How to Make a School Brochure
Every year, a new class of college hopefuls begins receiving a flood of mail from hopeful colleges. If you work in the enrollment department of a college or university, part of your job is to make your school's brochure stand out among all the other promotional materials going out to potential students. Some of the information to include is standard across all brochures, but what you do with the wiggle room will make the difference between getting eager applicants and finding your brochures in trash bins.
Instructions
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Gather background information on your school's demographics and history. Seek out the numbers of students, faculty members, clubs and student organizations from various departments around campus and calculate changes or growth over the years. Research the history of the university and look for the names of notable graduates.
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Photograph the campus at various places, looking for the best shots to show your school's advantages in different categories. Shoot notable architecture to show the campus' beauty. Ask students permission to get pictures of them hanging out in commons areas. Take five minutes of a professor's time to capture a classroom lecture in progress.
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Write the text of the brochure in a voice accentuating the positive aspects of the school. Include a one- or two-paragraph introduction and aim for one paragraph of text for each section. Use a friendly and casual tone that suggests the prospective student would have a good future at your school. Close with a section listing the phone number, mailing address and email at which prospective students can request more information.
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Design the brochure in your page layout software. Use your school's colors as the base colors for the brochure, or opt for a neutral color such as white. Aim for a 50-50 ratio of text to pictures, erring on the side of text if you can't make it perfectly even. Alternate whether the picture is on the upper or lower half of a fold if you have a tri-fold brochure. Print out the brochure on a laser printer to preview how it will look on paper.
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Tips & Warnings
Jack up the color saturation of your photos to make them eye-catching. You want prospective students to think of your campus as a bright and attractive place.
Establish a relationship with a reputable printer to receive large quantities of your brochure quickly. Order enough to mail to students across the country and to keep in the admissions office for visitors.
Use quotes from students and professors as an easy way to personalize your text.
It's good to have the hard numbers of university life available to prospective students, but keep them to the most easily understandable statistics. High school students who have never been to a college campus before may have a hard time grasping what a student-to-professor ratio means.
References
- Photo Credit university auditorium,cnetury tower,university of image by Earl Robbins from Fotolia.com
