How to Decide on a Brochure Template

What makes a good brochure template? How do you decide which template to use for brochure printing? Are there criteria involved? Or do you need a critical eye to spot the proper details in brochure templates? Whatever the case, if you are trying to decide on what brochure template to use, here are four tips that should help you pick the right one.

1. A good file format

A good brochure template is usually a digital file format that works well with others. You should target a template with a good file format so that you can use it in different applications and platforms. What I usually recommend if you work on different computers is to choose brochure templates that are made from image formats. Image formats can be opened by almost every desktop publishing software out there, so you can instantly change anything on any platform or application if possible. It should also be easier for your brochure printer since there will be a minimal number of conversions involved.

2. Useful and functional

A brochure template must also be useful and functional. You cannot just choose templates just because it is in a format you like. After seeing a good format, you should see if it has a couple of useful features. Does the brochure template have guidelines and margins? Does it have the standard dimensions for brochures? Are the folds marked and is it in the fold configuration that you want? Determine all of these things before really deciding on a template. You need to be clear about your preferences to truly get the useful template that you need.

3. Easily adaptable or customizable

Also, if at all possible, a brochure template should always be easily adaptable and customizable. This means that certain areas of the template should be really left blank so that you can put your own content easily. If there are things like watermarks, company logos and other things in there, you might want to choose another template since those aren't really supposed to be in a template. So choose something that can really be made into your own custom brochure.

4. Free and unhindered

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you have to know that brochure templates are usually given freely. While there are those that charge fees for their templates, for the most part, the Internet offers a lot of websites that provide brochure templates for free. Those templates are usually very good and very useful for those who want to create their own unique brochures. So do not get sucked in by the marketing talk. You do not have to buy something that is freely available on other websites.

So that is how you decide on a brochure template. It must have a good format, useful, adaptable and free. If you get all four criteria, then that template should be a candidate for your use.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Brochure Templates, Brochure Printing

Janice Jenkins is a writer for a marketing company in Chicago, IL. Mostly into marketing research, Janice started writing articles early 2007 to impart her knowledge to individuals new to the marketing industry.

What to Ask Yourself About Brochure Templates

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.