tri fold brochures

Submitted by eightball on Tue, 2008-01-15 18:20.

Member's Forum

1st off I'd like to say how glad I am 2 find this site!!!

I am doing a tri fold brochure in InDesign CS2, however, I dont know how to set it up....having problems with the prepress, for e.g. dont know how to properly indicate fold marks, also does it have 2 be facing pages,etc... Can someone please give me step by step directions.........Its greatly appreciated.

First off, glad to see you

Submitted by natobasso on Tue, 2008-01-15 19:08.

First off, glad to see you here!

Second, has your printer sent you a template they prefer to use for the paper size you want to print on? If not, there's lots of resources out there to help you do this.

I'll make it easy for you, but you should verify all specs with your printer first:

11" W x 8.5" H Document size (landscape)
Set 1/4" bleed, though 1/8" is oftentimes sufficient; do this with InDesign's document features when you first create your layout, don't use guides for this by hand!
Set a 1/8" live area/margins, again, in ID doc set up
Set your fold lines outside the trim line (your doc size 11x8.5) in 100%K (use a guide for both so they line up; Should be dotted lines that at least cross into the bleed area but not trim line, .25px wide)
Lastly, export PDF/X-1a with bleed lines, trim lines, crop marks and color management options on. You'll get a fully print-prepped document with trim and crop lines made for you. Easy!

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Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work

Thanks for the advice, I

Submitted by eightball on Mon, 2008-03-24 00:51.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. However, i am still confused about fold marks :(

If my fold marks r outside of the trim line then how can I show them in the PDF....i can show bleed and crop marks but there is no option for "fold lines" in pdf presets.

Also, i guess its a dumb question but what does px stand for, because i never learned that in school!

Draw your foldmarks close to

Submitted by 3dogmama on Mon, 2008-03-24 00:59.

Draw your foldmarks close to but outside of the print area and when you output with bleed they'll show.

ttfn!
3dogmama

If you want to be really

Submitted by natobasso on Mon, 2008-03-24 18:26.

If you want to be really 'detail oriented' send along a printed proof (not for color proof) folded correctly so the production folks can see how the piece needs to end up.

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Powerpoint is not a design application

Fold lines shouldn't be in K

Submitted by mara06 on Tue, 2008-01-15 22:36.

Fold lines shouldn't be in K or they'll print. Use Registration instead.

Mara

Oh contraire: They get

Submitted by natobasso on Wed, 2008-01-16 17:21.

Oh contraire: They get trimmed off, just like the color and registration. This way, they don't have to line up on four plates; just one. Though the registration marks do this job quite well so maybe that's a moot point.

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Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work

Oh, sorry. I thought you

Submitted by mara06 on Wed, 2008-01-16 20:43.

Oh, sorry. I thought you meant that the fold lines would go clear across the layout.

Which nobody in his or her right mind does.

Which just goes to show what kind of people I hang out with.

*sigh*

Lesson learned? I must NEVER post responses on the fly, when there isn't time to think a bit first. I'm bad enough when I *do* have the time! :-)

Mara

Hey, no worries. You're

Submitted by natobasso on Wed, 2008-01-16 21:09.

Hey, no worries. You're always so polite I never misconstrue your meaning. :)

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Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work

Technical note

Submitted by thornysarus on Tue, 2008-01-15 22:47.

Looks like Nato and Mara have you covered... Just pointing out that this is usually called a "Letter Fold" in the printing biz.

Besides, it only folds twice, technically making it a bi-fold. Right?

But yeah... I know everyone calls them that. :)

Terry Thornhill

e-zign Design Group

Oops... Nato missed something. :)

Submitted by thornysarus on Tue, 2008-01-15 22:53.

The panels shouldn't all be the same size. The panel that folds inside should be slightly narrower in width, or your piece won't fold flat.

Make a mockup with a piece of printer paper and you'll see what I mean.

Terry Thornhill

e-zign Design Group

No really I didn't forget! I

Submitted by natobasso on Wed, 2008-01-16 17:19.

No really I didn't forget! I posted and just didn't put this in...silly me. :)

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Powerpoint is not a design application
My latest web design work

True. And different printers

Submitted by mara06 on Wed, 2008-01-16 20:46.

True. And different printers have different folding machinery with varying degrees of precision in their folds, then there's also the issue of what paper you're printing on -- thicker ones obviously need more leeway than something that'll fold knife-edge crisp -- so the specs can differ from one place to the next. It's best to get your dimensions from the printer before you begin the layout.

Good catch on the "trifold" misnomer. Never thought about that, but you're right!

Mara