Letter folded brochures have three panels, however, a common misconception is that a letter folded brochure has three equal panels—it does not! Letter folded brochures need the panel that tucks in to be a bit shorter, by about a 1/16 inch, compared to the other two panels.
Incorrectly Set Up Panels
This illustration shows what happens if your brochure has even panels. It poofs up like a footbal and causes headaches in the bindery. Folding even panels simply doesn't work.
Correctly Set Up Panels
This illustration shows a properly folded brochure. The panels that tucks in is a bit shorter, by about a 1/6 inch. The result is a brochure that folds properly, sits flat and looks professional.
Designing Your Brochure
When designing your brochure, compensating for exactly where these folds occur is crucial, especially with designs where your artwork is supposed to meet exactly at the fold. This compensation has to be taken in to consideration with the page layout program your using.
Let's imagine that we have opened the brochure with the front cover on the right hand side facing you, the back panel in the middle and the panel that tucks in on the left hand side. The inside of the brochure is facing away from you. The center and right panel would be equal width, however, the panel on the left would be about 1/16 inch shorter.
For the inside spread of the brochure, the opposite holds true. With the inside 3 panels of the brochure facing you, the left hand panel and the center panel are equal in width and the panel to the right is about 1/16 inch shorter.
|
