Table of contents
What are leaflets?
A leaflet is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place, handed out to individuals or sent through the mail. In the 2010s, flyers range from inexpensively photocopied leaflets to expensive (not with kaizenprint.co.uk), glossy, full-colour circulars. A leaflet is also called a “flier”, “circular”, “handbill”, “pamphlet“, “poster”, “lit'” (literature), “weekly ad”, “catalogue” or “flyer” – Wikipedia
To us, leaflets are not just a little bit of paper, but an opportunity for businesses and other groups to present their message to a wide audience. Leaflets can provide a sales message, a community notice and while the medium is paper, the content on each leaflet makes them unique and special. At kaizenprint.co.uk we appreciate the impact leaflet printing can have on your business and with that in mind, we treat your project as if it was our own.
How are leaflets printed?
We use both litho and digital printing technology to print leaflets for clients. The method chosen depends primarily on quantity required and also the size of the leaflets. However our primary method for leaflet printing is through our state of the art digital printers. At time of writing we have 3 Xerox digital presses in use including a brand new Xerox Versant 3100 (pictured below).
At Kaizen Print, digital leaflet printing is one of our most popular products. In fact, we print more leaflets than any other product in our range. From hair salons to accountancy practices, our printed leaflets can be found in businesses all across the land. We’ve invested heavily in the latest digital printers to ensure our leaflets are of the highest print quality possible.
When to use digital leaflet printing?
There are 3 main benefits of using digital printing technology over litho printing.
- Cost Effectiveness – With the lower cost of set up, digital leaflet printing is usually more cost effective in print runs up to 5,000 quantity.
- Personalisation – With digital printing each sheet printed is unique and so these individual sheets can be personalised. This is hugely effective for targeted marketing campaigns.
- Speed of service – Digitally printed leaflets can be printed and ready for shipping in hours. It’s our aim to continuously reduce the lead-time of all our printed products, while retaining quality of print and customer service standards.
Before the advent of digital printing technology, the majority of printing fell under the remit of lithographic printers. Certainly some companies used screen printing or flexographic machines, however, litho presses we the most prevalent within the printing industry.
Here at kaizenprint.co.uk we are primarily a digital printer, however as we are bound by our clients to give the best value and quality possible, we will use lithographic printing for leaflets in a variety of cases. These are usually when:
- When the quantity is greater than 5,000 – Due to the method of printing, lithographic print has a higher set up cost than digital printing. However as quantity increases, this cost is spread over the print run and so usually when the quantity increases above 5,000 it becomes more cost efficient to litho print leaflets.
- Colour replication – Digital printing technology advances daily and our digital printers rival litho presses on the majority of projects. However, there are some colours that litho presses just replicate better. Where we believe a job will be better suited to litho printing we’ll always make that recommendation. With that said, we’re incredibly fussy with print and our standards are second to none. If we’re happy with the print, we’re confident you will be also.
Our recommended specification
- Our recommendation for printed leaflets are A5 size, printed on both sides on 170gsm silk paper.
- For clients wanting a more robust card stock, we suggest the 350gsm silk paper. This is is postcard thick.
- For clients requiring a more cost effective paper option, we can reduce the paper to a 130gsm weight. This would definitely result in cheap leaflet printing
Leaflets – Frequently Asked Questions
We’re asked questions about our leaflets on a daily basis. Below we’ve put together a list of the most frequently asked questions and the answers we give. Have a question not answered below? Get in touch with our team via the contact form. We’re only too happy to help.
On a leaflet or flyer we require 3mm bleed on all edges. This can be done automatically in Indesign or Illustrator using the document details pane.
Alternatively is you are using photoshop, word, powerpoint or other software, make your artboard 6mm bigger on the horizontal and vertical axises.
Image size very much depends on the size of leaflet printing you are buying. A better way to understand image size is to check the resolution of the image when it is placed into the leaflet design. This should always be a minimum of 300dpi when at full size of the usage within the design.
To find the resolution of your image within Indesign, select the image and check the info tab. The effective dpi is the measurement you want to work with.
