Perfect binding for students
- Raluca S. Photography
- Jul 8, 2015
- 3 min read
So, you’re doing a creative course and you have to present a portfolio or a publication in the form of a perfect bound book but maybe you’re not quite clear on all the details.
That’s ok we can help!
Here are some facts about how you need to set up your file and how we print it
1. First off you will need at least 3mm of bleed around every edge of your document. Bleed is an extension of your artwork, not white, around your document. If you end up with white instead of artwork it might mean you need to go back to your InDesign file and extend your photos to the red line beyond the page in your document. Also when you export make sure you select “Use document bleed settings”. You can find more info and a step by tep guie here Adding Bleed to InDesign Documents
2. Then when you export make sure you have pages selected, not spreads, we need everything, including the covers in single pages.
3. We can print on numerous papers and materials however what we would recommend depends a lot on your document, everyone is different! So if your document has only 20 or 30 sheets we might recommend a 160gsm material and a 350gsm cover. However if you have 100 sheets or more we would recommend something lighter. We would not recommend perfect binding anything smaller than 20 sheets as it run the risk of falling apart.
4. We can print on the spine of your book as well so you might want to create a document for that too. The size of this greatly depends on the size of your final document so maybe have a look at other publications with a similar page count to yours and measure what spine they have then create a document with the appropriate thickness and height.
5. We usually require 24h for any perfect bound job and to get a better understanding of why we need so long here’s the process we go through.
First off we print the body of the document, usually double sided.
Next we set up and print the covers, we usually merge the front and back, leaving appropriate spaces and print it double sided but if your document is a landscape a4, for example, we would have to print it in 2 sections and stick them together, this is called a split back perfect bound book.
Next we have to crease the covers so they will fold nicely and to make the square shape the spine always has.
Next we have to stick it all together with glue in our perfect binding machine. This requires great care and attention to detail as everything needs to fall in just the right place.
Lastly after it’s been left to dry for a while, we cut off the excess paper (the bleed we talked about earlier) in our electric guillotine. Because it’s electric and we can actually enter the exact measurements, we need to know the exact size of your finished document to be able to cut it just right
And there you have it! We hope this helps with any questions you might have and if you’re still confused about anything don’t hesitate to leave a comment.
Comments