Printed booklets and leaflets form an integral part of your marketing collateral when you are promoting your business or giving out information about an event or service. It is important to pay attention to every aspect of the booklet production process in order to get the best results. One aspect to consider is how the booklet, leaflet or brochure is folded. Find out more about booklet folding here:
- Different Folding Sizes
There are some distinct folded sizes for leaflets and booklets, and these range from A3 folded by half to make A4, going through to A4 folded by half to make A5, and A5 folded in half to make A6. The type of paper you use will be affected by how big you want your end product to be.
- Types of Fold
One of the most common fold types for brochures for exhibition stands and flyers is the half fold. This is simply a sheet of paper or card folded in half across the centre of the paper. When it comes to brochure printing this is a popular way of folding.
Tri fold is another folding method. The tri fold is where you fold a paper down into thirds. There are two different ways of making a tri fold. It depends on your artwork and the purpose of the printing as to which one you choose. You should consult with the printing company for a template as to how you should set out artwork when you are working with a tri fold.
- Artwork Borders
There are also considerations you need to take into account for printing which include the bleed area for the design, which is where the coloured background or the images must reach in order to be effectively trimmed to size once printed. The trim markings represent the area size of the document when it is laid flat. There are also likely to be markings on the paper to act as guidelines for where the most important information must be positioned.
- Gutter
The gutter is the area of the design on either side of the line of fold. It is important to keep information away from the gutter or it will be lost. There is also the issue of the fold cracking the colours, which will need to be dealt with in order not to ruin the text or the overall layout. Most designers will say to avoid having text run over the fold in order not to spoil or lose any of the text.
