Flyers

A good flyer does a number of things well. It catches the attention of its prospective audience through graphics or immediately arresting text. It causes a reader to think back on it once they've put it down. It doesn't treat its reader like a child, by which I mean it presents information candidly, allowing the reader to make their own decision rather than assuming the decision has already been made. Now, I can't cover all of those things. I'm no professional, and my graphic design sense is terrible. Therefore, until I educate myself a bit more, I tend to focus on words, and I'm getting better placing those appropriately at least. Someday I'll design flyers for my own purposes, and I hope they look decent, but for now, let's practice on something else.

I've been tasked with designing a flyer that will, hypothetically, but used by the admissions office here at BSU. Two pages: one front, one back. What should be included? Let's make a list.

• Images are a must. I think that the front of the flyer will have an image that takes up roughly 2/3 to 3/4 of the page. Overlaid on top of that will be the school's logo, probably focused in one of the corners. There may be text on top of that as well, though not much.
• The rest of the page will be a box, probably white, which will include the most important information:
• Contact information for Admissions to include
• Phone numbers
• E-mail
• Web Address
• Location on campus
• The location of the University, both within MA and on a smaller scale.
• The back of the flyer will more than likely be split into two columns, with information of greater importance listed at the top. In addition, the two columns will probably be split more into academic and extracurricular activities.
• On the left, prominent majors and degrees offered will be listed at the top.
• Below will be internship opportunities.
• Below that will be the availability of disability and tutoring programs.
• I think by this point I may well have filled up the left column. If not, snippets about studying abroad, prominent alumni, and the campus's focus on technology may be included.
• On the right will be things like athletic programs, a sampling of the clubs and organizations on campus, community involvement, and similar items.
• I may leave a space at the bottom, as I did on the other side, where I'll highlight BSU's affordability, access to the commuter rail, various improvements being made to the campus or other things the university is focused on doing.

I think that all that is still a lot of information to pack onto two pages, but who needs margins anyway? (I'm kidding. There will be margins. White space is important too.)