Booklet and catalog printing
A booklet is any multi-page piece bound along one edge: a catalog, a program, a lookbook, a manual, an annual report. What separates a good one from a cheap one is rarely the printing. It is the binding method, the paper, and whether the pages were imposed correctly before anything went on press.
MPress prints booklets on both offset and digital presses and binds them in house, so a job does not get trucked to a trade finisher and back. That matters most on the pieces with a date attached.
Choosing a binding method
Saddle stitching
Folded sheets nested and stapled through the spine. The cheapest option and the right one for lower page counts, typically up to around 64 pages depending on paper weight. Because sheets nest inside each other, the total page count must be a multiple of four.
It also lies reasonably flat and has no spine to print on, which is fine for a program and wrong for a catalog that has to be identified on a shelf.
Perfect binding
Pages glued into a flat, printable spine. It looks like a book because it is one, and it is the right answer once the piece is thick enough to carry a spine, roughly 40 pages upward. Annual reports and product catalogs usually land here.
Coil, wire-o and comb
Lies completely flat when open, which is what manuals, cookbooks, workbooks and anything used hands-free actually needs. No page count restriction and pages turn a full 360 degrees.
Paper, and why creep matters
Text weight for the inside pages and a heavier cover stock is the usual build. Coated stock holds photography better; uncoated reads more easily for long text and takes a pen.
On a saddle stitched booklet the inner pages push outward as the fold thickens, so the outermost margin narrows toward the centre of the book. That is creep, and it is why page layouts get shifted during imposition. Ignore it and page numbers drift toward the trim on the middle spreads.
Annual reports
An annual report is a booklet with a deadline and a compliance requirement attached. Colour has to be consistent across charts and photography, the trim has to be exact, and the date does not move.
Our prepress team works to G7 and GRACoL colour standards, so an approved proof matches the press sheet, and a report produced this year sits correctly beside last year’s.
What to send us
- Finished page size and total page count, including the cover
- Whether the cover is self-cover or a heavier stock
- Binding method, or tell us how it will be used and we will recommend one
- Quantity, and whether it repeats annually
- Pages as single pages, not reader spreads. We impose them.
Tell us the quantity, size, stock and deadline and we will quote it. Request a quote, upload a file, or call (504) 524-8248.
