More To It Than Designing A Pocket Folder

For pocket folders and kit holders, they are often made to do a very difficult task of holding important data into their fold and at the same time maintain an attractive exterior despite the many handling and abuses they get from your target customers. And they do your task without any complaints whatsoever.

Nevertheless, we tend to forget their significance and take it for granted that our folder printing project takes secondary importance to that of our main marketing materials such as brochures, flyers, catalogs and even postcards.


But do we not realize that our folders are the very first things that our target clients see even before they could get their hands on our brochures, flyers or catalogs? We sometimes forget this very important fact that we often do not provide great attention to our folder printing designs.

So how do we create a folder printing project that could get our main marketing materials the attention they deserve? There's more to it than designing a pocket folder. Let's go over the basic layout for a flat one-page design for your folder printing project:

For the standard 9-1/1" x 12" folder that can hold a letter sized insert, we can always use Adobe Illustrator to come up with a flat, one-page layout.

Step 1: Create a new file in Adobe Illustrator for your folder printing design.

Step 2: Lay out your guidelines and specifications for the measurement of your folder. You need to determine the dimensions to both the horizontal, as well as the vertical edges for the flaps of your folder.

Step 3: When your dimensions are in place, sketch a box that can accommodate your background and fill it with color that you're going to use throughout your folder printing project. Don't forget to adjust your box to also accommodate for bleeds.

Step 4: Add the flaps to your folder. Draw a flap using the tool that you are most comfortable with. Extend your flap from the background to the guide you placed in your folder. These flaps will be glued after you finished with your folder printing.

Step 5: Create a similar flap, but do it on the other side of your background.

Step 6: Finally, put your images and text that you want to be seen in your folder when printed.

One final advice: if you happen to decide on a folder that is outside the standard requirements, the best thing to do is to discuss it with your folder printing company. They have the capability and the expertise to do the dirty work for you- from converting your files to laying them out for final printing. You just have to keep one thing in mind: additional work means additional expense. So make your decisions very carefully. It would go a long way in giving you the folder printing project according to your budget requirements.