Full Color Brochures

The ABCs of Full Color Brochures

25th February, 2009 - Posted by admin - No Comments

Good full color brochures often look like they are the simplest things to design. This cannot be further from than the actual truth. Some of the best graphic designers in this industry will be able to tell you that there is a lot more that goes into designing a basic brochure than you might think. If you are considering a full color brochure printing or design job, here are a few basic tips to put you on the right track. You will also discover that the actual designing of the brochure is one of the last things that gets done as there is a lot of ground work that needs to be covered before that.

Determine the purpose

The first step of full color brochure design is to establish the brochure’s purpose. This will determine the final outcome of the brochure in terms of layout, design and content. It is also extremely important that every person involved in the project is aware of the purpose. There are three basic things that you can do with a brochure: you can entertain, you can educate or you can advertise your business with full color brochures. Brochures that entertain are generally filled with activities for kids and adults alike while those that are meant to educate and inform are mostly filled with important information. The ones meant to promote or market products however, are the ones that generally jump out and grab your attention, as they are most often very catchy. You will need to decide on which one of these functions your brochure is going to perform.

Determine the appearance and working within budgets

Paneled layouts are the most common for commercial brochure printing. This is when you decide how many panels you would like your full color brochures to have. The answer to this question depends on factors like the use of the brochure, the amount of information that needs to be accommodated, the simplicity of the folds, the costs of production and distribution etc. You need to be prepared to answer all of these questions so as to give you designer a clear picture of the project and hence facilitating better design.

Decide on the order of information

Once you have the purpose and the general look of your full color brochure in place, it is now time for you to get into the details. After all the information and content for the brochure has been collected, it needs to be put into the order in which it should appear. This is something that you need to discuss with your designer while handing over the content to him or her. The order of this content will shape the layout of the brochure.

Matching the content with good design elements

Now that you have set the groundwork for the design of the brochure, you can start exploring design options like full color brochures versus black and white brochures and so on. You will also need to play around with elements like contrast, alignment, unity of elements, focal points, etc., to achieve an ideal balance and therefore a brochure that is visually appealing.

The no-no’s

In order to achieve high quality full color brochures, there are a few tips you MUST keep in mind. These might seem like insignificant tips but if factors like what I am about to describe below are avoided, you cannot go wrong with the layout and design of your brochure.

• Do not use common fonts. Fonts like Arial generally prove to be a wash out. However keep in mind that the font you finally decide on should be easy to read.
• Do not take the point size of the content above 12. 10 is an ideal size and very legible, but 12 points could be a choice of size too.
• Do not use more than 2 or 3 typefaces. Using any more than this will just give the brochure a very messy look.

Do not use more than one alignment for the content as will give the content the look and feel of being disconnected.