3 Quick Tips to a Better Brochure – Font Edition

Whether you are using a professionally-made design template or simply creating one yourself, these tips will help you create a better, more attractive brochure for your open house, real estate business, or whatever!
Tip #1 – Use a Font That Fits
In some situations, your brochure/website/etc. is going to be the “first impression” for your clients/potential buyers. Thus, using a font that fits WHO YOU ARE is very important.
For example, if you are a Real Estate brokerage specializing in luxury homes, you don’t want to use Comic Sans for your brochure. But Megan, I love Comic Sans! It’s fun and I think it will make me more approachable. Alas, while Comic Sans IS a “fun” font, it will not garner more business for you. The simple reason is fonts elicit certain emotions/thoughts in people. Comic Sans is excellent for children’s works because it’s a fun, off-the-wall font and it elicits those emotions in people. As a real estate professional (or someone trying to sell their home) you DON’T want people to think you are childish or off-the-wall.
As a general rule, stay away from decorative fonts and choose a nice, clean serif or sans-serif font for your brochure. It will give your open house or brokerage an elegant, professional appearance and that’s the kind of first impression you want!

Tip #2 – Don’t Use More Than Two Fonts
For the sake of your reader’s eyeballs, only use a MAX of two different fonts per brochure.
Too many fonts:
1)    Make the brochure look un-professional and tacky
2)    Spoil your Message
3)    Make it hard for readers to read
Typically, you should only need one font for your brochure.

Tip #3 – Be Careful With Type on Pictures
Putting a saying or paragraph on top of pictures can either look really nice or really bad/unreadable. What makes or breaks this approach is the level of contrast (or you could say, readability) between the picture and type.
For example, this picture is too busy for the amount and color of the text.

As you can see (or not see), only a small bit of the text is actually readable on the picture. Notice where the readable parts are – they are where there is the highest contrast between the picture and text (namely, where the white text is on the black background).
This is an example of good contrast between picture and background.

The text is readable and contrasts nicely with the blue background of the sky.
Following these tips for fonts and text for your brochure will lead you to better overall design and impression/reputation from all who see it!
Additional Reading:
Serif & Sans-serif Fonts: What’s the Difference?
http://www.scribe.com.au/tip-w017.html
Do Not Use Too Many Fonts
http://www.design-lib.com/do-not-use-too-many-fonts-gd.php