When most people think about making flyers or signs in Microsoft Word they have visions of the poorly designed ones that they saw in primary school, but professional looking signs can be made in Word, and this piece will show you how.
Making flyers and signs is one of tasks that the average person rarely needs to do. Chances are that unless you work in a field like corporate communications or public relations, you won’t be making too many flyers. Certainly not enough to justify spending money on a program for that purpose. Of course, that leaves you with some limited options for what to make your flyers in.
The most obvious choice is Word. Many people instinctively shy away from using a basic word processor because they remember the cheesy flyers of the early 90s. You know the ones with the snowman borders and mismatched fonts. You can, however, make an appealing flyer with just Word. Suspend your disbelief for a moment and give it a try.
Step One: Do your prep work. When you have only basic tools proper planning is essential. Choose your images, fonts, and whatever elements that you are going to use. Just remember that layering won’t happen in Word so aim for a zen simplicity in your style.
Step 2: Input and format your text. This includes style, location, font, and size. Anything that has to do with layout, but not with the images can be put here.
Step 3: Insert your images and resize them to fit and place them. This is also the time to add borders or graphic lines that you may be including in this sign.
Step 4: Review your flyer and print out a proof.
Tips
- Avoid the built in clip art at all costs. There is nothing that you can do with this that will make it look professional. Get images elsewhere, and don’t skimp on the resolution.
- Use borders sparingly. In Word you have a handful of options that can become overused quickly. Consider line breaks instead.
- Remember that you can’t layer in Word so don’t plan on being able to.
Resources
Here are some other articles that may help you when making a flyer or sign in Word:
How To Download Word Templates
How To View Word Documents For Better Functionality
Adding A Water Mark to Your Word 2007 Documents
