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Producing leaflets
Leaflets can be a great way to get across messages about voter awareness. The can be handed out to people, either by hand, by post, inserted in local newspapers for distribution, left in venues, shops, restaurants, cafes, libraries... anywhere they will catch a person's eye.
You can order and distribute Electoral Commission materials for free, or create materials that are suited to your needs.
Why produce a leaflet?
A leaflet gives you a chance to put across your message and draw attention to events coming up like an election, the annual canvass or any electoral awareness activities you may have planned. A leaflet gives you the space to present your ideas clearly and with graphical impact. It also gives people a chance to take information home so they have more time to absorb to your message and to keep a visual reminder of it. Once distributed, the leaflet may end up being read by many more people that the person it was handed to, widening its impact.
Designing a leaflet - the basics
Leaflets are for delivering useful, reusable information. The size and shape of the leaflet is a major factor in its success. A leaflet that people can't fit easily into a pocket or a bag will be thrown away.
Take a piece of paper out of your printer. It should be A4. Now fold it in half, that's known as A5, now fold it in half again, that's what A6 looks like. Leaflets are normally created from a single sheet of paper, folded in half (to A5) or in three (to A6). Most leaflets start life as sheets of A4 paper - your design should also start there.
Also think about how much information you want on the leaflet. Well-written material will always enable people to make more informed judgments quickly. Don't cram it with text. People won't read it. Instead aim for clarity, strong argument and quality.
Designing a leaflet - step by step
When designing a leaflet, you are expressing yourself not only with words but also with pictures and graphics. How you present these pictures and graphics will contribute to the way readers perceive their importance.
There are six clear tasks in the creation of a leaflet:
1. Decide what you want to say
You must be clear in mind about the point you want to make. What is you overall concept? Though you have lots of space in a leaflet, you still want it to be clear and persuasive.
2. Text editing
Someone needs to write the text or choose bits of other people's text that are particularly effective and put these together to make up the text for your leaflet.
Remember, your text must be a) persuasive, b) interesting to read, and c) catchy and memorable. Format your text to make it punchy. Use short paragraphs and mark them with headings. Use bullet-pointed lists which are easy to read. You can pull out single lines and highlight them in a different font size or colour to make a strong point.
3. Picture design
Make sure your pictures help to get your message across. Commonly you might want to use a) pictures from official sources such as NGOs, b) pictures taken with a digital camera, c) stock photos or pictures downloaded from the internet, or d) powerful graphics such as graphs. Make sure you have permission to re-use these pictures for your leaflet though.
4. Layout design
The layout of your leaflet needs to be thought out very carefully. Work out what text and pictures you will have. Using a piece of plain paper sketch out:
- where blocks of text will go
- where headings will go
- where pictures will go
- how big the various bits will be
Try to think of colours for the text and background too. Remember text over images or large blocks of white text over a dark background are hard to read.
5. Make a booklet
Imagine an A5 leaflet. Effectively it has a front and back cover and a two page spread inside. The front cover lends itself to a single, powerful statement and a hard-hitting graphic to support the leaflet's title. These should be gripping enough to make anyone want to read on. On page two you can set out the problem: for instance, the low rates of voter turnout for young people. On page three, right opposite, you can explain what action people can take, such as registering to vote and how they can find out information about this - how, when and where.
Finally, on the back cover, tell us about yourself and your organisation. Don't forget to include contact details for people who want to know more or want to get involved. If you are working in association with another organisation, be sure to mention them. See if you can add their logo to your flyer. Their support will add authority to your efforts.
6. Printing
Your best bet will always be to give the job to a professional. Any printer will print, cut, and fold your leaflets and may even help you with design.
There are different ways to print things depending on how many leaflets you want to print. For small print runs of around 500 leaflets or less you might want to investigate printing your leaflet digitally. This means it will be printed on a high end colour photocopier and you can use as many colours as you like. For larger print runs you will want to print your leaflet offset which means it will be printed on a large printing press. If you are using this method, it is cheaper to print with one or two colours and more expensive to print in full colour.
Remember to get a least two or three quotations and you ask each printer to quote on exactly the same specifications so you can easily compare quotes.
