A tri-fold brochure has become a staple in today’s marketing world. They can be displayed on racks, fit easily into envelopes, and serve as affordable promotional material for every business. 

For decades, tri-fold brochures have been leading the marketing industry and helping business spread their messages. This brochure has now become an obvious choice of most businesses because it can fit more information into a compact document. Did you know that a tri-fold brochure offers 4 times more space compared to a standard single-page flyer? It’s the perfect piece of paper that allows you to provide your target audience with information and quality illustrations when designed and printed right.

What Is a Tri-Fold Brochure?

We sent an inquiry to Space Print, a high-quality printing company, and according to them, a tri-fold brochure is made on A4 paper folded twice horizontally from both sides. These folds give you six panels to make your front and back page as well as 4 pages full of information and images. The most common types of A4 folds are: 

  • Tri-Fold: The sides overlap one another with a middle section
  • Z-Fold: A 3-panel accordion fold

When designing a brochure, most businesses pick a template online and copy-paste their artwork to avoid the hassle of creating bleed lines and adjusting the content. 

5 Dos and Don’ts of Designing a Brochure

Dos

  1. Do Use Icons to Replace Words Wherever You Can

Icons are little helpers that allow you to cut down your content and make it look more attractive. If you are a novice, using icons will make your brochure look quite professional. Common icons include a phone receiver for Contact, the map’s legend for Address, the envelope for Email, the globe for Website URL, and the round comment bubble for About Us. Then, there are social media icons to show that your business is present on these platforms. 

There are plenty of other entertainment icons you can use based on what your brochure is about. For example, if you are a tour agency, you can use the champagne glasses icon to represent the wine tours, the happy-sad faces to represent theatres, the spoon and fork on a plate for restaurants, etc. 

  1. Do Leave White Space on the Panels

The biggest problem that many businesses face is adding information to a brochure. Since the tri-fold limits the number of words that go in a line, you have to be very careful with your content placement. Just because you’ve got six panels does not mean that you stuff as much information as you can. Leave white space wherever you can to create balance. For example, the middle section can only be an illustration with a header and subtitle. The sides can be used for the information in paragraphs.

  1. Do Use Gradient for a Wow Effect

Adding a gradient can spruce up just about any design! It gives the brochure a futuristic look and allows you to add in white space easily with the help of fading shades. 

  1. Do Dedicate an Entire Fold to Your Contact Information

The call to action is the most important piece of information in a brochure. Since you will be including selected pieces of content in your brochure, make sure that readers know how to contact you. Use the back middle section, and get the contact information printed in bold.

  1. Do Make Sure the Panels Lead into One Another

One of the biggest mistakes that most businesses make is that in their haste to include all their content in the brochure, they forget to look at the big picture and ask the important questions, like “does the content follow a single line of thought?” and “does it naturally lead to the other header and the body copy underneath?” Make sure that the information answers one question after the other. If readers find the content to their liking, they will call.

Don’ts

  1. Don’t Use More Than 3 Fonts

A font for your title page, another one for your headers, and the last one for the body copy, that’s it! The more fonts you use, the less readable the content will be. Moreover, the overall look will give readers the impression that you made the brochure in a rush and did not pay attention to adding a blending effect.

  1. Don’t Use Images With Different Colour Pallets

When it comes to adding pictures or illustrations to the brochure, you need to make sure that the visuals follow the same color theme. For example, if you are selling shoes, the background behind the person wearing shoes should have the same color scheme. 

  1. Don’t Substitute Content With Images

You have to create the perfect balance between images and content. However, if you need more space, use a color filter to put the images in the background. This way, they will be less distracting, and you can increase your content.

  1. Don’t Copy-Paste the Content As it Is

If you want to place emphasis on your content, use content blocks instead of paragraphs and extra space. Using content blocks will not only make your brochure stand out from the competition but also allow readers to pick the section they want to read easily.

  1. Don’t Use Pixelated Images

Your brochure should always have high-quality images so that, when printed, they don’t look like a messy blur. Always choose HD images to make sure the final print result will be the same as you saw on the computer screen.

So, what are your thoughts on these dos and don’ts? We guarantee that by focusing on these small things, you will be able to design a much better brochure that ticks all the necessary boxes, such as minimum content, high-quality images, catchy headers, balance, and a clear call-to-action.