Presentation folders are one of the trickiest printed products to design. Even the most experienced designers don’t work on presentation folder design daily and so sometimes a refresher on what to look out for when designing a presentation folder is wise. So for all designers across the world, here’s our kaizenprint.co.uk tips to watch out for when designing a presentation folder.
Cutting formes
The biggest difference to designing a presentation folder over say a poster or leaflet, is the inclusion of a cutting forme. The cutting forme allows us a printers to “punch” the folder to shape after printing. When designing a presentation folder it’s always recommended to have your cutting forme outline overlaid on your document to ensure you are placing content in the correct positions. Just as you would use margins and guides normally, it’s prudent to use the cutting forme in the same manner.
Bleed on presentation folders
Our old friend bleed is as important on a presentation folder as any other project. However as edges are not straight and corners just not right angles, adding bleed to a presentation folder design may be off putting. Remember we need 3mm bleed everywhere on your design and outside the cutting forme template. With this said however your bleed doesn’t have to follow the shape of the cutting forme, so rectangular boxes to the edge of the sheet are absolutely fine and in some instances preferred. It’s better to have too much bleed than too little.
RGB vs CMYK
In thousands of presentation folder printing projects under our belts there has only been one project that stands out as a “problem project”. This particular presentation folder had a hand drawn illustration on the cover that was scanned and saved in RBG. While it looked fine on screen, the conversion from rgb to cmyk for printing caused the image to print a little darker. This is common on rgb to cmyk conversions btw. To rectify this, we worked with the designer to get a lighter save on the conversion so that when printed, the levels and tones were correct.
Keep it simple
While presentation folders are undoubtedly part of the sales team, they don’t have to do all the heavy lifting. Like a business card, there should be enough relevant information for a client to contact you when they have made a decision. But not so much that the customer is overwhelmed with information. Additional sales materials should be included as inserts that can be added and removed depending on the nature of the client being targeted.
Due to the cost of printing presentation folders, many designers want a second look at the artwork. Our production team are always on hand to give your artwork the once over before print. We’ll never knowingly print a file which doesn’t live up to our exacting standards and so we’ll do our best to ensure your folder prints right the first time. If you want to speak to our artwork team you can get them on 028 9002 2474 or via the contact form.
Due to the cost of printing presentation folders, many designers want a second look at the artwork. Our production team are always on hand to give your artwork the once over before print. We’ll never knowingly print a file which doesn’t live up to our exacting standards and so we’ll do our best to ensure your folder prints right the first time. If you want to speak to our artwork team you can get them on 028 9002 2474 or via the contact form.
