Before and After

I received a request for prices on printing a 4 X 6 two sided card from from Dance Smiths, Inc.  They provided me with the layout for the piece, well,  and I just couldn’t leave well enough alone.

All the information was there but  the flyer could be better.

Before

The “before” layout that had been provided was a typical word processor version of what a flyer/certificate should look like. It was bland, boring and was in need of a make over.

There were several items that needed to be addressed:

1. Too many large sized and bolded items made nothing really important .
2. Too many fonts used on the piece and the fonts used were not appropriate for the content
3. The black and white  just didn’t work – at least not in the context presented.

I went to work on correcting the problems.

After

First, I determined the order of importance of the various elements. This is common mistake made when laying out a flyer.  Many DIY designers think that the first thing on the page MUST be the company name or logo when really that’s NOT the important thing.  Getting the viewers attention, letting them know what they have in their hands and making them want to read further is the goal.

We wanted them to know that they had a Gift Certificate and what that certificate entitled them too. Then we told them who was going to provide these things to them and lastly where and how they could take advantage of the offer.

Next, I selected some period appropriate fonts that also complimented the logo font.  Then using different font weights, sizes, spacing and color, rather than different fonts, I set-up a hierarchy for the elements as determined in the first step.  I chose some classic 40′s typefaces that “never go out of style”.  Using a third color for the phone number and the location marker made these items stand out even more, prompting the certificate holder to call or stop by.

Lastly, I introduced some blocks of color, with inspiration provided by the color version of the logo and used various color areas to group elements of the text in a meaningful way.

The result, a classy piece that provides an easy to understand and follow layout, highlights the important elements of the flyer and  provides all the needed information.  Just a few tweaks here and there were all that were needed to make an average flyer outstanding.

If you have a marketing piece that just isn’t doing what you want it to do, contact me and we can discuss ways I can help to make it better!