I’m tasked with creating a trifold leaflet to promote vehicle servicing, repair & van hire. I regularly create print materials such as leaflets, posters etc but for some reason this one has really got me stumped! Any advice/ recommendations would be hugely appreciated. (I think there’s maybe just too much information trying to be crammed in?)
It has been mentioned that trifold leaflets have worked well for the company before, so sticking to this would be ideal. I will put the brief below.
"New leaflet design that will be used for mass letterbox drop.
Keep the front neat and minimal, with a perforated ‘Discount Card’ - which will have a link to a discounts section of our website. On the card an area where they can write there name on it. > Discount card needs to be perforated and credit card sized, so customers may put in wallet / purse to increase longevity
Service & Repair; Needs to mention the brands that we specialise in as they are are target customer. Info as to why use us as a specialist. Info on loan cars, C&D etc.
Include basic info about van rental
Include info about car sales
Important part of this is making it stand out to those that have car brands we specialise in.
It will need to be more than a single page, a page per department so that the info isn’t mixed up on one page.
It needs a trust winner, i.e Google and Facebook reviews (Screenshotted)
I think the front needs to have ‘Independent Vehicle Specialist’ so people know what we are"
The black gradient on the front has a hard stop - you need your gradient to be more fluid - have you sed a Rich Black ?
Front panel - the white lines might be too thin on the icons especially the far right icon
Pet hate - crop marks inside the bleed area - offset your crops to be outside the bleed area
Justified text is too gappy - adjust your hyphenation and justification settings
Back panel - the text for the 2nd icon isn’t aligned to the text underneath - looks like it’s floating
Page 1 left panel - the reviews look disjointed, why not have Will on the right of the icon like the Chris one underneath (permission to use quotes?)
Coupon - icons in black with white - the lines are too small to reproduce well in print
Service and Repair - the icons don’t match the text.
**Why not have the icons be the bullets and match the text.
***If the icons are not part of the text - then spread them out the width of the column
Add a scissors mark to the coupon
**what stock is it printed on? The coupon will not last long in a wallet if on thin stock paper
Are they the only brands they cater for?
Tyres | Diagnostics - perhaps move the | down a line so there are not 2 in a column.
Address on coupon has an unnatural break, and pipes not necessary, use commas
Use an en-dash for ’ – get in touch" on the first paragraph back panel
I don’t thnk there are too many things wrong - it looks quite well laid out. It’s easy to read. And a tri-fold is probably best for this.
Is it a tri fold or a Z fold
Make sure your page panels are correct sizes.
Traditionally in a tri fold the left panel on page 1 and the right pane on page 2 are about 1 or 2mm smaller.
On a z fold they should all be the same size panels.
Overall it’s very good - just needs som tweaking - and you’ll have to do something about the icons reversing out - I don’t think that will turn out very well.
Do people still put things in their wallets.
Do they even have wallets any more?
Most of those clippy things or haircut cards or free-drinks punch cards end up in my car’s center console, never to be seen again. (I think there is something in there that eats them )
Thanks everyone - this is really useful. I have amended on your recommendations & attached.
I have had the small contact icons printed this size before and they’ve come out fine - though have amended in case.
Agreed with the perforated card - will take this back to the boss. The idea is to not be forgettable.
I work for the company - so just part of an internal campaign.
This will be a roll fold leaflet - worked off the printers page template.
I think you have a messaging problem. The top third of the front of the brochure is typically the first thing that people read and is what prompts them to open the brochure or disregard it.
On the top third of the front, I read, “Dack Motor Group, Independent Vehicle Specialists.” This language is pretty vague, doesn’t relate to me, and gives me no incentive to open it up.
Try some alternate headlines that relate to your target market and maybe consider working with a copy writer. Something like “Quality Auto Care is Our Driving Force.” That’s just off the top of my head, but I kind of like the play on words. Anyway, you need to make this relatable or pique interest to get them to open it up.
I can have a play with the icons - overall i’m happier than before.
Will have a play with switching ‘independent vehicle specialists’ with ‘motoring innovation for all’ - this hopefully relates to any vehicle owner. And although not captivating on its own, with the green discounts box - i hope it might spark some interest.
A fair bit of our print materials have these colour borders on the bottom and we’ve never had an issue before, so not too worried about this. I think in the middle pages it adds a bit of a colour pop which is needed
A lot of good advice so far, especially Steve’s mention of getting some pro-written copy on board.
This’ll suck as usual, but taking up my typical Editor-in-Chief role:
Little/nothing on the cover panel that’s cover-worthy.
No meanigful focal point.
The headline is positioned as a tagline.
Is the discount card really exclusive? How so?
The copy under Service & Repair is not a sentence.
“A passionate team dedicated…” would be better framed as “highly skilled technicians”.
Under “Why Choose Dack?” I get what is meant by “Main Dealer,” but unless that’s the common local vernacular, it’s awkward. To my ear, and in my locale, just “Dealer” would read better without losing the meaning. The points should present advantages over dealer service, not equivalence.
The list of service concepts at the bottom doesn’t need pipes at the start or end of the second line.
I’d have rejected that photo.
The check marks are superfluous, and their alternating color is meaningless.
“a range of different sized vehicles” is no good. I’d suggest something more like: “a range of vehicle sizes to meet any need”
The work “hire” is repeated too frequently. It is superfluous in all the bullets.
If those ara actual quotes, leave them as they are, I guess, but if they “written,” they could be much, much better.
“used” vehicles? “Pre-owned” would offer a bit more polish.
“If you’re looking to change your vehicle - get in touch today.” is just no good at all. Don’t ever use “looking to” or " - " and, frame it as an upgrade; the objective is to motivate, right? “get in touch” is pretty weak too. Something like “come and see all we have to offer” would be a much better call to action.
Does FCA regulation make your financing options better (or more ‘great’)? If the FCA thing is a real selling point, present the true benefit: trustworthy financing.
If any part of this should be on a clip-and-save portion, it’s the stuff at the bottom of this panel.
Most of what I have to say was already mentioned, so I’ll limit my comments.
Bullet points are an efficient way to list information. But when they’re used too much, they begin to look fragmented and chaotic.
The sentence beneath the SERVICE & REPAIR isn’t a complete sentence.
If it were me, I wouldn’t use initial caps on each word in the bulleted lists.
VAN HIRE? There must be a better way to word that.
The alternating checkmark colors on your list of brands might come across as signifying differences in service related to the colors. I don’t think this is what you intended.
You have multiple problems with compound adjectives not being hyphenated. Many of them result from awkward writing, which will cause the hyphens to look awkward. Even so, they’re still needed. I’d be inclined to rewrite the most awkward examples.
Use em dashes where em dashes are required — not in a million years are they ever interchangeable with hyphens.
“Cut me out, save me and bring me with you each time you visit to receive discounts.” I’d reward it to “Cut me out and save me. To receive discounts, bring me with you each time you visit.” I’m not all that fond of the first-person phrasing (as though a coupon can speak), but that’s another issue.
Finally, Smurf2 mentioned these things, but I want to repeat them. Move the crop marks outside the bleed area. Yes, Adobe stupidly doesn’t do this for you, but you don’t want any unwanted printing inside the bleeds. Justified text creates awkward word spacing in narrow columns. Use ragged right — especially considering all the ragged right bulleted lists.
I’ve always wondered about several of Adobe’s PDF creation presets, but I can think of no reason for this one. Printing crop marks within the bleed runs counter to the reason the bleed exists. Now and again, I’ve seen printed brochures and booklets where the trim’s been off by a couple of millimeters and with an inside-the-bleed crop mark showing.
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