Between sales material at the newspaper and youth events, I have made my fair share of handouts. Some never even "hit the streets" but that is the nature of design.
So whether you are designing a hand out for your St. Patrick's Day party or a tool for people to use at work it is important to keep a few things in mind.
1.
Half the Battle is a Title
- people need to recognize what the tool is for pretty quickly. There are two ways of doing this. By a title or a design element.
2.
White Space Improves Comprehension
- In other words, don't feel like everything has to be centered and don't feel like you have to fill every void. White space is proven to improve comprehension (I will be blogging about how and why it is effective soon). Please remember, white space doesn't have to be white - it can be the color of your handout background. The idea behind "white space" is an area in which your eyes can visually rest.
3.
Match the graphic elements to the copy
- Do your best to pair a font and graphic elements with what the person is reading about. For example, the Mission Impossible event is a game night of capture the flag on steroids, so hence the black and camo theme.
4.
Keep the Important Stuff Clean
- Make sure the design elements or decorative fonts over tempt you. Make sure things like the date and time, directions or other important information easy to read. You can even accentuate it with a border.
Oh, and by the way!
Happy Friday!