The Ultimate Flyer Size: Complete Guide for Design and Print
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If you are a marketeer, you will know that flyers are one of the best marketing materials. A flyer works for any kind of business promotion. Especially if you are a small business trying to get a foothold in the market, then flyers are the best way to pull potential customers.
What is a Flyer?
A flyer is technically a print advertisement often exhibited or distributed in public. They are used to promote an event, product, or service.
Flyers come by in two formats,
- Portrait
- Landscape
Flyers are easy to share and are the best example of outdoor advertising. You can stuff a flyer into shopping bags, between magazines or newspapers, or hand them out directly to people.
Despite this, many still consider flyers old school since they are considered nothing more than a few papers stapled together around their neighborhood. Because according to them, flyers are traditional advertising techniques that are still popular with small businesses, local grocery stores, school administrations bulletin board, church bulletin, and other organizations.

A flyer can help you make a powerful first impression, connect with new prospects, and have prospective customers know about your brand and service. And apart from advertising, flyers also act as a potential networking tool and are an excellent tool for sharing your contact information with prospective clients.
Also, it is a low-cost marketing and communication tool that only requires the most basic printing techniques.
Why Do You Need Flyers?
In this digital era, businesses are increasingly turning to high-tech marketing techniques. And why wouldn’t they? Since most of their audiences are readily available online irrespective of their location. As a result, many people wonder how useful flyers are.
But flyers are prompt. They help spread information the fastest. In other words, if you have a piece of information you’d like to share instantly with your audience, a flyer is the immediate solution.
Use a flyer when you need to:
- Announce a sale
- Announce your business hours
- Introduce your product to your customers with a fact sheet
- Promote yourself and your brand
- Announce upcoming event
Most businesses use flyers as a part of their marketing strategy because they are cost-effective. Seems like there is not too much to do, right? But there is a lot that goes into making a flyer work and advertising its purpose.
Types of Flyer Sizes
Flyers come in different sizes. But, how you use them depends largely on your content and their distribution.
For example, if you plan to tape your flyers to a wall or pole, you should opt for a large-sized flyer in A4 or letter. And if you are planning to hand out your flyers, then it is best to opt for the A5 size.
Though there are many flyer sizes, these three are the most common flyer sizes used in the marketing field,
Large Sized flyer
A large size flyer is nothing but an A3-sized flyer. And as the name implies, the flyer is best used for large-sized advertisements. More specifically, a large-sized flyer is the same size as small format newspapers. These flyers come in the size of 11.7 x 16.5 inches.
These large flyers or large posters style are used in creating posters for movie or music promotions.
Some of the examples of large-sized flyers are,
Half sheet flyers
Half sheet flyers are the most used flyers by small businesses. They come in the size of 5.5 x 8.5 inches. Since a half sheet flyer is neither too large nor too small and fits just right with all the information.
Some of the examples of half-sheet flyers are,


Rack card Sized Flyers
Rack cards are simple promotional pieces that are printed in full color on one or both sides of heavy card stock. They are common in the hospitality and retail industry. You’ll find many examples of a rack card flyer when you go to restaurants, small business, and coffee shops. And given their size – 4 x 9 inches, these flyers are cost-effective and can help cause maximum impact for your brand identity.
Here are some of the examples for rack card flyers,
Standard Sized flyers
A standard-sized flyer is the most used format for printed flyers. Typical standard flyers are the size of a computer paper. In some places, they are also known as letter-size flyers. A standard flyer comes in size – 8.5 x 11 inches.
Here are some examples of a standard flyer,
Square Flyer
Not a common type of flyer, a square flyer is mostly used as a brochure handed over to a select few target audience and designed to help readers absorb important information. The flyer comes in size – 8.26 x 8.26 inches.
Now don’t get muddled – a brochure is a type of flyer. The only difference is that flyers are distributed to the entire world, while brochures are intended to target a specific audience to state important details.
Here are some square flyer examples,
A small Introduction to Brochures
A brochure is designed when you cannot fit all the information in a flyer. That is the main difference between a flyer and a brochure. Also, not everyone requires a brochure. Thus, you can choose your audience according to your marketing goals and share your brochures.
Another significant differentiation between a brochure and a flyer is that the former has folds while the latter doesn’t. Of course, you can fold a flyer, but it is part of the design for a brochure and segregates the information as per the folds.
Here are the different types of folds used in creating brochures,
- Half-fold
- Accordion fold
- Gate fold
- Tri fold
- Z-fold
- Double gate fold
- Parallel fold and more
The Most Popular Flyer Size Used for Print Marketing
After looking at the flyers, let’s find out the standard sizes for all these flyers. As we know, there are many flyers in the market. And businesses choose the best flyer size for them as per their requirements and the industry standard.
Check out these different types of flyer sizes that are prevalent in the marketing industry.

How to Choose the Right Flyer Size for your Business?
For any business, marketing plays a significant role. And in marketing, there are many divisions. Of which, flyers are the most cost-effective and easy to create.

