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Brochure Critique

bluetooth

bluetooth

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 1, 2007
662
1
Toronto
Attached is a mock of a brochure I am doing for a company to promote their meeting, conference, registration services.

This is the inside spread using various shades of their brand colour, pantone 626.

I am still working on the other side which will have the back/cover and another (unique) service they offer.

All text is from the client (I find it too be heavy but this is what they requested). They wanted something that is clean, visual and reflects their brand environment - north/wildlife.

*Don't mind the watermarks on the images, they are comps and will be replaced by high res stocks once approved.

Please let me know your thoughts so far?

- Thanks
 

Attachments

  • leaf brochure_mock.jpg
    leaf brochure_mock.jpg
    499.5 KB · Views: 887
Maybe make the body text fully justified instead of just left justifield, that will make it sharper.
 
I like the simple and clean look, so good job on that.

Just a few nit-picky things:

- first panel, end of the first line after the ". . ." I personally wouldn't have "the" by itself (more of a personal preference) since it sticks out to me. Soft return that to the next line

- Hard to see since it's in perspective, but do you have double spaces after periods? I would double check.

- See if you can get rid of the orphans and widows, I see a few that get a bit distracting.
 
Thanks for the comments. My main concern is the text because it is a little text heavy, so I will take the advice on these points to help tighten things up. Good points regarding the orphans. I believe there are double spaces after the periods.

Do you think it is ok to have breaks in words periodically throughout the brochure?

I see examples of both.

ie.

Would this be ok as an ex-
ample. Or do you feel it is
best to try and not do this.
 
The inside spread should be congruous with one element unifying the three panels. This layout seems to chop it up with three panels each of which have a different topic. (You do know the fold is in the wrong direction) The right side panel normally folds in.

With that said your left panel would be better suited as the inside fold (other side of the right panel). the right panel on the back of the trifold and the inside spread dedicated to just the business information and offerings. That just leaves a catchy outside panel to design.

Just my opinion
 
murdock25 said:
Maybe make the body text fully justified instead of just left justifield, that will make it sharper.
Click to expand...

It is only left aligned now. It should be changed to left justified, not full justified because that will add unwanted spaces, in my opinion.
 
jerryrock said:
The inside spread should be congruous with one element unifying the three panels. This layout seems to chop it up with three panels each of which have a different topic. (You do know the fold is in the wrong direction) The right side panel normally folds in.

With that said your left panel would be better suited as the inside fold (other side of the right panel). the right panel on the back of the trifold and the inside spread dedicated to just the business information and offerings. That just leaves a catchy outside panel to design.

Just my opinion
Click to expand...

Good eye. This was a general idea, but you are correct on the folds and how it would play out or appear in reality, I will keep this in mind for future mock ups.

Also good point regarding the spread, as some brochures read more as a single piece then individual or separate pages. However, with that being said, the client had given the brief as panel 1...title and info, panel 2...title and info, panel 3...title and info so from that, I took it as each panel being an entity of its own.
 
bluetooth said:
Thanks for the comments. My main concern is the text because it is a little text heavy, so I will take the advice on these points to help tighten things up. Good points regarding the orphans. I believe there are double spaces after the periods.

Do you think it is ok to have breaks in words periodically throughout the brochure?

I see examples of both.

ie.

Would this be ok as an ex-
ample. Or do you feel it is
best to try and not do this.
Click to expand...

In regards to hyphenation, this is really up to the designer. I prefer words not to be hyphenated, especially if you're going to keep this as a left justified piece. However from the sample provided, the line length seems to be OK, it's not too ragged on the right.

Hyphenation I tend to use on justified text to help minimise any rivers or valleys that you see when text is justified. But then once you get too many words broken up, it time to revisit your line length v.s. your point size.

Try it without hyphenation and see how ragged the lines become, if they become too ragged, then leave them in (you don't have that many so it's OK).
 
bluetooth said:
Good eye. This was a general idea, but you are correct on the folds and how it would play out or appear in reality, I will keep this in mind for future mock ups.

Also good point regarding the spread, as some brochures read more as a single piece then individual or separate pages. However, with that being said, the client had given the brief as panel 1...title and info, panel 2...title and info, panel 3...title and info so from that, I took it as each panel being an entity of its own.
Click to expand...

I have learned that the client is always right. With that said, clients can be a royal pain. I am working with one now that wants to dictate every part of the design, leaving me to wonder why I was hired for the job. I have learned to be diplomatic and now create two designs for each project (even if one is total crap) so the client will feel that they are still part of the process.
 
murdock25 said:
Maybe make the body text fully justified instead of just left justifield, that will make it sharper.
Click to expand...

I actually disagree - left justification tends to make the layout cleaner and the text a bit more legible. Full justification leads to irregular word spacing from line to line. I usually try to avoid it. But that's certainly not a dealbreaker.

I know you said the images are comps, but is the bird on the left panel going to remain in color? It doesn't seem to match. I'd suggest making it gray.

Overall - great brochure.
 
jerryrock said:
I have learned that the client is always right. With that said, clients can be a royal pain. I am working with one now that wants to dictate every part of the design, leaving me to wonder why I was hired for the job. I have learned to be diplomatic and now create two designs for each project (even if one is total crap) so the client will feel that they are still part of the process.
Click to expand...

lol...been there! I wonder what a mechanic would say if someone with limited auto experience brought their car to a shop and told them exactly what parts to use, where to use them under the hood and how to use them. I'm guessing they would not be nodding and grinning :p
 
SwiftLives said:
I actually disagree - left justification tends to make the layout cleaner and the text a bit more legible. Full justification leads to irregular word spacing from line to line. I usually try to avoid it. But that's certainly not a dealbreaker.

I know you said the images are comps, but is the bird on the left panel going to remain in color? It doesn't seem to match. I'd suggest making it gray.

Overall - great brochure.
Click to expand...

Good point. I may go grayscale with that image which will also inadvertently allow for 2 colour as the greens are all shades of Pantone 626. This will also be more cost effective for the client in terms of printing costs.
 
AlexisV said:
Looks good.

I'm just wondering if it would look better in Futura Light instead of Roman?
Click to expand...

The body is actually Futura Book, I rarely use Light for full copy because I find it rather thin in a appearance and sometimes difficult to read when there is a fair amount of copy with a smaller text size. Nonetheless - will give it a go and see how it looks - Thanks

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. Going to play around with the suggested tweaks and forward to client.
 
I agree with justification of the text and as a designer I prefer to not hyphenate words. Makes for an faster, easier, memorable read. The color is nice and simple, however to my eye, the one thing that jumps out is the swan's head and neck. The orange and yellow really draw your eye away from the trest of the brochure. Maybe tone down the bill and desaturate the neck a little to make it pop less and blend with the other monotone images.
 
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