Tri-fold
brochures and other printed documents contain several traps for the unwary. Let’s
look at how to avoid common folding pitfalls and create documents that look and
fold perfectly.
1. Set up all folding
documents (z-folds, gatefolds, c-folds and so on) as two pages the exact width
and height of the unfolded document.
The
most common size for a three-fold brochure is letter, so let’s use it for our
example. Create a new letter-sized document with landscape orientation. On the
pasteboard, put the text “front” next to the first page and “back” next to the
second page.
2. Tri-fold the paper and
mark the front.
On
the front page, the front panel is on the right. The right and middle panels
are the same width, while the left panel is shorter. Turn the brochure around
and you will see that on the back page, the left and middle panels are the same
width and the right one is shorter.
3. Make page guides to
reflect the correct panels.
There
are two ways to do this:
1)
Have us make a folding dummy, then you can measure each side and set up your
page guides based on the dummy. This will always work perfectly.
2)
Make both of the wider panels 3.7” wide and the narrow one 3.6” wide. This
works well in most cases.
If
you use our rule of thumb, on the “front” page, the left panel would be 3.6” wide
and the middle and right ones would each be 3.7” wide. On the “back” page, the
left and middle panels would be 3.7” wide and the right panel would be 3.6”
wide. Once you have set up the panels, give each one the same margin. This
centers your text within each panel.
To
make a tri-fold brochure or any folded document work properly, remember that
the inside panel must be a little bit (between 1/16” and 1/32”) shorter than
the ones around it.
Need
help? Just ask!
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