The good the bad the ugly Fliers Brochures

The good, the bad, & the ugly… � Fliers, Brochures, & Newsletters

Understanding Writing Technical Writing Marketing Writing • Purpose – informs & conveys information • Purpose - Attract attention, excite interest, & persuade • Strategy – appeal to logic • Strategy – appeal to emotions • Style – objective, technical language • Style – vivid, sensory language

Determining Purpose & Audience Marketing Documents Purpose Audience Fliers Announces a new product or event Potential customers or attendees Brochures Promote products or services and motivates customers to action Usually, general public Newsletters Build sense of community; share information Organization employees, existing customers, or people interested in special product

Fliers • Type: Snail mailed or e-mailed • Placement: posted on bulletin board; distributed by hand; displayed on table • Length: 1 page • Cost: Most cost effective to produce & mail

Brochures • Type: sales brochure vs. Informational brochure • Format: half-fold style tri-fold style • Length: half-fold style = 11” x 17” tri-fold style = 8. 5” x 11” or 8. 5” x 14”

Newsletters • Type: – Organizational newsletter – Customer newsletter – Subscription newsletter • Format: – Depends on length but front side only or front & back • Length: – Ranges from 1 page or multiple – Size from 8. 5” x 11” to

Tips on Designing Fliers • Don’t put everything in boxes • Don’t set same amount of space between elements • Don’t use hyphens • Don’t center everything

Tips on Designing Fliers • Write headline at top of page • Feature organization name & logo prominently • Select 1 main message – Event – what, when, where – Product/Service – benefits, advantages

Tips on Designing Fliers • Create a focal point • Use subheads that contrast • Repetition • Alignment

Tips on Designing Brochures • Use contrast in typefaces, rules, colors, spacing, size of elements • Repeat various elements in design to create unified look (repeat colors, typefaces, rules, bullets, etc. ) • Group similar items close together (subtopics within headings)

Tips on Designing Brochures Panel Content Design Front Panel • Topic/title • Image • Organization name & logo • Clear id of audience • Larger font size than inside & back panels (18+ point type) Inside Panels • Information about product’s benefits for customer • Supportive facts • Comparative data • Answer who, what, where, when, why, & how • Readable font size (10 or 11 point type) • Short sentences (15 words or less) • Limit paragraphs (2 -4 sentences) • Let text & graphics stretch across panels • Use headings & subheadings Back Panels • Contact information • Same elements as inside panel

Tips on Designing Newsletters • Repetition – every page should look like it belongs to whole piece – Color, graphic style, fonts, spatial arrangements, bulleted lists, borders around photos, captions, etc. • Use white space • Use contrasting type; don’t make each page different

Tips on Designing Newsletters • Choose 1 alignment • Don’t indent paragraphs, even after subheads • Use concise, attention-getting headlines • Use short subheads to break long stories into chunks • Readable type copy

Tips on Designing Newsletters • First page contains banner • Headline for major story & least 1 st portion of story (include page number for continuation) • Photos include captions • Include masthead

Principles of Marketing Design • Contrast: vary elements on page (type, color, size, line thickness, shape, space, etc. ) to emphasize differences and make important points stand out – Contrast is what makes readers look at the document

Contrast Examples Bad Contrast Good Contrast

Principles of Marketing Design • Repetition: repeat visual elements of the design throughout the piece – Repeat colors, shapes, textures, spatial relationships, line thickness, fonts, sizes, graphic concepts, etc.

Repetition Examples • Good Repetition for newsletter

Principles of Marketing Design • Alignment: every element should have some visual connection with another element on page.

Alignment Examples Bad Alignment Good Alignment

Principles of Marketing Design • Proximity: items related to each other should be grouped close together. – Items in close proximity to each other become 1 visual unit rather than several separate units.

Proximity Examples Poor Proximity Good Proimity

Principles of Marketing Design • Proportion: margins and relationship of type and art work together – Long, thin type works best with long, thin layouts – Short, wide type works best with short, wide layouts – Avoid evenly repeated, evenly spaced shapes