Graphic Designing
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Read moreGraphic Design · Delhi NCR & remote
Three seconds and a bin.
A flyer is glanced at while walking, or picked off a doormat on the way to the kitchen. It has one chance to say one thing, and most flyers try to say six.
Short answer
Flyer design produces single-sheet printed material for distribution — door drops, events, counters and hand-outs. Its constraint is severe: a few seconds of attention while somebody is doing something else. That forces one message, one action and a size of type that can be read at a glance.
One message only
Readable at arm’s length
One clear action
Print-ready supplied
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Flyers going straight in the bin?
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01 The premise
The discipline is subtraction.
Almost every flyer I am asked to improve has the same fault: it contains everything. All the services, the full history, three photographs, a QR code, social handles, an address, an offer and a slogan. At a glance, none of it registers, because there is nothing for the eye to land on first.
The flyers that work say one thing. One offer, or one service, or one event. The headline is readable from a metre away. There is one action — call this number, come on this date, bring this voucher. Everything else is either removed or made small enough that it clearly is not the point.
This is uncomfortable for businesses that do many things, and it is why flyers are frequently a poor medium for them. A general flyer about a business with eight services will underperform a specific one about the single service you most want to sell this month. If you need to communicate everything, that is a brochure.
02 The essentials
What a working flyer has.
Six things, and space is the seventh.
The essentials
- One headline that can be read at a distance. Large, high contrast, saying the offer or the thing. Not a slogan.
- One offer or one service. Two is one too many. If you have two, print two flyers.
- One action. Call, visit, come on a date, bring this. A flyer with four possible actions gets none.
- A phone number, large. Bigger than feels comfortable. This is what people actually use from a flyer.
- A reason to keep it. A discount, a date, a useful piece of information. Otherwise it is discarded within seconds.
- Location, if you are local. Area, landmark or a small map. Proximity is a local business’s main advantage on a flyer.
- White space. The most under-used element. A crowded flyer is unread regardless of what it says.
03 Straight talk
When a flyer works, and when it does not.
Worth deciding before spending on print and distribution.
Flyers work for
- A specific local offer. A discount, an opening, a limited-time service in a defined area.
- Events with a date. Something happening, somewhere, at a time. Flyers suit this better than almost any medium.
- Local services people need urgently. Repairs, tuition, cleaning. Kept on a fridge until needed.
- Footfall locations. Counters, exhibitions, letterboxes in a tight radius around you.
Flyers fail for
- General company awareness. Nobody keeps a flyer about a company doing eight things.
- Considered, high-value purchases. A flyer cannot carry the information or credibility needed.
- Wide geographic spread. Distribution cost rises and relevance falls. Flyers are a local medium.
- Anything needing explanation. If it takes two paragraphs, it is not a flyer.
Free flyer review
Hold your flyer at arm’s length.
What can you read? If it is not the offer and the phone number, the design is not working. Send it to me and I will tell you what to remove.
- Judged at arm’s length, as it is really seen
- You keep the findings either way
- Print-ready files supplied properly
- Same-day reply, all 7 days
Free review
Get a free quote
Four details, and a real reply today.
04 Print decisions
Practical decisions before printing.
These affect cost more than the design does.
- Size
- A5 is the common hand-out and door-drop size. DL fits a pocket and a display stand. A4 costs more and is discarded faster.
- Paper
- Heavier stock feels more credible and costs more. For a door drop that will be binned regardless, lighter is sensible.
- Single or double sided
- Double sided costs marginally more and doubles the space. Frequently worth it, but only if the second side has a purpose.
- Quantity
- Unit cost falls sharply with quantity, which tempts over-ordering. Print what you will genuinely distribute within the offer period.
- Distribution
- Decide before designing. A door drop, a counter and an exhibition each need a different flyer.
— Graphic Design
Related services.
These sit next to flyer design and are usually bought with it. Same person doing the work in each case.
— Questions
flyer design — your questions.
Straight answers, including the ones that cost me work. If yours is not here, ask it — I reply the same day.
One message, one action, and a headline readable from a metre away. Flyers fail by containing everything — when there is nothing for the eye to land on first, nothing registers in the few seconds of attention a flyer gets.
A5 for hand-outs and door drops, DL for pockets and display stands, A4 only where the content genuinely justifies it. Smaller sizes cost less, are discarded less quickly, and impose the discipline that makes flyers work.
Double sided is marginally more expensive and doubles your space, which is usually worth it — but only if the second side has a defined job. A second side filled because it was available adds nothing.
What you will genuinely distribute within the offer period. Unit cost falls with quantity, which tempts over-ordering, and boxes of flyers with an expired offer are a common and complete waste.
For local, specific, time-limited offers, yes — particularly for services people need urgently and keep until needed. For general company awareness or considered high-value purchases, they do not, and the money is better spent elsewhere.
I supply print-ready artwork and can recommend printers and specifications. Having you deal directly with the printer usually costs less than routing it through me, and you keep the relationship for reprints.
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Say one thing. Say it large.
Send me your current flyer or tell me the offer. You will get a straight answer on what to remove, which is usually most of it.
- One message, one action
- Judged at arm’s length, as it is really seen
- Print-ready files supplied properly
- Fixed price agreed before work starts
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