Whether you’re using it for a menu, pricing list or program, the half-fold brochure is a convenient way to display lists of information that have slightly more detail than a tri-fold brochure. Typically, a half-fold brochure will be on 8.5” x 11” paper, but you can also choose 5.5” x 8.5”, 8.5” x 14”, 11” x 17”, 11" x 25.5", or 12” x 9” formats. The larger paper size options would be ideal for displaying a spread of information such as a menu, whether it be for a restaurant or other commercial service menu list.
Download one of our PDF templates for your selected half-fold brochure size below:
What is a Half-Fold Brochure?
- An extremely versatile print medium that consists of a printed page of any size folded in half.
- Half-fold brochures maximize the real estate for brand messaging on a single sheet of paper by simply folding it in half.
- Half-fold brochures—also known as half-fold leaflets, half-fold pamphlets, half-fold flyers, or half-fold programs—transform what would otherwise be seen as just a plain printed piece of paper into a more immersive, experiential and dynamic printed medium.
The larger the paper, the more space you’ll have for getting detailed with your response. If you’ve got longer descriptions to elaborate upon the details of your services or menu items, you’ll most likely want to go with the 8.5” x 14” or 11” x 17” paper sizes. This will allow you to include more information in a legible font size so that you don’t have to use smaller sizes to cram as much information into the smaller formats as possible. For example, half of an 8.5” x 11” half-fold brochure would be 5.5” x 8.5” which does not give you much space on each panel to provide many details about your message.
Who prints half-fold brochures?
Half-fold brochures are printed by a wide variety of industries due to its versatility as a printed medium. Some of the major industries that make use of the half-fold brochure are...
- The foodservice industry – single-use takeout menus or even in-restaurant multi-use menus (when using special coatings to make the sheet more durable)
- Nonprofit organizations and charities – half-fold brochures present a wonderful alternative to the standard tri-fold brochure that can help by presenting information in a slightly more formal style.
- Educational resource providers – from preschools and daycares to universities and research institutes, the half-fold brochure can be found in use at all levels in educational organizations.
- Business Service Providers – businesses that make money providing services to other businesses can easily utilize a half-fold brochure in any of their marketing efforts to maximize budgets and reduce spend elsewhere on less fruitful digital marketing means.
How much does it cost to print a half-fold brochure?
half-fold brochures can cost as little as $37.29 if you're getting 50 up to $332.05 for quantities of 10,000 and beyond. Ultimately the cost will depend upon what size half-fold brochure you choose and the quantity. As you reach higher and higher quantities, a combination of offset printing and bulk purchasing makes it so the per-brochure cost of your order will decrease significantly.
Getting started on your design
When you start out with your half-fold brochure design, it’s important to first know what information you will be including as the content for your final design.
Whether it’s a listing of food items offered by your restaurant, a program of events for a given event or a listing of services offered by your cleaning service, it’s important to ensure that you have the entire list complete before beginning to lay out your information in a design for your half-fold brochure.
The information you include in your brochure is ultimately the star of the brochure, so it’s essential you have this information in a completed written format before beginning your design.
Selecting photographs
Once you have the finalized information you know you need to include in your finished design, you should choose appropriate and high resolution photographs to accompany that information and to really make your half-fold brochure stand out. If you’re designing a menu for a restaurant, choose the most appealing images of the actual menu items to accompany your menus. Be sure to use the photographs as a way of highlighting the services or menu items you want customers to notice.
Customers will notice photographs and images before they notice the text. But that’s not to say you should base the design upon the images you want to include. The text is there to elaborate upon the images and give them meaning. Customers will decide based upon the image they see, but they’ll need a logical explanation to back up that decision, so it’s essential the text is there for them to read and develop the “logical” justification for their decision.
Once you have the pictures and information picked out, you should begin laying out the design. Be sure to keep in mind that the front and back cover of the half-fold brochure will be only half of the total size of the paper size you chose. The inside portion of the half-fold brochure (where the menu content would usually be) is the place for you to put all your information listings. You can divide your information with subheadings like a menu would with different courses of a meal; or you can simply list it all in one format.
Inside the fold
If you’re designing a program, this inside fold is where you’re going to put all the programmatic information for how your event will occur. You’ll maybe want to divide information such as acts or general event segments into subheadings within the information. The key is that your information makes sense to you and anyone that may be encountering it for the first time.
For this reason, be sure to run your design by multiple people who have never seen it before for usability testing.
Once you’ve figured out a layout for all your information, you should come up with an appropriate front cover and back cover for your pamphlet, menu or program. The covers can be as simple or complex as you wish. It is however, important that your half-fold brochure covers are eye-catching to really draw in your audience.
Simpler cover designs will come across as cleaner and classier, whereas covers that are filled with information may come across as loaded or busy. It may be essential for you to utilize the covers for listing your information if the inside fold isn’t enough to display the required information in a clean and concise manner.
Key concepts
Ultimately, it’s essential to make sure your text is readable and the pictures aren’t distracting. Plan ahead for how the fold will impact your information and make sure the overall design makes sense to people who aren’t familiar with the information. Testing the printing of the project with a desktop office printer, even if it’s not on the same sized paper as the final project, can be extremely helpful for ensuring that what you send to your printer is the correct format.
Exporting your project as a PDF is the final stage in this process and you’re ready to send your final design to the printer.
When selecting a printer, make sure to find someone who combines affordability with quality. Getting a paper sample guide from an online printer is one way to make sure they have the right quality of printing to suit your needs. Once you’ve founda printer that offers the right quality of printing and the right format to suit your needs, you’ve found the online printer you should print with.
If you’re having difficulty, try Conquest Graphics! Get started on your half-fold brochure printing today.
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