How to Make a Brochure in Microsoft Word: Step by Step Tutorial

Brochures are a powerful tool for spreading awareness of your business or event, and educating potential customers about your product. Though relatively small, their format naturally allows for conveying multiple points of information for many occasions, whether advertising your business services or promoting a charity event or school play.

The key to an effective brochure is to capture and maintain the reader’s attention with a compelling design. This post will guide you through the key elements of brochure design, and how to make a brochure in Microsoft Word, step by step.

The five C’s of brochure design

1. Contrast

Use contrast, such as combining light and dark colors, to call attention to the most important elements of the brochure. Changing the font is another way to add contrast. As a general rule, avoid using more than two typefaces. Instead, change the font in other ways, such as making it bold, larger or adding italics.

2. Clutter

Avoid clutter in your design. Every image, button, logo or group of text should have space around it. It will be easier to create this white space if you limit the number of elements you are attempting to include. Select one or two high quality images, rather than including all of the imagery you have. Stick to the most important talking points and leave out the rest.

3. Copy

Keep your copy short and concise. Try to keep headers and subheads to brief phrases. Summarize longer pieces of text and make it scannable by incorporating bullet points, numbering or bolding main points.

Use a simple font that is easy to read. When adding copy to your design, pay attention to any widows or orphans. These occur when a single word or sentence falls on a separate column or page then the rest of the text.

4. Content placement

Create alignment by placing images and text in-line with each other. For example, you may choose to right align the front cover of the brochure and left-align the inside. Center alignment can work well for small sections, such as contact info, but should be used sparingly.

Additionally, consider the hierarchy of the page. Make sure the most important elements are placed in a prominent position without any distracting elements near it.

5. Color

There’s a lot to consider when selecting an appropriate color for your brochure. Start by thinking about the messaging you want to convey:

• More conservative businesses tend to opt for blues and greens.
• Red can indicate energy or danger.
• Yellow can be used to communicate cheerfulness, but can also easily be too bright, so use it with care.
• Purple is a color of royalty and is frequently used to communicate luxury.

For the most part, you will want to select two contrasting colors for your color theme, such as blue and orange or purple and yellow.

To find out how to create a brochure on Microsoft Word, visit www.goskills.com.