Looking for advice on building a brochure?

[James Martin]

I use illustrator for leaflets.

Think that in-design is good for it as well

[Harry Cleary]

have you seen this site Scott, free templates if you sign for the trial. A good source for layout ideas if nothing else.

http://www.stocklayouts.com

[Martin Pearson]

I would speak to the companies that you intend to use for printing and then design it in a program that they accept that you are happy using rather than try and learn to use a new software package, especially if you are busy.

[Tim Painter]

Scott I think you need to have an idea of budget first / qty.
Then design to suite this.

The gloss you are talking about is Spot UV. A varnish that cures via UV light source. This is printed using another printing plate. With the areas slightly larger than the image to be covered to allow for registration (alignment).

The more whistles and bells the more cost.
Litho or Digital depends on qty.
Number of pages again most cost effective method depends on number of pages, size etc.

If you go litho say finished size A5 most cost effective method is to do multiples of 8 x A5 pages and have same stock for cover as for the inserts.
If the printers prints @ SRA2 sheet size then then can print 4 x A4 size print on one sheet. 2 Fronts & 2 Backs using 1 plate set…..what comes off the press is then flipped and put through again (work & turn).

Corel Draw since ver 3 for everything here.

[Scott.Evans]

James Martin

As I use photoshop and illustrator, in design should come a little easyer to learn.

Tim Painter

My budget for printing is between £800-£1200 hard earned pounds.
I would like to have 300 – 400 copies.
I don’t want to be spending no more than £3.00 per unit

I would like to have the cover page heavier than the inserts, also would like the cover page to be matt with UV varnish over my logo and the inserts to be on a medium gloss paper.

Are my asking for to much considering my budget?

Harry Cleary

Had a look at that site some nice layouts on there.

Over the past 2 years i have been collecting brochures and I have sort of made my mind up on what kind of layout Iam going to use.

I don’t want my pages plastered with images and text at the same time I want to show of all the services I can provide, I guess its trying to balance it out.

Scott

[Tim Painter]

Scott PM me your contact details.

Cheers

Tim.

[David Rogers]

Not to be putting a spanner in your (obviously) long thought-out plans.

Why have you chosen to do a full brochure and a few points to maximise the effectiveness.

1) What potential customers do you plan to distribute these to.
2) Have these companies had contact with you previously, or is this the first point of contact.
3)Handed out 1 to 1 / mass mail shot / sitting in your shop.
4) What will a multi-page brochure achieve over a double sided glossy flyer or web-based advertisement / pdf.
5)What products are worth giving page space to that won’t simply look like ‘filler’.
6)What do you project to be the return eg. 1 new customer per 50 / 100

As for software – anything from even Signlab to Photoshop, Corel, Illustrator – it’s enough to lay out a page with text & graphics.

Dave

[Kyle Bennett]

InDesign is built for the job – page templates, global styling etc all can be setup and it has FAR better text / layout options than any of the other general graphics range, the only other program I’d consider is Quark but InDesign’s taken over as industry standard now

Before handing to the printers set it to outline all type as well – this is incase your printers do not have particular fonts you’ve used installed, or it can package everything up but for one off jobs it’s far easier to outline all type, just don’t save the working copy like that otherwise you won’t be able to edit the text again!

Convert any images you’re using to CMYK in Photoshop then drag and drop them into InDesign for layout, and use CMYK when building the document, then just outline type and export a PDF for the printers and 99% of the time the job will be right, but always get a printed proof and check it first

[Peter Dee]

Have you got a website?
If not I would concentrate on that first.
Pro’s
Instantly up-datable (probably the best feature)
More accessible
Viewing statistics can be monitored
Cheaper
More in depth detail
and so on…

I’ve also noticed that large trade suppliers are moving away from glossy brochures (which often go straight in the round filing cabinet [bin]), and develop their websites instead.

[Jill Marie Welsh]

quote :

Have you got a website?
If not I would concentrate on that first.

Very good advice.
I get so much business from mine, and it was a bargain.
I think people tend to pitch brochures and direct mailings with nary a glance.
Love….Jill

[Chris Windebank]

Likewise, most of my work comes via my website. I have produced a brochure to take an insert for my better clients to send samples etc, as from next week my web will have a download version too, worth a thought. As for software I used Corel X4

[Nigel Hindley]

Websites are great yes – but folk wont find your website unless you promote it with a brocuhre!!

Nigel

[Martin Pearson]

You could always put your website on to disc and have a digital brochure. I have been given some really good business card sized digital brochures. You could probably even produce them yourself fairly cost effectively and they would be much easier to keep up to date.

[Peter Dee]

quote Nigel Hindley:

Websites are great yes – but folk wont find your website unless you promote it with a brocuhre!!

