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Don’t Forget Your Margins – A Graphic Designers Primer on Bindery
As more graphic designers are being trained for web production instead of print, they tend to forget the small details, like setting proper margins when they’re creating print jobs that are going to be bound.
Most designers usually only make this mistake once, and then the lesson is remembered forever. But it can still be an expensive mistake to make, if you don’t have someone who catches it before the job prints, or if you have to do an expensive reprint.
Before you start, be sure you use the proper margin settings. When you setting up a new document in your page layout program, be sure you select the option that lets you set inside and outside margins, not left and right margins. You use left and right margins if you’re printing one-sided sheets, like a typical report. You should be able to select double-sided as a layout option, which should then activate the Inside/Outisde layout option.
Here are a few important points to keep in mind, based on the different bindery options.
- Saddle stitch: This is the typical staple-in-the-center bindery method. While you don’t lose a lot of interior space, you will lose a little on the outside. That’s because when you stack several folded sheets together, you start to get a fanning effect, where the innermost pages stick out beyond the front cover. When this happens, the pages have to be face cut, and you can lose as much as .25 inches off the outside margin. Talk to your printer and see what they recommend.
- Perfect Binding: Your typical book binding. Most book publishers want a 1.5″ margin for an inside margin. Take a look at a book, and see how much you’re able to see on the pages in the middle. As you get further into the book, the pages are harder to open, which means you need some extra white space. Some trade paperbacks, like the Dummies series
- Comb, Coil, Spiral, and Wire binding: These books are made to lay flat, unlike perfect bound books. It’s like laying two stacks of paper side by side, with about a .25 inch gap between them. Because of this, graphics should not cross pages. That is, don’t create a two-page photo spread, especially if you’re going for something really fancy and high class. You can do it with saddle stitching, especially if you can land it on the center page of the book, but it just doesn’t look good with these spreads. The margin for these books should run around 1.5″, but can go up to a 2″ inside margin. Talk to your printer to find out what he or she recommends.
The Benefits of Magalogs Over Catalogs
Why choose a magalog over an old-school catalog? Here’s why:
Higher Reader Retention Rate
Because a magalog’s content tends to be more editorial and therefore engaging, readers are more likely to hang on to it the way they would hang on to a magazine. You get a catalog in the mail, you might flip through it and then recycle it, right? But, you get a magazine in the mail that’s stuffed with informative articles and captivating content and you’re more inclined to keep it longer or even share it with others.
The more informative or useful the content, the more likely the reader will keep the magalog.
More Sales Opportunities
Because a magalog has more copy, there are more opportunities to creatively push and sell your products. That doesn’t mean every inch of text has to be dripping with advertising, just that you have more options for pushing your product than a tiny 3×2″ copy square next to its picture.
In other words, you can weave product mentions into your editorial content, highlight products in accompanying photos or discuss multiple products in one piece.
For example, I just picked up a point-of-sale magalog from a local winery. Sure, there’s an order form in the back and a listing of their products, but it’s so much more than a catalog. It’s full of articles about wine, meal pairings and even recipes and each of those content pieces is, in turn, stuffed with product mentions.
Quality Construction
Typically, catalogs are stapled together. It’s fast and it’s cheap. With a magalog, part of the appeal is in the design and the construction. That means using a bindery and high-quality binding equipment. For thicker magalogs, you could use glue or Unibind systems. Meanwhile, more compact magalogs can be bound using binding equipment like the Akiles DuoMac or with the fine finish of coil that the CoilMac provides.
Fewer Items, More Highlights
Magalogs tend to focus on in-depth copy and really delving into a product or topic. On the other hand, catalogs are exactly that – catalogs, compilations of records. They’re lists of your products with just the basics and could really be reduced down to little more than a table.
By focusing on fewer products in a magalog, you can highlight more selling points and really push sales on those key items.
How to Create a Magalog
Most people can deduce from the name that a magalog is a combination of a magazine and a catalog. That’s true, but I also like to think of it as an expanded sales letter with glossy images, engaging text and advertorial content.
The look, feel and style of a magalog is just as important as its content. So, think bold covers, big headlines, glossy pages and contemporary design and you’re starting to get the idea.
It’s also important to note that a magalog isn’t always a direct sales tool the way a catalog might be. For example, you may simply want to promote brand awareness, push a specific event, encourage a response or solicit new contacts. Of course, your end goal is going to be sales, but that doesn’t necessarily mean all magalogs have to have an order form on the back.
