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Simply, Affordable, Quality Print & Design in Staffordshire and the UK
Free nationwide shipping on all orders!
Simply, Affordable, Quality Print & Design in Staffordshire and the UK
Here we cover some of the many reasons why your Leaflet Design might be best with or without a fold. We showcase a multi-use way of showcasing your products and services and go through the many folding styles.
Knowing whether to design your leaflets with or without a fold can be tricky, it’s best to decide the content and look you want before beginning the design. Leaflets provide a highly cost-effective and affordable printed media solution for marketing campaigns including your new business launch, a competition and special offers. Here will give some tips on choosing the right style of leaflet for what you need.
Different to a printed Brochure, Leaflets and Flyers prove themselves time and time again to be one of the most powerful marketing tools in any business’s toolkit.
These are probably the most commonly printed products on the planet next to business cards. A single sheet of paper whether it be A5 or A6 printed either single or double sided and handed out. They can be designed in a wide range of programs from Microsoft Word to Adobe Illustrator or whatever design tool takes your fancy. The internet is awash with countless templates available for free, whether you are creating sales leaflets, party flyers, a school fete and so much more.
If you do not have too much information then these styles of leaflets are a great way to get the word out there and promote your business and its services. A5 and A6 are not the only sizes that our Flat Leaflets and Flyers are available in not by a long shot!
If you are in a situation where you find that the information you wish to give your customers will not sensibly fit a standard A5 Flyer and flow nicely. The best way to present this information is with an eye-catching folded flyer. Our Folded Leaflets are a great way to improve the design experience and visual appeal of your print marketing material. Sure you could be “one of those” who are sure that all that important information is okay to read at a font size of 6pt we can see your customers now either squinting to see what you are trying to say or more than likely your offering will go unread.
Adding even a single fold to a sheet of paper can take that information and help you lay out your text and design elements in a way that makes it easier for your customers to see what you want them to do! Surely the space would still be the same – yes it would if you stayed at the same size.
Let us take an A5 for example a nice standard size we can all relate to (for those that can’t it is half of an A4). If your design is looking crowded we would suggest going up a size and folding the leaflet to create for example half fold A4 or an A5 folded 4pp. This would give you four sections or pages to better space out the same information with ample space for extra images. Remember just because you have more space does not mean you should fill it all with words, let it breathe!
Folded Leaflets are available in a multitude of options and we will break these down below showing the different sizes and shapes available with our Folded Flyer printing.
These are probably some of the most popular a single fold leaflet is where we take a sheet of paper and it is folded in half to create a four page document. For example, if we took an unfolded A3 sheet and folded it in half this would create an A4 4pp.
Examples of businesses that use Half Fold Leaflets
These are very, very popular as handouts and have an extra fold compared to the half-fold method mentioned above. A single flat sheet is folded twice using the tri-fold method to create 3 equal panels. Commonly referred to as a letter-fold leaflet or c fold. A great example of this is your average takeaway menus, when it comes to folded leaflets this is one of the most popular industries that uses them!
Most commonly folded into 3 equal parts although with some of our larger paper sizes and stocks, we can offer leaflets folded into 4 equal parts.
Examples of businesses that use Roll Fold Leaflets
Z fold leaflets again use the tri-fold method to fold the sheet into 3 equal parts. They differ from a roll fold as rather than folding using an overlapping method the panels use an accordion fold.
Before we carry on with our handy guide on folded leaflets let us take a minute and show you some pictures highlighting what we have covered so far.
These too are typically folded into 3 equal parts, like our roll folds however we can offer leaflets folded into 4 equal parts.
Examples of businesses that use Z Fold Leaflets
Gate folded leaflets look different! Although we print a lot of them these always make us smile. They are a little trickier to explain than other folds as they are not folded equally! Instead, these folded leaflets come with outside flaps that meet in the middle and the centre panel is half of its original size.
An image is definitely needed as we explain. If we start with a sheet of A4 the next paper size below is an A5 (148mm by 210mm), if we were to centralise this over the top and then fold the 2 remaining panels in that would be a gatefold!
Why gate fold? Well, we didn’t name it but if you think about the panels as little gates or doors to the larger middle panel it gets easier to remember!
Examples of businesses that use Gate Fold Leaflets
To create a double parallel fold, one starts by folding the paper in half and then once more in the same direction. To ensure precise alignment of the folded paper, it’s important for the two inner sections (those on the right side when the paper is open) to be slightly narrower than the other two.
This folding technique results in the formation of eight panels. This versatile format can serve various purposes, accommodating the presentation of multiple products or unfurling to unveil expansive graphics, such as maps or charts. Its compactness also allows for the mailing of larger paper sizes within smaller envelopes.
Examples of businesses that use Double Parallel Folded Leaflets
Single-fold leaflets are great but what about when you really have plenty of information to get on the design? Well, a great way of getting all of your design ideas and information together is by choosing the layout that is cross-fold leaflets. Using this method the the leaflets are folded in half and then half again. This is great as it means when you hand them out they take up just a quarter of the space! Imagine chasing your customer with a sheet of A3 paper down the high street and wanting them to take it, good luck with that!
Instead, when you cross fold a leaflet you would be asking them to take an A5 the perfect size that people struggle to resist taking!
Examples of businesses that use Cross Fold Leaflets
The last of the folds that we offer when you are looking to order your folded leaflets online is the half fold and roll foll method. As you should gather by the name the sheets are folded in half first and then roll folded into thirds.
Examples of businesses that use Half Fold plus Roll Fold Leaflets
As you learnt above not everything is equal with Folded Leaflets. The same can be said for the chosen finishes and paper options. For example, we offer lamination across the board on both our flat and folded leaflets. To laminate the paper stock needs to be above 250gsm, anything lower than this does not create a great finished product.
When we fold stocks above 250gsm including our 350gsm we crease fold as part of the printing process to ensure a truly great finish. This avoids cracking the design (don’t worry we do this for free!) and means that you get a perfectly finished print!
Now that we have mentioned the 350gsm stock we should mention that not all folds are available on all stocks you can see what folds we offer and on what stocks in the table below.
If the main focus of your leaflets design and distribution is to get as much information presented to your potential customers as possible, in one hit, then the answer is most definitely to fold!
The beauty of designing a Folded Leaflet or Flyer is that you can showcase your campaign in a tidy and uncluttered design which is pleasing to your customers’ eyes. A key element to remember when deciding on the style and layout is to do all you can to avoid your leaflets going straight from the doormat to the recycle bin. Making the choice between with or without a fold can be a crucial part of this.
Investigate your competitors’ designs; look at them through the eyes of the end customer. Are they easy to read? Do they display a nice balance of text and graphics? Does their business identify itself in a direct and correct way?
Not every leaflet campaign calls for the need for a Folded Leaflet design. Some business models are not suited to displaying a lot of different types of information in print. Using a Flat Leaflet single or double-sided is more popular than using a single-sided folded leaflet as it is almost a naughty word rarely do we see this at our end with our printed folded leaflets.
For example, a local dry cleaning service may have regular special offers where their design style would focus on the particular offer at the time, using descriptive textual elements with the balanced addition of design and images. This perhaps might suit a single-sided design.
The use of a Folded Leaflet in this case would not be necessary; the flat leaflets and flyer style would win in completing the delivery of the information being communicated to the target audience.
So by now, you have learnt about some of the folds that we offer at Print Stafford, but if you’re not sure where to begin then each of our folded leaflets (flat too!) has blank free leaflet templates available online on their respective product pages. Our free templates have all the margins set up within them highlighting where the paper folding takes place!
