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Welcome to Econnect Communication’s April 2006 newsletter –
‘So, you want a brochure'.
We’ve produced a lot of brochures over the years and, working on
two more this past month, we thought we’d share with you some
fundamental questions you should ask yourself if you think you
need a brochure, and some tips for making it all happen
smoothly. We hope you learn something from our experiences and,
as usual, we are always interested to hear from you.
Regards,
Econnect Communication
Jenni Metcalfe, Michelle Riedlinger, Lynne Goodwin, Mary
O’Callaghan, Sarah Bartlett and
Melina Georgousakis
In this issue: So, you want a
brochure
Storytelling
with brochures
Saving money
on design - 8 tips
10 tips for a
smooth production process
Surf club
Quotation of the month
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Storytelling with brochures
By
Jenni Metcalfe
The first question I ask a client who says they want a
brochure is – why?
My second question is – who’s it for?
My third question is – do they (the intended target audience)
really need a brochure?
I think there are far too many brochures out there that are very
beautiful, and make the organisation that produced them feel
good, but that achieve little or nothing with the target
audience.
Recently, we were almost at the final production stage with a
brochure when we, along with the client, realised that the
brochure did not have enough to say and few people were ever
likely to read it! It’s a tough call to abandon a project at
such a late stage, but to continue would have been
irresponsible, in spite of the sunk costs.
There are, of course, times when a brochure can be a useful
tool. We’re really pleased with the brochure we produced for the
Managing Climate Variability Program. You can download a PDF
version from our website at
http://www.econnect.com.au/projects.htm#storybrochure.
It’s visually stunning, thanks to our favourite graphic
designer,
See-Saw Illustration & Design Pty Ltd. We think the content
pretty much hits the target. And the client loves it too!
Here’s a little about the brief:
-
Objective
– a document that increases awareness of the Managing Climate
Variability program, explaining in plain English its objectives,
activities and achievements
-
Audience
– rural industries associated with the partner organisations,
natural resource managers, policy makers and potential investors
-
Messages
– climate variability is a significant issue for Australia; a
partnership between farmers, natural resource managers and
scientists is important for managing climate variability;
farmers and natural resource managers need more accurate and
longer lead-time seasonal forecasts; the program is investing in
tools and services that help farmers and natural resource
managers incorporate climate variability into their risk
management plans
-
Style
– a mix of factual information about the program and stories
from real farmers who are using seasonal forecasting tools (we
believe all good communication is about telling stories)
Saving money on design - 8 tips
By Michelle Riedlinger
I spoke with See-Saw Illustration & Design—our preferred
designer—about what you can do to make your brochure production
as cost effective as possible. It comes down to good planning
and communication:
1. Get a
design concept as early as possible. Developing a concept is an
extra cost for the designer. While, for many reasons, it is
worthwhile getting the designer to produce a concept, not
everyone can afford it. If you can provide the designer with a
ready-made concept, they can dive right into the job.
2. Agree
on the size. An unusual size will help your piece stand out but
may cost more in design, printing and postage. DL is convenient
for a normal envelope if it is to be posted.
3. If you
want illustrations, give the designer clear guidelines. How
complex will the drawings be? Are they realistic or cartoons?
Suggest a style if you can.
4. Show
the designer samples of work that you like (and work you don’t).
Give them other materials from your group or organisation and
point them to your website so they can gain an understanding of
who you are.
5. Give
the designer everything they need in one go—text separated out
by page and a range of photographs and illustrations with
instructions for using them.
6. Changes
cost money –give the designer final text and images only
and try to make all changes in one go.
7. How
many copies do you need? Sometimes going from 250 to 500 copies
doesn’t cost much more to produce.
8. Stick
to agreed-upon timelines for providing feedback and you’ll avoid
paying extra for rushed print jobs.
10 tips for a smooth production process
By Mary
O'Callaghan
Once you have figured out the purpose of your brochure, the
target audience, and the key messages, you need to brief the
writers, designers and printer. Here are some tips:
1. Agree
upfront on page size; number of pages; paper quality and weight;
colours (full colour is not always necessary); number of copies
2.
Consider the mix of graphics and text - lean towards more
graphics and white space – make it a pleasure to read, not just
easy to read.
3. Have a
professional editor edit the text. This brochure reflects your
credibility as an organisation.
4. Brief
the writers and editor on the writing style and tone you want.
This will save the editor time later. Do you want to sound
formal or chummy? Is some jargon ok? This depends on the
audience and the purpose of the brochure.
5. Budget
for images. You’ll need high resolution images and you may need
to pay for them. There are heaps of image libraries on the web.
6. Agree
with the designer the word count for each page. Give the writers
a word limit for each story. This will save the editor time
later.
7. Get a
concept design as early as possible. Use dummy text and focus on
the overall look and feel. You’ll avoid expensive design changes
at the layout stage.
8.
Finalise the text before getting the designer to lay it out.
Once laid out, it is costly to get the designer to make changes
other than minor typos.
9. Test
the design and content with a sample audience. This is to make
sure messages are clear and the target audience finds it
readable before final production.
10. Clarify
who is delivering the brochures, to where and by when. Is it the
printer, the designer or you?
Surf club
This has got to be one of the simplest and cutest websites we’ve
seen, and with the cutest knitted creatures—the design had a
chorus of “I want them all!” rising from the Econnect office
this week.
Quotation of the month
“You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she’ll be
constantly running back.”
Horace |