How can companies create their own magalog?
1. Create and Design
Because so much of a magalog’s appeal is about its design, look and content, the majority of your efforts (and budget) are going to (or should be) be directed towards those areas. That means hiring an editor and writers or enlisting gifted staff members to write articles and content for your magalog. It also means finding a designer able to create a look and style that mimics popular magazines.
You’re investing a lot when you create, print and mail a magalog, so the last thing you want is for it to end up in the garbage with the rest of the junk mail. To prevent that, you need a good-looking product that’s engaging to the reader.
I know that printing is listed as step two here, but you should really be talking to a printer before you begin the design process and throughout it. A magalog is a complex beast and a good printer can help with suggestions that will lower costs (both printing and mailing) or prevent you from spending thousands on a cut-out, embossed design that could end up costing thousands more just to print.
Despite my protests that a magalog needs to be glossy and big to grab a reader’s attention, there are exceptions. For example, I’m looking at what’s essentially a magalog that we picked up from Whole Foods grocery store a few weeks ago. It’s printed on rough, recycled paper with a minimal use of inks and dyes. It’s useful because it’s full of lunch ideas for kids, recipes, and articles on food choices (not to mention coupons and piles of sales copy).
2. Print
Again, printing may be listed here as step two, but your printer should really be part of the whole magalog process right from the beginning. They can help guide your design, answer cost questions and assist you in developing a final budget for the project.
When choosing a printing company, look for someone with an in-house bindery and binding equipment capable of doing the whole job at one location. The more cooks in your kitchen, the more complex (and costly) your project will be. Instead, look for a printer that has the offset printing and binding equipment necessary to do the whole job.
Finally, never proof a magalog digitally. Always deal with a real, printed and tactile proof that you can hold in your hands, feel and really look at. A magalog’s appeal goes beyond its look or flashy design and extends to its weight, readability and how it feels in the reader’s hands.
3. Distribute
Most magalogs go out by mail and to a specific target list of customers. They’re either sent as media mail self-mailers or shipped in envelopes and the total cost of mailing depends, of course, on the size and weight of each unit (something to consider throughout your design process).
Other magalogs are distributed directly to the consumer at the point of sale (like the Whole Foods’ magalog flyer), at an event or through free newstands.
Finally, remember that not every company needs a magalog in its arsenal. It’s better to wait until you have the resources, the content and the potential customer base to make a good magalog then spend your money on a subpar product. And, always ask yourself, “why do I want to create a magalog?” Don’t do it because it’s popular, do it because it’s the right sales tool for your customers.
8 Common Print Binding Techniques
Cost, content and target audience should influence your choice of print finishing and binding.
In today’s media market, every publication you print has to work harder than ever before to impress its audience and properly present its content. Yet cost control has never been more important. That’s why it’s so important to match your audience, content and budget with the right type of print finishing, binding process and bindery equipment. Here are some considerations for the printer who’s committed to pleasing the client:
- Saddle stitching is inexpensive and is well suited for large press runs, such as with a mass-market magazine. In this binding method, loose sheets are laid over a saddle-like holder where staples are forced through the spine of the pages at a very rapid rate. Investing in bindery equipment for saddle stitching would make the most business sense when the volumes are high and the publication’s shelf life is short.
- Side-stitch binding is an option when the publication is small, impressing an audience isn’t the goal, and unit costs must be very low. The process is similar to saddle stitching, except that the staple is forced through the sides of the pages near the folds instead of through their spines. It will give you a less attractive and less durable binding.
- Perfect binding is the best choice when the publication is larger (50 pages or more), the audience is more up-market and/or the look and feel of the publication must imply that its content is special and substantial. Annual reports, textbooks and upscale magazines are typically perfect bound. In this process, all of the pages are placed together and stitched through the spine. Then the spine edge is ground flat and the cover is glued on.
- Case binding makes sense when the publication must be very durable as well as impressive. The process is almost the same as perfect binding, except that the spine is reinforced with a cloth strip before the cover is attached.
- Comb binding is ideal for business reports, cookbooks and workbooks because it allows the finished publication to lie flat when opened and permits pages to be added and removed. This method is also used by companies to bind internal, short-run publications, such as training and product manuals and other publications not intended for customers or not subject to hard use. In comb binding the curved plastic teeth of a comb are inserted into holes along the edge of the pages.
