Design Tips

Newsletters are an important asset to communicating ideas, promoting products or services, for reviewing subject-focused materials, and as part of a series of educational or scientific research and investigations.

Newsletter layout and design should be determined based on the identity and description of your target audience and your topic or product and service. Not unlike most projects, it is important that you are able to answer three basic questions:

Why are you writing a newsletter? Is it to inform or entertain? Is it to attract a youthful or more mature audience? What do you hope to gain from this effort? If you are writing to entertain teens or young adults, your font style and color design in addition to a need for brevity and getting to the point becomes important. Use of bullet points or numbers may also be helpful. For a more mature audience font size for readability is key to consider.

Who will be interested in our topic or service? (be very specific about identifying your audience and their needs). You will need clarity in order to prepare information that will increase the audience appetite for more. Your goal is for them to seek you as their source for information and support.

How often will you provide this information? The response to this question is crucial during the Newsletter planning process. Consistency in format goes hand in had with consistency in contact timing and delivery. Once you establish a pattern of delivery and create an expectation of receipt of quality information by your readership, it is important to be consistent in presentation and producing results.

A general newsletter format includes the date, issue numbers, outline or table of contents, and subject headings. Its also important to make sure your readers can contact you by including an email address or with auto responders to questions like What would you like to see in future issues? You could also take a poll about one of the topics covered in one of your recent issue.

Prepare a draft copy. Send a test copy to a small group and ask for feedback, input and opinions from people you trust. With any written communication, you want people to be able to feel your message from the words you write and through the design you create.

There are numerous layout and design formats to choose. It is important to explore and test a variety of designs before making the final decision. Selection of color and font, which is determined by the audience, will impact presentation of the materials you select as well as the diversification of the audience you serve.

Theresa V. Wilson, M.Ed., CPBA is a Corporate Curriculum and Training Specialist and Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst. Theresa leads a writers group and is former editor for Ezines&Newsletter, BellaOnLine. Her bylines have appeared in over 90 online and print publications. She is presently editor of The Informant, a quarterly writing group leaders publication of the American Christian Writers Association.

Visit her website at http://www.writersinthemarketplace.org or join the writers blog at http://writersinthemarketplace.org/blog1

// posted by gng @ 1:00 PM 0 comments