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The first question you need to ask yourself is "What does my
company want this brochure to do?" or "What purpose will the brochure serve?"
Your company may have multiple reasons for creating a brochure. Organize them
in order of most to least important. Some reasons for a brochure might be for
product exposure, direct marketing, business reply or many other reasons.
These following guidelines will be useful for both project managers and us as
we work together on your brochure project. The list provides structure for the
project. Now the project manager can assign work for groups responsible for
writing copy and the graphic designer knows what type of brochure needs to be
designed and what it needs to do.
Content:
Take the time to write good content for the brochure. Better
yet, have a copywriter write content. The brochure content should be written in
relation to the purpose of the brochure. Are you promoting or offering special
pricing on a product? If so, write content showing these special prices and
include them on the cover and back of the brochure. Most often you can't
control how the reader will receive your brochure, face up, face down or open.
If you're mailing your brochure you can bet it's going to be face down in the
mailbox because postal workers deliver mail with the label up so they can see
what address to send it to. Getting your target market to read content is very
difficult. Don't give them an opportunity to miss your most important message.
If your message is both on the front and back of the brochure, you've increased
the odds that your target market is going to see the special pricing you're
offering.
Brochure Format:
Once the content is developed it becomes more clear what size brochure is
necessary for the project. Developing content before the format of the brochure
is decided upon eliminates the problem of choosing a brochure format that is
either too big or too small for the amount of content you have.
Images:
Images and content should be discussed at the same time, for two reasons.
First, images also play a role in determining the size of the brochure. Second,
if a photo shoot is needed it can be done at the same time as the copy writing.
This will save valuable project time.
Design:
If the company has a specific look and feel they are going for,
provide samples for the graphic designer. This will also save valuable design
time. The design of the brochure can be the fastest or slowest part of the
brochure project. If the company doesn't have a specific design in mind, we
will encourage project leaders to discuss design concepts and look at brochure
samples to eliminate designs the company isn't interested in and find what
concepts they are more receptive to.
Paper Stock:
The most common stock is a white gloss or matte paper. This is
always the most affordable if your company is on a budget. However, if you're
trying to impress your target market and portray quality, strength or any other
feelings, there are thousands of stock to choose from that will help portray
the image your company desires. We'll show you thousands of paper stock samples
to choose from.
If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to contact us. We'd be
happy to discuss your brochure project and help you with any additional
information you need. We look forward to designing your company's brochure.
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