Flyer (pamphlet)
A flyer (also spelled flier1[›] or called a circular, handbill or leaflet) is a single-page leaflet advertising a nightclub, event, service, or other activity. Flyers are typically used by individuals or businesses to promote their products or services. They are a form of mass marketing or small scale, community communication. The verb "flyering" or "fliering" has evolved as a colloquial expression meaning "to put up flyers".
Flyers, along with postcards, pamphlets and small posters, are forms of communication for people who want to engage the public but do not have the money or desire to advertise over the internet, in telephone directories, or classified or display advertising in newspapers or other periodicals. As marketing became more direct in the late 1980s and 1990s, flyers evolved[citation needed] and currently there are many formats to be found. Some examples are:
- A4 (roughly letterhead size)
- A5 (roughly half letterhead size)
- DL (compslip size)
- A6 (postcard size)
- CC (credit card size)
Flyers are inexpensive to produce and are regarded as a very effective form of direct marketing by media experts. Their widespread use intensified with the spread of desktop publishing systems. In recent years, the production of flyers through traditional printing services has been supplanted by Internet services; customers may send designs and receive final products by mail.
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[edit] Use
Flyers are handed out on the street (known as 'flyering'), posted on bulletin boards, or given away at events. Bulletin boards are found on college campuses, in cafes, community meeting houses, laundromats and small markets.
Cheap to produce, flyers are usually produced in 300gsm glossy card (whereas a leaflet is produced on a 130gsm/170gsm weight paper) and are a very effective form of direct marketing.
Their widespread use intensified with the spread of desktop publishing systems. In recent years, the production of flyers through traditional printing services has been supplanted by Internet services; customers may send designs and receive final products by mail. Flyers range in tone from humorous to irreverent or absurd.
Recently, flyposting (pasting flyers to walls) has been banned in many places, causing concern among media activists and ordinary citizens. However, citizens concerned with the appearance of urban neighborhoods support the ban.
San Francisco has a long history of flyering. The first flyer company was The Thumbtack Bugle which has been around for over twenty five years. Haight Street is very popular for postering on telephone poles.
Flyers have become an integral aspect to the Edinburgh Fringe, where flyers are handed to people on the Royal Mile.
Brighton, in England, has recently outlawed 'flyering' - making it necessary to acquire a license from the local council if a person or organisation wishes to distribute flyers.
In Seattle, Washington Leaflets and flyers are a common sight there has been some action to outlaw them but most of it lacked support. Flyers are most common on Capitol Hill but are still abundant elsewhere in the city.
During the War of American Independence Americans were outraged with the Stamp Act and therefore made anti-stamp act congresses. In these congresses they had to win support and so issued handbills, leaflets, pamphlets, badges, buttons and other things to win support against the Stamp Act.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Explanatory notes
- ^ 1: Although not in common usage, the AP Stylebook recommends "flier" as the appropriate term for a handbill. Some people[who?] believe that flyer is more common in British English or the east coast of Canada, while flier is more common in American English[1]
- ^ 2: AP Stylebook states "FLYER" is a train: as in "American Flyer" and the "Heartland Flyer" and the "Hill Country Flyer".
- Citations
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- Bibliography
- Fly: The Art of the Club Flyer (Watson-Guptill Publications, 1997), by Nicola Ackland-Snow (Author), Nathan Brett (Author), Steven Williams (Author), ISBN 0823018547, ISBN 978-0823018543
- Searching for the Perfect Beat: Flyer Designs of the American Rave Scene (Watson-Guptill, 2000), by The Earth Program (Author), Neil Strauss (Introduction), ISBN 0823047512, ISBN 978-0823047512
- Barcelona Club Flyers (Actar Publishing, 1999), by Tite Barbuzza (Contributor), Joan Manel Jubany (Contributor), Albert Masferrer (Contributor), Yolanda Muelas (Contributor), ISBN 8489698252, ISBN 978-8489698253
- Büru Destruct (Consortium Book Sales & Dist, 1999), By Büru Destruct, ISBN 3-931126-24-2
- Clubspotting (Happy Books, 2000), by Paolo Davoli & Gabriele Fantuzzi, ISBN 88-86416-24-5
- Design After Dark: The Story of Dancefloor Style (Thames and Hudson, London, 1991), by Cynthia Rose, ISBN 0-500-27648-X
- Design Agent 007: License to Design DGV, (Die gestaften verlag, Berlin 2002), ISBN 3-931126-14-5
- Event Flyer Graphics (Förlag: Nippan/Biblios, 2001), ISBN 3-910052-754
- Flyer Soziotope: Topography of a Media Phenomenon (Archiv der Jugendkulturen (G)/Actar (ES), 2005), German-English and English-German, ISBN 3-86546-032-1, ISBN 84-96540-03-0
- Flyermania: European Flyers (Art Books Intl Ltd, August 1998), by Robert Klanten (Author), Andreas Peyerl (Author), Markus Hollmann-Loges (Author), ISBN 3931126153
- Highflyers: clubravepartyart (Booth Clibborn Editions, London, UK, 1995), by 3 Beat Music, ISBN 1-873968-787
- Nocturnal : Global Highflyers (Booth-Clibborn, hardcover/paperback, 2000), by Phil Beddard, ISBN 1861541694
- Searching for the Perfect Beat: Flyer Designs of the American Rave Scene (Watson-Guptill Pubns, US, 2000), by Joel T. Jordan (Author), Summer Forest Hoeckel (Author), Jason A.Forest Jordan (Author) & Neil Strauss (Intro), ISBN 0823047512
[edit] External links
Media related to Hand bills at Wikimedia Commons
