Fresh, modern examples of diverse gate fold brochure layouts

Why designers love modern gate fold brochure layouts

Gate fold brochures are the drama queens of print. Two panels meet in the middle, hiding a full-width interior spread. That simple structure gives you three storytelling phases: tease, reveal, and deep dive.

When you look at the best examples of gate fold brochure layouts in 2024–2025, a pattern shows up: brands are treating them less like “brochures” and more like small experiences. The gates act like curtains; the center spread is the stage.

Instead of listing features in columns, designers are building narratives:

• Outside gates: intrigue, bold visuals, short hooks.
• Inside center: one strong hero message, one strong hero image, everything else supports that.

Let’s walk through real examples of diverse examples of gate fold brochure layouts and how you can steal the smart bits for your own projects.

Luxury travel and hospitality: cinematic reveal layouts

One standout example of a modern gate fold layout shows up in luxury travel marketing. Think high-end safari lodges, Mediterranean cruises, or boutique mountain resorts.

The outer gates often show two contrasting but related scenes: a close-up of a cocktail on one side, an evening skyline on the other. When closed, they meet in the middle with a subtle logomark and maybe a short line like “Open your next chapter.”

Open the gates, and you get a full-bleed panorama across the center spread: a sweeping ocean view, a rooftop infinity pool, or a national park vista. The copy is minimal—one headline, one subhead, and then small, carefully placed blocks of text.

This is one of the best examples of using a gate fold to control emotional pacing:

• Anticipation on the outside.
• Full emotional payoff inside.

Travel brands are also layering in QR codes on the inner spread that link to interactive maps or booking pages. The CDC notes that travelers increasingly look for health and safety information when planning trips, so some hospitality brochures now pair the romantic imagery with a discreet link to updated safety guidelines on sites like the CDC’s travel health page.

Tech product launches: spec-heavy, but still beautiful

Another strong category of examples of diverse examples of gate fold brochure layouts comes from tech hardware launches—phones, tablets, wearables, and smart home devices.

The outer gates usually stay very minimal: dark background, product silhouette, maybe a glowing edge. Copy might be as short as three words: “Sharper. Faster. Smarter.”

Open the gates, and the interior spread becomes a technical playground:

• Center: a large product render with exploded parts or callouts.
• Left inner: key specs, short and scannable.
• Right inner: use cases, lifestyle imagery, or comparison charts.

Designers use the gate fold to separate emotion vs. information. The outside is all mood and intrigue; the inside is where the data lives. This split works well in B2B tech brochures too, where one side of the gate can speak to decision-makers (ROI, reliability) and the other side to end users (ease of use, day-to-day benefits).

If you’re building your own layout, this is one of the best examples of how to structure complex content without overwhelming people.

Museums, galleries, and cultural events: narrative storytelling

Cultural institutions are quietly producing some of the most interesting examples of diverse examples of gate fold brochure layouts right now.

Picture a museum exhibition brochure:

• The outer gates each carry a fragment of an artwork—maybe a cropped painting on the left and a detail of a sculpture on the right.
• When closed, the visitor only sees partial information: exhibition title, dates, and a short phrase like “Reframing the American West.”

Open the gates and the center spread might show:

• A timeline of the artist’s life running along the bottom.
• A large curatorial statement in the middle.
• Small, captioned thumbnails of key works along the top.

This layout style matches how people actually consume cultural content—short, interpretive chunks. Many institutions now pair printed gate folds with digital resources like educator guides or accessibility information. For example, universities and museums often publish inclusive design and accessibility guidance, similar in spirit to the inclusive communication principles you’ll find in resources from places like Harvard University.

Gate folds are especially effective for exhibition maps: the outer gates can show a simplified floor plan, while the inner spread holds a larger, detailed version with highlighted routes (kid-friendly, wheelchair accessible, etc.).

Higher education: recruitment with layered messaging

Universities and colleges are also rich sources of real examples of gate fold brochure layouts, especially for admissions and fundraising.

Recruitment brochures often use the gates to separate academic story and student life story:

• Left gate: majors, research highlights, faculty achievements.
• Right gate: clubs, athletics, housing, campus traditions.

Open the gates, and the center spread becomes a big campus moment—a full-bleed photo of the quad, a lab, or a graduation ceremony, overlaid with a short, emotional headline.

This structure lets admissions teams speak to both students and parents in a single piece. Parents can quickly scan accreditation, outcomes, and support services, while students get student voices, imagery, and campus culture.

Many schools now align print materials with their online accessibility and readability standards. Organizations like the National Institutes of Health and MedlinePlus via NIH encourage plain language and clear hierarchy, which you can see echoed in modern higher-ed brochure design: bigger type, shorter paragraphs, cleaner grids.

Healthcare and wellness: calm, clear, and reassuring

Healthcare might not sound glamorous, but it delivers some very thoughtful examples of diverse examples of gate fold brochure layouts—especially for patient education and wellness programs.

Imagine a gate fold brochure for a hospital’s heart health program:

• Outer gates: soft color palette, calm photography, and a simple message like “Understand your heart health.”
• Inside spread: a clear, step-by-step visual of what to expect during screening, plus lifestyle tips.

The gates allow you to separate emotional reassurance from practical detail. One gate can address fears and questions in plain language, while the other provides appointment prep, contacts, and insurance notes.

