Tips For Creating A Captivating Flyer

How do you create a flyer that works? No matter whether you want to promote a club night or shout about your new startup in a direct mail campaign, there are a few simple ways to make sure your leaflet is noticed.

1. Minimise Your Colours

Pick your brand colours and then find a complementary or highlight colour.

That’s all you need!

Using too many colours can confuse the eye, which will muddle the message you’re trying to send out.

Choose a main colour and a contrast colour, to help your text stand out on the page. This works best if you choose one light and one dark shade, especially if you’re creating a smaller size flyer such as an A7. This is because your text will be small and needs to have clarity to be effective!

2. Use Graphics

An all-text flyer is heavy on the eye.

For anything above an A6 flyer, (and even then, below that size if you can fit it on!), make sure to fill some space with graphics. This could be a stock photo from a creative commons library, something you’ve created yourself, or a purchased image.

The graphics will help to break up the space, catch the eye, and add a bright accent to your flyer.

3. Keep It Short And Sweet

Space is your friend!

Try not to cram everything onto your flyer. Include only important information: the aim is to drive people to your website or social channels to find out more.

For example, if you’re promoting your club night, add in the headline acts and where to buy tickets. There’s no need to list all of the support acts on a small flyer – that’s what your website and larger posters are for!

4. Make Contact Details Easy To Spot

Make sure that your website, email address, or phone number is in a prominent and easy-to-spot location. This will help drive people to follow up on your promotion: if they can’t easily find how to get to your website, they won’t bother!

5. Set Up Your Bleed And Safety Zones

It’s important to make sure that you add 6mm to each edge of your artwork canvas when you create your flyer design. This is known as the bleed zone (3mm) plus the safety zone (3mm).

This is because, without it, there is the risk that important information may be cut off in the trimming process after printing.

Commercial printers don’t print to the very edge of the sheet. In fact, the sheet used is slightly larger than the final size. Once the flyers are printed, they are trimmed and cut to size. Adding 6mm allows space for the trimming process, without affecting your design.

A simple way to do this is to continue your background colour or design 6mm further out than the artwork canvas. Just make sure you don’t have any important graphics or text in that area!

 6. Try A Textured Finish

A flyer can have a lamination finish, such as matt, gloss, or velvet, all of which add another depth to the leaflet. It makes a difference to add a sense of touch to your marketing, and a lamination option is a great way to do this.

If you’re feeling fancy, you can also try adding a Spot UV finish. This involves adding an extra layer into your design which tells the printer where to lay the super-glossy Spot UV finishing. Find out more with our design guides!

Still not sure that your flyer is set up correctly for print? Don’t panic! Our Studio Team are here to help with their FREE ten-point checking service. Simply email your artwork as a PDF to artwork@instantprint.co.uk with details of the product you want to use the design for. They’ll check everything’s set up correctly and get back to you ASAP!