In the modern world, we are constantly bombarded with media messages. To capture our attention a good flyer therefore needs to be attention-grabbing, succinct and memorable, all of which is easier said than done! Designing flyers can be subsequently be a daunting activity but breaking the task down into a series of smaller steps it can be far simpler than previously thought.

1. Most importantly, make sure that you are clear about the flyer’s purpose, as this will directly impact its design and layout. Resist the temptation overload a flyer with too much information. It is more effective to focus on highlighting one or two special offers or events, ensuring that relevant contact information such as website, address and telephone number are clearly displayed for the customer to find out more.

2. Always have your target audience at the forefront of your mind during the design process and design using fonts / colours / imagery that will appeal to that audience. Whatever the style, try to use no more than two different fonts. Using bold or italics of the same font can be far more effective than using ten different fonts.

3. Images can prove particularly valuable for flyer where there is very limited space. Consider using one large image to make a stronger impression than several smaller ones.

4. Flyers come in lots of shapes and sizes and a wide range of paper types. If budget is an issue, you can usually pay less for more popular flyer sizes. These include amongst others A5 (210mm x 148.5mm- half a sheet of A4 paper), DL (210mm x 99mm- a third of an A4 sheet) and slightly smaller flyers often use A7 (105mm x 74mm). If you really want to stand out from the crowd, consider using a different format – a good printer will offer a range of different shapes to use. To help prepare the artwork, you can use free flyer templates.

5. Ensure that your flyer is printed on quality card, a professional design can be lost if printed on flimsy paper and it will feel cheap. 350gsm card is regarded as the standard type for flyers.

6. Before you commit to print, make sure you have proof read the flyer several times (and get as many people to read it as possible) as it is all too easy to miss typos and errors in the flyer design.

Don’t be afraid to adopt the ‘less is more’ philosophy and remember that you need to grab attention very quickly and make sure that your key message / offer is going to be very clear and memorable.

This article was sponsored by Solo Press.