Most books are bound using the Saddle-Stitch technique. This process involves folding and nesting printed sheets, which are then stapled through the fold line with wire staples. The staples penetrate the folded crease from the outside and secure between the centermost sheets. The end product is a very simple yet professional-looking paper.
Despite their apparent simplicity, saddle-stitch books can be difficult for young graphic designers to master. This is because saddle-stitched booklet printing require a different page layout than other types of bound volumes.
Pages Should be in Four Mutliples
Folded sheets are the basis for saddle-stitched publications. As a result, each folded sheet united inside the completed booklet will make up four pages. This means that every saddle-stitched booklet’s page count must be a multiple of four. A saddle-stitched booklet of 7 pages, 10 pages, or 25 pages is not conceivable. All saddle-stitched books must have four, eight, twelve, sixteen, twenty, and twenty-four pages, respectively. Even if a page in the booklet is blank, it is still considered one page.
Customisation
The variety of saddle stitch books extends to their customising possibilities. Customise your booklets to match your branding and design preferences:
- Paper Types: Select from a choice of paper stocks for both the inside pages and the covers.
- Sizes: We provide custom sizes ranging from A6 to A4 to meet your individual project needs.
- Finishes: Choose from a variety of finishes to provide that extra level of professionalism.
Lamination for optimum protection:
We recommend laminating for covers with a lot of ink coverage. Lamination serves as a protective coating, shielding the cover from any marks produced by ink transfer or friction during transit or storage. Choose from a number of cover laminations, such as the durable Soft Touch and the beautiful Matt.
How to Print a Saddle Stitch Booklet
Creating a booklet might be intimidating, so don’t worry! Greener Printer makes it easy to order saddle stitch books. Here are some suggestions to bear in mind while creating your digital book for printing.
- Reader Spread vs. Printer Spread
When it pertains to saddle stitch booklets, reading and printing your pages in sequence differs due to something known as “spreads.” A spread is the arrangement of two consecutive pages. When creating a digital booklet, it is ideal to employ a readers spread, which arranges pages in the order they are supposed to be read. Because there is no paper folding involved, a readers spread may be setup in this manner.
When developing a booklet for saddle stitch printing, utilise a printer’s spread.
A reader’s spread organises the pages in sequence (pg. 1, pg. 2, pg. 3, etc.), but a printer’s spread must be set to allow for printing and folding into a booklet. For example, an 8-page booklet takes two sheets of paper (4 pages each). For a visual assistance, fold two sheets of paper to form a booklet, but do not staple the spine.
Without separating the folded pages, number each page beginning with the front cover (pg 1) and finishing with the rear cover (pg 8). Now, separate the sheets and lay them flat. When planning a printer spread, you can see which pages belong on each sheet.
- Single Spread versus Double Spread
When starting your saddle stitch print design, it’s helpful to determine if your pages will be single or double spreads. A single page spread indicates that all of the material, photos, and backgrounds for each page are on the same page. A double spread is when two consecutive pages have the same material, photos, backdrop, and so on.
- Single Spread (pages separate from one another)
- Double Spread (two pages “spread” to form a continuous picture)
Because saddle stitch booklets need pages to be printed out of order, many designers choose for a double spread design in the book’s centre, where the two pages are sequential despite being planned as a single spread.
This is also known as a centre spread, and it is preferred to a two-page spread elsewhere in a saddle stitch book. Using a double spread in the centre ensures that the colour is uniform throughout both pages and that they are not slightly off after completing because they are printed on the same sheet.
- Creating Up and Saving in Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is one of the most popular software programmes for saddle stitch booklet creation, and for good reason. InDesign makes it quite simple to convert your page designs into a booklet PDF for printing.
Begin by making a new document. In this example*, we’ll make a 5.5 x 8.5 booklet with eight pages. You’ll also note that we’re creating using “facing pages” (readers spreads), which implies that the booklet’s layout will have all inside pages structured next to one other. We won’t be exporting the final file this way, but more on that shortly!
After you’ve dragged and dropped all of your created pages into their right spots, your booklet will begin to take shape! Keep any crucial material away from the safety print margins, and if using bleed, ensure that your design extends to the bleed line.
We’re now ready to export your file as a print PDF! Click File>Export to open a box where you can name your project and specify where it will be saved on your computer. Set the Format to “Adobe PDF (Print)” to ensure that your pages are saddle stitched. Click Save, then go to the last two stages!
The last window will present you with a slew of potential export choices. The good news is that we just need to worry about two small issues! To begin, select the General tab on the left side of the window, which will reveal choices. The only one you need to check is the Pages section to ensure that Export as “Pages” is enabled.
Finally, if your design involves bleed, choose the Marks and Bleeds option from the left side. Check the box next to “Use Document Bleed Settings.”
Click Export and check your PDF to ensure it appears okay. If your document contains 8 pages, all the same size, you’ve successfully set up your saddle stitch.
Conclusion
We are working hard to reduce our environmental effect and are implementing an emissions reduction programme to reduce both direct and indirect emissions, with the goal of reaching Net Zero by 2040.
We are working hard to expand our product line with more ecologically friendly options, and we urge you to use them more frequently. Greener Printer supports Two Sides, a print and paper advocacy group that seeks to clarify illusions about green washing and promote paper as a really sustainable commodity.
We are committed to decreasing waste and, in particular, removing harmful plastics from our magazine printing and fulfilment operations.
