Pocket and kit folders are the silent workhorses of many agencies and businesses. They are consistently called upon to hold important information and thereby facilitate the transmission of the enclosed data while also being required to maintain an attractive, yet subtle, exterior that will appeal to the intended audience of the product. The folders do all this strenuous work with no complaint, even as they get dog-eared and torn. GPO recognizes the value of, and demand for, such products. We even carry a term contract specifically devoted to the production of folders. Yet as important as these products are, many of us do not properly attend to the design requirements they possess. It seems that there is confusion among the Federal publishing community as to how to properly layout our folders for print production. Here in the ePUB section at GPO, we’ve seen just about every possible design for a pocket folder. One big layout, four-page layouts, one-page layouts for four pages… QuarkXPress, PowerPoint, or Photoshop… the list of combinations goes on! But what exactly is the “right” way to create a folder layout? For the purposes of our tip sheet today, let’s assume we need to create a standard 9-1/2” x 12” folder to accommodate letter sized inserts about ePUB Illustrated. As I describe the steps of creating our folder there will be links to screen captures of my work. Ready? Let’s go!

 

Breakdown

The basis for creating a good pocket folder layout is a flat, one-page design when possible. This is generally most easily accomplished by using Adobe Illustrator because you can mimic the style of a folder laid flat. Also, Illustrator and similar applications create vector drawings, that is lines and text made of sharp, mathematically described lines.

Step one in creating a folder is to create a new file in Illustrator with the settings like this. (See figure 1.)

We want a canvas size of 20” x 20” so we have ample room to assemble our page. It is vital that you choose CMYK color mode because your folder will be going to conventional press (but I’m sure we all know that… right?).

The next step is to lay guidelines at the dimensions of your folder. Our folder, being 9-1/2” x 12” with a 4” pocket, needs vertical guides at 0”, 9-1/2”, and 18”. Horizontal guides will fall at 0”, 12”, and 16”. I also added some guides for .5” margins at the center and then guides that are .75” outside of the vertical edges for the flaps we will add into our layout momentarily. With your guides placed, you can now draw a large box that will serve as the background for your folder with whatever fill color you prefer. Once your box fits the 0” to 18” width and 0” to 16” length, extend the box .125” on all sides to accommodate for bleeds. With these operations complete, your file should look something like this. (See figure 2.)

With our background complete, it’s time to add flaps to our folder. (Flaps do not necessarily need to be included in your layout, as your audience will not see the flaps. This operation is intended solely for the purpose of visually displaying our flat folder as accurately as possible.) Using whatever drawing tool you feel comfortable with (I chose the pen tool), draw a flap that extends from the background box to the .75” guide that you placed. Do not worry too much about the angle of the flap top and bottom. Remember: this flap will fold under and be glued to form your pocket and will not be seen by your end user. Your flap should look something like this. (See figure 3.)

Now draw a similar flap on the other side of your background. You should see the base shape of your folder fully formed now.

All that is now left for your folder is to place images and key in text that will make up your folder. Note that elements on the inside pockets must be upside down in the current layout. Upon placing all of my elements, our completed folder layout looks like this. (See figure 4.)

Please note though, that I included die-cut lines for a business card that would not print. In fact, you would be best served by not including anything similar in your own layout as to avoid confusion for the printer. My marks are for visual reference only.

 

Last Ups: Do’s and Don’ts

We’ve covered the basics of pocket folder creation. Single page, flat layouts are the best possible way of producing proper files. But what happens when you have an idea or requirement for a folder that isn’t standard? The same general rule of a single page, flat layout applies, but here are some things to remember.

Applications besides Illustrator may be used, but note that if Photoshop is used for complex image techniques, printers request that any text be created in another program. For example, you could place the Photoshop file in a layout application and then key the text there. This produces sharper text than Photoshop could create and thus a higher quality product for you. No matter what application you choose, contractors request that you never design in your own trim marks, registration marks, or die lines (unless placed on their own, non-printing, layer).

So what happens when you’ve received a file that is supposed to print as a pocket folder but doesn’t follow any of the design principles explained here? In that instance, printers will do the dirty work of converting and laying out files… at your expense! So if you are the middleman between the designer and the printer, encourage your design staff to follow the best possible principles outlined here. Your print budget will thank you later!

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