Brochure design

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 Elizabeth Lambert wondered where to put the most important
 information on a brochure (i.e., where will people read
 first).

 I can't provide any definitive answer to this, since it
 will depend on the nature of the information and the
 audience, but in general, the most important part of the
 brochure is its cover: that's what people see first, and if
 you don't grab their attention with the cover, they won't
 bother opening it up or turning it over... they'll just
 throw it away or ignore it. (That's the standard design
 philosophy I've seen espoused, and it makes sense to me:
 brochures are devices that are intended to scream out "open
 me up and take a look inside", and they'll do that quite
 well if you get the cover right.) The back is probably the
 least important part.

 The message you want readers to take away with them is
 obviously the most important information, and that's the
 part you'll devote the majority of the brochure to
 communicating. Since some readers may never get past the
 cover, can you include a summary of this message on the
 cover too? Worth a try.

 Best bet of all: You mentioned that you're a student, and
 this is an excellent opportunity to do some audience
 analysis and usability testing. First, ambush a dozen
 classmates. Put the brochure on a table (or hang it on a
 wall, or wherever you intend to display it) and ask them
 what they think... watch how they pick it up (if they do!),
 how they open it, what their reading pattern is. Ask them
 if they can read it as they walk past. Ask them to tell you
 (in one sentene) what message they got out of reading it...
 is it the one you intended?

 Then go beyond this and investigate some less obvious
 things: will the brochure fit neatly in a standard mailing
 envelope? If not, you'll have to fold it (and ruin the
 design?) or go to a large envelope, which is more expensive
 to buy and more expensive to mail. Brainstorm this to get
 other ideas: can you print the brochure once and reuse it
 for many years? Could you print a large quantity of it to
 get economies of scale, and then overprint only information
 that changes (e.g., dates)? And so on... have fun with
 this, and use the exercise to get you past the idea that
 audience analysis and usability testing are scary things.

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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