Planning the Project


This project is an extension of the previous project: creating a product/service sheet. The product sheet focuses on a specific feature of the company and is more technically oriented. The brochure, while more sophisticated in layout, structure, and production, will be more general in content. Whether you are involved in marketing business-to-business products/services or are a consumeroriented manufacturer or service provider, having a nice printed piece to leave behind is an important part of your marketing portfolio.

You can approach this project with a specific purpose or goal, such as "we need to promote or sell x," or you can approach this project with the idea that this will serve as the template for a variety of products and services. It's up to you. Nonetheless, there are always planning considerations to think about. By now, you will have answered questions such as "Who is our audience?" and "What kind of style will best convey our message?"

Production Choices

The style of the piece, coupled with your target distribution and budget, will affect your production choices. Do you intend to mass mail this to a database of your customers? Compare the cost of digital production versus offset. Past a certain count, offset becomes the less expensive option. Is this piece going to change frequently, or do you see this brochure being distributed for a significant time into the future? This will affect how many you might order and therefore which production method you choose. If you don't want to keep many on hand and you're not certain you will need this printed piece again, consider digital options.

Distribution Choices

If this is to be mailed in an envelope, you need to make sure that the dimensions of the piece will insert or fold correctly into an envelope. If the piece is a self-mailer, you need to ensure that the back panel adheres to postal regulations. Also, if you are going to seal the piece with some type of adhesive (sticker), make sure it can be easily removed or torn through so your customers can open the mailer without destroying the content and, if possible, the finish. If the piece is simply meant to sit on a table at a trade show or on a counter in a stack, make sure that when it's folded, it lies flat.

Color Choices

As always, consider what the budget will allow for, who your audience is, and what they will want to see. In this project, I've constructed a conservative, two-color brochure. Of course, you can take it from there and move to four colors. But I thought it was important to demonstrate what you can do with a limited number of colors.

Stock and Binding

Considerations here include folding; consult with your print or paper vendor to discuss folding concerns. Remember that you might not want to place images such that they will have a fold through them if they are meant to be referenced in the foreground or contain a caption that will be difficult to read through a crease. If there's a lot of ink coverage, surface cracking along the fold might not be too attractive. Depending on the stock choice and extensive ink coverage, you might want to discuss fingerprints left behind on the surface. See the following section, "Finishing," if this is the case. The heavier the stock, the more difficult it is to fold, and scoring the paper might be recommended. Keep in mind that unusual folds increase the bindery cost, which is the area of print production that folds stock (among many other bindery operations).

Finishing

If there's a lot of ink coverage on your printed piece, and it ends up in the direct mail stream, your print service provider might recommend some type of liquid coating to prevent damage such as fingerprints. Such a coating can also improve the appearance of the printed piece. You have a few choices, such as varnish, aqueous coating, and ultraviolet (UV). It's important that you discuss all the distribution possibilities with your service provider when planning the piece to avoid costly mistakes on the back end of production.



Adobe InDesign CS2 @work. Projects You Can Use on the Job
Adobe InDesign CS2 @work: Projects You Can Use on the Job
ISBN: 067232802X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 148

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net