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I was looking for cool samples of brochures and found this blog post: “Best of Brochure design – Cool Samples and Examples of Brochures” http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/graphicsblog/2007/12/06/best-of-brochure-design-cool-samples-and-examples-of-brochures/.

What’s interesting in most of these full color brochures is that they don’t fit the typical brochure mold. Most are odd shapes – not the rectangle you would expect to find in a brochure. Of course, that’s probably why they made it on to the list!

There’s one brochure for something called Elevate and the brochure unfolds, or elevates, into its unfolded form. I like that. I’m big about using words literally. I’m the kind of person who, when a song on the radio says something about “my sistas on the left,” I’ll look or point to the left. That’s why I like that particular brochure.

I also like the leaf-shaped brochure that looks like it’s in another language. Even though I can’t read it, I think it’s an innovative company for using a leaf for their brochure shape and using a green background for their pages. They also repeat the leaf shape as cutouts for images inside the brochure. Repetition is one of the keys to good and effective brand design. Repetition keeps things uniform and keeps the design focused. It also creates consistency, which makes design look more professional.

There’s also a brochure that looks like it’s being unzipped on the inside. I like that idea and the way it makes the brochure look like it’s bigger at the top. But, I would have like to have seen something behind the opened zipper – something that would intrigue me to want to figure out what this company is about. As it is, it just looks like a customer would be unzipping into a company full of nothing.

There’s one brochure that is pretty close to the normal rectangular, tri-fold shape. But the corners are slightly curved and the typography and graphics remind me of something from the early ’80s. It looks like a brochure kids would have gotten when they got to watch the puberty video! The drawings are all pencil and there’s a lady on the back with a speech bubble to the side of her head. I can’t tell what she’s saying, but she looks like a teacher lecturing about puberty in a polite, I-hate-doing-this demeanor.

There’s one square brochure for something called “dialog” that I really like because of its simplicity. The photos used look like they’re from the ’50s (maybe it’s the pale colors, I don’t know), but the photos are all square and line up in a nice grid that evokes the design of the brochure itself. The simple italicized font looks modern to me, maybe because it doesn’t use a capital letter.

These are all great-looking brochures that I think most companies would be afraid to use because they are so different. But I think these brochures could bring in more sales leads and customers than a traditional brochure any day!