In his 1964 book Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan coined his illustrious paradoxical phrase, “The medium is the message,” meaning that how a message or content is delivered is as important as the message himself. If we go by what this great communicator said nearly half a century ago, and if we accept that his idea is also relevant in today’s world, it becomes all the more important that the form in which we express our Send out message brochure design characteristic is as efficient as the latter.
Now, if we extrapolate the above concept to your corporate identity, it would mean that any material – literary or application-based – that bears your logo carries not only that, but also a piece of your corporate image . Whether it’s stationery emblazoned with your company name or bumper stickers with your logo, it’s an indirect expression of your identity. Would you look at luxury apartments if you read about them on a flyer in a rundown, rotten pub? Would you buy jewelry if you read about it on a garbage can? Would you send your child to a school that prints their brochure on flimsy greyish paper?
While flyers, posters, stationery, etc. are very important, your brochure should be your number one priority when it comes to building your image with your colleagues and potential clients. A brochure is your declaration of quality, commitment, dedication and seriousness about your business activities. A well-designed brochure not only conveys your cultivated professionalism, but also shows your responsible approach; because according to McLuhan, the way you present yourself is a medium in itself and therefore speaks volumes about you.
It’s entirely understandable that writing a brochure is a piece of cake for well-qualified and experienced PR managers, but designing it may not be their piece of cake. No company ever hires an official just to maintain their brochures. This means that whoever does brochure printing usually has millions of other things to do as well – organizing events, preparing annual reports and meetings, seminars, product launches, media conferences. In such a scenario, it is always advisable to engage a professional designer who will ensure that the look and feel of your brochure reflects the same values embodied in your words.
But just because you hire a professional graphic designer to do the work doesn’t mean your responsibilities take a backseat. Remember that while a good designer will be eager to hear about your brochure beyond a formal briefing and will try to understand the concept behind it, without you is as good as an ensemble of blank canvases and colors without a painter. Without your prompt and sincere feedback, the designer will have no choice but to treat it as another orphan project and stop him from giving his 100% for your project.
To ensure that your feedback adds value to the designer’s efforts, you first need to know what a good, top-notch brochure looks like. Just because we want it to look professional doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Don’t worry if you don’t have a grasp of graphic design terminology to begin with. It’s not rocket science; With a basic understanding of the key design elements, you’ll be well-equipped to oversee any design task because it’s just a matter of juxtaposing and playing around with these elements to create a design. All you really need to take care of are the items below and you’re good to go to design the best brochure for your business!
1. Colour:
Your desired color is the first impression of your brochure. Nobody wants to be as colorful as a kindergarten brochure or as reserved as a funeral service brochure. Classic black doesn’t come to your rescue here unless paired with gray and white. Or better yet, add just a touch of your logo or brand color that market research has shown is strongly associated with your brand. However, if you are a flower shop or a restaurant, the use of colors according to their psychological perception will be very appropriate.
2. Contrast:
A subtle but highly noticeable extension of the color element is the contrast of your color choices. If the tone of your brochure is comfortable, informal light-heartedness, the contrast should direct the reader’s gaze to the optics and create a feeling of happiness and joy. When it comes to sharp investment advice, draw attention to facts and figures, successes and field reports.
3. Texture:
Again, texture depends on the way your text looks and is presented. The brochure for a dance school specializing in street genres needs to have a raw, carefree, rebellious look with lots of severe cuts and splashes of color giving it a funky texture, while that for a community hospital will have a clean, spacious texture with minimalist fonts and sleek cuts.
4. Balance:
Balance or imbalance between the three components – visual, verbal and white space – can increase the attractiveness of your brochure depending on the message it contains. While a formal balance is appropriate for official company brochures, an informal balance is great when you want to convey, for example, action or entropy characteristic of a summer program in art.
5. Space:
The strategic use of space—or white space as we call it—generally plays a large role in communicating the power, activity, flow, and exclusivity of your product or service. Most high-end brands incorporate plenty of white space into their brochure designs as it gives your message an instant sense of luxury. Plus, it helps you stand out from competitors and inferior brands trying to hog every inch of available advertising or PR space.
So the next time you decide to hire professional design services for a project, make sure these five elements and how you want them are part of the crucial information you provide them with in a written formal brief place. However, to create the best, you must first know what a bad design work looks like. In a line, it’s the one that – no matter how pretty or avant-garde it looks – suppresses the message itself, making your medium your only message. All brochures listed are excellent works of design, but in my opinion they cannot convey their messages as strongly as their aesthetic architecture.
I sincerely hope that the information contained in this article will help you make better decisions and get more out of not just your brochures but any design project, be it business cards, posters, brochures, flyers or brochures. When hiring quality printing services, you need to do justice to both your designer’s earnest efforts and your own.