- Coil or spiral binding also allows the finished publication to lie flat when opened. In this method, a wire or plastic spiral is threaded through round holes punched in the edges of a stack of the pages. While the finished binding is more durable than with comb binding, pages can’t be added or removed. You might use this process for journals, student workbooks or other publications intended for frequent or hard use.
- Wire binding uses tooth-like loops of wire in a fashion similar to comb binding, but produces a much sturdier binding because the binding material is metal instead of plastic.
- Post binding is for heavy-duty publications with constantly changing content. Examples include scrapbooks, photo albums and carpet sample books. The binding process is simply metal posts pushed through punched holes in the pages and anchored with bolts that thread into the center of the posts.
Each binding method also has variations involving the use of special materials — such as ribbons or screws — and more manual labor. Unit cost is higher, but the resulting publication will stand out. Commemorative albums, special event programs and menus are some of these specially bound publications.
For any printer considering the purchase of bindery equipment, the most important consideration, of course, is what your customers want. If they all have similar needs, then you need only a limited range of binding capabilities to satisfy them. But if your customers’ expectations are diverse — or if you’re planning to expand into new markets — then the wider range of capabilities that come with having a wider range of bindery equipment would make the best business sense.
A Graphic Designers’ Binding and Print Finishing Cheat Sheet
Avoid wasting money by knowing a bit about binding and print finishing
In producing sizable publications, what happens in the last step — the print finishing and binding process — has to be considered in the first step — the design phase. Graphic designers who fail to do this will inevitably design publications in which the text and images end up in the wrong place. The result can be costly re-design, re-printing and re-binding work.
(I’m grateful to Christopher James Noble, Director of CMYKreative in the UK, who covered this subject in detail in an article.)
To avoid wasting time and money, the designer should know something about each type of binding and print finishing and the bindery equipment required for the job. To summarize, in professional print finishing and binding, here are the most common processes:
Saddle stitching is simple and cheap and often all that’s needed. Loose sheets are laid over a saddle-like holder where staples are forced through the spine of the pages at a very rapid rate. The more pages in the publication, the more likely pages will “creep” as they move through the process. So you should allow for larger margins, particularly if the outside edge of the bound job is to be trimmed flat.
Side-stitch binding is similar to saddle stitching, except that the staple is forced through the sides of the pages near the folds instead of through their spines. The resulting binding is not quite as nice as saddle stitching, so don’t use this if you’re releasing this to an audience who needs to be impressed by your work. Plus, this will chew up a lot of margin space, so allow for at least a 1.5″ inside margin.
Perfect binding starts with all of the project’s pages placed together and stitched through the spine. Then the spine edge is ground flat and the cover is glued on. While page creep is less of a concern, wider inside margins may be needed to prevent page content from disappearing into the center of the publication, particularly if there are many pages.
Case binding is almost the same as perfect binding, with the added step of reinforcing the spine with a cloth strip before attaching the cover. Treat it like perfect binding when laying out margins.
In comb binding, the plastic teeth of a comb are inserted into rectangular holes punched along the edge of the pages. This allows the finished publication to lie flat when open and the spines can be removed and reattached. But adding a printed spine is difficult and wider inner margins are needed to keep text and images away from the holes. If you want to do a two-page spread of data or images, don’t. If you have to, cut the image or data, figure the margin space, and have the information jump the page. Otherwise, you lose important information in the holes and the comb.
Coil or spiral binding involves threading a wire or plastic spiral through round holes punched in the edges of a stack of the pages. This method also allows the finished publication to lie flat when opened. The inner margins of pages must be wide enough to prevent punching holes into page content, and it’s very hard to add a printed spine. Again, it’s hard to have a two-page spread for data or a photo, although it can be done. The problem is getting two lines of data, like a spreadsheet, to line up properly, especially on a spiral. If you have to do that, consider. . .
Wire binding uses tooth-like loops of wire in a fashion similar to comb binding, but produces a much sturdier binding. Plus, the pages open perfectly in line, so you can keep lines of data perfectly aligned.
Post binding is simply a few metal posts pushed through punched holes in the pages and anchored with bolts that thread into the center of the posts. The final publication can have an external cover with an imprinted spine. Pages can be added or removed easily. Again, what’s printed on each page could be lost from view in the center if the interior margins are not wide enough. Figure a 1.5″ inside margin here too.