The Art of the Fold

Common folds

There is more to graphic design than creating a beautiful layout. One of the most important aspects affecting your final piece is how the document folds. In the world of printing, you will often hear the fold referred to as a “finishing” option.

The type and thickness of paper and the type of fold need to be determined prior to creating the layout. If a thick cover paper is used, the layout will need to be adjusted so that the document folds correctly. For example, the inside panels will have to be adjusted 1/32″ to 1/8″ to accommodate the thickness of the paper and the fold itself. This is called nesting.

Here’s some of the most common folds:

Gate fold (or window fold): In a gatefold, both the left and right edges fold inward with parallel folds and meet in the middle of the sheet of paper without overlapping.

Double gate fold: Using the gate fold as described above, the paper is then folded again down the middle so that the folded edges meet and a fold is created in center.

Accordian fold: An accordion fold is a simple tri-fold, but the two outer panels zig-zag in opposite directions. This is also referred to as a “Z” fold, a zig-zag fold or a concertina fold.

Half-Accordian fold: A variation on the Accordian fold where one panel is half the size of the other two.

Engineering fold: Similar to the half-accordian fold, but in this case one panel is twice the size of the other two.

C-Fold: This is the official name of the typical tri-fold often used on brochures and letters. C-folds have 6 panels with two parallel folds. Common names used for this fold are letter-fold, tri-fold, and a brochure fold.

Spiral fold: Similar to a C-fold, but instead creating more than 6-panels. The panels fold into themselves forming a spiral. This is often referred to as a barrel fold, a wrap fold or a roll fold.

Double Parallel fold: In this fold, the paper is folded in half, and then in half a second time. The second fold is parallel to the first. This is also called a double fold.

Cross fold: Cross folds have two folds going in different directions, forming 8 even panels. Often used in bookmaking, this type of fold is cut to form signatures. This is referred to as a French fold, quarter fold, or a right-angle fold.

Half fold: The simplest of all folds – basically folding a sheet of paper in half forming four panels. This is often called a single fold.

What is practical graphic design sense?

There are a number of ways that a person sets out to become a graphic designer.  Many take the traditional go-to-college/schooling route.  Others learn while doing. Some have that built-in talent and native creative ability – and can just “do-it.”  I have always felt that a good graphic designer has a combination of the above, and also exudes a sense of what is practical and necessary on a per-job basis.

But I’ve frequently found in my experience that many design novices either have never been taught the structure of design, have never been in a situation to experience or learn practical structure, or choose to ignore it.  Without a good underlying practical structure – even the best creative design jobs are asking for failure.

Every design project is different.  Flourishes of color and artistic renderings may be fun, but often the latest design job is a boring old black and white form.  In actuality, the same concepts and structures are required to produce both scenarios successfully.

There are a series of questions the graphic designer must ask themselves when starting a project.  These are the basics and basis of practical graphic design.

– What is the finished size? For example, is it 8.5 x 11, 2 x 3.5, or 24 x 36?  Or is the finished size in pixels instead of inches?

– Is the finished piece flat or folded?  What type of fold will be used?  Are there multiple folds?  Does the fold include a score or perforation?

– How will the finished piece be produced?  Will it be process printed, copied, screen printed, embroidered, stamp printed, used on a website, or visible in a video production?

– What are the margins needed on the page – or does the image bleed off the edge?

– Will there be text present in the design?  If yes, what typefaces will be used?

– Will there be columns needed to facilitate the design?  What about headers or footers on the page?  Is a gutter needed?

– What are the primary and secondary colors used in the design?  Are the colors RGB, Pantone, Spot Colors, CMYK, etc.?

– What outside elements are used in the design?  Are there graphics, clip art, photos, videos, audio, etc. that need to be imported?

– Does the design involve pre-written copy? (Body Copy, Headlines/Titles, Sub-Heads, Captions, etc.)  Has the copy been proof-read and error-checked?  Is proper attribution present?

– Is there a specific focal point to the project?  This could be a graphical or photo element, a spotlighted quotation, a headline/title, etc.)

– How does the printer/programmer/etc. want the finished piece presented to them?  For example, do they want an X-1a PDF file of a “four-up flip with a reverse with a .125 bleed and a creeping gutter of 1% with color bars included” or the raw AI, PSD or INDD files?  This question should be answered prior to beginning the project as it could save a lot of headaches and do-overs down the road.

Once the structure of your project is formulated, and all the elements are in hand, then unleash the creative juices! The key to being a successful graphic designer is to possess practical design sense first, then add the creative elements, taking the project to new and effective heights.

Adobe InDesign – The evolution in my design world and a few tips and tricks

Back in the day, the software of choice was PageMaker (I started with version 1.0).  Pagemaker was a wonderful program, and through the years evolved into something spectacular for most any type of graphics, typesetting and design work.  Years passed, and PageMaker was morphed into what we know today as InDesign.  It was a tough blow at first to make the transition from software that was so loved, but in time, bitterness passed and InDesign was accepted into the family so to speak.

I’ve never been a love of QuarkXpress.  Quark was the clunky cousin is some respects of PageMaker, then InDesign.  I do think it all comes down to what ever software package you start with on your career journey, that is what you ultimately stick with and fall back to.  To put it bluntly – I can use Quark, but I’m not a Quark user.  Never will be.

InDesign has continued to improve and evolve over the years.  It’s not perfect – and there are still some old PageMaker features I wish they would incorporate.  But it is now my software of choice for all things design and typesetting today.

Here’s a few quick InDesign tips and tricks that not every user may know about.

Paragraph Returns:  Have you ever imported a Word File or other doc that contains paragraph returns?  Frustrating when you don’t want them.  Here’s a quick fix:  check Show Import Options when importing your file and you will find an option to remove them.

Snap-To Tip:  Tired of switching the Snap-To guides feature on and off throughout your layout process?  Give this a try.  While dragging your object(s) into place that you do NOT want to Snap-To the guides, hold down the control key.

A Perfect Circle (or Square):  Trying to draw a perfect circle or square, and your mouse is getting away from you?  Hold down the shift key while dragging/drawing and poof!  Perfect every time.

Placeholder Text:  You just finished a great layout, but your customer has not written the text yet.  What to do?  Use Placeholder text.  Draw your frame, and place your cursor inside.  Then go to the Type menu. Select “Fill with Placeholder Text” and the text box will fill with dummy text.   If you ave the Caps Lock on, you will get a different version of the text.

Three ways to place a guide:  There are three ways to place guides in your document.  1.)  Double-click your ruler at the point you want the guide to appear.  2.)  Drag the guide from the ruler and drop it in the layout.  3.)  Go to the Layout menu, select Create Guides.

Selection in a stacked layout:  You have a complicated layout, with frames on top of frames.  Then of course, you have to select the frame at the bottom of the pile.  What to do?  Hold down the command key and click.  Starting from the top down, each click will cycle through the elements until you reach the one you need.