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Designing Newsletters
Many computers have
newsletter templates as part of their standard software.
This is by far the easiest way to publish your newsletter.
Having got your template, remember the following:
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Develop a
consistent design and stick to it for every edition |
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Make sure it
includes your logo |
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Include your
charity number if you are a registered charity |
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Break the newsletter down into
sections so that readers can find what they want.
Try and avoid underlining headings. Use a bold text
or a different font instead |
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Use a maximum of 2 font styles in
the newsletter. Use bold, underlining, and change
the size of the letters instead. The minimum font
size is 12pt. |
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The amount of space above and
below a line of text or a heading can make a big
difference to the visual impact of your newsletter.
Creating space in this way creates “white space” or
“breathing space”, making it more inviting to the
reader and easier to read. |
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Graphics and images are important
elements to incorporate into the design of your
publications, as they are another means of
communication. Simple graphics could be drawn by
someone with a little artistic flair and scanned
into your computer, or you could look for graphics
on the internet. For example
http://images.google.co.uk. |
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Colour can make
your publication a lot more attractive and
interesting to readers. You do not have to have
full-colour pictures to bring colour into your
publication. Consider a simple two or three colour
design to save on printing costs. |
 Production of the newsletter
A good newsletter will
cover news stories, What's On’s and features just like a
newspaper. Get your readers to comment and contribute to the
newsletter.
Use information from other people's newsletters
where relevant, for example an article from your charity's
national newsletter. You can always add a comment on what
the local impact of the story is.
Find out if your readers have access to email and whether
they'd like to get the newsletter on email instead. There
are advantages and disadvantages to print and e-format
newsletters:
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PRINT ADVANTAGES |
PRINT DISADVANTAGES |
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Readers can keep copies for easy future reference. |
Designing the newsletter can be time-consuming. |
| You
have an actual product, which can be one of the best
ways of marketing your organisation and lifting its
profile. It also demonstrates to your users (and
funders), in a concrete way, what you are achieving. |
You
have to allow extra time for printing (if being
printed externally) and distribution. |
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can reach people who don’t have access to e-mail and
the internet. |
Can
be expensive in terms of printing and paper. |
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Distribution may be expensive in terms of envelopes
and postage. |
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Possible wastage of money and paper - no doubt some
people put them straight in the bin! |
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E-MAIL ADVANTAGES |
E-MAIL DISADVANTAGES |
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Distribution is quick and inexpensive |
Expense involved in setting up and maintaining an
e-mail system (only a disadvantage if you don’t
already have e-mail) |
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Design of e-mail newsletter could be very simple |
Some of your readers may not have e-mail |
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Environmentally friendly - saves on paper |
If your e-mail has lots of photos, logos, or links
to websites in it, it may take a long time to
download. You could “pdf” the file but not everybody
can download these types of files. |
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Use of colour, to make more attractive, at no zero
cost. |
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You can include articles on
fundraising events, awards, recent success stories and case
studies. There’s nothing wrong with injecting a bit of
humour or anecdotes into the newsletter as your readers will
be more loyal if they feel they know you. The most important
thing to remember content wise is that it needs to be “new”.
There’s no point telling people about stuff they already
know.
If the newsletter is sent out by email remember the content
needs to be easy to read as people don’t read online, they
scan. Having got people to sign up online for a newsletter,
make sure there is an “unsubscribe” option. Another good
idea is to include a ”forward to a friend” link to encourage
readers to send the newsletter on to their colleagues
Finally
Get someone from outside
of your organisation to proof read the newsletter before you
print it. Spell check on your computer only checks you’ve
spelt the word correctly. It doesn’t check you’ve chosen the
right word e.g. “cereal” killer!
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