If you didn’t look closely and notice the “KSA” or the “Culture Shox,” would you have noticed that these were flyers for the same event by the same club? We’ve emphasized several times in this blog about the importance of branding, especially about maintaining the consistency of your club’s brand. Here, we have “KSA” written in two very distinct typefaces. One flyer doesn’t mention what KSA stands for while the other does. Inconsistencies in public image, especially in print, are small yet crucial mistakes that can and should be avoided. Does Culture Shox have to be written in varying sizes and typefaces as well? And what does the upside down Nike sign represent?

Let’s Try…

What if the typeface was consistent? What if we displayed the information in the same way on both flyers? What if we added some photography? Could it look something like this?

(after the jump: no fair - try no colors! and overall lesson of good flyers)

Now, is it just a matter of colors? We can take a look:

Colors are a nice touch, but they don’t hide the fact that branding may be inconsistent. Remember - branding, especially at the club level, can be something as simple as keeping the same typeface for the club’s name and creating the same look for the event name. Also, when creating flyers for black & white laser print, try to make them in color as well, especially if you’re going to post them on your website.

The Lesson

We don’t mean to say that two inconsistent, unbranded flyers will hurt an event. Most events thrive on word-of-mouth advertising and group attendance (people coming with or for their friends), so flyers, at best, play a minor role in attracting people to the event. But flyers do reflect certain things about your club that may or may not be true: how seriously are they about what they do? What are their core values? Are they professional? Flyers make impressions, whether slight or strong, and it’s best to have all your bases covered.

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Posted by Peter Kang