The majority of the brochures we are asked to design are for business to business use. This means that while the design will change significantly depending on the industry and purpose of the brochure, the audience are generally similar – business professionals looking for new suppliers and products. However, every so often a project comes along which has a different audience in mind – Young People. While designing for a young audience often lets our graphic designers stretch their creativity, it also presents a unique set of challenges due to the way that Young People engage with, and consume advertising literature.

Here are just some of the key things our graphic designers need to consider when creating brochure graphic design to engage a younger audience.

The exact age of the audience.

When designing for an adult audience, the age-bands for targeting tend to be very wide. Target markets are often defined as 24-30, 30-40, etc. However, with a younger audience the target age needs to be much more precise. What appeals to an 11 year old, is likely to be off-putting to a 16 year old. To create a successful brochure design it is therefore necessary to understand the exact ages you are appealing to.

The media they consume.

Trends and fashions change very quickly, especially amongst the young. What appealed to us as teenagers, is unlikely to be the same as what will engage teenagers today. Even when the same trends circle-round, they often do so with subtle but important twist. It may sound like a cliché, but you have to really ‘get into the shoes’ of the target market to understand the best way to convey your message. One of the best ways of doing this with a younger audience is to look at the media and brands which your specific age group consumes. Whether it is cartoon characters, TV programmes, websites, adverts, mobile phone apps, or clothes, these will all build up a picture which will help develop a design which will appeal.

The layout of the information.

There is a misconception that to appeal to a younger audience means that everything has to be in bright colours, capital letters and tilted off to the side. While breaking the conventions of traditional page layout is important to attract the interest of the audience (you do not want to look like a school textbook), the information still needs to be easy to read and easy to follow. The majority of young people do not make patient readers. A balance is therefore often necessary between creating something which is visually interesting and stimulating, but which makes sense on the page. The secret is not to throw everything at the page. Use bright colours, but not too many different ones. Use different font sizes, but in a logical way to show headings and key points. Move the text around the page, but make sure a logical line can be drawn from one piece of information to the next.

The text.

In terms of text, the right tone is really important. While there might be a tendency to imitate the way young people speak in writing, this often fails. Just as with an adult audience, the way we speak is very different from how we expect text to read. So while slang and txtspeak can be used in certain contexts, it shouldn’t be over used. Instead simple and straightforward language with a friendly tone can be much more effective. Again, looking at your target group’s favourite media will help get the tone right. If in doubt, we ask a member of the target audience to give it a read and cross out anything which sounds like an adult trying to be young.

The call to action.

Brochures and all forms of advertising media should always have ‘a call to action’; the course of action you would like your reader to take once they have finished reading. This is often something like ‘Call Now to talk to an advisor’ or ‘Visit www. to find out more’. The call to action is still an important element for a younger audience, but it must be aligned with the natural way your audience communicates. In an advertising context this might be ‘Text INFO to 88830′, ‘Sign up at www.’, or ‘Find Us on Facebook’. Just as long as you make it clear what you would like your reader to do once they have finished consuming the message.

Brochure Graphic Design – Add Design specialise in design and print for a wide range of industries including young people. Click here to view our brochure graphic design packages and examples of our recent work.