Here’s the best tip to help you design a better leaflet…

LESS is MORE!

Getting your message across is essential, but trying to cram on as much as possible in the space available is counter productive!

Your aim is to design a better leaflet than your competition to stand out and to get noticed for the right reasons…

Bigger text and as much information crammed on to the page will not get the results you need. It will more than likely end up in the bin a lot faster as it is just too much for the reader to want to read. Blinding the reader with in-the-face neon colours will initially get noticed but if it is not easy to read and too busy, they just wont bother. The message will not sink in and certainly never be actioned!

Here’s 9 tips to help you design a better leaflet.

Keeping your design and content targeted and appealing to the eye.
By following these suggestions you will produce an attractive piece of marketing and a well designed leaflet or flyer.

1. Don’t use all the colours of the spectrum or even every colour in your pallet!

Even a true Hippy has favourites, even if they are psychedelic! Choose a small range of colours, 3 ideally, which compliment or contrast, a grey is often good for text titles. Excellent ideas for colour schemes can be found on several web sites including Design Seeds – you will find inspiration!

Match your colours to your logo and house styles, pay attention to how it reflects your branding and use your colours carefully.

2. Too many typefaces, too much small type and large headlines will make your leaflet look like a word search!

Don’t try to fill the page with huge headlines to get noticed and long blocks of text. You need a catchy interesting headline not a huge one!

Use ‘white space’. Space on the page will show off your text. Only choose a maximum of three typefaces.Use the bold and italics in the family to highlight important parts and captions. Trying to cram on too much text will confuse and bore the reader and it will be too much to digest!

Choosing a good headline font that is a bit unusual is great but don’t use it for any of the main text, it will be very hard to read. Using a good plain serif font for the body of your information is usually recommended as it is easier to read, however many good publications use a sans serif font, nicely spaced and it looks modern and neat!

3. Make sure you have good ‘line spacing’, that has nothing to do with ‘line dancing’!  Too little space between the lines makes it harder to read and looks crowded.

Too much space between lines and paragraphs will make it look disjointed… and you will not all fit your information on!

4. Centred, left or right alignment you have to choose ONE!

Good Alignment will make or break a layout. This means aligning the text in a neat and attractive format. You can centre the titles and centre the text, OR centre the titles and align the text to the right or left side or justify it but not all!  Don’t treat each paragraph differently, it will look like it’s been thrown on the page. Great effects can be achieved with cleverly aligned text, lining it up neatly with elements on the page.

5. Swirly fonts are not for contact details, or headlines!

Don’t use a swirly or script font in capitals. It looks unprofessional and is hard to read. Make headlines and especially contact details clear and easy to read,

6. Be very careful when using coloured text on coloured backgrounds – it makes it much harder to read.

This is dangerous and not as clever as you may think. The effect when printed may not give you the results you are looking for. Coloured text may appear blurred when small. Stick to coloured titles and sub titles which will be larger. White text on dark backgrounds may look great on screen but may fill in if too small or thin. Yellow text on black and vice versa is great and readable but has to be used correctly or the leaflet can look cheap and salesy!

7. Text over photographs can look very effective but make sure that that part of the image is not too complicated. 

Make sure your text will stand out enough and be readable. A useful tip is to put a drop shadow or vignette behind the text.

8. Use good ‘eyecatching’ images.

Using sharp and ‘in focus’ pictures is essential. Make sure the images are in the correct resolution for printing. When placing background images behind the text on all or part of the leaflet, pay attention to the point above. If placing images that run off the page ensure ‘bleed’ is added so there is no white line where the leaflet is trimmed out.

9. Good Content, text or pictures… concise and interesting text is essential.

The real secret to successfully design a better leaflet is that it must grab the reader’s attention and interest them so they pick it up and read it. Hopefully taking it with them for further reference. Therefore get your message across quickly and concisely. Don’t repeat information unnecessarily it will just annoy and remember to make a clear conclusion or call to action.

It’s easy!

Play with layouts and try different ideas. Move things around. Use a grid to keep everything lined up and balanced. Images and fonts add interest and are there to support, not hinder and confuse. Don’t hit the reader at 100 mph but entice and attract – then you will get results!

With a good headline, interesting content and a clear call to action, you will have the makings of a successful piece of marketing.

One last tip… make sure your contact details are not forgotten and they are clear, current and easy to see.

Written by Angie Phillips, Design Consultant - Helping you create business by creating IMPACT! Fabulous effective design that makes you say WOW! Using my expertise to promote yours. Fiercely committed to my clients and getting my hands on your assets! Always happy to offer help and advice. Promoting and helping you to grow through networking & introductions even after our work is done. #CreatingBusinessByDesign  #CreatingIMPACT  #LOVEwhatIdo

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