When choosing brochure templates, there are
things that you must be sure of before committing to just one of them.
You cannot just use brochure templates randomly without considering its
effects on your whole brochure printing process. This is because
unlike other printing templates, brochure templates have a few crucial
elements that you cannot just ignore or smooth over, as your printing
process gets more specific. If you are just about to choose your
brochure templates yourself, first try out asking a few of the
questions below to help yourself with the decision.
How is the
template set to fold? - The big question that you must ask first is
what kind of folding technique is the brochure set at? While by default
most people use the tri-fold brochure template, there are still other
folds like the French fold, the gatefold, the accordion fold etc.
Each of these folds has very specific differences and if you want to
download a template in the Internet, you must know what kind of fold
your template is using. Many people make the mistake in downloading
templates en masse only to find out that they can only use a few
because of “fold” considerations. So make sure you ask yourself first,
how the template is set to fold. This should save you a lot of time
scrounging through your different brochure templates.
Is the
flow of the template content appropriate? - Also, for each individual
template, the flow of text and content can vary throughout the panels.
Some brochures can be read from left to right across panels, while
others need to be read top to bottom for each panel before moving on to
the next. In addition, there are still others that can be quite
confusing, especially the ones with exotic or unusual folding
techniques.
Your choice should depend on the content you will
be placing in the brochure. If you require contiguous text, they you
might want a brochure format that allows for the free flow of large
type information, just like in fully opened French fold. However, if
you just want to give short snippets of listed information, a tri-fold
template might be better. Therefore, it all depends on the flow of your
content, if a brochure template can work. So make sure you add that to
your list of considerations.
Is there space for what you need?
- Next, you should also take into account the length of your text and
images and the available space in the template. Some templates can have
large design objects and elements that can limit the things that you
can put on to it. So always, try to add in some draft content into the
brochure templates so that you can judge if you do indeed have the
space for your content in the template. Otherwise, you have to switch
to another one.
Will it expensive to print the template? -
Also, you need to ask if printing the template is expensive. You might
not know it, but different types of brochure templates can have
different printing quotations. This happens because some brochure
templates are more elaborate than others are in its designs and the
folding requirements. So always ask for a quotation to check if your
particular template is expensive to print or not.
Can your
printer print the template? - Finally of course, you need to ask your
printer if the template can be produced in their machines. As was
touched on above, not all brochure templates are created equal and some
may need attention in printing more than others. If a printer cannot
handle a particular exotic template, you may need to change your
designs or change your printing service. Whatever the case, it is
always better to choose a brochure printer that can do almost anything
with its brochures.
So what are you waiting for? Start asking these already and get that piece of mind in using brochure templates.
Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in brochure templates and brochure printing.