Designing and producing the Rochdale Town Centre In bloom brochure
The art of brochure design – on brief and most importantly on time
Brochure design in very quick time!
On first impressions this A4 16 page brochure looks smart, professional and above all (thanks to some impactful photography) very impressive. It certainly achieves what was set out in the brief. However when you consider the whole brochure was designed, art worked and printed in less than six days, then the end result is even more impressive.
Initial designs with flexibility in mind
One of the significant problems with designing this brochure was not knowing what quality of images would be provided. Would they be of high enough resolution? Would they be portrait or landscape? Would they suit clean white, or stronger darker backgrounds? Another unknown to begin with was how much text would be required.
So with all these questions unanswered I set out producing style setter spreads to give the client an idea of how the finished brochure might look.
Just one of three initial style setter designs featuring a cover and typical spread.
Project managing to produce a brochure in a very short time scale
The plan was for the brochures to be handed to the ‘In bloom’ judges as they started their guided walk around the town centre. This meant that the deadline couldn’t be moved! Because there was only a need for a handful of brochures this meant they could be produced digitally. After consulting with the printers a time was agreed when the artwork would be delivered. Then it was simply a matter of finishing the design and artwork for the handover deadline!
Adapting the design to suit the content
Once a style-setter had been chosen the next stage was to begin building each spread of pages. Balancing the words, pictures and ‘calm space’ in between wasn’t easy but thankfully years of experience and a couple of late nights came to the rescue. Fortunately most of the images supplied were of a reasonable size, making the pages more impactful and pleasing to the eye.
The end result
Rochdale Town Centre won a silver guild award (previously unknown for a town that hasn’t entered the competition before). And perhaps more satisfying for me was the ‘In bloom’ judges’ comments regarding the portfolio brochure, remarking that it was “a fine example of the standard that further entrants should be looking to achieve”. It was subsequently shown at regional judging events as an ‘exemplar’ publication.
The introduction spread of the Rochdale Town Centre ‘In bloom’ brochure
Background panels of colour help to separate the pages
Rich and vibrant colours make a big impact
Text, images and ‘calm space’ all make the brochure easy to read and pleasing to the eye
“We were delighted with our partnership working to produce the In Bloom judges portfolio. Ian was very understanding of our needs, responsive and paid attention to every detail.
The Rochdale Town Centre portfolio has been referred to as a “fine example” by Britain In Bloom with the RHS nationwide. We look forward to our next project for 2017 and producing another great portfolio together.”
