We’ve all received or seen a printed company brochure in one form or another. With the desire for a printed brochure still high and the benefits of having one difficult to argue, we look at what makes a great performing brochure.
Firstly, given the many many benefits of including a printed brochure in your marketing armoury, it should be clear that the quality of design, content, images, the paper and ink used for printing are all key factors which determine its effectiveness.
The difference between a good brochure and a great brochure are summed up in the design tips below.
Identify its purpose
One of the first things we talk about with our clients before a brochure design is even mentioned is what its purpose is. Why do they think they need a brochure? This helps to define objectives as it may be that they just want one because their last brochure wasn’t very effective. Knowing what you want to achieve is the absolute first step towards a great brochure.
Images
There’s a reason images comes up high on our tip list. To make a brochure pleasurable to flick through you need great photos. Be that stock imagery or from a photoshoot we try to use images that don’t look like stock images. They must be relevant, support the text, appealing and consistent in style. You should never cut corners with images.
The Paper Choice
Choosing the right paper can be tricky. Paper says a lot about the function of the product and business, its feeling and quality, so it’s a crucial part of the overall experience of the final product.
Paper can vary between coated or uncoated, thickness and weight, opacity, brightness, coatings and finishing details from spot gloss UV to foiling to embossing etc.
Creating cool copy
Great copy is often the most undervalued component in design and a brochure is no different. Many forget to consider copy as part of the overall design concept and just drop it in at the end. Copy includes the front cover and should consider the customer not just the product, encourage page turning and careful use of jargon. Great brochure copy is a consistent voice, establishes credibility, engages and creates calls to action.
A good and fitting first impression
Brochure designs needs to fit in with a company’s current branding, styling and what they do as a business. For example a new product may require a brochure that’s informative, looks great and stands out besides it on an exhibition stand. Whereas a charity won’t want a luxury brochure that might give the impression that they have spent a lot of money on them.
Grabs attention
It’s likely that prospective customers may have a short attention space so if your brochure cover doesn’t immediately catch their eye and attract their interest, they’re unlikely to open and read it. To get the attention of an audience we aim to combine a visually appealing design with attention grabbing headlines that directs a strong benefit for the customers.
Size
Brochures can be created to contain multiple pages of information and in different sizes, depending on the business needs. Selecting the right size is essential as people respond well to clutter free content perfectly supported by images