Promotion design that works

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, April, 1986 by Julie A. Laitin

Promotion design that works

Good design is like a good hair style: It calls attention to its subject, not to itself. At its best, good design makes viewers sit up, take notice, and want to find out more.

Your goal as a designer is to create interest, to help the viewer get the message and illuminate its meaning.

While all artists have their own personal style and flair, good designers have a number of characteristics in common. First, they recognize that readers are busy people. Therefore, they try to present the message so that it is easily understood and memorable.

Second, artists view design as a visual aid in reaching this goal. Portfolio pieces are not their objective; interest and impact are.

Third, artists adhere to the following rules in everything they design.

1. Make sure art and copy work together

Question: Which is more important: copy or design? Answer: They are of equal importance and must work together to be successful. Each should strengthen the other with a result greater than the sum of its parts.

For example, in promoting its annual directory, Weeds, Trees & Turf asks, "Who says you can't judge a book by its cover?' (Illustration 1) Above the headline is a photograph of the Directory--badly stained and beaten up. Inside, the copy explains, "The reason this directory looks the way it does is the best reason you'll ever have to advertise in it. It gets used. And used. And used.'

Without the illustration, the headline would be trite. Without the headline, the illustration would be useless. Seen together, the concept startles and surprises us, arousing our curiosity enough to make us open and read the promotion.

2. Choose a typeface that is large and readable

Typeface and style are critical to your design. They should make it possible for the reader to absorb the message quickly and easily.

Type size: Too often, striking illustrations are accompanied by eight-point type or smaller, making readers work and strain to read the message. Make sure all brochures and flyers are set in 11- or 12-point type whenever possible. Never go below 10 point, except for asterisks or footnotes, which can be set in eight- or nine-point type.

Type style: The type style you select should be both contemporary and easy to read. A condensed type-face, for example, may be fine for a short headline, but will be comparatively difficult to read in the body text.

Studies have shown that people also find serif typefaces easier than sans serif to read, especially for long passages. Although you have great flexibility in your options, always keep in mind your final objective: getting your message across.

3. Keep it simple

Your promotional materials are often the first impression people have of your magazine. They create an image. They should be simple, clear, distinctive and exciting. This image should carry over into all your mailings, so that each time advertisers get something from you, they recognize it as yours.

A well-designed brochure or ad displays not only a uniqueness and continuity of style, but also a simple elegance. The number of graphic elements and typefaces should be kept to a minimum, thus avoiding a cluttered and confusing look. Spot photographs or illustrations should be used with careful consideration--not just because you want to fill up white space, but because the element has meaning and clarifies the copy.

Illustrations 3 and 3a elicit vastly different reactions. The brochure from MIMS is cramped and crowded, creating a sense of confusion and obscuring the major message. Five different type styles are used on one page--creating a jumbled, disorganized appearance.

By contrast, Product Marketing's brochure offers a benefit-oriented headline in big, bold type on each panel-- each with the same large readable headline and text type style--and a clear, simple illustration of the concept being promoted.

4. Use subheads to help readers absorb the most important points

When creating a brochure with large amounts of body copy, work with your writer to establish subheads. These will lead the reader through the copy, from one sales point to the next, in a clear, logical, easy-to-follow manner. Subheads not only break up your copy into more manageable reading blocks, they also call attention to the major selling points, helping busy readers skim the copy and still get the message.

The flier from Licensing Today (Illustration 4) offers a strong, curiosity-arousing headline followed up immediately by an explanatory subhead and four major benefits. Even readers who don't go through every sentence of the copy will get the message--fast.

5. Use bold, striking graphics

Bold, contemporary graphics create a strong and memorable image. For example, REDBOOK/UPDATE Mailer's postcard campaign (Illustration 5)-- designed to remind advertisers of the Mailer's closing dates--has minimal copy, strong, simple headlines and striking graphics that create a powerful impact.

Wherever possible, show people involved with and interested in your magazine. Compare, for example, the two ads shown in Illustration 5a. In its image-building ad, Consultant shows an avid and involved reader. The other ad--while promoting fast action postcards--shows two people yawning with boredom. Not only is the benefit omitted from the headline ("Well, Smathers, perhaps it's time we looked into Fast Service Action Cards'), but the illustration creates an impression of slowness and boredom--exactly the opposite of what the piece should be getting across.