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Brigidine College Library
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Genre Writing |
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Constructing a Brochure or Pamphlet |
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Definition
A brochure/pamphlet is a
small single-page, two-sided, folded document designed to be handed out or mailed,
and is an excellent way of communicating condensed information to a targeted
community.
It presents information on a
specific topic or product in a clear, organised manner. It should give enough information that the
reader won’t be left wondering ‘what is this really about?’, but should also be
a ‘quick read’so that the reader doesn’t become bored before reaching the end.
Because it doesn’t tell the whole ‘story’, it should contain the most important
parts of the ‘story’, and be attractive and appealing so that the reader is
motivated to find out more.
The difference between a
pamphlet and a brochure is that pamphlets are usually non-commercial, and
present an argument to persuade the reader to one point of view instead of
another, (eg recycling). Brochures
present a product or service for sale, and include travel brochures put out by
government departments. They are often presented on glossy paper with colour
photographs, while pamphlets don’t need to or often don’t have the money
available to do this.
Purpose
A brochure/pamphlet’s
purpose may be:
Informative
(eg health department pamphlet on measles)
Educational
(eg advertising the services or facilities offered by a museum or library)
Persuasive
(usually with a commercial or advertising intent). Persuasive brochures are
meant to encourage potential clients to contact the company or organization for
more information, hopefully to organise a sale. The brochure needs to
succinctly include information about what the company specialises in, and what
makes its services and products different from other competitors.
The brochure’s audience
needs to be clearly identified and targeted, as brochures can be an expensive
method of communicating information. Brochures can be distributed door-to-door,
at public gatherings or in public places eg doctors’ waiting rooms, information
bureaus etc. Many businesses and organisations now send brochures to clients as
important back-up materials to initial contacts made via web sites.
Content
Content needs to be correct, well-organised and
up-to-date, but don’t overwhelm with too much.
Style
A catchy heading or title is required in order to
attract the reader’s attention. You might like to make up a motto or caption eg
“Simply the best’; ‘Don’t Let Recycling Go to Waste; ‘Experience Exceptional
Egypt!’ etc.
Dot points are often interspersed amongst short
traditional paragraphs. This will communicate the maximum amount of information
in minimal space, and make your key messages quicker and easier to read.
Use
headings and sub-headings to highlight particular aspects of your
message/theme.
Language
Keep
language simple by avoiding long words and jargon. The tone should be
intelligent, competent, friendly and inviting.
If your
brochure is for a business, you can use the collective first person i.e. refer
to ‘us, ‘we’, ‘our’, to make people realise your whole organisation has the same
goals and thinks the same way. Don’t use ‘I’, because you should promote your
company as a team, not a one-person outfit.
If your
brochure aims to persuade people towards a certain action, eg go to the museum
or contact your company, you need to use persuasive language. This would
include action verbs which motivate your reader to do something, eg ‘try us’,
contact us’, ‘take action now!’, or ‘don’t miss out!’. It would also include
very favourable adjectives to describe you and your services or product, eg
‘the best’, ‘outstanding’, ‘modern’, ‘accountable’, ‘professional’, ‘dynamic’,
‘flexible’, ‘tailor-made’, ‘progressive’, ’efficient’, etc.
Contact Information
All
relevant contact information must be supplied (usually on the front and/or back
pages).
As a
minimum, this should be a phone number and street address. Fax numbers, email
addresses and a web address (if one is available) are also useful).
Contextual Features
Construction
A tri-fold
brochure is written on both front and back of an A4 sheet of paper. It folds inwards from either end over the
middle third to make a neat document which is 1/3 the size of an A4 sheet. Remember that your text and graphics must
fit neatly within the precise areas, or the brochure won’t fold correctly.
(Note that brochures can also be produced in A5 size, half the size of a normal
A4 page).
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A tri-fold
brochure |
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Style and Layout
Brochures
need to contain as much information as possible, while remaining aesthetically
pleasing to attract and keep the attention of the reader. You need to be very selective with this
information, which must be broken up into logically-flowing groups or
categories which will make the most sense to your audience and still fit
naturally on each of the 6 separate pages.
Size and
proportion are vital. A balanced mixture of text and graphics is most
appealing. Graphics should never overwhelm the text or distract from whatever
content or message is being communicated, so don’t make the layout too dense
with lots of typing. Leave some space in between the writing either as empty
‘white space’ or as space for logos or pictures. This makes it easier for people to read.
Use
fonts or handwriting which are easy to read, and vary them by using bold and
italics to capture attention and highlight similar items.
Colours
should be co-ordinated with text and graphics to make a visually pleasing
whole.
You
should prepare a mock-up design of each page first, as you have such limited
space and separated pages. Decide what will go on each individual page. You can
draw boxes to indicate graphics, and lines to indicate text. Space everything
out neatly.
Graphics
These
should enhance the text ie. be relevant to the subject, not just pretty
pictures you found somewhere.
They
can be drawings, photographs, pictures, clip art, or a personally-designed
logo.
They
should not dominate, as text is the most important. A rough guide: 1/3 of the
whole?? (Check with your teacher). And make sure the size of a particular
graphic is not disproportionately large compared to the rest of the brochure.
A rubric is a breakdown of
the various elements of a task and a summary of a student’s level of mastery of
each of these components. Your teacher
may indicate your level of competency in the construction of a
brochure/pamphlet through a rubric such as the following: