Things to Know ...
before prepping your digital art.
Alright, you're planning on providing your own art for your folder layout. This area contains useful information that can save a great deal of time and headache for the pressman!
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LAYOUT COLOR BLEEDS SETTINGS
LAYOUT
By now you've probably decided between one-sided and two-sided folder printing.

ONE SIDED FOLDER PRINTING
– OR –
TWO SIDED FOLDER PRINTING
Whether you've chosen one or two-sided folder printing, you have the option printing on the pocket of the folder.

If you're wondering 'How can that be when the pocket is on the inside of the folder?' then take a look at the diagram below.

The following diagram shows how we fold and glue our folders to help you understand our process and enable you to build your layout accordingly.
Diagram 1 shows how our folder template starts.
As you can see, the front cover and inside pockets are actually on the same printed side with the pockets appearing upside down and transposed in our layout.
Diagram 2 demonstrates the start of the folding.
Once the folder has been printed and die-cut, it is then folded and glued. Note that as the pockets are folded, they appear on the inside of the folder .
Diagram 3 shows the final folding and gluing.
As the diagram rotates, note the final folds: Glue tabs fold behind the pockets with the pockets now appearing rightside up on the inside of the folder.
Diagram 4 shows the appearance of our two sides.
So now you should be able to see how to setup your artwork and layout. The next diagrams will explain 1-sided and 2-sided layouts in more detail.

1 SIDED FOLDER PRINTING

The highlighted areas are your print areas.

  • 9" W x 4" H outside front cover
  • Two (2) 9W"x4H" pockets
These dimensions do not include bleed areas. Include at least 1/8" extra for bleed if necessary.

(i.e. 9"x12" would be 9.25"x12.25" to accomodate a 1/8" bleed on all 4 sides of cover art)


Also, if you will be including artwork for the pockets which requires a bleed, you do not need to contour the pocket shape, just be sure to keep pertinent information within the allocated print area of 9" W x 4" H.

(Design Tip: Text and non-bleed images should be given a margin of about 1/4" from the outer edge of all artwork for aesthetic reasons and to reduce the risk of cutting off pertinent information from your folder layout)



2 SIDED FOLDER PRINTING


All the rules of of one-sided folder printing apply for side one. So, what to do with side 2?

  • 9" W x 8" H live print area on both the inside left and inside right of folder (or if providing one layout, 18"x8")
You could actually have the entire area of side 2 printed. However, once the folding and assembly of the folder is complete, the only real visible area of your folder is the 8 inches above the pocket as highlighted in the diagram.

(Design Tip: Text and non-bleed images should be given a margin of about 1/4" from the outer edge of visible print area for aesthetic reasons and to reduce the risk of cutting off pertinent information from your folder layout)
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