In this Article
Creating a booklet for your business or event may seem daunting. But with the right preparation and attention to detail, you can streamline the process. This guide will help you prepare your artwork for professional booklet printing.
Choosing the Booklet Size
Choosing the Right Dimensions
Before you begin designing your booklet, consider the dimensions of your final printed product. This will largely depend on the purpose of your booklet. Standard booklet sizes include A4, A5, A6 and DL, but custom sizes are also available.
| Book Size | Booklet finished size | Artwork size (portrait) | Artwork size (landscape) |
| A4 | 210 mm × 297 mm | 216 mm × 303 mm | 303 mm × 216 mm |
| A5 | 148 mm × 210 mm | 154 mm × 216 mm | 216 mm × 154 mm |
| A6 | 105 mm × 148 mm | 111 mm × 154 mm | — |
| 1/3rd A4 | 99 mm × 210 mm | 105 mm × 216 mm | — |
| Square 210 | 210 mm × 210 mm | 216 mm × 216 mm | — |
| Square 148 | 148 mm × 148 mm | 154 mm × 154 mm | — |
Colour Formats
RGB vs CMYK
Colours can appear differently on a screen compared to when they are printed. Screens use an RGB (Red, Green, Blue) colour format, while printers use CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black). Therefore, it’s essential to set your design software to CMYK mode before beginning your design to ensure colour accuracy.
Setting up Your Artwork
Design as Single Pages
Design each page of your booklet as a separate page, not as spreads. This helps ensure accuracy during the printing and binding process. Please don’t supply “printer’s pairs” or spreads.
Booklet Cover
A booklet cover consists of four pages - the front cover, the inside front cover, the back cover, and the inside back cover.
Bleed and Safety Margins
Remember to account for bleed and safety margins in your design. The bleed is the area that will be trimmed off after printing, but it's essential to extend your design into this area to avoid white borders.
To ensure your design extends to the edge of the page after trimming, it’s vital to add a bleed to each side of your pages. A 3mm bleed is the standard, so extend your design by 3mm beyond the final size on each side. Do not include any important content within this area.
Safety margins ensure your content isn't too close to the edge, where it risks being cut off during binding.
High Resolution Images
For the best results, use high-resolution images in your design. Images should be at least 300 dpi (dots per inch) to ensure clear and crisp printing.
Avoiding Objects That Cross Pages
Try to avoid designs where an image or text box crosses over from one page to another. This is due to the possible shifting during the binding process, which could disrupt the continuity of your design.
Allowing for Creep
In the centre pages of a folded booklet, there can be a slight 'creep' or movement towards the outer edge. It is important to allow for this when designing your booklet and placing your content.
Preparing for Print
File Format
Make sure your file includes all fonts and images and that these are embedded or outlined. You can provide files in PDF, ai or photoshop format.
Proofreading and Final Check
Before sending your artwork to print, conduct a thorough proofread to check for spelling and grammar errors. You should also double-check all elements of your design, such as alignment, layout, and colour.
Booklet Binding Options
There are several binding options available for booklets: saddle stitched also known as stapled books, perfect bound, loop bound, or wiro bound. The available binding options depend on the number of pages and paper weight selected for your order.
When the combined paper thickness is too much to effectively staple or stitch together, the booklet will need to be held together by adhesive, otherwise known as 'perfect binding'. Otherwise, for a professional feel if there are too few pages for perfect binding to work - Stapled booklets , our dynamic ordering system will automatically switch to the required binding option.
Spine (for Perfect Binding)
If you choose perfect binding, you have the option to upload the spine as a separate print file. If you do not upload a print file for your spine, it will be left blank. Please remember to include a 3mm bleed at the top and bottom of the spine.
Ordering your printed books
You must ensure all pages have been filled. If you do not have enough content, you will need to add blank pages.
Uploading Your Files
For books, please supply files as individual pages, not as double pages.
