Direct Mail – Make things CLEAR

Simplicity in design and visual structure is key to helping get your message across. In direct mail it’s even more important than that!

For the purposes of illustrating the point, albeit in an advert as opposed to a direct mail piece, consider the next Apple advert you see – lots of white space, a hero product shot, a headline, a short bit of supporting copy, possibly a price, then a call to action. There’s often not much more to the Apple communications than that. Done simply. Done effectively. (Of course, our interpretation of it is influenced by our personal relationships with the Apple brand, which goes way beyond just the advert.)

When you think about your collateral, and for the purposes of the topic of this article, specifically your direct mail piece(s) review how simple or complicated your messages and visual design is.

Ask yourself, ‘is everything clear?’

• Is your branding clear?
• Is your key message clear?
• Are the benefits you’re attempting to communicate clear?
• Is the price point clear?
• Is your call to action clear?

Below is an image of a simple, yet effective, flyer we designed for Fire Protection Association. A long-standing client, for whom we created the current branding (see more of the work we’ve delivered for them here), this direct mail piece is a perfect example of every piece of important information being clearly delivered.

Remember. Keep things simple.

Often it’s easy to get lost in a fog of complicating things or trying to say too much. Even attempting to grab the attention with some clever graphical delivery. But often by doing that the effect is quite the opposite.

Make sure what you’re trying to say is clear. And make the most of skilled graphic design to ensure your brand and your message are clearly communicated.