Brochures are the perfect portable publication. They can be written for a variety of subjects and in many styles. The ultimate goal of a brochure is to spread the word by using as few words as possible. Using Microsoft Publisher is a simple way to write and design a brochure and offers many options. It provides many brochure templates to help you decide how the brochure should look and what it should include.

What to Include in a Brochure

Decide on a purpose or theme for your brochure. Is the brochure focusing on an event, telling about a company or providing information about a social program? This is the ultimate first step because it will guide you through every other step.

Choose information to go in the brochure. Include only the absolute main points. Remember that a brochure is pretty small in size so you won’t be able to fit everything. And, stay focused on the theme.

Be concise. After you’ve decided what to include, think about how to say it. Even if you think your text is concise, most likely you will still need to cut information to make it fit.

Use bulleted lists as an easy-to-read way of presenting information.

Use Brochure Templates in Microsoft Publisher

Go to File and choose New once you’ve opened Publisher. A box will appear on the left side of the screen.

Click the arrow next to Publications for Print. A list of types of publications will appear.

Choose Brochures. And several brochure templates will be displayed.

Select a brochure template that best fits your purpose or theme. Don’t worry about the color or font style of the template. Publisher will let you customize all of that later.

Double click on the template and it will open on your screen. Often filler text and images are used as place holders. You can replace all of that with your own information. You can also choose whether you want a three- or four-panel brochure.

How to Layout the Brochure

Choose an eye-catching main title and graphic for the front of the brochure. It should clearly tell the audience the focus of the brochure or be so eye-catching that people will pick it up without knowing what it’s about. The former is most likely best.

Place company or organization information on the front as well. You can include contact information here but only for informational purposes, not as a course of action.

Put introductory or somewhat separate information on the panel that is seen immediately after opening the cover.

Put the most important information on the inside panels of the brochure. When the brochure is fully opened, this is what your reader will see.

Use clear subheadings to break up the information on the inside. You want readers to easily get what’s most important. A big solid block of text will intimidate readers.

Add a course of action to the back panel. This should be the “for more information” section. Include phone numbers, e-mail addresses or websites – whatever is needed.

Be colorful. Adding color and graphics throughout the brochure will break up information and make the brochure more enticing. Publisher offers many color schemes.

Use an easy-to-read font. Stay away from script-style fonts because they may be difficult to read.

Make the font of the body text as large as possible. Try not to use anything smaller than 11 point. Similarly, headings should be much larger than the body text and make them stand out by using a different color.

Look at other brochures with a similar focus or theme as the one you are writing. This will help you get some ideas about what to include and how to design it.

Think about brochures that you have seen in the past. What makes them memorable? Apply some of the memorable aspects to your own brochure.