Whether you run a business seeking to have its brochure professionally printed, or a print services provider it’s crucial that you know where brochure design trends are heading. To help you in preparing a truly on-trend brochure, here are selected examples of brochure design ideas fashionable this year.
Increased vibrancy in colour
Booklet finished on Duplo iSaddle
Traditionally, designers have used somewhat muted colours for brochures in a bid to help portray the associated brands as respectable and sophisticated.
However, these days, many brochure designers are willing to be more experimental than this with colour. In 2023, colours on brochures look set to not only become brighter and bolder but also be increasingly incorporated into gradients and patterns.
Still, don’t expect subdued shades to be left out entirely. They could continue to be added here and there to brochure designs as contrasts to the more vivid tones, which many long-established companies in particular might want to use for rebranding purposes.
Unusual geometrical shapes
Booklet finished on Duplo iSaddle
When you see or hear the word ‘brochure’, you might instantly picture something rectangular. However, in 2023, you can expect to see brochures in rather stranger shapes than before.
You might want to keep an eye out for triangular and perhaps even circular brochures. You might even see some in an octagon or hexagon — respectively, an eight- or six-sided — shape.
Through designing or printing a brochure in an unusual shape, you can surprise the eventual recipient and so help to leave the brochure imprinted in their minds for a long time to come.
Illustrations
You may well have had brochures that included photos of the advertised products or, if services were being advertised instead, people making use of those services.
However, in some instances, photos might seem like an overly conventional way of showing what a company has to offer. For this reason, illustrations — including in a ‘hand-drawn’ style — can make a big impact when used in place of photos on brochures.
Key to the appeal of using illustrations in this way is that they don’t necessarily have to be ‘cartoony’. Indeed, in the brochure of, say, a law firm, realistic depictions of people in hand-drawn form can look simultaneously distinctive and elegant.
One reason why illustrations can work well on brochures is that this artisan style of graphic design is, compared to many alternatives, less obviously influenced by technology.
Hence, if employees of the advertised business customarily meet clients or customers face to face, the use of illustrations in the brochure can help make the brand look approachable.
Minimalism
Using as few design elements as possible to portray a brand message is sometimes quite literally the least you could do to design a brochure. This idea here is to strip away elements that don’t really serve the message, leaving it easy to understand and without nuisance background noise.
On the cover of a brochure, a minimalist design can consist of little more than a single-colour background and, on top of this, small text spelling out the brand’s name and purpose.
A minimalist brochure design can also have technical benefits, such as improving readability and, with the use of a white background, helping to prevent ink from smearing.
Of course, one simple reason why a minimalist approach to brochure design works is that, the less you put into that design in the first place, the less it has that can go wrong.
Vintage art
It naturally instils trust in a business if its brochure makes it look as though it has been around for quite a while. This helps to explain why the vintage art on brochures has been forecast to become an especially big thing in 2023.
You can probably already recall a fair few occasions when you have flicked through a brochure and caught sight of vintage art contained within. However, in 2023, designers look likely to grow even keener on imbuing brochures with a retro style through the inclusion of such art.
You might want to go down this route with a brochure you design or create if that brochure will be aimed at promoting a food or beverage business. That’s because you would want to give the impression that the company has a long history of delivering when it comes to quality.
Naturally, once someone has bought food or drink from a particular company and been impressed by the product, they could easily be inclined to buy again from the company. For this person, it can be reassuring to think that the company should keep impressing them over the long haul.
Creative textures
Booklet embellished on Duplo DuSense
It can be difficult to give a brochure design some flair without adding a design element that inadvertently comes across as gimmicky. The trick is to be subtle with what unorthodox touches you do add to the brochure design.
For example, you could opt for a lightly textured design, or add cut-outs that let the reader see part of the brochure’s next page before actually turning to it.
However, if you are designing a brochure for your own business, make sure you will be able to utilise services of a print services provider capable of creating the precise kind of effect you seek for your brochure.
Printing finishing plays a crucial role in brochure design. To learn more about our systems contact us today.