Flyers, Banners and Signage People Actually Read

Most flyers are written by the person who knows the most about the event, and that is the problem. They put everything on it. A person walking past a bulletin board gives it two seconds, and if they cannot tell what it is and when in that time, it is wallpaper.

The three things that have to be readable from across the room

1. 1.What it is. Fish fry, revival, grand opening, tournament.
2. 2.When. Date and time, large.
3. 3.Where, or how to respond. An address, a phone number, or a website. One of them, not all three at the same size.

Everything else is supporting detail and gets set smaller. If a passerby can read the three big things from six feet away, the flyer is doing its job.

What to leave off

• Five fonts. Two is plenty.
• A paragraph. Nobody reads a paragraph on a wall.
• Every sponsor logo at the same size as the headline. Put them small along the bottom.
• Clip art. It signals that nobody cared.
• A low-resolution photo pulled off a website. It will print blurry and it makes the whole piece look cheap.

Use a real photo

The single biggest upgrade to a local flyer is a real photograph of the actual thing, the actual people or the actual place, shot properly. A plate from your restaurant, your team in front of the shop, last year's event. It stops the eye in a way stock imagery does not. If you do not have one, a short photo session produces enough to cover flyers, social and the website at once.

Banners and signage

A banner on a fence or a sign on a road is read at a distance from a moving car. Fewer words again. A name, a phone number, maybe three words about what you do. The same logo rules apply as anywhere else: it has to work in one color and at a large size, which means a vector file. If your sign shop asks for one and you do not have it, that is the first thing to fix. Read logo design for a small business for the file list.

Print specs to get right

• Bleed. Color that runs to the edge needs to extend past it so trimming does not leave a white sliver.
• Resolution. Photos should be full resolution at print size, not screen size.
• Color mode. Print uses a different color model from screens, and bright screen colors shift when printed.
• Proof. Ask for one on paper before the full run.

Match the flyer to everything else

The flyer, the social post, the banner and the website should look like they came from the same business. Our graphic design service builds them together, in the same colors and type, so the whole campaign reads as one. That consistency is what makes a small business look established.

Digital versions

Every flyer now lives twice: once on paper and once as a phone screenshot that somebody forwards. Design for the second as well. The three big things have to read at phone size, and a vertical layout forwards better than a landscape one. Ask for a square and a vertical version alongside the print file, and for a version with a bit of room at the top so a Facebook crop does not cut off the headline. The same design in three sizes costs very little more than one.

Menus and price lists

A menu is a flyer people read for two minutes instead of two seconds, so it can carry more, but the rules about fonts, hierarchy and real photographs still apply. Group items clearly, put the things you most want to sell where the eye lands first, and use one or two good photos rather than a picture of everything. A menu board and a printed menu should be the same design so nobody has to hunt.

Frequently asked questions

Do you print, or just design? We design and hand you print-ready files for the printer of your choice, with the specs the printer needs.

Can you turn a flyer into a social graphic? Yes. Ask for the sizes you need at the start and they are built from the same design.

How fast can a flyer be done? Depends on what we have to work with. Send the details, the logo and any photos and we will give a date.

32 Productions, 500 S. Peterson Ave, Douglas, GA. Call (912) 592-3376.

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