The Fundamentals of Brochure Design

Written by UPrinting    ●    Updated on March 15, 2024

A brochure offers dimensions that other printed marketing tools do not have. The unfolding of a brochure alone is a tangible experience that a flat business card or poster may not achieve. So, it only makes sense that creating a brochure can be daunting at first. In this article, we take a look at the fundamental aspects of brochure design so you can have a better idea of the brochure you envision in your customers’ hands.

Building Blocks of a Brochure

Brochures are one of the highly customizable marketing tools you can print, and chances are, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all guide to designing one. But our experience with creating brochures for various industries and all sorts of customers has taught us a thing or two about what goes into a brochure, and we’re happy to share what we’ve learned.

• Front Cover – The front cover is the first thing people see when they clap their eyes on your brochure. It serves as your brand’s face in the absence of a salesperson, and it is crucial that the front page strikes a balance between information and curiosity. It’s common for brochures to have elements such as the company name, tagline, and logo on the front cover, but it also pays to have a killer headline and a solid artwork.
• Products, Services, and Their Main Benefits – Build a list of the products and services that you want to include in your brochure. The inside panel of your brochure is prime real estate for what you’re selling — it’s the part where you highlight their salient features, so put the most important ones at the top of the hierarchy.
• Compelling Copy – Your headline sets the mood for the entire brochure and it’s essential to maintain this tone from cover to cover. This helps the reader paint a better picture of the good your products, your company, or your event will bring them. Your tone may depend on your branding — fun, serious, excited, conversational, friendly, expert-sounding — or you could use a combination of approaches to get your message across. Keep your copy short but engaging; remember, you might be working with limited space and every square inch of your brochure should be maximized whether it’s for text, images, or plain white space.
• Sharp Photos and Images – Speaking of images, it’s critical that the images you put on your brochure are of high resolution, even those that you think would appear small like icons and symbols. It’s easier to reduce the size of a hi-res image than to blow up something that might end up pixelated. A few ways you can secure precise images is by staging a professional photoshoot, using editing software that allows you to adjust image features such as sharpness, contrast, or creating them from scratch in 3D software. It’s also possible to use all three or more, depending on the complexity of your images not to mention the size of your budget.
• A Central Call to Action – A brochure may be comprehensive enough to have multiple actionable steps throughout the entire material. However, it is crucial that your brochure — as do your other marketing tools — have a main message and call to action or CTA. As you create your brochure’s copy, decide on a central CTA. It could be sign up, RSVP, shop, enroll, the list goes on. You’ll find that part of making an effective brochure is placing your CTA strategically throughout your brochure whether you do it repeatedly or give it ample billing.
• Back Cover – Just because it’s the back cover doesn’t mean it deserves less attention. You can allot a portion of this panel to a powerful call to action, after all this is the panel people will see when they flip a closed brochure. This is also the panel where you lay down all your contact information — phone numbers, email address, website URL, social media handles, and physical address. If there are specific contact persons that customers should look for, add those too.

Types of Brochures According to Purpose

Brochures come in various kinds, and they serve different purposes. If you want to come up with an effective brochure, you must be intentional in how you create one, starting with what it is for. We list down the most popular types of brochures to help you out.

• Promotional Brochure – A staple to any marketing arsenal, a promotional brochure’s primary job is to advertise your products, services, or your brand. This type of brochure normally features product images and copy that’s meant to sell, and they’re distributed at high-traffic areas or via direct mail. You can leave these at points-of-purchases like the cash register of your store or give them to customers as part of a promotional kit.
• Informational Brochure – An informational brochure gives you an opportunity to talk more about your products or services, especially if you want to focus more on educating rather than selling or promoting. A good example of an informational brochure would be health brochures that you can find in hospitals and clinics and public service advisories.
• Response Brochure – You’ll know you’re looking at a response brochure when the central message is a call to action. Whether it’s to donate to an organization, sign a petition, or register for an event, this brochure’s main purpose is to elicit a response from its target audience.
• Corporate Brochure – These are also known as company brochures and detail information about a company such what they do, their awards or achievements, and their values to appeal to potential customers, stakeholders, and investors. Corporate brochures may also include the company’s mission, vision, team members, and customer testimonials.
• Event Brochure – An event brochure provides information about events and is perfect for exhibits, festivals, and movie screenings. Along with the event details, you can include details like lineup of acts, performance schedules, as well as participating booths and sponsors.
• Nonprofit Brochure – A nonprofit brochure is similar to a company brochure, but they have some key differences. For example, nonprofit marketing materials tend to talk more about their advocacy and the various programs they hold towards achieving the organization’s goals. They also highlight the calls to action such as donating, volunteering, or supporting, more strongly to appeal to their audience’s emotions.

