Tuesday 28 October 2014

Leaflet part 4: how to write a biodiversity leaflet so that people will ACT

Back to Part 1  (Intro).
Back to Part 2 : - A leaflet that people will pick up
Back to Part 3: - A lealflet that people will READ                                


Part 4: A leaflet that people will act on.


I am trying to write a leaflet on biodiversity that people will a) pick up  b) read  and c) act on.

Actually I am still struggling with part 3 - "A leaflet" that people will read... my audience last week having stated that the writing was too small

I bit the bullet, and made the print bigger - hence extra columns - so now it is a triptych with an insert. The insert can be a single column, or it can be two columns. The insert is the quotes by Christians.  The people I showed it to (at the meal at the One Climate One World Event at Settle)  did not seem at all phased - "Oh it is useful to have a separate sheet for people to keep" they said.

That's good - I had envisaged myself either having to sellotape all the inserts to the last side of the triptych.. or else going to a commercial printer and getting it printed on odd sized paper and folded mechanically.


...that people will act on.


"But what do you want me to do?" asked one man, turning straight to the end of the back side, and looking at the box which is titled "Join Green Christian"

That was revealing. 

Shows the importance of watching what people do (Just like you are supposed to do when building websites)

ANd it showed that this man went straight to the end.

Well yes, it would be nice if people joined Green Christian. But what I would really like people to do is to act in some way, to protect nature, to save habitats and species.

Having thought of this.. I moved the "Fill in two lines - Write here actions you plan to do to help wildlife/plants" with its trigger -diagram pen to the very end... So that people who read the end first would read that.



and Under "Ten Top Practical Steps  I wrote Circle or tick any you have done.

... You can see the leaflet (as is 27 Oct here) 

What next?

When showing people the leaflet it is much more productive to have several different versions and watch which one they choose.. rather than show them just one version and then they politely say "It is very nice" (whatever they really think) and don't have ideas for improvement

I had boiled it down to two front versions: with the bottom thirds differing. One finished of saying in LARGE print

 "Before it's too late"

The other had three points in not very striking writing:
  • How can we save wildlife for future generations?
  • What is Biodiversity
  • Why does it matter to Christians
I asked people and it was a 50:50 split, with people feeling strongly one or the other. Some people didn't like to be shouted at "Before it's too late"
The other half thought this headline was necessary to get people to notice at all.





                


I'd have to ask a bigger sample of people.

Meanwhile I went to the church hall where I often do displays on the notice board, and held each version up near the notice board.

hmmm

I didn't really like either.

I wanted something that my Scottish Dancing friends or the Line Dancing People or the Mother and Toddler group would like to see.. something that would make them happy, make me happy. So a third version was designed.




                


And that's as far as I have got.
But I have just discovered a website called "Branding biodiversity"    www.futerra.co.uk/downloads/Branding_Biodiversity.pdf
   

Tuesday 28th:
Just been into coffee morning.
 One man liked the new leaflet above on the right. (How can we help? and What is biodiversity?)
Two ladies still preferred the "before it's too late leaflet on the left.
Then a third preferred the one on the left and said it was because the "Before it's too lat" was in big writing.
So I've just made another version - on the right.


Come back next week!

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