Most of our clients will use a professional design software such as Adobe Indesign or Illustrator. These would be the industry standards for professional graphic designers are are certainly the tools used in our design studio.
However with that said, there are many other tools available now to create great designs including tools for non-designers. These include: Canva, Microsoft Word or Powerpoint and Google Docs. There are tutorials on Youtube for all of the above showing you how to design a flyer using these programmes.
With the rise in digital printing equipment, such as the printers we use here ay kaizenprint.co.uk, the lead-times for leaflet printing have gotten quicker and quicker. Usually, small quantities up to 1000 leaflets are shipped within 24 hours.
The quick answer is right here on kaizenprint.co.uk. As an online printer, we operate in a very efficient and competitive marketplace. Keeping this in mind we always have to put our best price forward first time. All our leaflet prices are upfront on our leaflet printing product pages. This way you can easily see the prices and order your leaflets in record time.
Absolutely nothing. The terms are interchangeable. We’ll understand if you want a flyer, you mean leaflet and if you ask for a leaflet, you mean flyer.
In certain instances leaflets are VAT applicable and in others they are VAT exempt. We follow the HMRC guidelines available online here on all orders.
Most flyers & leaflets are usually zero rated for VAT purposes. This means you don’t need to add VAT to the prices listed and VAT is not automatically added during the checkout process.
However, there are a few exceptions where flyers become VAT applicable. VAT is chargeable on a leaflet that:
- Is designed to be written on
- Is to be used to obtain a discount for goods or services
- Is used for admission purposes (such as a ticket)
Being just a few minutes drive from Belfast City centre, we are in a prime position to help all our customers with leaflet printing in Belfast. We offer some of the best prices around. Coupled with industry leading customer service you can be assured of some of the best quality leaflets in Belfast.
We have 3 options for delivery across the UK & Ireland.
Belfast City Centre – Our delivery team will hand deliver your print within the greater city centre area.
Next Day Courier – We offer next day courier service with DPD & Parcelforce. This is a tracked and signed for service.
2 Working Day Delivery – A less expensive option for delivery with tracking via our courier service.
If you are in a hurry for your leaflets, you are more than welcome to collect these from our office, which from January 2019 will be: Kaizen Print, Jennymount Business Park, North Derby Street, Belfast BT15 3HL.
Leaflet Printing Options
We offer a huge range of options when it comes to leaflet printing. Below we’ve outlined many of the options and given an introduction to each. This way you’ll be able to choose the perfect specification for your leaflets.
Silk paper, sometimes called Satin paper has a smooth surface. Silk paper stocks fall between our uncoated and gloss finishes. Silk paper would be our most commonly requested paper choice across all our product ranges.
Where the coated paper stocks of silk and gloss stop the ink from soaking into the page, creating a more vibrant colour. Uncoated paper allows the ink to sink in. This creates more muted tones that some describe as having a warmth to the print.
There’s a very slight texture to uncoated stocks which proves to be very popular.
Gloss paper refers to any coated paper stock designed to present a shiny appearance.
We recommend gloss (or silk) paper for projects with extremely vibrant imagery. Of all our paper stocks, gloss has been in decline of use, with preference over uncoated and silk papers. However this is very much a personal preference.
When considering any leaflet or flyer printing project, paper size is the one of the most important considerations. Below we outline some of the most commonly chosen page sizes for our customers buying leaflets.
Top Tip: When giving measurements for paper size in printing, it is common practice to lead with the width and then the height – width x height. We have shown our sizes like this below.
A4
A4 Paper size: 210×297 mm or 8.27×11.69 inches
A4 is one of the most common paper sizes used in leaflet printing. Not only is it popular for flyers, but it is the standard for letterheads and many familiar brochures.
A5
A5 Paper size: 148×210 mm or 5.83×8.27 inches
When working in standard A-sizes, each time we increase the number (A4 to A5), we split the document in half. An A5 is literally an A4 folded in half. A5 is our most popularly printed leaflet.
A6
A6 Paper size: 105×148mm or 4.1 x 5.8 inches
The A6 leaflet is the common postcard size. It is extremely popular for small runs of flyer printing including those for nightclubs and coffee shops.
