Brochure Printing Tips That Will Help You At The Printer
Brochures can be a great way to give your customers and prospects more in-depth information about your offerings. And they can be easy to design, too. With graphic design software like Adobe Photoshop, QuarkXPress, InDesign and Microsoft Publisher getting cheaper and cheaper, almost anyone can afford to design their own marketing materials!
Even if you design your own brochures, you will still need to work with a brochure printing company to get them printed. This means you should know a thing or two about some considerations that go into brochure printing. Here is a brief summary of the basics you need to know when designing your brochure so that when you deal with a printer, you will not hit any snags in the process.
You need to know your print size
If you are planning on printing a flyer that is slightly larger than normal (to help it stand out from the crowd), do not use an 8.5” x 11” template in your design software. The printer could enlarge the design to fit the paper, but then the design will look distorted and everything will be stretched out. Make sure you are designing in a template for the finished paper size. The same goes for designing on a template that is bigger than the final paper size. Shrinking your images and text would not look good or be easily read.
Give your design room to bleed
A print bleed is simply extending the color of the sides of your design to go beyond the edge of the paper. The bleed accounts for any variance the printer might have while cutting your brochure.
Your brochures will be printed on a huge web of paper and then your brochures will be cut from that one piece of paper. The blade that cuts each brochure is usually very precise, but when it is cutting thousands of pieces, it is bound to fluctuate a little.
By designing your brochure with an extra 1/8th inch of color beyond the edges, you can make sure none of your brochures have any white on the edges.
High resolution images are critical
If you do not use high-resolution images in your design, your brochure would not look very professional. Your image will be blurry or even pixilated and people might not be able to tell what it is. The images on your computer are only 72 dpi (dots-per-inch), which works well on computers, but look horrible on paper.
For your images to look good on paper, you need to save them as at least 300 dpi in your imaging or designing software. You can find free stock photos on the Internet by searching for “free stock photos” in any search engine like Yahoo or Google. Some Web sites even offer free high-resolution pictures you can use in your brochure. Just make sure you read the agreement that goes along with the photo – you may need to give the photographer a small credit line along the bottom or side of the photo.
Choose the right kind of paper
There are a plethora of paper choices out there for you to print your brochure on. Most printers recommend using 80lb or 100lb stock paper. Using heavier paper means there is less chance for readers to see through to the next panel of your brochure and heavier paper gives off a more professional feeling. You also might want to choose heavier paper if you have a lot of ink (images) in your brochure so that there is less chance of see-through.
Use original fonts
Use fonts that are easy to read, but yet have not been used over and over by other companies. Fonts are being created all the time – you are not limited to the fonts that came with your design software. A couple of my favorite Web sites that have free font downloads are www.1001freefonts.com (you can search by category, such as comic, handwriting and retro) or www.dafont.com (these categories are a little more creative, such as Chinese- or foreign-looking fonts or fonts designed for holidays, like the Valentine’s Day font with hearts galore). You can also buy a whole catalog of fonts for a low price at most font Web sites. You can get 7,000 fonts for $20 at 1001 Free Fonts.
Your brochures are part of your brand, part of your company’s identity. A well-designed brochure that is professionally printed can bring you tons of sales, so take the time to plan it and design it properly.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Brochure Printing
About the Author
Janice Jenkins is a writer for a marketing company in Chicago, IL. Mostly into marketing research, Janice started writing articles early 2007 to impart her knowledge to individuals new to the marketing industry.
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