Common Mistakes to Avoid When Designing Your Print

Throughout our 30 years in the print display industry, we’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to print design. We know what works, what doesn’t, and what will best connect and resonate with your audience. To make sure you are getting the most from your campaign, we’ve put together a guide to the common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid when it comes to designing your print.

Bad layout

The spacing of your design makes a huge impact on how people respond to it. Putting your title at the bottom or even the middle of your print means that no one will be able to see it when it’s sat in a rack. Putting the title at the top however will make it visible to anyone glancing at it. Think about the font you’re using as well; if you’ve got your title perfectly placed at the top but no one can read it, this can put people off. Clear and concise lettering will catch people’s eyes and get your message across much more than fancy fonts.

Busy Design

As well as having your title at the top, it’s important that it doesn’t disappear into the rest of the design. Don’t make the print too busy; something clean and sharp is much more likely to be picked up than something jam-packed. Your design should communicate your message quickly and easily, so that it doesn’t need to be pored over to understand what it is that you’re promoting.

Getting the Most for your Money

The thicker your print, the fewer that will fit into a rack. Smaller leaflets and flyers are more likely to be picked up than big heavy brochures. Similarly, the more unconventional the shape of your print, the harder it is to fit into a rack, and the more off-putting to those who want to easily pick up some leaflets. A simple, standard shape and size is best when it comes to getting people to pick up your print.

Dull Colours and Bad Images

No matter how chic and edgy your design is, if it’s full of greys and dull colours it’s not going to grab anyone’s attention. Bright colours that fit in with the rest of your colour schemes are key to grabbing people’s attention, and making what you’re trying to promote look fun and engaging. Also be aware of the suitability of your print; it’s going on display in a venue, so bear in mind what they might or might not be happy to have on display.

Not Knowing Your Audience

When you’re designing your print you need to constantly be aware of who it is that you’re trying to appeal to, and what you can do to attract that group of people specifically. Attracting your target audience to your print means you’re making the people who will engage in your product aware of it. Without doing this, you’re not going to get the message to the right people.

Relying on print alone

We’re living in a digital age, and its key to combine different marketing styles to spread your promotion as far and wide as possible. The design of all of your marketing should interlink and have an overall, memorable look. Using QR codes and putting your social media handles on all of your print is a good start for this. It’s key to remember how different kinds of promotion are ingested, from an image on a phone to a flyer in a rack, and how this might change the way you design it.

Typos

And finally: always proof read, always proof read more than once, and always get someone else to proof read it too. There’s nothing more annoying than a misplaced apostrophe on a flyer.

Now you’re on your way to perfecting your print design, you’ll need the perfect place to put it. Have a look at our extensively researched print distribution networks, so you can get your print straight into the hands of your ideal audiences.