At PRINTINGBROCHURE.NET, our main aim is to inform about brochure printing process in a clear way. Below you will find the first steps that printing flyers, bifold, and trifold involves.

Choosing a Printer

In order to choose a quality printer the best you can do is to listen to the advice of your close friends, relative, partners, etc. who have already worked with many different printers. They will certainly advise you on printing services that can guarantee high-quality brochures at affordable prices and fast delivery. Another way to find a reliable printer is by carrying out a detailed search on the Internet about local and online printers.

Files Presentation

In the past, designs were taken to the printer in printing, but with the evolution of technology, today designs are presented in digital files. To have your brochure printed, you will need to take the design of your flyer, bifold or trifold in a file in any of the following PC and Macintosh formats:

Microsoft Word, Publisher, Excel, PowerPoint, PhotoDraw, Home Publishing, Works.

Adobe Pagemaker, Illustrator, Acrobat, Photoshop, InDesign, FrameMaker.

Corel Draw, Lotus, Photo-Paint, Ventura, Word-Perfect, Bryce, Quattro Pro.

Quark XPress.

Apple Works.

Macromedia Freehand, Fireworks.

Serif PhotoPlus, PagePlus, DrawPlus.

Deneba Canvas.

Broderbund PrintMaster, Printshop.

Claris Works.

If your brochure design has been created in a different format, don’t hesitate to consult your printer, since there may be a solution to this problem.

Sample

Once the printer staff has received the files and checked they open, they usually make a sample which will allow you to see how your brochure will look.

Corrections

With this first sample, you will be able to detect and correct any flaws in the brochure so that, when your brochures are printed, you obtain the best results. You may also want to change something that doesn’t look good. That is, redesign some aspects of the brochure to make it more attractive and striking. Ask the designer in charge of your project to guide you throughout the correction phase.

Plates

There are two different frequent methods to print brochures: conventional offset and digital printing. If you are having your brochures printed using the conventional offset system, metallic plates must be created. These metallic plates are essential to the printing process. Firstly, the images in the files are recorded on film negatives. Then, the images from these negatives are transferred to plates that show the brochure just as it will look when printed. As a third step, this plate is burnt on an aluminum plate, onto which the ink will be placed. These plates transfer the design onto a rubber blanket and then to the paper.

It’s of high importance to correct the original files carefully, so as to avoid flaws in the plates when creating them. Besides, creating new plates can be expensive. But, in case you opt for a digital printing service, which is a different version of the offset system, films and plates are not needed.

Printing

Once the plates are ready, and prior to the printing of a great quantity of brochures, a printed test is done to make sure that colors are adjusted and that the design is flawless. In case there are any errors, it’s still possible to redo the plates so as to avoid printing a whole print run that is flawed. The time frame for printing the brochures will depend on the quantity, the type of paper, the type of brochure, its format, and the printer availability. Usually, the estimate time frame is a week, but there are special services for urgent jobs, which have additional costs.

Coating

To coat your brochures is a good thing to do to protect them. When the printing is finished, the brochure paper can be covered with a glossy or matte plastic layer to make the brochures more durable, resistant, and attractive.

Cuts

After printing, coated or not, brochures are cut. Flyers, bifolds and trifold in conventional formats imply right-angled cuts with a guillotine. If formats different from the conventional formats are required, brochures are cut differently, with cutting machines designed specially to do this job. With the setting of bleeds and cutlines, great amounts of paper can be cut at the same time without damaging the design.

Folds

Once brochures are cut, folding them is the phase that follows–in the case of bifolds and trifolds. Generally, every printer offers this service. You can learn more about the different ways brochures can be folded in the section dedicated to this subject.