Nigel

Come on Nigel, that’s putting the cart before the horse isn’t it?

[Tim Painter]

Sadly I think you have to cover all bases.

I’ve done shop fronts before and in conversation months down the line with the client had them ask ‘Do you do vans?’ and then say for some reason I didn’t think you did them. Also other items with similar conversations.

Web is great yes but to build new business I don’t think you rely on it totally.

[Kyle Bennett]

quote Nigel Hindley:

Websites are great yes – but folk wont find your website unless you promote it with a brocuhre!!

Nigel

That’s what Search Engine Optimisation is for

Brochure’s I still find have their uses, they do benefit existing customers in letting them know everything you do, you can easily hand one to customers after doing a job and 9/10 they’ll have a quick flick through and see the full range of what you can do

[Nigel Hindley]

quote Peter Dee:

quote Nigel Hindley:

Websites are great yes – but folk wont find your website unless you promote it with a brocuhre!!

Nigel

Come on Nigel, that’s putting the cart before the horse isn’t it?

Eh? how do you work that out? a brochure drops through your door you are going to look at it and visit their site if interested. You look for a website you will not just get one website you get everyone Else’s too and there is always someone who can offer more for less online.

Kyle, yes SEO helps but you unless you spend thousands its unlikely you will come first and you will still be listed amongst the competition its unlike that your brochure through a door will have 12,853 alongside it unlike a web search.

Unless you can get folk to your site bypassing all others there isnt much point what Scott is looking for will cost a few hundred building a website that comes first in search engines will costs thousands. A brochure says your local too.

the Internet is great yes but a large percentage of our customers do not shop on line we get far more results from brochures and we actually come up first in our area when searching online.

With a brochure – your logo has been seen too which is after all what this business is all about getting your brand and logo out there – websites dont do that unless someone specifically searches and manages to find you through all the others.

These are my opinions but the facts for us brochures work far far more than websites end of story!

[Martin Pearson]

Nigel, I’m surprised to hear that a large percentage of your customers don’t shop online, these days it seems like more and more businesses are choosing to search online rather than pick up a directory. I know there are some on the forum who trade almost exclusively on the internet.

Like you say though what ever works best for you is most likely to be the most cost effective solution and what works well for some doesn’t always work well for someone else.
I only tried brochures once and they didn’t work at all for me but there may have been reasons why they didn’t work that I can’t really talk about on here.

[Nigel Hindley]

Hi Martin,

I Analyze where customers come from in depth so I can advertise effectively. I don’t doubt having a good website is important – it is we have spent thousands on ours and it works well.

Web/email inquiries go up when we send out brochures – we do use our site as a ‘big’ brochure but we need to push people towards it without a general search

We do this even though we come up first in our area when doing a web search – however we get more web trade and enquiries when we send a brochure (as well as visits and calls) we analyze web hits where they come from, what they search for etc. and we find brochures work better they are more tangible.

The simple thing is we get a higher return in revenue per brochure than per web click this is a fact. Not saying it would be the same for everyone but how many folk know for a fact hat a website works better than a brochure?

To be honest I dont think many folk analyze this in depth and just say yeah we get lots of business of the Internet without any analysis.

Anyway the whole point is Scot has a limited budget and I personally think brochures are the best way forward for him with his budget. I’m not saying don’t get a website I’m saying i think for his budget he will get a better return with a brochure and get his brand noticed. Scott is looking for help building a brochure not a website!

Nigel

[Duncan Wilkie]

A website is essential in this day and age. We also have print pieces we use for direct sales and tradeshows. Here’s one of our brochures…

We have others as well for specific areas of our business.

[Nigel Hindley]

Everyone keeps saying a website is essential? why is? this no-one has said they arent?

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Duncan, that is a really nice brochure.

[Chris Windebank]

Duncan, what script font is that? Looks a great brochure

[Martin.Smith]

That strap line is excellent. 😀

Impressive even.

[Tim Painter]

Nice Ducan.

My only comment would be where the kerning has been increased on the strap line etc the spacing between words I personally feel needs to be slightly greater. Making reading easier.

Just my 2p’s worth but I think they look very impressive.

Tim.

[Harry Cleary]

quote Chris Windebank:

Duncan, what script font is that? Looks a great brochure

Looks like Stanford script Chris
http://www.letterheadfonts.com/fonts/st … ript.shtml

[Duncan Wilkie]

Thanks all. You’re dead right Tim. I’m going to make that adjustment in the next batch. Chris, Harry had the right Font designer… Chuck Davis, but the font you see is LHF Sofia…
http://www.letterheadfonts.com/fonts/sofiascript.shtml

[Harry Cleary]

oops….so it is 😳 Nice fonts though.