Brochure Sizes

On a tri-fold, one panel folds inside the other two. If all three panels are exactly a third of the sheet, that inner panel hits the fold before the brochure closes, and the finished piece bows open or creases along the wrong line.

So the fold-in panel is made about 1/16 inch narrower. On an 11 inch tri-fold that gives two panels of 3 11/16 inches and a fold-in panel of 3 5/8 inches. It is the single most common mistake on a folded piece, because a third of 11 is 3.667 and it looks right in the file.

A z-fold does not have this problem. Nothing folds inside anything, so all three panels are an equal third. The calculator applies the right rule for whichever fold you pick.

Half fold gives four pages from one sheet and is the simplest. Tri-fold, or letter fold, gives six panels and is the standard brochure and the one that fits a #10 envelope. Z-fold gives the same six panels but opens like a concertina, so all three panels can be seen at once.

Gate fold has two wings that fold in to meet in the middle, which makes an opening reveal. Roll fold and double parallel fold both give eight panels from one sheet, roll fold by wrapping each panel inside the next and double parallel by folding the sheet in half and in half again.

Build the brochure flat, as one spread at the full sheet size, with the fold positions marked as guides rather than drawn on the artwork. Give the whole sheet 0.125 inches of bleed, not each panel.

Keep text 0.125 inches inside the trim and, more importantly, 0.125 inches away from every fold line. Ink cracks along a fold on a heavy stock, and a headline straddling a crease reads badly even when the fold is perfect.