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6 Things to avoid when designing your next flyer « Back to list

A flyer can often be a cheap and cheerful way to get your brand in front of your customers. Flyers can be great at promoting special events or offers and also providing customers with more information on a specific product or service that you are providing. Making your flyer stand out though and hit all the right notes is not always as easy as it seems and over the years we have seen some examples of flyers that could really have done with a little more TLC.

To help you out when it comes to designing your next flyer we have picked our top six things to avoid when it comes to designing a flyer. If some of these surprise you and make you reconsider your own flyer design, well, you can thank us later.

Designing leaflets and flyers - Digital Printing

Things to avoid when designing your next flyer:

1. Too much information:

The worst thing you can do with your flyer is fill it with information just for the sake of filling space. Give your flyer room to breathe and only include the most necessary points. If you are looking to promote a new product then you may want to include the name, a price and a few key points. Don’t start to write a story on the great benefits of it. Your customer will just want to know how much it is and what it does. Likewise if you are promoting your business or service. Your customers live busy lives so they expect information quick. This means only including key points that a reader can easily scan down through and digest it.

2. Long headline:

If too much information is the worst thing you can have in a flyer then a long headline is a close second (which is why we have it as number two; funny that). Your headline needs to be short and to the point. A headline should be something that can instantly grab the customer’s attention and encourage them to read more. Keep words to a minimum in your headline and try to keep it to two lines at the very most. Before you send your flyer to print, put a draft in front of some colleagues and see their response. Does the headline grab their attention?

3. Low quality images:

If you are using images for your flyer then be sure to use high quality images. Low quality, pixelated images will make your flyer look bad and can cheapen the way customers see your brand. Avoid copying images straight from the website as they will be lower quality and a different resolution (RGB rather than CMYK). If you have access to quality stock images for a product or even have your own digital camera (or smartphone), use them. A quality picture can really help set of a flyer. Check out our recent blog post where we looked at the role of images in flyers.

Gate leaflet - digital printing

4. Too much colour:

We all know that a little colour is important in helping your flyer stand out but be sure to remember the word LITTLE!! Don’t go overboard with colour and start getting colour happy because you think bright, vibrant colours can give more impact. Too much colour can make your flyer confusing, especially if you use lots of colour in your text. Try to stick to colours that complement each other and stick to colours that work well with your brand image and your logo. When it comes to text in your logo, a consistent approach is always the best way. Try to use the same colour for all text although you can use a different colour to help make a heading or price or special offer stand out.

5. Small text:

Text is important when it comes to your flyer and using the right fonts is also something that you need to consider. There is no point spending time designing a flyer and printing it only for your customers to struggle to read it. Your headline should be the largest text size with all other information consistent in size. Sub headings and prices or key points can be a little bigger than the main content body size but it should never exceed the size of your headline text. Try to avoid going below point 10, especially when printing white text onto a black background.

6. Poor Spelling:

This may seem like a surprising inclusion to the list but poor spelling, grammar and wrong information are things we have all come across at some stage when looking at a flyer. Be sure to proof your flyer at every stage of the design process and get your colleagues to double proof it before going to final print. Be sure to check the more sensitive information like dates, prices and contact details as once they are printed, the only way to change them is to print again. This is a further expense you could all do without.

When it comes to designing your next flyer, think of those flyers that have managed to grab your attention in the past. What did they have that worked well in grabbing your attention? Also be sure to remember those flyers that you looked at and put straight into your bin or fire. What did they have that made you do this?

One final tip is to encourage feedback from your customers. If they get in touch with you thanks to a flyer asked them what worked. If you don’t get any feedback, you can simply ask a group of customers what they think of your flyer. Use these findings to improve your next design.