Designers in this space often reference guidance from respected health sources like Mayo Clinic or NIH for terminology and tone, then translate that into digestible, visually organized content. Typography is larger, contrast is higher, and icons help non-native English speakers or patients with low health literacy.

For wellness brands—yoga studios, nutrition programs, mental health services—the best examples of gate fold brochure layouts lean into ritual and process. The outer gates introduce the philosophy; the inner spread maps out the journey: week-by-week plans, class types, or program phases.

Retail and fashion: editorial-style gate folds

Fashion lookbooks and retail catalogs are a goldmine of examples of diverse examples of gate fold brochure layouts because they borrow tricks from magazine editorial design.

A common structure:

• Outer gates: two contrasting looks from the same collection—day vs. night, street vs. formal, minimal vs. maximal.
• Interior spread: a styled “story” that shows how pieces mix and match, with small callouts for item numbers and pricing.

This approach works beautifully for:

• Capsule wardrobes
• Seasonal drops
• Limited collaborations

Designers often use asymmetric grids on the inside: one large hero shot on the left, a cluster of smaller detail photos on the right. The fold line becomes a visual hinge, guiding the eye from one look to the next.

Retail brands that care about sustainability sometimes use one gate to talk about materials, sourcing, or certifications, with a link to more detailed information on their site or an external standard-setting body. It mirrors the way health and environmental organizations present evidence-based information, even if the tone is more stylish.

Nonprofits and advocacy: impact-first storytelling

Nonprofits are producing some of the most emotionally powerful examples of diverse examples of gate fold brochure layouts.

Picture an advocacy group working on clean water access:

• Closed gates: a stark, minimal image split down the middle—empty glass on one side, murky water on the other—with a short, haunting line of copy.
• Opened gates: a hopeful, full-color photo of a community using a new well, surrounded by short impact stats and a clear call to donate or volunteer.

The gates set up the problem, the center spread shows the solution. This before/after structure is incredibly effective in fundraising.

Many nonprofits also use one gate for storytelling (a single, personal narrative) and the other gate for data (charts, outcomes, timelines). The center spread then becomes the “here’s how you can help” section.

Organizations that rely on public trust often align their messaging with data from reputable sources like the World Health Organization or U.S. government agencies, even if those sources aren’t directly printed in the brochure. The design goal is the same: clear, honest, well-organized information.

Layout tricks that keep gate folds from feeling dated

When designers talk about the best examples of gate fold brochure layouts today, they’re usually talking about how the content is organized, not just the format.

A few layout moves that consistently work:

Use the fold as a storytelling device
Treat the center join where the gates meet as a narrative moment. Maybe a headline is split between the two gates, only becoming fully readable when the brochure is closed. Or a single image is divided, building curiosity about the full picture inside.

Keep the center spread simple and bold
The temptation is to cram the inside with everything. The strongest real examples keep one clear focal point—an image, a chart, or a single quote—and let white space do the heavy lifting.

Plan for scanning, not reading
People skim. Use short headings, generous line spacing, and logical groupings. Health communication research (for instance, plain language recommendations from MedlinePlus) consistently shows that shorter chunks of text with clear headings improve understanding. That insight applies perfectly to brochure layout.

Design for hybrid journeys
Most of the best examples of gate fold brochure layouts now assume the brochure is a starting point, not the whole story. QR codes, short URLs, and social handles live in the quieter corners of the layout, nudging readers to video demos, interactive maps, or long-form content.

FAQ: examples, formats, and practical questions

Q: What are some real examples of industries that use gate fold brochure layouts effectively?
A: Strong examples include luxury travel brands, universities, museums, tech companies launching new hardware, nonprofits running fundraising campaigns, and healthcare providers explaining programs or procedures. Each uses the gates to separate emotional storytelling from detailed information.

Q: Can you give an example of when a gate fold works better than a standard tri-fold?
A: When you want a big reveal or a single, uninterrupted center image, a gate fold wins. Product launches, exhibition announcements, and high-end real estate listings are classic cases where that wide interior canvas outperforms a tri-fold’s narrow panels.

Q: Are there budget-friendly ways to experiment with gate fold brochure layouts?
A: Yes. Designers often prototype with standard letter-size sheets, scoring and folding by hand to test panel widths and image crops. Once the layout feels right, you can adjust dimensions to match your printer’s most economical sizes and paper stocks.

Q: How many panels do examples of gate fold brochure layouts usually have?
A: The most common example of a gate fold brochure is a three-panel layout: two “gates” that fold inward and one full-width interior panel. Some brands expand this into multi-panel gate folds for catalogs or event guides, but the classic three-panel structure is still the most practical.

Q: Are gate fold brochure layouts still relevant in 2025 with so much digital marketing?
A: Yes, especially for moments that benefit from a tactile, ceremonial feel—like handing someone a high-end brochure at a gallery opening, a campus visit, a medical consultation, or a luxury showroom. The best examples of gate fold brochure layouts now work hand-in-hand with digital, using print to create memory and digital to provide depth.

If you treat the fold itself as part of the story—not just a production quirk—you’ll start seeing possibilities everywhere. That’s when your own work joins the growing list of modern, memorable examples of diverse examples of gate fold brochure layouts.