|
|
Designing
a Professional Brochure
Writing a successful brochure
is one of the more difficult design tasks. Unlike
billboards and signs, brochures have to span
three attention lengths. 1. The "read me
now" when a view chooses to pick it from
a rack of brochures or open the mailer. 2. The "quick
scan" as a viewer decides whether it was
a mistake to pick up your brochure. 3. The "I'm
interested give me value" when a viewer
decides to actually read the brochure which could
be sometime later than he/she picked it up. Whew.
After all this, you still need to get them to
do something.
Goal
Ok then, if you are
still reading, let’s get your brochure
right. First and foremost is understanding
your objective. You know more about your business
or subject than any rational human will ever
care to know. Yes, your business is great,
you have 50 great products, a great guarantee,
a wonderful service department, a glossy coat,
and fresh breath. None of these matter because
they have nothing to do with the viewer. Create
your ultimate objective around your viewer.
Bad Goal: Provide information about our downtown district.
Good Goal: Bring a visitor downtown to one of the eclectic
restaurants.
Target Audience
Who will be viewing this brochure?
When you decide on an audience get specific enough to personify
an individual. What is his name? How many kids does he
have? What kind of car does she drive? On the surface we
are answering basic demographics such as age, income and
education but we ultimately need to make the viewer feel
and act. This is done by truly understanding the individuals
that make up your audience.
Learning Objectives
One of the biggest trends in today's
marketplace is customer education. Decide what you want
to educate the viewer. Thank the customer by making your
brochure worth their time. Make it interesting, unique
and let it support your goal.
Emotional Objective
Learning leads the viewer
to the next step. No matter what we like to
think about ourselves, we take action because
we feel. Why should they care? How do you want
the view to emotionally respond?
Behavior Objective
You've fed them knowledge
and you've made them care. Now tell them exactly
what you want them to do with these pent up
emotions. Name Step 1., Step 2.,. if you have
to, but give them explicit directions as to
how they should proceed.
Design
The article title is "Designing
a Professional Brochure" and we have yet to
talk about design. In architecture school professors
always said, "Form follows function." Truly
even the best-looking design is just graphics
unless there is intent behind it. If you skipped
the nonsense about goals and objectives, I
urge you to take a u-turn towards the top of
the page and read it. The bulk of my time as
a designer is spent on objectives and target
audience, not on graphics. Graphic design is
a communication language, not art. (we do print
beautiful postcards for art however). Goals
and objectives in hand, we now move to graphics.
Theme and Structure
Maintain a consistent
feel throughout your brochure. Using limited
colors such as one or two background colors
and a highlight color allows the user to easily
distinguish the importance level of the information.
Although the brochure is designed and printed
flat, create a consistent grid for each panel,
allowing enough margin space to avoid feeling
cluttered. Feel free to break this grid with
important elements, but the viewer needs the
consistency to read the "off grid" or non-standard
elements as important.
Text
Graphic software manufacturers
should institute an alert when the third font
is chosen, "The system has recovered from a
serious error. The program will now revert
to a previous font face." Using on font face
for titles and headings and one for copy with
italics and bold used sparingly increase the
viewers comprehension of your brochure. San-serif
fonts (like this one, Arial) are more readable
at smaller font sizes. In general, trim your
copy before reducing the font sizes, keeping
font sizes large (min 12pt, dependent on viewer
age).
Quick-read Text
Nothing makes text more
readable than the lack of it. Enough blank
space is critical and when it's missing it
is usually due to too much text. Carefully
choose your heading text and include bulleted
lists or bold elements to allow a viewer to
scan and understand your brochure within ten
seconds.
Other Text Notes
• use power words such as new, easy, results, proven
• AVOID ALL CAPS, ITS DIFFICULT TO READ AND REDUCES RESPONSE RATES
• use bold and italics sparingly
• use image captions, they are one of the most read elements
• use short common speech, voluminous exposition and supercilious verbiage
diminish recall
• avoid text over images unless you gradient or lighten the image 80-90%
(far more than your fist glance estimate)
• narrow text columns increase readability
• call to action, step by step tell the viewer what they need to do after
reading
• include brief company and contact information (its amazing how often
this is overlooked)
Images
One great image is worth
ten good ones. Keep you images few, but powerful.
Not everyone will read your brochure, but they
will see it. Images are so powerful that there
is no faster way to reduce the read rate than
poor images. I am not a photographer and I
cringe at every check I write to one, but it
is worth it. An inexpensive alternative is
stock imagery. (Corbis.com is
the leader in stock photography) Choose beautiful
stock imagery over poor-quality snap-shots.
Cover
Your brochure will be
fighting a sea of other marketing material
and must scream "read me." Avoid
text columns on the brochure cover. Get your
point across in as few words as possible (2-10).
Also remember if your brochure is sitting in
a rack, only the top one-third will be visible
at all. The cover is center-stage for your
images; make sure they are vibrant and intriguing.
The only job of the cover is to entice people
to pick up your brochure. Above all else, keep
the cover simple.
Persistent Value
Information alone is
not enough. Give the viewer a reason to keep
the brochure because it contains something
they will use later. This can be a map, a useful
list, contact information, coupons, or even
a recipe. Marketing is about repetition, so
give yourself your viewer one more opportunity
to read your brochure.
Evaluation: how did
you do?
The first question you
should ask is "does the viewer no what to do
once they have read the brochure?" A few informal
opinions can answer this quickly. Many designers
will test a few front cover designs or images
to see which is the most effective.
Evaluation list:
• Is it Intriguing?
• Is there enough white space or breathing room?
• Can viewers understand the intent of the brochure in under ten seconds?
• Are images few and effective?
• Does the viewer have a reason to pick it up?
• Does it provide value to the viewer?
• Does it tell the viewer what to do next?
Creating a successful brochure is one of the more difficult
design challenges, but it can result in one of your most
effective marketing tools. There are many opinions concerning
the graphical look of a brochure, but there are design
fundamentals regardless of the look. Designing your brochure
with these ideas in mind will shape the actual graphical
layout. The design tips found here will hopefully provide
you with a solid foundation for you to build your best
brochure yet.
©2004 by Damion McDunn |
|
