Brochure Design: Searching for Answers on how to design a corporation brochure for a business? This article will answer many of your most basic questions on how to design a brochure. It points out some of the fundamental design elements you need to keep in mind in order to produce a brochure and will help you approach the design in a step-by-step manner. You will find out how to right a headline, learn simple design tips, and you will find out how to select the right photos for your brochure. So read on and find out:
- How do I design a corp. brochure?
- How to design a brochure of a business?
- How do I design a company brochure?
- How can I produce a good personal brochure design?
- How do I design a business pamphlet?
- Where can I find good articles on graphic design?
If you are looking for answers to these questions you are most likely lost in a pile of thoughts, photos, hopes and a desire to produce a brochure that you can print. Well don’t feel bad many people start out in the same place. They start out with questions like:
- Where do I begin?
- What should I say in the headline?
- What should I show on the front cover?
- What pictures should I use?
- How can I make sure that I can get my brochure printed?
Where do I begin?
The first thing you must have in order to design a successful brochure is a good direction. Because without a plan you won’t know: what to write, what pictures to use and finally what to ask the reader to do once they have read the brochure. A good brochure must tell a story and with any good story you have to have a good beginning and a powerful ending.
What should I say in the headline?
The headline needs to be compelling, it needs to grab attention and be informative. A good headline should include at least one benefit that the reader will gain from your product or service. Try to avoid using only the name of the product or service, because in most cases that will be meaningless to the reader. Make sure you use a benefit that the reader can understand and relate to something that will get them interested enough to continue reading the rest of the brochure.
What should I put on the front cover?
I personally like to see designs that include a title, at least one photo and possibly the company logo or name on the front cover. The proportion of each of these elements is your choice, let your creative juices take control there is no right or wrong here. All I can tell you is to look at the cover as a whole and think about how each element works with the others.
You can also be as creative with elements as you choose. I have seen beautifully designed brochures that only focus on one message and nothing else on the cover. On one cover I did several years ago I placed a one word title on the cover, the word “Intelligence" and nothing else. The background cover I selected with was a metallic light blue. This gave the cover a very sophisticated look and communicated a powerful the message to the reader.
Use color carefully, colors that are to bright or bold can turn people off. Using color is almost a science and I will get into that more in another article.
What pictures should I use in my brochure?
The pictures that you use in your brochure are very important because they will help you to tell a story, choose them carefully. The difference between a good picture and a bad picture starts with the picture itself. A good picture has to be taken in the proper manner. If you take a picture for your brochure make sure you start with the right type of equipment. A 35mm camera with the proper film and lighting is always useable for a printed brochure. Please be aware that you will need to scan these pictures in a high resolution digital format in order to make them printable.
If you use a digital camera make sure that your camera takes pictures that are high resolution. Your camera should be able to take pictures that are at least 3.5 mega pixels or higher. With digital photography the higher the number of mega pixel your camera is rated at, the better the quality your photos will be.
How can I make sure that I can get my brochure printed?
Now we need to talk about the type of software that you need to use so that you can get your brochure printed. The best software to use is Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. Both of these publishing software packages are available for either the PC or Macintosh computers. If you don’t have this software and/or don’t know how to use it, you can work directly with your printer or a graphic designer and have them produce the final printable version of your brochure for you
There is also a lot of publishing software packages that are available for PC’s you can use, however, please be aware this type of software is only good if you intend to print the brochures using a laser or inkjet printer. If you take your brochure to an Offset Printer after you have created it in this software the printer will not be able to use it directly to print your brochure. However, they could take the layout and use it as a template to produce a brochure that looks similar to your original layout.
So, now that we have covered the basics of brochure design, talked about where to begin, how to write a headline, what to show on the front cover, talked about how to select pictures that will be printable and most importantly choose the right printing method for your needs, you are now ready to begin.
Andrew Schmid is the owner of designsalesmaterials.com and the author of an informative e-book “How to Design a Brochure for a Business." 570-784-2808.
