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What makes this an effective leaflet layout?

Short main headline is in much larger type than anything else on the page so that it grabs reader’s attention right away.

The visual helps communicate the message of the leaflet rather than simply decorate the paper. If it’s a photo, it’s close-up and high enough quality to be a focal point.

Only two fonts are used in the leaflet to avoid a cluttered (and less readable) look ¾ one for the large type (often sans serif) and one for the body copy (often serif).

If it’s used, reverse type (white on black) highlights just a few key words, not more. The font selected for reverse type is sans serif and big and bold enough to be readable.

For best readability, body copy is short (three or four sentences maximum) with a paragraph break after each sentence. It runs between 2”-4” wide ¾ not all the way from left edge of page to the right like we do when writing a letter. It’s left or center justified ¾ never full justified ¾ to avoid the awkward extra spacing between words that is automatically inserted in the full justification mode.

The kicker is in larger type than the body copy but smaller type than the main head. If it’s black type on a gray box like the sample shown, the box must be light enough ¾ and the type bold enough and big enough ¾ to be easily readable.

Some white space is left around the headline and visual (upper right portion of page on sample shown) to help draw reader’s eye to those key elements.

Courtesy of TheWorkSite.org.