Design a four-panel brochure.

Plan a folded brochure, fit the real words, and check every panel.

What you will learn.

Improve the same brochure begun in Create a layout, preserving all supplied content and checking the folded four-panel order.

Before you begin.

Reuse the two-spread SculpSure brochure from Create a layout, plus your grid and hierarchy studies. Open the brochure starter files and read Brochure assets/Copy.rtf. Its Sketch demonstration is an archive example.

Learn the concept.

Fold a sheet once. You now have a front cover, a back cover, and two inside panels. Label them on paper before designing so the words and pictures appear in the right order.

Use the assignment’s size

The main assignment asks for a brochure that is 5.5 × 8.5 inches when folded, made from an 8.5 × 11 inch sheet. The older software walkthrough uses an A4 preset instead. Follow the assignment dimensions for your exercise. A4 and US Letter are different sizes.

The original assignment uses a 5.5 × 8.5 inch finished, folded brochure. Plan the outside and inside panels together. Use the dimensions and supplied content in the linked assignment.

Read before arranging

The roughly 21-minute walkthrough uses Sketch, but its process applies in another design tool. It starts with the supplied copy, two marks, and three photos. Read all the words before deciding how much room each section needs.

Gather useful references

The instructor studies brochure layouts on Behance and separately looks for a color palette. One reference can help with arrangement and another with color. Save the links and explain which idea you are learning from rather than copying the whole design.

Build the outside, then the inside

Create color swatches. Arrange the outside image, logo, heading, and repeated colored shapes. A mask can show only the part of a picture that fits its area. Carry the same colors, heading styles, and shapes into the inside panels so the brochure feels connected.

The bottom row reduces the pages above it to rectangles. This helps you see layout without being distracted by the pictures or words.

Fit the real words

Separate headings and supporting paragraphs. Adjust the text-box width, line spacing, and paragraph breaks. Watch for uneven gaps running through the words, sometimes called rivers, especially when text is stretched to align both edges. Check all panels together, including the room around edges and folds.

Make careful production choices

The video fades a supplied badge while exploring appearance. On real work, first check whether marks or labels must stay a certain size or remain clearly visible. The supplied product copy is practice material; do not assume its claims are ready for current publication. For real printing, ask the printer for the actual size, margin, and production requirements. The walkthrough’s rough margin example is not a complete printing guide.

Words to know.

Bi-fold brochure

One sheet folded once, with four panels.

Two panels per side

Panel

One section of the folded brochure.

One section of a layout

Mask

A shape that controls which part of a picture is visible.

Limit what remains visible

Rivers

Uneven gaps that seem to run through lines of text.

Unwanted gaps running through text

The idea in practice

See a worked example.

Read the whole copy before deciding how big each area should be.

For exampleRead all the beauty-product copy before dividing the four panels.

Repeat a small set of styles across all four panels.

For exampleReuse the same title and paragraph styles on each panel.

Treat required marks and real printing instructions as requirements, not decorations.

For exampleLeave room for required marks and real print instructions.

Worked content-to-panel plan. Front: SculpSure product message, main image, and brand. Inside left: How It Works. Inside right: Customize Your Treatments and What to Expect. Back: supporting details and required marks. Fold a labeled paper copy; if Back appears as Front, swap the outside placements in the editable file and check again. This is a plan to verify against the exact source copy, not a production print proof.