(Reprinted from Anarchism in Action)

Well-produced leaflets are invaluable, as they are the first contact many will have with your campaign. To grab attention above the daily bombardment of useless info, originality and creativity are needed. Decide at the start what the main goal of the leaflet is (eg. event publicity, background info, or to raise awareness or funds) and build your design around that.

Tips for producing a good leaflet:
* Computers produce bold, legible designs, but these will look less friendly than (well) hand- produced ones. Avoid messy, badly-drawn designs.

* Unless you’re advertising an event, avoid putting details on the leaflet which will soon make it out-of-date. Ensure all vital info is included, especially a contact address and phone number.

* Keep the design simple, as it is likely to be photocopied, and thus distorted, many times.

* Always bear in mind the audience, and write to change other peoples’ opinions, not to confirm your own.

* Resist the temptation to use jargon, exercise your personal hobby horse, or write leaflets while influenced by mind-altering substances…

* Unless the design is untraceable to your campaign, don’t incite anything illegal.

* Check the draft leaflet with a few others before you finally copy it. Also, test them on people not connected with the campaign.

* File paper originals and disk copies, so you can easily produce more and update them if required.

Next, find cheap printing or photocopying; using the photocopier at work is free. However, printing works out cheaper than copying for large volumes, and enhances quality, particularly for photographs. Be realistic about how many copies you need. Then, distribute them. Put in friendly shops, cafes, info centres; send originals for copying to action groups; hand out in town centres, gigs, fairs etc; bribe newspaper-deliverers to pop them through letterboxes.