Making a brochure is a great way to promote your business, but you could be doing more harm than good if you make any of these common mistakes. Here are the top nine mistakes made with brochure design, and how to avoid them.

1. Using a boring, hard-to-read font.

The number one mistake made with brochure design is using a font that’s too small or difficult to read. You want your brochure design to be inviting and easy on the eyes, so make sure you avoid any garbled letters or unclear words.

2. Failing to proofread.

Another big mistake made with brochure design is failing to proofread your work before sending it over to the printer. Unfortunately, faulty grammar and spelling mistakes are unforgivable in an advertisement, regardless of how beautiful or visually stunning it may be on the outside. Make sure you have a professional check over your work before printing to make no embarrassing mistakes.

3. Choosing photos that don’t fit the theme of your business.

Photos are an extremely important part of brochure design, but they can also be very tricky to get right. All too often, business owners will choose photos that don’t really reflect their company’s theme or values, which can make it difficult for customers to take them seriously. Make sure all your photos fit the overall feel of your brochure design before sending them over to the printer.

4. Making it too busy or cluttered.

Another common mistake with brochure design is making it too busy or cluttered. When designing a brochure, it’s important to remember that white space is your friend. Filling up all the empty spaces with text or photos will only make the whole thing look too busy and overcomplicated for a potential customer to enjoy.

Make sure you use a variety of fonts, sizes, and textures when creating your design so that the overall effect is pleasing to the eye.

5. Including too much text or filler content.

When making a brochure, it’s easy for business owners to get carried away and include more text than necessary. However, this can make your brochure design look boring and uninviting to potential customers, who may choose another company next time if the first one didn’t draw them in right away.

Be concise with your text and captions to make sure you don’t overwhelm your customers, and keep the overall design as simple as possible.

6. Using too many dramatic effects or visuals.

Using a lot of dramatic effects or visuals is another common mistake made with brochure design. You don’t want your potential customers to get distracted by the little things, so make sure you only include high-quality imagery and sharp typography in your design. Any fancy fonts or effects should be used sparingly to avoid overcrowding the page.

7. Using too many different colors or patterns.

When designing a brochure, it’s easy for business owners to get carried away with all the different colors and patterns they have in their design folders. However, using too many different colors or patterns can make your brochure look tacky or gaudy, which is never a good way to attract new customers. Make sure you use no more than two main colors in your brochure design to keep it looking elegant and professional.

8. Using hard-to-read fonts or colors.

Many business owners will choose bright neon colors for their brochure design when they want something flashy and eye-catching. However, using bold colors that are difficult to read, such as dark brown or black on a shiny gold background, can make your brochure extremely frustrating for customers to enjoy.

Make sure you only use light, easy-to-read fonts and basic colors in your design so that it’s not too harsh on the eyes of potential customers.

9. Forgetting to include contact information.

Last but not least, you need to make sure that your brochure includes all the necessary contact information about your business so that customers can get in touch with you easily should they require further assistance or even place an order.

Make sure all your contact details like phone numbers and email addresses are clearly visible and accessible, to avoid any confusion or inconvenience for your potential customers.

One great way to make brochures is to use Venngage — an online brochure maker that offers a wide range of brochure designs for everyone. To give you an idea, here are some brochure examples from their website!

 

When designing a brochure for your business, it’s important to keep in mind the mistakes listed above so that you can avoid them. Of course, it’s fine to make occasional errors here and there when making your design, as long as you learn from these mistakes and apply the lessons learned to any future projects.

Most importantly, remember that what’s most important is that your design is easy for customers to enjoy and understand, so you can attract more business.