Brochures
Brochures are commonly defined as a small booklet or pamphlet, often containing promotional material or product information. Brochures are single sheet documents usually printed in one or two colors or in a full four color printing process. Three common sizes that are considered standard by any brochure printing company are 8-1/2 x 11 (standard brochure size), 8-1/2 x 14 (legal page size), and 11 x 17. XpressPrint additionally offers brochure design and brochure printing in the sizes of 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 (half-page size), 8 x 10, 9 x 12, 12 x 18, 17 x 22, and 9 x 16.
Brochure Types
Two common brochure styles are single sheet and booklet forms. When multiple sheets are printed brochures are commonly referred to as booklets or catalogs.
Common types of brochures are the bi-fold brochure (a single page printed on both sides and folded in half) and the tri-fold brochure (the same, but folded in thirds). A bi-fold brochure results in four panels (two panels per side), while a tri-fold brochure results in six panels (three panels on each side).
Other types of brochure arrangements are: the accordion or "Z-fold" method, the "Roll-fold" , “Gate-Fold”, and the “Parallel-Fold." Larger sheets, such as those with detailed maps or expansive photo spreads, are folded into four, five, or six panels.
Booklets are made of multiple sheets, bi-fold brochures, often saddle stitched (stapled on the creased edge) or "perfect bound" like a paperback book, and result in eight panels or more. A four-page booklet is also known as a bi-fold brochure or more commonely as a newsletter.
Brochure Marketing
Brochures can be used in many different ways and may advertise places, people, events, businesses, non-profit organizations, products, services, etc. Bi-fold brochures can be utilized as promotional handouts, made available in display racks, sent as direct mail, marketing or while a tri-fold brochure may be placed in comprehensive marketing kits to further promote a business, product or service.
City organizations use promotional brochures to market their community to tourists, disseminate important community news and inform citizens of public issues, whereas tourist attractions may use marketing brochures to advertise to tourists but also may highlight specific events and membership opportunities. Tourist industry businesses may place promotional brochures in a brochure stands at strategic locations to reach consumers already shopping for similar items, looking for places to visit, or simply looking for fun things to do.
Politicians use marketing brochures and direct mail postcard marketing to campaign for an elected office position, educate constituents regarding important policies and disseminate information about public issues. Businesses use marketing brochures, usually a tri-fold brochure, as sales tools to introduce themselves and promote their products and services, while product brochures can be used to provide comprehensive product details and benefits or services. Non-Profit organizations can utilize promotional brochures to educate people regarding their cause and help raise money. One of the most common uses for bi-fold brochures are hand outs at events such as an open house, business convention, fundraiser, or trade show. Click here to learn more about brochure designs.
Terminology For Brochures
Flat vs. Finished Size
The flat size is the exact, trimmed dimension of the brochure when laid flat. This measurement should include all folding compensations, but never includes bleed allowances because bleed is pulled past the edge of the page in the digital document. Digital document page dimensions and flat size always should be the same measurement.
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Finished size is the exact dimension of the brochure when folded and trimmed to final size. When providing dimensions to XpressPrint, be sure to mention width first, then height—this often gets reversed and can cause problems for our estimators.
Panels vs. Pages
The most common mix-up in brochure folding terminology is the difference between panels and pages. Panels are two-sided sections of the final folded piece, defined by the crease of the fold. A page is one side of a panel.
For example: The accordion brochure fold above is three seperate panels, each of the panels is two-sided, and each side is considered a page—so the three-panel accordion has six pages. If that same fold is made a broadside accordion instead, it then changes to six panels (although it’s finished in a three-panel accordion format) and the page count rises to 12.