Professionally-designed Flyers
But, there are different sizes of flyers, so how do you choose the right flyer size for your business? There is no right flyer size. Any type of flyer will match your business if it fits the context and gets the right response from both your new and existing customers.

What Kind of Paper Material is Best to Print Flyers?
Though you can use any type of paper to print flyers, Silk Paper is the most commonly used paper finish for flyers. The finish has the right combination and is a great midway ground between full-on glossy and matt finish print flyers.
Though there are different types of flyer printing papers, the type of material for your flyer depends on the content and the audience. You cannot probably print a high-quality flyer for bulk-size flyer distribution. If you do so, then you’ll be losing much capital, which is not a good marketing plan.
Some of the commonly used flyer printing papers are,
- Bond Paper
- Pulp Paper
- Brown Kraft Paper
- Gloss Paper
Once you have decided on the flyer’s paper material, you can market your business better with the right paper size and flyer design.
Flyers Making Design Tips
Though making a flyer design is not hard, if you want to attract an audience, you need to take into account a few things.
Create a focal point
What is the first thing that you want your audience to know?
Be it an image or text, make sure to have a focal point that will attract your audience’s attention right away; this is not a problem in a large format flyer, but if you have a small flyer size, then it is necessary that you create a focal point of attraction.
Use Colors effectively
Vibrant colors are a great way to gain your audience’s attention. A good color combination in images and texts can work wonders.
For example, KFC uses its brand colors – red and white in all its promotions; this helps attract prospective customers and helps share the information faster.
Speak directly to your target market
Do not beat around the bush before creating your flyer research your target audience; this will help you decide on the type of content and imagery you want to use to attract their attention. Then, get your graphic designer to create a flyer design that speaks directly to your consumers about what you offer.
Concentrate on the positive aspects
Grabbing your customers’ attention is not easy. To deliver the whole message, you need to keep them interested. Keep them interested by rewarding their attention. Find ways to describe what makes you a better choice than your competitors by answering your prospects’ main question, “What’s in it for me?”
A flyer cannot tell your audience why your product is excellent? So consider that and point out your brand’s positive traits to them.

Keep the content to a minimum
When it comes to flyers – less is more. You only have a few seconds to capture your audience’s attention and a few more to get them hooked to your product. Thus, you need to have concise, straight-to-the-point content about your product and its benefits.
Do not clutter your flyer with too many images or texts. Instead, use compelling images relevant to your business with complementary text. And if there is too much text, try showcasing charts with all the data.
Try the following:
- Snappy headline or title
- Use action words
- Use bullet points

Provide special discounts or promotions
People love to get discounts or promotions. A recent survey found that almost 90% of consumers said that deals and promotions influence them during their purchases.
So if you are selling a product and want to attract more customers, it is best to start by giving a discount or promotion.
Offer discounts or coupon savings that people will find hard to resist or get anywhere else.

Include Call to action
Once you introduce and convey your message to your readers, tell them precisely what to do next. Prompt them to take immediate action. Get them excited.
Including a call to action is a must, irrespective of your flyer size. Without a call to action, the whole point of your flyer will get lost.
Also, be clear about how you want them to interact with you, and give your contact number, email, or location where your audience can find you if they need additional information about your brand.
Printing Quality
The print quality is a vital element in creating an attention-grabbing flyer. Good quality printing is as important as every other piece of information on your flyer. A glossy finish flyer and quality paper can make a great first impression and reflects the same quality of your products or services. Check out the guide for creating a successful flyer design.
Consider how folds will affect your design
A folded finish such as a half-fold, tri-fold, or spiral-fold can create an extraordinary impact. Adding folds to your flyer will make it stand out against the hundreds of other flyers, but it could also guide your customers to your preferred information flow. Remember to plan how you’re printing your flyer before starting with the design. Check out how birthday flyer ideas can inspire you!
Be sure to proofread and stay true to your brand
Don’t forget to proofread and also have someone else proofread your work. Make sure all the details are correct. A misspelled word or inaccurate contact number could make your flyer worthless. You want to stand out, but not for the wrong reasons, so double-check everything before printing. Also, make sure that all the elements align perfectly with your brand identity.

Final Thoughts
When you’re designing a flyer or any printed item, always think about the end product’s actual size and shape through every stage of the design process. Because a graphic design that works for a rack card flyer will not fit and work for a standard-sized flyer, nor will the information be clearly conveyed to the audience.

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Thus, before starting your design process, determine all the necessary factors. If you are creating your flyer design, make sure to note your concerns and requirements correctly. And if you are not sure about how you should decide on the design and process for flyers, All Time Design is here to assist you. As one of the leading professional services, we are adept at creating designs per their requirements.
So, book a demo or Sign up today to know the nuances of design and how a good design can help promote your product best. Explore the proper guide to create a fun flyer.
