If you’ve arrived at this page it’s likely you are looking for help producing a Brochure Design in Word. You may have tried this yourself; in which case you may have realised that using Microsoft Word to design a brochure is not easy! However, it is not impossible to end up with a professional-looking brochure.
So a bit of background for you. We were approached a few weeks ago by an existing client who wanted to be able to create a brochure design in Word. They wanted to have access to editing the design and adding to it on their own computer. We of course wanted to meet the needs of our client in the best way possible. To achieve the best result for our client we had to be flexible in the way that we work.
Brochure Design in Word
Here are a few example pages from work with our client, Seahorse Education. We created the initial design using Adobe InDesign, which once approved converted it into a Word file. The reason for this was we are much more familiar with Indesign meaning the design was quicker to produce, therefore not limited by Word’s interface. We created 7 different page layouts following a flexible grid layout. They were able to complete the final 12 page brochure design in Word based on the templates provided.
Something to consider: You might be thinking of creating your brochure design in Word. If you need help making your brochure look creative and can’t do it yourself, please get in touch via the contact page.
It’s a bit easier when you know how
There are a few things that we find difficult to work with in Word that we think once you know how to work around them, it should make things easier.
Images move with text
Probably the most annoying thing if you don’t want images to be anchored to a specific section of your document. Right-click on the image or object (or ctrl-click on a Mac) and choose ‘More Layout Options’. Select the ‘Position’ tab and in Options deselect ‘Move object with text’. Then click okay. This will allow you to move the image or object around the page without affecting the position of other page elements.
Consistency in applying font styles
One of the most important aspect of a professionally executed brand is consistency. Whether it’s how your logo is set, your colour palette or the font that you use. It’s important to maintain good consistency once you have agreed your corporate style. One of the best ways to do this for brochure design in Word is to use paragraph styles. This will ensure that once you have decided on the right font you can then apply it consistently throughout. Choose ‘Format’ then ‘Style’ from the Word menu and with the text highlighted in your document create a new style. Don’t forget to give it a relevant name like ‘body copy’ or ‘sub heading’. Apply these styles every time that type of wording appears.
Cropping images
You won’t always want to use the whole image for your design. For example, if you are using the image for a whole background like the page designs shown above you may want to only show a part of the image. Select the image you want to work with. Drag the image in from the sides using the cropping tool until only the portion you want is visible. This will be much easier than trying to hide bits you don’t want to see with white boxes!
Sending the brochure to other people
Once you’ve got your brochure looking great, you may want to send it to potential customers electronically. You need to bear in mind that if the fonts you have used are not available in the recipient’s computer, the design won’t look the same and may even completely reflow. The best solution is to create your brochure as a PDF from the ‘Save As’ menu. This will embed the fonts so they view correctly in Adobe Actobat Reader.
Image resolution
If an output for your brochure is to be professionally printed, make sure the original image resolution is good enough quality to reproduce without degrading. Specify this in external image editing software sich as Photoshop or Photo Editor. Your target should be 300ppi (pixels per inch) at the size that the image is being used. Most images will look okay at anything above 200-220ppi. It is also important to specify the output resolution of your PDF so that the final file you send to print is correct.
Need help with your Brochure Design in Word?
Hopefully that gives a flavour for some of the issues to look out for when creating a brochure design in Word. If you need any help with creativity, please use the contact page to get in touch.