Guide to Brochure Design
When we design a brochure for a client our aim is always to tell their story in a fresh and original way. That doesn’t mean we’re inventing characters and plot twists, but simply that we try to communicate the information in the most engaging way we can.
Experience and skill counts for an awful lot but a great idea can come from anywhere. So we’ve put together a few helpful pointers that can help to refine an idea and develop a narrative for a great brochure. To make it more than a collection of pages with product or service soundbites and a few pictures.
1 › Theme
It may sound like a strange idea but having a theme or concept for a brochure can immediately make it more memorable, create greater stand-out from competitors and help the recipients access the information more easily. It could be a simple idea that provides a thread through the whole brochure or a bigger concept that underpins everything. Whatever it is will immediately set your brochure apart from the rest that simply say ‘This is us and this is what we do’.
Try to think of HOW you do what you do, what are the values that set your business apart and what are the reasons your customers prefer you? If it’s the personal approach that customers value it may be a good idea to base the theme around the people who make the business what it is. If it’s the experience of an established business that brings it’s success that history could provide a graphic thread throughout the design.
2 › Format
Not everything has to be A4. A great way to stand out from everyone else is to use a different size, shape or binding method.
But don’t make a change just for changes sake, this is about standing out from the competition not sticking out like a sore thumb. Think about what will compliment your theme, perhaps its a page size or orientation that works more effectively with your images. A clever format will demonstrate your innovation, additional finishes your quality and attention to detail.
Stocks and materials have a texture your customers will notice. Have you ever kept something that felt too precious to throw away? Now wouldn’t it be great to associate that value with your business brand.
3 › Style of Imagery
Imagery is a hugely emotive thing. You can create a completely different tone with black & white images compared with colour, even when they’re the same subject. The style can unite disparate subjects and strengthen an approach into a single cohesive concept.
An example of a simple but effective image style is the use of colour. Different subjects can be united by their colour, for example a company’s tools or products could appear in the same colour, background colour or lighting technique. Obviously if the colour is a corporate colour this connection becomes even stronger, but the simple effect of uniting these elements can be striking and highly effective in it’s simplicity. Other examples are movement, focus and production (eg. BW images). Find the direction that suits your theme and build on it.
4 › Typography
Typography is the most often overlooked element of a brochure and yet it can be the most distinctive. Whether it’s simply overlooked or just undervalued, type can create the distinctive character and voice that sets your brochure apart from the rest. It provides the most consistent connection with a brand identity and can be the link that sets the design and layout free from the standard or ‘usual’ conformity.
Type can also be the most effective way to highlight details and focus attention on the important messages that you want to communicate. A clear information hierarchy can be defined with a good type style and enable readers to browse or read in detail with ease. The ability to access the information in your brochure easily will be appreciated, and these systems can also be extended to online too.
5 › Simplicity
It may seem odd to put simplicity into a list of things to do, but editing what you put into a brochure and it’s design is very important. The easiest way to spot a professionally designed brochure and something that was put together hastily will be the clutter and overworked nature of the design. It takes confidence to leave things out and quite often creating a ‘lighter touch’ is far harder. When something isn’t quite right the natural reaction is to add something else in looking for a fix.
Unfortunately when a design is overworked the common casualty is detail. If information is harder to find or obscured what does that express about the business? That it doesn’t have good attention to detail, that it lacks focus, that it’s far busier talking at it’s customers than listening?
Contrast that to the perceptions created by a clear and clean design that gives information the space it needs, with intuitive type styles to communicate easily. That will create a confident and considered impression. That the business is focussed and on the ball. We’re not saying a design can’t be complex and fun, but you should always consider the function of the design elements. If they don’t add something or perform a role it may be time to edit.
6 › Colour
We love colour. It doesn’t have to be bright to be distinctive and it’s a great way to keep things feeling fresh and new. A bold use of colour, whether printed or from the choice of stock, can elevate a brochure above it’s competitors.
Another great use of colour is as a focus device to drive attention to specific information or areas of interest. Consider how colour is often employed in a website as rollovers, links and highlighted sections around the user journey. Compare this to the way print employs colour in an editorial way and you’ll see the similarities.
These ideas offer you a host of options that can enable readers to engage with your brochure.
