8 Important Key Elements When Creating A Brochure Design

Created by Andrea Bianchi

Coming in many kinds of designs and models, brochures can appear as one of the artworks for everyone. Yes, you might have a fair share of flyers in your life. But, do you know what makes every one of them feel different? One brochure design might feel more powerful, appealing, or effective, but the others are pretty lacking. 

So, what makes it like that? As a powerful tool, you can educate any audience with the help of this item. However, to make effective and reach the audience, you will need to pay attention to the key elements. What are they? Check out this list and consider all of the points to create a brochure design. 

1. Attention Grabbing Cover 

One thing that you need to consider is how visual appeal and outer appearance will matter a lot in your work. It is especially true if you are going for a folded design, which conceals some information inside. So, your first key element that needs attention is the cover. It is the first thing that people will see and judge. 

So, what should you do to create the brochure cover design better? Make one that catches people's attention of your client or potential customer. Yes, you can use catchy phrases or headlines. But, you can also pay attention to the tone, mood, graphic elements, or arrangement. Sometimes, you also need to make more details that represent the reader.   

To make it easier, the first thing that you need to do is to make an uncluttered design. Your cover should consist of three key elements. First is the logo of your company or any associate you are working with. The second one is a graphic or image that stands out and captures people's attention. And lastly is the text or phrase that will captivate the reader. 

When you get each of the elements ready, you can start to arrange it into one captivating cover design. Pay attention to the arrangement and avoid clustered placement. Put the text on top of the brochure. It should be big enough for people to read the brochure. Don't forget that your text should be less than ten words. So, it is precise and straightforward. 

The next thing that you need to consider about the brochure design is the reasons and the relatability. No matter how catchy your text or picture is, it won't mean anything if it is just clickbait. The best way to create a brochure design is to follow the brand identity and goals. If you are working with a bank, use the bank's brand identity to represent the company. 

Created by Ayla Paul

2. A Compelling Text To Add Awareness 

In many works, particularly in brochures, your text is one of the essential key elements. So, paying attention to it will help you gain people's attention. But it is not only about catchy phrases or text. Just like how the cover design will make people pause and look, it is just the first step. You will need to make the audience feel attracted enough to open the brochure. 

It is where you need a compelling phrase that poses an invitation. In other words, you will CTA or call to action words to pull the audience deeper into your brochure design. A phrase that pushes the audience to pick up your brochure get attracted and read the content. That is what you need to complete the element. 

The good news is that there are many ways how to make an appealing text. The key elements that you need to arouse the reader's interest and curiosity are pretty simple. The first one is to use questions. You can also give simple directions that make people want to read or find the information within. The way and goal of why you create a brochure design will affect it. 

Whatever your pick will be, the point is to arouse audience curiosity. You can flash some information or answer on the cover. But, you will show the most inside the brochure design. As you make questions or directions, it indirectly pushes the reader to move forward for the answer. It is a great way to drive people's attention as well as trigger their interest. 

Created by Serge Mistyukevych

Another good example of using compelling text in brochures is by starting phrases right on the cover. However, you don't finish the phrase or the information. It will lead to a small push for the audience to continue reading the brochure. Again, you can mix and adapt the key elements along with your design. So, it will stay under the same theme. 

Why so? Remember that one of the key elements that you need to consider is relatability. In other words, you cannot make some informal questions for a formal company brochure. It will look out of place or out of context. So, remember what you want to achieve, the goal, and the audience. Is it a formal or casual brochure design? 

Created by Broklin Onjei

3. Pay Attention To The Sizes 

Another key element that you will need to see is the font. Many average designers just throw any kind of text or typefaces for their brochure to show information. However, your font can either fail or successfully attract your audience. How so? You need to consider the readability point in your design element. 

Who wants to read information that is poorly written? It is not only about grammar or vocabulary, but also how legible your work is. So, the first text element that you need to pay attention to is the size, type, and kerning. The kerning is about the distance between each letter. The size will determine how easy it is to read or not. 

The font type will make a mood or relatability with the context. To make it easier to understand, but the idea that your reader will need a clear text to digest the information. You can start creating a brochure design with text element consideration at the start. Remember who the audience is and the space for the design. 

If you got some details to tell, cramping up text and making it smaller does not make it better. You can remove some details and only show the essential information. Or you can explain using a picture element to make the brochure design more appealing. The point is to ensure every detail in the text is not difficult to read. 

Created by Hanna Kmiec

In this case, choosing the appropriate font will also make your brochure design meaningful, just like the formal or casual phrases element. Your text will also need a context link. If you are going to tell some serious details, avoid any casual fonts such as comic sans. Use something in the same line, such as Times new Romans, to go with the theme. 

Not only that, but the font is a key element that also affects others' design considerations. The arrangement for once and the picture pick can either fit or make your text harder to read. In this case, try to use a minimal ornate font to avoid too much detail. It is also harder to read, especially for the text-heavy brochure. 

Arranging the text in such ways also means creating flows. Since you are trying to create a brochure design that is easier to read and deliver messages, make it easier to follow. Don't make ridiculous aligned text. Or else your audience will lose their way of reading the information. To help create better flow, you can use text hierarchy ideas. 

