Making business brochures is easy. Making brochures that look good is a bit more difficult. Making effective brochures that increase profits is harder yet. But with the help of a well designed,
user friendly software program, the task becomes somewhat more manageable.
So which program should you choose? Well, it really depends on your personal preferences. The only way you are going to produce an attractive and effective brochure is if you use a program with which you are familiar. And the only way to become familiar with a program is to use it for a while.
So my advice is to try a few different programs, become familiar with each, and then decide which one to use full time. Every one of the products that I am discussing in this article is either free or offers a free demo, so there is no cost to try out each program.
The best known publishing software programs are Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign, and QuarkXPress.
To get the most powerful features and capabilities, you can choose one of these programs. But they are not your only options. I am going to discuss two other programs that are not as well known as those powerhouses, but can help you all the same. One is a surprisingly capable (and free) publishing program, while the other is a word processor that can function as a brochure designer in a pinch.
One final note before we begin: no matter which program you ultimately use, always (AND I MEAN ALWAYS) uses a very good commercial printer to handle your brochure printing. You will be sorry if you do not.
Without further adieu, here are two relatively unknown programs you can use to make your business brochures:
1. Scribus
Scribus is a free software publishing program that has been rapidly gaining in popularity. It is best known for its massive array of page layout features, as it has more than the number offered by its big competitors: Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress, and Microsoft Publisher.
Due to its remarkably affordable cost (free) and its wide range of features, many hardcore designers have turned to Scribus as their program of choice.
The homepage for Scribus is http://www.scribus.net/.
2. Apple Pages
This page layout application has remained under the radar because it is usually considered more of a word processor than a desktop publisher. Still, it has many publishing features that make it much more effective than Microsoft Word, including multi-column layouts, stationary templates, and brochure templates.
While it may not be as powerful as some of the other brochure making programs out there, it is a perfectly acceptable choice if you own a Mac and do not want to spend a lot of money on new software.
