Producing the perfect flyer… yourself!

Even in our intangible digital age, the good old-fashioned printed flyer is still one of the best forms of communication around. Why? Well, flyers are cheap to produce, they’re easy to distribute, they'll fit snugly into someone’s back pocket, and crucially, they convey a message to the reader - quickly and simply. But the BEST thing of all about flyers? You can have great fun putting one together yourself!

On my first day as a young, nervous, art college student, I was told that graphic design isn’t about creating something pretty - it’s about communication! That was back in the 1980’s, when a designer’s tool of choice was a box of Magic Markers. Since then, desktop publishing has changed the face of graphic arts beyond recognition. However, all these years later, the main purpose of graphic design remains the same - communication.

With countless publishing apps at our fingertips, you don’t necessarily need to enlist the expense of a graphic designer to do the communicating for you. Whilst creativity doesn’t always just happen, here are a few useful tips to consider if you fancy having a go at knocking up a quick flyer yourself.

Get the order of information right:

The easier it is for your reader to digest the information, the better response you’ll get. If someone has to scour the page looking for an essential piece of information, they probably won’t bother. Just remember the simple sequence of - what, when and where!

Tip: A common mistake is not publicising the day of the week for an upcoming event. People generally have weekly routines, so advertising ‘Thursday 18th May’ will engage with people much better than just '18th May’ because the first thing they’ll probably want to know is, what day of the week it is.

Consider who your audience is:

Are you trying to appeal to a particular demographic? Ask yourself if your event is aimed at young people or old people? Is your product aimed at men or women? If you're trying to engage with a certain type of person, choose images for your flyer that will already appeal to them.

Tip: If you’re hoping to engage with older people, you might want to increase the text size slightly to help anyone with impaired vision.

Make the ‘Call to Action’ as obvious as possible:

Once you’ve attracted the reader’s attention, what exactly is it you want them to do? Maybe you want them to visit a website, or pick up a product in store, or make a journey to a specific place? Make sure what you want the reader to actually DO is clear.

Tip: The Call to Action is usually placed at the bottom of the page, allowing it to be the last sentence to be read - a mission statement!

Tip: If you have a website and you're hoping to engage with the smart phone generation, try adding a QR code to your flyer. Obtaining one is easy enough. There are many online websites who can provide one for free.

Go crazy with colour!

People love colour! Whether they realise it or not, colour has a profound effect on a person’s mood, which can in turn, ultimately lead to an all important impulse purchase! These days, cheap printing no longer means a restricted number of colours. Pretty much all digital printing is ‘CMYK’, meaning it accommodates the entire colour spectrum. So, be creative with colour, unless of course, you specifically need to be formal.

Stay away from the edge!

Don’t place important text close to the edge of the page. OK, so not everybody likes boring white borders, and it’s perfectly acceptable to flood colour to the edge of the page. However, if you have any important information near the edges, it’s in danger of being cut off when your flyers are guillotined to their final size at the print shop.

Tip: Try to keep all text at least 5mm away from any edge of the page. This will ensure the recipient doesn’t miss out on receiving any important information.

So, whatever you want to promote, whether it’s an upcoming event, a special offer or a new product launch, remember who your audience is, and simply enjoy letting your creativity flow! Your flyer could be the secret of your campaign's success. Where will your imagination take you?