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Booklet Design 101 – Part One
Posted by Karl | Posted in Printing, Tips | Posted on 28-11-2009
The Internet has revolutionized all aspects of life around the globe but it is not unique is a technology in creating such a paradigm shift in mankind’s development – before the Internet, there was the book. Even before the invention and distribution of the printing press, books held great power over those who could read them, and they in turn held massive influence and power over those who could not. Books are the main mechanism for disseminating knowledge and information and no matter how hard other media tries to replicate or surpass this success, the alternatives always wind up competing against a front-runner that has dominated knowledge and information for centuries.
Form and content are crucial to getting your message across, and while form may not improve the content, failing to pay attention to form may simply result in your message never being heard. Form is crucial to getting your message and information read, understood and acted upon. Remember AIDA from sales courses – Attention, Interest, Decision, Action – form is involved in all four stages while content acts as the driver for each of these buying stages.
The humble booklet is a miniature book, usually of a smaller size, far fewer pages and using materials which are of lesser quality or longevity than we normally associate with a bound and printed book. Nevertheless, a booklet conveys the same authority as many publications and has some distinct advantages over a brochure which is more closely associated with sales, marketing and selling generally – a book conveys information and is authoritative – a booklet capitalizes to a lesser extent on that credibility.
Booklets can also be smaller than a regular book and certainly a brochure – this is highly attractive to prospective readers who may come across the booklet precisely because it is of a size which makes it easily stashed in a pocket or purse and lends itself to being read on the train or during a lull in an otherwise busy day. Bear in mind when you are designing your booklet to use a size of paper that complies with your prospective reader’s requirements – small but not too small so it can be read easily enough and there are no barriers to simply pocketing the booklet.
Booklets can be used as a simple selling tool, but they carry with them the credibility of a book, so you can use the booklet to enhance your own credibility. Look to mix your sales message with educational and practical advice so the booklet becomes more rounded and informative to readers. This makes the possibility of the booklet being referred back to by the reader, or being passed on to other readers more likely and even better, motivating the reader to contact you for more information and help.
When putting a booklet together, you are not creating a work similar to “War and Peace” or “North and South” – you are summarizing information and encapsulating it into the booklet. This necessitates a thorough understanding of the use and importance of headlines and sub-headers. A headline is there to get the reader to read the first line, the first line to read the first paragraph, etc, etc, but making sure that the booklet is broken up into bite-sized portions of information within its body is vital and for this you need to make good use of headers.
This article will continue in Part 2
