Isn’t it’s amazing how much information you can actually cram onto a piece of paper. Heck, couldn’t lots of four-page brochures fit onto both sides of an 8-1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper, thus saving you nearly half the cost of printing. Multiply this by the cost-savings achieved on a host of brochures, and you could have taken a big step toward the “Stretch The Paltry Budget” game.

You’ll saved money, I admit. But, consider what you’ve lost? Perhaps much more than you’ve saved. Why? Think of the purpose of your product literature. Assuming you’re considering your collateral as more than something you’re forced to produce, you’ll realize you’re supposed to be imparting information. If something is difficult (insert nearly impossible) to read, you’re hurting its intended purpose and wasting money long term.

So what makes something difficult to read? Here are some of the major offenders:

Typography that’s too small. There are very few occasions in which type that’s less than 9-point is acceptable. 10, 11 or 12-point type is much more readable. Remember that the eyesight of those aged 40+ is not the same as that of a 25-year-old, and recall who will be reading (as opposed to designing) your literature. This goes for diagrams as well.

No leading in between lines. Leading is the space between lines of typography. If copy is set solid (without leading), it becomes difficult to read.

Column widths too wide. The rule of thumb is two and one-half alphabets is the widest you should go; that translates to 78 characters (and spaces). Go wider than that and the reader’s eyes come off the page; they then go back and start a bit before where they left—similar to what happens when you pause your VCR and then hit “play.”Condensed type. This is a cramming practice that’s only acceptable in small doses.

Too much reverse type. Yes, it often looks good—from a purely artistic standpoint. It’s fine with large type (such as a headline), but don’t reverse type out of a light—colored background. Our eyes are trained to read dark type on a light background. And, be careful when reversing serif type, because the serifs can fill in.

Too much sans serif type. There’s a reason most newspapers use Times Roman or a similar font, and it’s not because they’re old-fashioned. Serif type is just easier to read. That doesn’t mean not to use sans serif; it just means to be cautious.

Running type over pictures. This is one of the worst offenders. You may think it’s artistic, but reading it is more difficult than a person with poor eyesight taking a vision test.

Vertical type. Why do you want your copy to look like a math problem? C’mon.

Insufficient white space. This gives your piece an appearance of being crammed with information (which it is). It makes reading your literature as appealing as reading a college textbook.

Finally, understand that your collateral is a reflection of your brand. If one of your brand’s attributes is high quality, don’t negate this with low-quality printed matter.