Printing Secrets from Print Acumen

 

Brochure Printing

How to Make Sure You Get What You Want When Ordering Company Brochures.

 

 

Invaluable insider information from a qualified printing expert with over 39 years of printing industry experience.

 

What is a brochure

 

The dictionary describes brochures as “small booklets or pamphlets, often containing promotional material or product information”

 

Indeed most people would recognise that description as a brochure however the word pamphlet is somewhat old fashioned and not generally used these days to describe this type of printed document.

 

Generally speaking, brochures are used to advertise products and services. Specific uses include promoting new product lines or introducing a new service, advertising specials, advertising a new product launch, advertising places to visit, programs, etc the list is endless.

 

 

How many ink colours should I print?

 

There are no set rules for producing brochures. Brochures can be printed in single colour, 2 colours or 4 colour process.

 

Although brochures printed in a single colour may sound mundane or even boring, with clever design they can really look great and work well.

 

Brochures printed in 2 colours or 4 colour process do have a greater impact than brochures printed single colour.

 

The main reason being colour has great impact and really works well when used to highlight text and/or different sections of the brochure, and more importantly when printing photographs.

 

One could not imagine a stylish travel brochure containing great photos of far off places, printed black.

 

 

What size is a brochure?

 

In the simplest form brochures can simply be a single A4 page folded in half to A5. Other configurations include a single A4 page folded in three and referred to as DL size, multiple pages of any size folded and stapled to form a book, larger pages (eg 297 x 630 or 3 x A4 pages) folded twice to A4. Brochures can really be any size that you wish.

 

 

What type of paper stock should I choose?

 

The paper stock for your brochures is really your choice however a number of factors need to be considered when choosing.

 

If the brochures are to be a single page folded once, a heavier weight stock of around 200-250gsm would be best. If the brochures are to be multi-page then a lighter stock of around 130-150gsm should be used for the text (pages) and a heavier stock of around 250-350gsm for the cover.

 

You need to consider cost when choosing stock weight as heavier stock costs more and all stocks above 170gsm need to be scored prior to folding to prevent cracking and to ensure an accurate and clean fold. This too will increase the cost.

 

What finish do I want?

 

Brochures usually have lots of solid ink coverage and some will be handled many times. These issues need to be discussed prior to production as they do need to be addressed.

 

Brochures with lots of ink coverage, particularly dark colours, will “scuff” when rubbed together and ink from one brochure can rub off onto another brochure. This can happen when they are still packed in cartons travelling on the back of the delivery truck. The constant movement can cause the scuffing.

 

Scuffing also happens when a finger or thumb is rubbed over the inked section causing the surface to mark and look unsightly.

 

Another issue is when brochures are handled a number of times, the act of handling and the natural oils in our skin starts to mark the print & the surface of the paper.

 

To avoid these issues, the covers (and the pages if need be) can be either varnished or laminated in a mat or gloss finish. Varnish is a print-on process that simply seals the paper. Not unlike timber varnish.

 

Laminating is an off-line process where film is bonded to the paper. The process is generally regarded as a better but costlier option however either will provide adequate protection against scuffing.

 

 

Should I consider any embellishments?

 

Printing brochures is actually no different to printing any other document. To a press operator, a document’s title has little or no bearing on how it’s to be printed. It’s the embellishing that really separates one document from the next.

 

The look and feel of any document, including brochures, can be dramatically improved or changed by choosing a suitable embellishment.

 

Embellishing processes that are available include –

 

• Foiling
• Embossing
• Debossing
• Die-cutting
• Glueing
• Verkotyping
• UV spot silk screen varnishing

 

 

Embellishing is an off-line process and quite expensive, but can really have a big impact on the presentation of your brochures.

 

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