Your Return Address
Your Street
Your City, ST 12345

Postage Area

(if using a stamp, Return Address is required)

Hinge Area

spine

Finished Product Size: 8”W x 8”H

FILE SETUP: When creating a Perfect Bound Booklet, you will need to provide two files: a cover file and an interior file. The cover file should include the front cover, back cover and spine as one page as well as the inside front cover, inside back cover and the spine area. See below for instructions on how to find your spine width. InDesign Tip: When setting up your cover, set your columns for two and then input the size of your spine into the Column Gutter option. For more information on Perfect Bound Booklets, visit our website: smartpress.com/support/product-faq/booklet-printing-faq.

BLEED: Your file needs to include a 0.125” bleed necessary for production. Bleed is printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet after trimming. If a bleed is not included in document setup, there is a good chance there will be a gap between the edge of the printed area and the cut line. This happens because there is a tolerance when cutting the printed piece. For more information on the importance of bleed, visit our website: smartpress.com/support/printing-basics/bleeds-borders.

CUT LINE (finished size): This is where your artwork will be trimmed.

SAFE MARGIN: Your file needs to include a 0.125” safe margin necessary for production. Safe margin is the area around the edge of the sheet. If the safe margin is not included in document setup, there is a chance that the art close to the edge will get cut off, due to machine shift during cutting. This happens because there is a tolerance when cutting the printed piece. For more information on Cutting Tolerance, visit our website: smartpress.com/support/printing-basics/cutting-tolerance.

SPINE: Your file needs to include the width of the spine. The size of the spine will depend on how many pages your booklet has. This document is set up with a 0.25” spine. To find the size of the spine, go to the Perfect Bound Booklets product page: smartpress.com/offering/perfect-bound-book. Under Printing, fill out the fields/dropdowns for the number of sheets in your booklet, the finished size of your booklet and your desired paper stock and weight. The spine area will be shown in the Binding section under Finishing. The size of the spine can change depending on the number of sheets, as well as the paper stock and weight.

HINGE AREA: This area is where the spine is scored. The hinge area on either side of the spine will be visible on the front and back covers and there will be an indent along the thin hinge line. No matter the width of the spine, the hinge area is always 0.25”. When designing the inside cover, there can be no color or ink of any kind between the spine and hinge area, due to gluing.

Mailing: The purple box on the box indicates the necessary mailing area we require. This layout guide is showing an example of how the mailing information will look. There can be no other printed elements in this purple box. If the spine width on your booklet changes, make sure to adjust your mailing area. Postage and the purple address box should be at least 0.5” away from the spine.

Inside front cover

glue area - no ink

Inside Back cover