DL (1/3 A4)
Paper size: 210×99 mm or 8.66×4.33 inches
DL is a common envelope size (220x110mm). It is a misconception that the print version of DL is also this size. However the true size of DL in print is 210x99mm or 1/3 of an A4 sheet. This allows the leaflet to fit snugly in a DL envelope. DL stands for DL stands for dimension lengthwise
Paper Weights
In each of the paper types in the previous tab we offer a range of weights to suit all purposes of leaflet printing and of course budgets.
If you’re unfamiliar with paper weight, the higher the number, the thicker the leaflet. We offer the following weights of leaflets:
- 130gsm – our thinnest and cheapest flyer paper
- 170gsm – the most common paper for leaflet and flyer printing
- 250gsm
- 300gsm
- 350gsm – heavyweight, postcard thick paper
Folded leaflets are discussed extensively in this article, however this is the most common form of finishing on our leaflet printing.
On the heavier card stocks, folding isn’t possible with current technology restrictions. In instances like this, we recommend creasing the card to allow for hand folding prior to distribution.
As our leaflets are printed on larger SRA3 sheets, each order must be trimmed to size. Whether you order A3 A4, A5 or A6 leaflets we’ll expertly trim the leaflets to the correct size using our guillotines.
Within our digitally printed leaflet range, we can number or personalise your leaflets individually. This is due to each sheet printed being completely unique. There is usually an additional charge for this service as a number of different process to be considered. We recommend you chat to our team before starting any personalisation or numbering design.
Leaflet Folding Options
While many of the leaflets we print are trimmed to size, packed and shipped to clients, there are many occasions when clients require folded leaflet printing.
Below we’ve outlined some of the most common folding options with notes on how to set up your artwork correctly to ensure your folded leaflet is perfect.
Half fold leaflets are a very common form of leaflet print finishing. The naming of this type of print/finishing is derived from taking the flat size and folding to the finished size.
For example: A4 to A5 Folded Leaflet or A3 to A4 Folded Leaflet. Alternatively, these may just be called by the finished size, A5 Folded Leaflet.
Half folds can either be on the horizontal or vertical axis.
A C-fold or Roll Fold leaflet can have 6 or 8 sections depending on size. An A4 leaflet for example would commonly have 3 sections on each side and a larger 396x210mm leaflet would have 4 panels on each side. Each panel on either document should be 99x210mm.
Below we’ve shown a 6 panel A4 leaflet with a roll fold. As you can see from the image, design considerations are required as the front page is on the right hand panel and the back on the far left. The inner pages flow left to right as normal.
It is common practice for the front panel of the C-fold leaflet will be left slightly wider than the inner pages, however please design all panels at equal size and our Pre-press team will set this us during the printing process.
Example of C-fold leaflet design layout
One of the most common issues we see with roll fold or c-fold leaflets is that the designer puts the front and back pages in the incorrect position. Use the example above as a guide to creating the perfect design.
On a A4 folded leaflet all pages are 99mm wide x 210mm tall. However designing these as a single A4 document is common practice. Remember to add your bleed and crop marks (we don’t require fold lines).
Z-Fold leaflets are sometimes called Accordion Fold leaflets. They’d be less common than other folds, but certainly serve a great purpose.
The front and the back panels are the most important positions to consider. The back panel in this instance is on the other side from the front and so this must be planned carefully at design to ensure the flow is not interrupted.
Like roll fold leaflets, we do ask you to design z-fold leaflets as flat pages. Each panel should be designed at the same size and we will finish the leaflets based on the fold option selected.
Gate folds are one of the three most common types of folds behind roll and accordion folds.
As the name suggests, the gate comes from the fact these leaflets open somewhat like a gate where the folds are hinged at the back and meet in the centre (much like a double gate).
As you can see from the example to the right hand side, two panels make up the front. This can be quite challenging for graphic designers and very much so for our print finishing teams. However the finish when executed correctly is outstanding.
Leaflet Print Design & Print Gallery
We have printed millions of leaflets for customers all across the UK & Ireland. Below is a selection of some of our favourite leaflet designs printed by our specialist litho and digital printers.
