Before you can design a brochure, you must first establish who the brochure is for, and what the brochure’s purpose is. You can’t just throw together a design and a few words of copy then hope for the best – you need to plan brochures meticulously. A brochure isn’t like a website where you can make a tweak or two as times goes by – brochure print runs cost thousands of pounds, once your brochures are printed there’s no going back! It’s important to find a brochure design agency that appreciates the challenges associated with designing a brochure – an agency happy to put in the legwork to ensure your project is a roaring success.
Before looking to hire digital printing services or a print management team you have to establish the basics. The most successful brochures are those that are planned properly and designed accordingly. Establishing exactly what the brochure’s purpose is and who it will be seen by will determine things like the size and format, as well as the design approach and print finish. A brochure announcing the arrival of the latest model of Porsche will be a lot different to a brochure for a low-end supermarket peddling deals on meat, for example.
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Approaching brochure design
Some brochures are designed to sell a particular product or service – other brochures are designed to sell a business or promote a brand in general. It’s important to establish what exactly your brochure will be promoting and who your brochure’s audience will be.
You must also decide what your desired outcome will be. Do you want customers to pick up the phone and place an order with your immediately after reading your brochure? Or is it designed to resonate with your customers – building some kind of affinity between them and your brand? These are all important questions that need to be addressed before rushing your brochure off to a brochure design agency.
If you’re selling a particular product then image-rich brochures full of high-resolution pictures of the actual item tend to work best. If you’re selling a service or promoting your brand in general, a brochure with a few images and some high quality sales copy might work better. Remember it’s not just the aesthetic design of a brochure that needs to be considered – you need to consider the words that will feature on the brochure too (which may require you to hire the expertise of a professional copywriter).
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Brochure design best practices
Before you start looking for digital printing services to bring your brochure to life, here are just a few last minute brochure design best practices for you to consider:
- Keep fonts to a minimum – there’s nothing worse than a brochure filled with lots of different typefaces. Stick to one or two fonts where possible. Make sure your fonts are easy to read – don’t make readers strain their eyes or work hard to try and establish what your copy says.
- Use a grid when designing your flyer – it helps with the positioning of text and images. Before design software was launched for computers, brochure design was done by hand using a series of grids – it’s a tried and tested method!
- Use a style sheet to keep your brochure uniform and consistent from front to back. A style sheet is a short, simple document that reminds designers of the colours and fonts to use during the brochure design process.
Andy works as creative director in the London based creative design agency, specialising in brand design services like corporate literature, brochure design, package design, press advertising, event materials and much more. He loves to share his thoughts on upcoming design trends and latest digital marketing strategies.