The first and most effective way of avoiding pitfalls is not to produce your own literature at all, but to use someone else s. The appendix to this document contains a list of organisations that produce or have produced information aimed at young people that can be used or adapted as necessary. Nationally produced literature is likely to be of better quality and better evaluated and researched than that produced locally. However sometimes a local authority, health authority or other body will want a specific piece of work produced, but with limited resources. It is worth thinking creatively about what is needed and how best to meet that need.
Young people have sophisticated responses to media images.
They have grown up surrounded by high quality and high tech materials. If you cannot match these then you need to think laterally about other ways of conveying the information. Well, if you must You may need to produce information on a specific service or a new initiative. In this case it is essential to take advice from health promotion specialists in order to avoid the most common problems. The most important thing here is to know what you want to produce, why you want to produce it and who it is aimed at.