A Beginner’s Guide to Designing Booklets

Booklets are a popular, reliable advertising tool, consisting of a few dozen pages. They serve as a means of supplying information about a business to a prospective consumer. Used by a variety of companies, booklets highlight new promotional campaigns or acting as a reference guide. They remain relevant and remarkable for occupying a multifarious role in the print marketing landscape. Follow these steps to make sure the booklets you produce are compelling and effective in their aims.

Tips for Designing Booklets for Print

Use a Simple, Powerful Design

Booklets allows businesses to promote themselves, but in order to make that connection with their intended audience, the information has to be presented and organized in a persuasive way. Design has a lot to do with the impact of the final product, and we stress that you put a lot of creativity into the visual outlook and content of your booklet. At the same time, remember to keep things relatively simple. You don’t want to confound the reader by directing them in several directions. Rather you want them to understand and engage with your messaging and not lose interest.

Identify some core components of your layout and try not to deviate from them, especially if you plan to produce different booklets later on. Constituting a core brand identity through your use of color, typography, graphics, and overall layout will be important in maintain customer interest.

Observe the Printing Zones

When creating your design, it’s important to consider the size and placement of your artwork. There are two printing zones to be aware of: the bleed zone and the safe design zone.

The bleed zone is the portion that will be cut off before the booklet is bound. As an example, if your booklet is 8.5″ x 11″, you should design it as 8.75″ x 11.25″ with the extra space representing the bleed. It is a necessary step in the overall process and if left unchecked, can result in an uneven and unpleasing final product. Make sure your design covers this area above all else.

The safe design zone consists of an additional 1/8 inch size area that acts as a buffer between the bleed zone and your design. It assures that nothing important gets cut off when trimmed.

Choose the Right Size

The size of your design should be based on two central components: suitability and price.

Keep your audience in mind when it comes to deciding on the size of the booklet. What kind of impression do you want  to make? What is the overall purpose?

A larger size booklet will undoubtedly enable more information to be conveyed, but at the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm the reader. Just as well, if you are attempting to be cost-efficient with a smaller design size, ensure that everything you want to be made clear in addressing the reader is able to be included early on in the design process.

Unless your client has a substantial budget to work with, price is a major point of concern. Going with a standard size is cost-efficient for many reasons. However, working in a larger capacity of space is certainly a way to make a big impression.

Find a Reliable Printing Company

Identifying the printing company you want to work with in producing your booklet is important because you’ll want a high quality final product that showcases the work that went into the content and design. You’ll need to find a printer that offers excellent results at great prices in a timely manner. Make sure to do your research and know your options!

We recommend SinaLite, a trade printer that works exclusively with print providers and graphic designers. SinaLite’s quality printing come at wholesale prices, and they even provide templates for booklet files. Check out their website here.

What are some design or print tips that you have for booklets? Share them with us in the comments below!

Modified by Haidan Dong