Types of Brochures According to Folds

It may seem like a no-brainer but the way it is folded adds a flair to a brochure and how people experience them. Depending on the purpose of your brochure, you can fold them several ways to maximize this marketing tool.

• Half-fold – A half-fold brochure involves folding a sheet of paper into two equal parts to get two panels.
• Trifold – To achieve a trifold, you need to fold a sheet of paper as you would a letter so that you end up with three panels.
• Z-Fold - The Z-fold is a variety of trifold where you divide the paper into three panels and arrange them so that they look like the letter Z or an accordion.
• Gate Fold - The gate is another three-fold option. This one, however, involves folding the paper such that you get two equal panels that fold towards the center.
• Accordion Fold – A standard accordion fold is comprised of four panels that fold on top of each other.
• Double Gate Fold – To get the double-gate fold, all you have to do is to create a classic gate gold and then fold it in half.
• Double Parallel fold – This brochure fold requires that you fold a sheet of paper into a half-fold, and then fold it one more time in half.
• French Fold - You can create a French fold brochure by folding the paper vertically in half (from top to bottom) and then fold it again in half horizontally (from side to side).
• Roll Fold – Achieve a roll fold with ease by folding a sheet of paper into four equal panels. Then, fold the panel from the rightmost end inwards to the left as you would a roll.
• Half-Fold Then Trifold – This specific fold will give you six panels. Just fold a sheet of paper vertically and then make a trifold.

Paper and Cardstock

A well-designed brochure doesn’t live by content and colors alone — it’s equally important that your brochures feel as good as they look to create an even bigger impression. At UPrinting, we have a variety of paper and cardstock options so you can find the best material for your brochure.

• 70 lb. Paper Uncoated – This is the thinnest and lightest paper stock we use for brochures, and it has a smooth surface you can write on. If you’re creating a brochure that has a sign-up form or fields to be written on, this paper choice will work great.
• 80 lb. Paper Gloss – Just little thicker and heavier than the 79 lb., this paper stock is coated with a subtle layer of gloss that makes colors appear brighter.
• 100 lb. Paper Gloss – Our bestselling paper stock for brochures, it’s a bit thicker than the usual magazine paper and has a light sheen thanks to the gloss coating. It’s fairly foldable and fade-resistant, keeping your brochure intact and vivid over time.
• 100 lb. Paper Matte – The matte coat lends this thickish paper a nice layer of elegance in an instant, making your brochures the center of attention.
• 10 pt. Cardstock Gloss – Build your brochure with this luxurious cardstock, a more supple and resilient paper and is covered in gloss to keep the colors and graphics look vivid for years.
• 10 pt. Cardstock Matte - This cardstock sends the message that you mean business and you put a premium on quality. The matte coating makes it a touch sophisticated and it’s writable, too.

A solid marketing brochure is attainable if you throw together the right fundamentals and build a good foundation. Always keep your brand and your target audience in mind as you make your choices and create your content, and work with a printer that will deliver excellent results at every stage of production. Find all these and more at UPrinting where you’ll have access to our free online design tool, free design templates, and our experts’ invaluable knowledge in printing all kinds of marketing materials. Promote your products, services, or events effectively knowing that your brochure will look as good in your customers’ hands as you imagined it.