Brochure Designing(or How to Make a Summary With Pretty Pictures)

By: Angelia Cavallo

What is it?(Characteristics of a Brochure)

• From the French word: Brocher meaning “To stich” or “To sew”

• (Noun) A small booklet or pamphlet usually containing a summary of products or services

• Most common forms are the bi-fold and the tri-fold

Important Components

Road Map of Discussion

1.Traits that make brochures useful in advertising

2. Statistics of attention span

3. Basic industry recommended guidelines of color usage

4. Suggestive selling techniques of color

5. How specific industries generally use colors

6. White Space

Why Does It Work?

•Has the advantage of leisure•Lends professionalism to services

•Portable•Cheap to make

The Statistics of Attention Span

• Average of 250 to 3000 advertisements daily

• An advertisement has on average of 7-8 seconds to get someone’s attention

• Down from 12 seconds in 2000• Gold fish attention span about 9 seconds…

How to Choose Your Colors

• Related elements grouped together • Complementary colors are preferred over all but

contrasting more memorable• No more than 5 colors used (3 or 4 preferable)• Don’t put similar shades or tints too close to one

another• Don’t put red and blue on top of one another

(computer screen)

Examples:

Do: Don’t:

Suggestive Selling (advertising and Suggestive coloring)

• Red is passionate/stimulating/bold

• Blue is security/reliability/calm/stability

• Green is health/

vitality/organic/harmony

• Yellow is optimism/excitable/happiness

• White is sterility/cleanliness

Examples:

Industry Guidelines

• Medical Profession, Insurance and Telecommunication: usually use Blue

• Food and Hospitality: usually use Red• Chemical Industries: usually use Green• Orange and brown growing in popularity• Purple most often used for luxury items not

often in the business world

Example

USE OF WHITE SPACE (LESS IS MORE)

• Two types: Active and Passive• Important for the sake of readability(guides the

eye)• Makes things look cleaner/neater (“harmonious

layout”)• Better focus on the main points

• Adds a certain level of sophistication to design

Examples

Do: Don’t:

The Elements of Font and Pictures

Brochure Design Part Two:

Road Map of Discussion

1. Types of Font

2. Guidelines for Fonts

3. Effects of Fonts

4. Pictures

5. What Not to Do with Pictures

Far from the Days of the Typewriter

• First industrial font created by Gutenberg in 15th century England

• Every printing press subsequently developed had their own unique style

• Italics was developed in Italy to get more on a page per session

• Every font had individual sets to it of lower case, upper case and number characters

• Paper was around 60% of the total cost of printing a book back in the day

Video

Modern Styles:

•Helvetica ,Times New

Roman, Century•Arial or any general Sans Serif

Type Set Guidelines

• No more that 4 different fonts (2 is generally preferred)• Fonts are generally sized according to the importance of

what they tell (but not always)• Bold, Italics and other modifications should be used to

highlight vs. choosing another font• 12 point body, 10 for captions, 14-22 for headlines

Effects of Font

• Different fonts can effect how a piece of writing is perceived based on their

“formality”

• The change in perception is “Small but noticeable”

• Baskerville is good for lending authority to pieces according to

studies

Pictures

• Pictures should lend themselves to the services you are offering

• Colorful and complementary are usually advised although contrasting comes in handy

• Works with the flow of text• Professional quality/Tasteful

Samples (The Good)

Aka: Don’t Do This…

Text and Layout:

Brochure Design Part Three

Road map of discussion

1. Amount of Text

2. Most Common Brochure Folds

3. Variations

4. Paper

5. Essential Information

6. Guidelines to layout

7. Summary of Design

Introduction

Tight Fit

• Don’t have too much text.

• Present a summary to your readers, not everything.

• Break up paragraphs with bullet points.

• Use paragraphs, if at all, sparingly.

Pins and Needles

• Speak to your audience

• Avoid industry slang

• “I don’t want this. You want you to want this…”

Types of Brochures

• 5 main types• Most common: Z-Fold (3 paneled fold, usually mistaken

as a trifold brochure)• Bi-fold• Tri-fold

• Accordion (4 panel fold)• Roll Fold

Variations

Paper

• The higher the quality, the more professionalism

• Heavier printing paper preferred

• Good brochures tend to make use of gloss

The Essentials

• Company Name and Logo/tagline

• Contact Information

• Summary of Services

• Testimonials or quotes/Comparisons to competitors/ Positive views of the

company

The LayoutFront Cover: Company name/Logo

Back Cover: Contact information

Inside Front: Most important panel. Why should they choose you? (Testimonial/Quotes etc.)

Other Panels (can be in various order): About you, Product summaries, typical client procedures, Differences between you and competitor

Other Layout Considerations

• Borders around paragraphs are generally avoided

• Use alignment tools• Line spacing is key to readability• Align headings and subheadings

correspondingly• Make use of White Space

In a Nutshell

• Color is an important tool of appeal; has cultural connotations and associations

• No more than 4 or 5 colors used; no more than 2 or 3 font types

• Font choices can influence perception of reliability about a product

• White Space and line spacing are the most important aspect of readability

• Pictures can present positive images and summarize more than descriptions

• Make descriptions brief; use bullets more than blocks of text

• All brochures should have: Company, Contact information and Services

• 5 Main types of brochures although shape changing can generate interest

• Make sure alignment of text and pictures flow naturally and evenly/consistently throughout