How to Make a Brochure Out of Paper

There are many uses for brochures. They are commonly used for advertising and informational handouts. In its simplest format a brochure can be created to be printed on a single sheet of paper. If you have a computer and MS Word you can create a very effective, easy to read, quality brochure.

Things You'll Need

• Good quality paper in your color choice

Instructions

1. Choose a good quality paper in your choice of colors. If you are going to print using color ink you may opt to use white paper. If you prefer to print in black then you may want to use colored paper for a more interesting presentation.

2. Open MS Word to a blank new page. The first thing that you will have to do is change your page settings. Choose "File" on the top left of the toolbar. Highlight and select "Page Setup." On the "Margins" tab choose "Landscape." Change your margins to the smallest side margins available. This is generally .3" on both the right and left sides, top and bottom. Save your changes.

3. Go to "Format" on the Toolbar and select "Columns." Set the number of columns to three. After you have made this selection you may need to adjust your column setting so that the spaces between columns 1 and 2 and 2 and 3 are twice the size of the side margins. This is generally automatically done, but occasionally the printer does not give exact results on the side margins due to the paper feed process. If this is the case, tweak the column settings.

4. Prepare the front of the brochure by completing Column 1. You may want to put a picture or word art on the front. Play with fonts until you are pleased with the appearance.

5. Proceed to columns 2 and 3 and insert the desired information. Be careful when setting up the information in all three columns to align it at the top and bottom of the columns for a uniform appearance. When working in the columns you can choose to right, left or center align your information or to justify it, as you can in a full-page Word file.

6. Print a draft copy of your brochure and fold it to check on uniformity of the columns. This brochure should be folded accordion style. The front is the left column. Fold it over the second column with the blank backs of columns one and two touching. Fold column two over column three with the inside print touching.