In the text hierarchy, you will use sizes to determine the sense of hierarchy. The practice is pretty simple. You can highlight the most important information or details in the largest sizes. It can be the title or H1. After that, you can downsize the font element design and make it the subheading. It will make clear what the heading and the subheading are.  

Created by Loksophy Design

4. Set The Mood And Tone With Color 

How important is color in your brochure design? Can't you use the photocopy and make it black and white? It is a surprise that many people still use low-budget photocopy to reach more audiences with your work. While it can show information in a lesser budget, it loses its visual appeal and attractive point merely by not having color elements. 

Color is one of the most crucial key elements in every design. It can set the mood, it can add meaning, and it can represent something. So, losing all those rainbows will only make your brochure design lose one point. It might be a vital element, but you cannot simply add meaningless hues when creating a brochure design. 

Remember that color elements can mean a lot in one work. It can project what the creator wants to tell, the context, and mostly the mood. So, before choosing a color for your brochure, try to understand the mood of your message. Is it about surgery? Shopping discount? Children's event or professional business presentation? 

Learning the mood helps you decide the color element, such as professional color, casual, or the more formal brochure. You can also refer to the color meaning and personality, such as gold that shows expensive or yellow that shout cheerful. Bringing the right mood to your brochure will help attract the right audience and convey the message. 

How if you do not know what to do with the color element? The best solution is to go with the brand identity color. If you are working for a company, association, or individual, you can ask for brand identity in the form of color. Using the right brand color as a key element will show the correlation between the design and its content.  

Created by Michał Markiewicz

5. Use Boxes To Organize 

Just as you can put flow on the text element, you will also need to organize every single thing in your brochure design. In this case, the best way to execute the organizing progress is by using boxes. You can add a simple box or rectangular shape to help direct the viewer's eyes. It will be best to highlight the key elements or the information. 

Again, there are many ways you can add boxes when creating a brochure design. A transparent rectangle or box can help blend or show a tiny bit of background image. A solid box can make a clear separation. It is also possible to make exclamation by using striking color for your box element. So, people know that it is one vital piece of information to look at. 

However, you can also use a box to aid in creating a clear layout. The best way to say it is that the boxes help you create sections. It can be from one highlight to others or state different points in the content. Using it will make the reader less intimidated with your layout and follow along with the key element flow. 

Created by Duong Vo

6. Be Smart With White Space 

As boxes help you make sections, it is also better to consider the use of white space. What is it? The white space element is a space in your work. It sounds trivial. But, smart use of this key element can help you perfect the layout. How so? You got to understand that you are creating a brochure design to make people read it. 

So, the white space helps you add some breathing space to your design. Some professionals will consider this design key element as the way to separate every ingredient in the design. It will be in space that makes your design less cluttered or overdone. Sometimes, this element also draws attention to the images or information. So, make sure you got it enough.

Not only about adding breathing space and a less cluttered look, but white space also increases the brochure readability. It is especially true if you consider the use of white space elements in text design and graphics. When using the key element perfectly, you can improve comprehension by adding small lines, paragraphs, and between menus.  

It is also a nice way to lead your reader on the reading flow. The idea of white space is pretty close to the use of getters and margin on your brochure design. A constant and evenly made spacing element generates a clear grouping or section. Thus, people can understand the design's meaning and goals. So, always remember the white space when you are creating a brochure design.  

Created by Jien Li

7. Add Photographs To Make It Alive

A brochure is not complete without some pictures in it. That is why images or photos are part of the vital key elements for many projects. It includes your brochure work. But, working with images can be as hard as taking care of the font. In this case, you will need photography that communicates your work message as well as the content. 

The main key point is how to make this element representative, explanatory, and clear even without using text. Yes, you can use some images to highlight or tell the information. However, pictures can also be misleading and, most of the time, overdone. Relying too heavily on using pictures will only decrease your ability to convey the message. 

So, the best number of pictures or images key elements in a brochure is about two to four images at the most. The reason for this idea is to avoid your reader being overwhelmed or sidetracked. It is also necessary to pick the most relevant picture for your brochure. No one will understand why you add a sun picture when creating a brochure design for a bank.  

Created by Anna Haury

8. Choose The Best Fold Design 

Last but not least is the fold. It is one of the most vital key elements in your product design since your pick will decide what your layout, content flow, or model will look like. How so? Because your fold pick will determine how your audience will open and read the brochure sequence. In this case, you have two basic fold options. 

The first one is trifold, in which the reader will open it to reveal the centerpiece. The best key element to consider in this folding is emphasizing the central image or details. So, the reader will open the fold one by one to find the key information. The basic trifold is mostly appropriate for less information or content. 

On the other hand, if you have more content or information, try to use the z-fold. When you are creating a brochure design with a z-fold, it allows you to explain lengthy information in a clear sequence. It uses sections, and the reader can keep on reading without being overwhelmed with the details. But remember to use section and text design elements to help show the reading flow.  

Created by Arseni Pilipchuk

Final Words

With all of those key elements, you will pinpoint some highlights and make the brochure more appealing. At some point, your design might also appear better than the other. So, you can attract more attention, deliver the message, and get the goal. Remember, that brochure is not only a mere paper with pictures. It has many elements to make it perfect.