Useful tools
- Use our print specification template to help explain to printers what you would like them to quote on
- You might also find this glossary of print terms useful
With thanks to Christian Aid for allowing us to adapt this material from their Pressureworks website
Producing leaflets
Leaflets can be a great way to get across messages about voter awareness. The can be handed out to people, either by hand, by post, inserted in local newspapers for distribution, left in venues, shops, restaurants, cafes, libraries... anywhere they will catch a person's eye.
You can order and distribute Electoral Commission materials for free, or create materials that are suited to your needs.
Why produce a leaflet?
A leaflet gives you a chance to put across your message and draw attention to events coming up like an election, the annual canvass or any electoral awareness activities you may have planned. A leaflet gives you the space to present your ideas clearly and with graphical impact. It also gives people a chance to take information home so they have more time to absorb to your message and to keep a visual reminder of it. Once distributed, the leaflet may end up being read by many more people that the person it was handed to, widening its impact.
Designing a leaflet - the basics
Leaflets are for delivering useful, reusable information. The size and shape of the leaflet is a major factor in its success. A leaflet that people can't fit easily into a pocket or a bag will be thrown away.
Take a piece of paper out of your printer. It should be A4. Now fold it in half, that's known as A5, now fold it in half again, that's what A6 looks like. Leaflets are normally created from a single sheet of paper, folded in half (to A5) or in three (to A6). Most leaflets start life as sheets of A4 paper - your design should also start there.
Also think about how much information you want on the leaflet. Well-written material will always enable people to make more informed judgments quickly. Don't cram it with text. People won't read it. Instead aim for clarity, strong argument and quality.
Designing a leaflet - step by step
When designing a leaflet, you are expressing yourself not only with words but also with pictures and graphics. How you present these pictures and graphics will contribute to the way readers perceive their importance.
There are six clear tasks in the creation of a leaflet:
1. Decide what you want to say
You must be clear in mind about the point you want to make. What is you overall concept? Though you have lots of space in a leaflet, you still want it to be clear and persuasive.
2. Text editing
Someone needs to write the text or choose bits of other people's text that are particularly effective and put these together to make up the text for your leaflet.
Remember, your text must be a) persuasive, b) interesting to read, and c) catchy and memorable. Format your text to make it punchy. Use short paragraphs and mark them with headings. Use bullet-pointed lists which are easy to read. You can pull out single lines and highlight them in a different font size or colour to make a strong point.
3. Picture design
Make sure your pictures help to get your message across. Commonly you might want to use a) pictures from official sources such as NGOs, b) pictures taken with a digital camera, c) stock photos or pictures downloaded from the internet, or d) powerful graphics such as graphs. Make sure you have permission to re-use these pictures for your leaflet though.
4. Layout design
The layout of your leaflet needs to be thought out very carefully. Work out what text and pictures you will have. Using a piece of plain paper sketch out:
- where blocks of text will go
- where headings will go
- where pictures will go
- how big the various bits will be
Try to think of colours for the text and background too. Remember text over images or large blocks of white text over a dark background are hard to read.
5. Make a booklet
Imagine an A5 leaflet. Effectively it has a front and back cover and a two page spread inside. The front cover lends itself to a single, powerful statement and a hard-hitting graphic to support the leaflet's title. These should be gripping enough to make anyone want to read on. On page two you can set out the problem: for instance, the low rates of voter turnout for young people. On page three, right opposite, you can explain what action people can take, such as registering to vote and how they can find out information about this - how, when and where.
Finally, on the back cover, tell us about yourself and your organisation. Don't forget to include contact details for people who want to know more or want to get involved. If you are working in association with another organisation, be sure to mention them. See if you can add their logo to your flyer. Their support will add authority to your efforts.
6. Printing
Your best bet will always be to give the job to a professional. Any printer will print, cut, and fold your leaflets and may even help you with design.
There are different ways to print things depending on how many leaflets you want to print. For small print runs of around 500 leaflets or less you might want to investigate printing your leaflet digitally. This means it will be printed on a high end colour photocopier and you can use as many colours as you like. For larger print runs you will want to print your leaflet offset which means it will be printed on a large printing press. If you are using this method, it is cheaper to print with one or two colours and more expensive to print in full colour.
Remember to get a least two or three quotations and you ask each printer to quote on exactly the same specifications so you can easily compare quotes.
Useful tools
- Use our print specification template to help explain to printers what you would like them to quote on
- You might also find this glossary of print terms useful
With thanks to Christian Aid for allowing us to adapt this material from their Pressureworks website
