Booklets are perfect for many businesses and organisations looking to enhance their marketing prowess – whether you are advertising your new product or planning to showcase your entire product and service range – one thing that will be a common factor is that they need to be well designed. If the purpose of the booklet is unclear, the design is cluttered and the message lost, there isn’t much point in using booklets in your marketing mix.. With regards to this, within this article we are going to try and help you get a better understand of what makes a great booklet design, so that when it comes to getting your booklet printed and distributed, you get an immediate and positive impact from your customers, potential customers and stakeholders.
Who are you marketing too?
Before the idea of delving into booklet design begins to cross your mind, you need to be thinking about who exactly you are designing your booklet for. If you have used booklets before then you will be aware of what we are talking about, if not then there is no need to worry as this will help. Take this scenario for example: You might have come across a nice layout that you like for the design of your booklet, that perhaps was used in car dealerships to talk about finance options. However, what you are marketing is a range of equipment that can be used in cafes and restaurants. In this regard, it wouldn’t be wise to use the exact same layout, as finance options are going to be heavily text based, while what you are selling will need some text, but mainly pictures, so clients can see what exactly it is that they are buying. They are two completely different companies in different sectors, and as such will have different ways of operating, when it comes to informing customers about certain products and services. So once you know who it is who it is you are going to be giving your booklet to, that’s when you can start with designing them. Think about who they are, what they do and what appeals to them.
Don’t go crazy with fonts
When designing a booklet it’s okay to assume that you are going to have some form of text in there. However, even if it is just small amounts of text scattered about, it is best to stick to one or two fonts. This helps to keep the design clean and simple, but most importantly means it is easy to read. If there are too many fonts being used it begins to create chaos and in turn nobody will even want to attempt to read what you are trying to say, especially if you have large bodies of text within your brochure. The general rule for text is to stick with one font for headers and one font for the body of your text, and this rule is just as important here. Using this also means that clients can pick out the important information quickly and efficiently.
Pick the perfect paper stock
The paper stock that you choose for you booklets will have a great influence on how clients view your brand. Often if you decide to go for the cheapest option, that’s exactly what you will get. It will be cheap to feel and to look at, often looking like it has been printed straight from a home printer. However, if you choose the higher quality paper stock, then it changes the appearance and impression completely. Clients will pick it up and instantly be able to tell that a lot of effort has been put into how these are supposed to look and feel, and immediately begin associating your company with quality, making you stand out more in their eyes.
Keep it simple
When designing your booklet, it is best to keep it simple. Don’t go for wacky and unusual just because you can, unless you have tried and tested it and know it is going to work. More often than not, the reason that companies decide to do this is so that they are memorable in the eyes of the clients. However what often happens is clients take one look at your booklet and decide in an instant that they won’t be taking it any further, as although you have indeed stood out for them, it is for the wrong reasons, as these design choices can often come across as being childish in a professional setting.. As well as this, if they can’t read what you are trying to say and they don’t understand how the design fits, they won’t want to take it any further either. To stop this from happening, it is best to stick with what works, and work it to your advantage. Work it into the look of your company or the company that you might be designing for. Simple can often be the best policy, and can make you stand out if it is done right. For example, you could choose to go with a minimalist design for you booklets, with few colours and little text. This works a treat because it is clean, elegant and enticeses the clients to read on further. It goes back to the idea of quality, as excellent quality design will lend itself massively to this idea, and ensuring that clients know you are quality and they should choose you.
Why are you writing?
A vital part of designing your booklet is the content which will go into it. This is the bulk of your information and will be the place that you get your message across to your clients. However, every client is different when creating booklets. Similar to the actual look of them, there isn’t a template or a cheat sheet on what copy to put in, it needs to be tailored to who you are giving the booklets to. An example of this would be how the language used within the copy can often change depending on who you are targeting, and also depends on the message that you are trying to get across.
On that note, we hope that this article has helped you on your way to making the right choices when designing your booklets. If you are ever in need of help with design for booklets, or whatever product you might be working on, don’t hesitate to contact our design team at Kaizen Brand Evolution on our contact form or give us a call on 028 9002 2474. Alternatively, if you want your booklets printed to the highest quality industry standard, get in touch with our team at Kaizen Print on our contact form, and they will be more than happy to help.
