Working as a graphic designer I tend to notice when someone who isn’t as experienced puts a brochure or handout together. For example, getting a handout and everything is the same font size. I know that a designer isn’t always available to work on these types of projects, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to give a brief tip to add visual interest to your design.

When designing anything with text, you want to make sure that you identify a system of visual hierarchy for the viewer. This helps you visually organize the content much faster. This comes in handy when designing brochures, flyers, magazine layouts, web pages, or even this blog. By setting up the visual hierarchy in your design you are choosing the order of information that will be consumed. That can be considered a lot of responsibility depending on the type of designs you are working on.

via WIRED Magazine, March 2009 issue.

In this spread from WIRED we see many levels of visual hierarchy displayed:

• Headline

• Body copy

• Pull-quotes/facts

• Photo descriptions

These elements are being differentiated by number of things. Font size, font selection, and color all play a factor in creating visual hierarchy. Establishing these factors can turn a boring brochure into something more visually pleasing.

In the end, you are helping bring an interest to whatever type of communication you are putting together. Altering your levels of typography is a very quick way to create something more visually engaging for everyone. This is just a small input in the world of editorial design.

This blog explains this concept more in depth: 99designs.com