1. Identify the purpose of your brochure

It’s important to know what you want out of your brochure before you begin. Is it to promote a new product or service, generate more sales or simply to raise the profile of your company? You will need to be clear about this before the design process begins. That way, your designer will know how to approach the job in order to deliver the best possible design solution.

2. Get organised

Make a list of all the information you want to include in your brochure. Organise your list in order of priority. This will make it easier when it comes to plotting where your info needs to appear within the brochure.

3. Consistency

Decide on a typeface for your headings/sub headings and body text and stick to them. Keep the body text typeface simple but feel free to use something a bit different for the headings if you wish. Nothing too fancy though. All headings should be kept the same size. The same applies to sub headings and body text. Don’t suddenly change your body text from 12pt to 13pt just to fill a bit of awkward space. Keep everything consistent and your brochure will look neat and professional.

4. Make sure it is well written

I can’t stress this enough. Poorly written copy will reflect very badly on your company. If you’re not 100% confident that your writing is up to standard and your budget allows, use a professional copywriter. If money is tight, write the copy yourself and hire a copywriter to fine tune it for you. This will always be money very well spent.

5. Use high quality, appropriate images

Well chosen, professional quality images can set your brochure apart from others. Don’t be tempted to use poor quality images just because they are all you have available. Better to leave them out altogether. These days, you can buy superb, high resolution stock images for around £10-£20 each.

6. Use headlines to draw attention

Don’t assume that people will read your brochure thoroughly and carefully. A lot of busy people will ‘skim’ read your brochure. It’s important to use headings to good effect. This will grab the readers’ attention and hopefully encourage them to read further.

7. Break it up a bit

If it’s necessary to have a large quantity of text within some of your brochure pages, break it up into bite size chunks. You can do this by using borders, lines, shaded boxes etc. A good graphic designer will know of many techniques to make a text heavy page look as attractive as possible.

8. White space

Don’t feel that you have to fill every millimeter of your brochure with text and photo’s. Leave plenty of space. A cramped brochure will look messy and unappealing to the reader. If you think there might be too much content don’t be afraid edit the text down a bit. Alternatively, add more pages to the brochure.

9. Proofread

This one goes without saying. However it’s surprising how many people do their own proofreading or rely on their designer to do it for them. If you are on a tight budget, it’s perfectly okay not to hire a proofreader. Just don’t do it yourself. Get somebody else to do it. Better still, ask two or three people to proofread your brochure for you before it goes to print.

10. Print on good quality paper

Have your brochure printed on good quality paper. Don’t feel that you have to spend money on the finest paper on the market. Just make sure that it reflects the quality of your product or service.