclear and disjointed.
Who are you designing for? Different audiences favor different designs; thus, an unclear approach puts you at the risk of wrong design choices.
Ask yourself:
Before switching on the designing game, define your message first.
Make yourself clear with facts you are going to say in the brochure and how are you going to do that. Message displayed makes all the difference because it comes back to know the customers. If the message is not relevant, strong and connecting to them in images and language they associate with, whatever be the design, the resulting brochure will fall flat.
For every brochure you design, metrics to be in place is something non-negotiable. No metrics grow the confusion whether depend on the same design for future brochures or overhaul things for expected results.
Stepping in the designing shoes comes only after determining the metrics, which includes what exactly you are expecting out of the brochure.
Some ideas:
From type of paper to printing techniques, budget determines everything. Create a budget-per-print and take decisions based on the crucial elements.
When you know how much amount of cash you have for the design and design process, you can take better decisions and squeeze the maximum out of every dollar.
Brand identity must occupy the front of your mind when beginning the brochure design phase. These components take into account the visual look and feel of the brand. Whatever be the type of brochure being designed, it has to be consistent with overall branding. Incorporate fonts, colors and images that gel with the brand personality and match the tone & content of the brochure.
How your ideal customer wants to see the information? Big block or text? Or things to be broken up with images? Are there any particular fonts or colors that would look appealing to them? Where to put all the details such as contact information and business name?
Lay out things in a way that they captivate customers’ mind and heart.
You may not know but there’s a laundry list of options to choose the brochure type from. Moreover, there are choices to make about the way a brochure can be folded.
Another thing you may not be aware about is that brochure type that suits the design depends completely on the content.
Are your images and copy good enough to go before you pick up pen and paper and indulge in designing? Ponder upon these to simplify the decisions regarding length, font size, layout, etc.
Control your emotion hormones and don’t get too attached. WHY SO? Because design restrictions can behave as enemies and may interfere with how much text or how many images you can use. Hence, ensure that your major points are covered.
Structure the text with headlines and sub-headers, as this will make it skimmable for the readers who are too busy to read it all. Headline is very important and is the only way to win audience’s attention.
When it comes to image, gather them in front of you and identify which among them are best to tell your story and where they need to be kept.
Stylistic elements make the brochure shine.
Too much going on design-wise gives a complete overwhelming feeling to the reader. Avoid overcrowding things with excess graphics, too much text or too many design elements. Simple, clean and easy-to-digest designs charm the audience more.
Customers these days keep away from coming across same old school things. Handing a brochure that’s identical to what they have been seeing for the past 10 years is a major turn-off.
Best designs are the ones that dare to be different. You got to do something that’s done by none. In other words, the more you try being unique, the more attention you grab.
Let’s confess, you design a brochure to encourage the audience to rake action. To do that, you must tell it in a big way.
Burying your CTA in a mountain of rich text and that too in the last paragraph of the last page of the brochure is the worst crime to commit. WHY? Because no one will see it ever. To make CTA that inspires people, make it bold, large and catchy.
Center stage is the place your CTA must cover. Put it in multiple place all across the brochure. Make it in a way that no matter how far one goes into the brochure while reading, they don’t miss your CTA. The more front-and-center CTA is put, the more readers take action.
Before rolling out the brochure to the masses, ensure it’s perfection level.
When the brochure has been designed, evaluate the final product. This is the last chance for you to make any changes and come up with the right design.
Ask yourself:
For an outside perspective, ask same questions to other people. Show the design to friends, customers, colleagues and figure out if you have got the ultimate thing.
Design comes to life as expected when working with a top-notch printer. Another way is turning out such as some gnarly, bootleg version.
When you’re researching printers, ask a few questions to confirm if they are the best fit for the job.
A few examples:
To conclude, find a printer who is expert in brochure space, familiar to latest print technology and has designers who are skilled enough to help with design issues to make the print job look A+.
To select the best materials for the brochure, work with your printer.
Cheat sheet for help:
The higher it is, the thicker the sheet. As an FYI, most brochures fall between 170 and 300 GSM.
After choosing the paper comes the turn to choose the finish. A few different types of finishes you can choose from include:
Finish depends on the look that’s desired. Discuss different options with the printer keeping in mind the budget and print materials best fitted for the objectives.
Particular printers offer specialty inks that improve the overall look of the brochure.
Few options to inquire:
Check with the printer if these options are possible and how they can change the cost and production time.
Now, you have everything needed to design a fabulous brochure. What are you waiting for? Start creating one that conveys your brand message, brings you closer to your dreams, compels your customers to take action. An important tip — one brochure at a time.
