helpful tips on designing your village newsletter

What size booklet?

If you are producing an A5 booklet we recommend you set it up as an A4 portrait document in a programme such as Word. Our software will automatically shrink it to A5 for you and impose the pages in the right order in the booklet. This saves you having to set the booklet out, trying to remember which pages back on to the next. Simply type your document starting at page 1 and just continue until you finish.

Page Margins

Don’t have too narrow page margins. If the booklet needs to be trimmed then any text too close to the page edge may be cut off. We suggest at least a margin of 3.0 cms on either side of the A4 page.

Font Size

Think about font size. As we will be shrinking your document to approximately 71% of it's original size to create an A5 booklet, your font size in the A4 original will need to be larger. If you want to end up at 12 points in the A5 document use 16 points in the A4 file.

Save document as one file

Keep all of the document as one file. Please don’t save each page as a separate file. This makes it a lot harder for us to print your document!

Software

We can handle files created in Word, Microsoft Publisher or saved as pdf files. Sometimes text can move about the page when you transfer a file from one computer to another so if you supplying an electronic file please also supply a hard copy as well. We can then check that the document we print for you is exactly as you would expect it to look.

If you can save your file as a pdf file this will eliminate the risk – but if not don’t worry, you can see a proof while you wait to make sure you are happy. If you need a pdf writer there are several good free programs available in the web (e.g. www.pdf995.com)

Clear, sharp text

Let us print your file from a disc rather than a paper copy. The quality will be far superior and sharper.

Photos

If you want to include photos taken on a digital camera save them as a jpeg file. We can handle tiff files as well but the quality will not be as good. Remember the photo’s we print will only be as good as the originals so make sure you start with a well exposed and sharp photo!

Adverts

To help reduce your costs have you considered having adverts from local suppliers in the magazine? We can help create the adverts for you if you want or the suppliers may have an advert of their own.

Choice of Font

Don’t use too many different fonts – 3 as a maximum – it makes it look unprofessional

CAPITALS

Don’t put words in capitals unless absolutely necessary. IT MAKES IT MUCH HARDER FOR YOUR READERS TO READ!

Not happy with your design?

Don’t worry if you are not a natural designer. We can help by creating a template for you which you can use in the future to make all your newsletters look consistent. Alternatively we can design each edition for you – the choice is yours!