The Different Folding Techniques in Printing

One of the most common printing finish that anyone will ever see is folding. Folding is a procedure that is commonly done after printing and cutting. It is achieved using special devices called folders, which folds the material either off-line or in-line, depending on the preset and design plan. Folding is usually done to create maps, magazine, newspapers, newspaper inserts, brochures, etc. This thorough process has various results like the Tri-fold, Z-fold and other folding styles as well. We’ll tackle about their differences, the suitable material size and other factors about each one.

Different Folding Styles and How They’re Done

At most, there are around 7 folding techniques that printing services provide to their customers. Most of them can be used for general purposes, while others have very specific functionalities and can only be used for certain types of materials.

Letter Fold

The letter fold, also known as C-fold, is the most common method of Tri-Folding a document. This method uses two parallel folds to form six panels of roughly the identical size, found on the three panels on each side of the paper.

Tri-Fold

As its name suggests, tri-fold is a technique of folding the product material three times and in the process, it makes a total of 6 panels. It is widely used for brochures.

Double Parallel Fold

The product material is folded in half and in the same direction twice. The folding process results in the creation of 8 panels, 2 for the front and for the back.

Half-Fold

This technique is perfect for simple business pamphlets and presentations. The process is quite simple and only includes folding the product material in half, creating 4 panels.

Z-Fold

The product material is folded in thirds in a jagged fashion. The resulting brochure opens up like an accordion and takes up the shape of the letter Z.

Double Gate Fold

With this technique, the paper is folded inwards, both on the left and right sides, and then each side would meet in the middle. The material is then folded again at the middle, creating a total of 8 panels from the front and back.

Single Gate Fold

It has the same process as the Double Gate Fold, with the left and right sides folded inwards and meeting in the middle. But instead of having a total of 8 panels, it only has 6, 3 in the front and 3 in the back.

The techniques mentioned here are but a few samples of the vast number that they have. There are other folds like accordion fold, four-panel fold, barrel (roll) fold and many more. Make sure the printing service you plan on buying from if they are capable of the different folding styles in printing first, before actually paying for their service. It’s best that they can offer and provide you with multiple options because this would tell a lot about their experience and expertise about printing and folding.

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