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Brochures can be a great way to get information out about your business or organization. It is an easy to hold pamphlet that allows you to break down important information into digestible tidbits
Placing page numbers on brochures can be helpful for a few different reasons including guiding the reader on where to look next. Whether you use page numbers or not depends on the size of your brochure, the type of brochure, and the amount of information included.
To learn more about page numbers and to see if they are needed in your brochure design continue reading below.
Why Number a Brochure?
Adding page numbers to a brochure helps the reader know which order to read the panels. Your design of your pages and the grouping of your information can lead the reader through as well, but page numbers can help if there is a lot of information being included in your brochure.
For example: if you have a tri-fold brochure it may help to have page numbers to let your reader know which fold to read through first and which to read next. You can see an example of a tri-fold brochure and how the page numbers correspond here.
How Do You Count Pages on a Brochure?
For a brochure, a page is considered any printed side, including the front cover. Brochure pages are almost always in multiples of four with just a few exceptions.
One exception to this would be if your brochure has a throw out. These are pages that unfold out of the brochure itself. They are usually an elaboration of one of the points in the brochure or may contain something like a coupon good toward what the brochure is teaching about.
Another exception would be if it is a “perfect bound” brochure, meaning that the brochure is put together much like a book with a spine that is either glued or stapled.
How Should Pages Be Numbered?
There are generally 3 places a brochure can have a page number.
- In the lower right corner
- In the upper right corner
- In the center on the bottom of each page
In general, the most popular area for page numbers to be placed would be the lower right corner. This is a very general area for them to be placed, and not recommended for all brochure types.
With both trifold and accordion brochures, it’s recommended to place the page number in the center of the bottom. This helps differentiate the separate folds.
The bottom center is also good for the perfect bound brochures as it ensures your page number won’t end up lost in the binding.
Multi-page brochures, or booklets, would definitely need page numbers. Since they so closely resemble a book you would most likely use the bottom right corner for page numbers but you don’t have to, as the center bottom is perfectly acceptable here as well.
Can a Brochure Be Just One Page?
A brochure can be just one page although this is normally considered a flier. A flier gives you all the information at a quick glance. A brochure goes a bit more in depth and gives you information in snippets or pages about different aspects of what the brochure is teaching about. Usually, a brochure contains more information than a flyer.
However, if you are creating a brochure for online publication then it would need to be just one page.
To see what kind of options are out there for brochures, including fonts and sizes you can use several different design tools online.
Conclusion
The usual reading order for Americans is from left to right so that is the natural flow that a person will read your brochure. However, if you are wanting to help guide them and eliminate confusion you may want to add page numbers to your brochure, especially if it is longer than four printed pages. This can help ensure the information you are sharing is being taken in by the reader in the correct order.
