How to make your prospectus stand out: a guide for content, design and print

A well-designed prospectus is an essential marketing tool for any educational institution. Whether you’re a school, college, or university, your prospectus is often the first impression prospective students and their families will have of your institution. Here is our guide to making sure your prospectus captures attention and conveys the right message.

Focus on clear, engaging content

Your prospectus should be both informative and engaging. Use clear, concise language to highlight what sets your institution apart: things like academic excellence, specialist programmes and facilities, extracurricular opportunities for students, awards, local connections, or interesting features. If you can, it’s a great idea to include short testimonials from staff and students.

Short paragraphs or bullet points will make your content scannable, so readers can easily flick back to find what they were looking for. Avoid jargon and use a warm, welcoming tone, to resonate with students and parents.

Invest in your photography

Great photos will pay for themselves many times over. Not only will they help prospective students to easily imagine themselves immersed in the setting, they will also elevate the design of your prospectus.

Well laid-out pages that include white space and large, appealing images will grab attention and create a positive impression for readers. Having a consistent tone to your photos – in other words, a collection of pictures from one photoshoot – will make your prospectus feel professional and enjoyable to look through.

Include a clear call-to-action (CTA)

A great prospectus isn’t just informative, it encourages the reader to take the next step and engage further. This could be visiting your website, booking onto an open day, or contacting your admissions team.

Consider print quality and finishing options

After putting all that thought into the design of your prospectus, it’s important to ensure that the printed copies do justice to the content. The quality of the print plays a large part in the experience of reading your prospectus.

Choose a premium paper – something durable, as the prospectus is likely to be carried around at an open day and read more than once. Use a heavier weight paper for the cover, to make your prospectus (and by association, your institution) feel professional and dependable.

Your binding options will be informed by the number of pages in your prospectus: saddle-stitched (stapled) binding is ideal for shorter prospectuses, while perfect binding suits documents of 32 pages or more.

A variety of finishing options are available to help your prospectus to look good. Using a laminate on the cover is a good idea, to minimise scuffs. You could even include debossed details or metallic foil stamping, to give a truly premium feel to your printed prospectus.

We’re here to help

Your prospectus is a hardworking asset in your institution’s toolkit, delivering an impression of what attending your school, college or university would be like.

We’re here to help you elevate your next prospectus printing project, with expert advice, a wide range of materials and finishing options, and customer service you can rely on. We deliver throughout the UK, with competitive turnaround times and good value for money.

Contact us to discuss printing your prospectus.