The “tone” of a written piece, such as your brochure, can best be defined as the “feel” or “emotional effect” that this piece has.

Many things make up the “tone”. The words used in his brochure. The length of his sentences. The colors you wear. The fountain. The punctuation The type of graphics or photos. The graphic design. The type of paper you use.

To give your brochure the right ‘tone’, all of these elements need to come together, giving it a particular feel.

“That’s good,” I bet you’re saying right now. “Wake me up when you’re done with your art reading.”

Sorry! Back up your Mac, or park your PC, right now and listen.

This is not some fanciful, boastful, artistic, blurry concept. It is real. And it has real consequences (read: “results”).

I’ll start by describing an actual brochure I saw, one that I’ve used as a very bad example, during brochure workshops I’ve given in the Detroit area.

This brochure dealt with a very sensitive and heartbreaking topic: domestic violence. It was done by a metropolitan agency to a.) make the public aware that domestic violence harms children and is, by extension, child abuse b.) warn the perpetrators of the crime that it is, well, a crime. (For starters, this brochure was so poorly written that it was hard to tell who it was for. In fact, it stumped my workshop participants.)

Now, writing this brochure without being sure of the target market was not the least of his problems. This is where we get to the tone.

It was a hard 1 color booklet (yes, 1 color, black type on white paper. It looked like something erased and photocopied) with big letters and sentences that seemed to scream at you. The headline read: “NO EXCUSE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS A CRIME!” The word “you” was used, but in a harsh and high-handed tone: “What you should know about…”. followed this outrageous headline.

It got your attention, okay. But her tone was so shrill and harsh that she did not invite me to come in, to learn, to seek help. She just pushed me away.

As you can see, the “tone” is very important.

Now, I’ll give another example, also from a government agency and dealing with children, that does a much, much better job.

This brochure was also 1 color. Only that it was done by a graphic artist who knew how to use many shades of gray, screens and other techniques to turn what was originally black into a soft, warm and welcoming image.

In the center of the brochure were black and white photos of 4 smiling children, each of a different race.

Above the children was the headline: “The health insurance you need.”

In the center of the children was a circle with the words “MICild”—an acronym for low-cost children’s insurance—played on the abbreviation for the Michigan state zip code. Instantly known to your target market.

Then at the bottom of the brochure, still on the cover, were the words “At a price you can afford,” followed by the toll-free number.

The general tone of this brochure is “We want to help you. We respect you. We understand you.” (And that’s just for reviewing the cover!”)

See the difference? Although both brochures were from government agencies, although both brochures were in one color, the difference between them is huge. As, I’m sure, were the results.

In these short paragraphs, I’ve given you a little glimpse of what tone is and why it’s important. There are many more examples in “tone” types; how each “tone” is achieved with the words chosen, the length and structure of the sentence, the type of paper, etc. However, I hope that in these short paragraphs you can begin to understand tone and its importance. And, most importantly, you can understand how you can apply it to your own brochure.

(c) CSC Group, LLC