| Creating CD Booklet
Printer Spreads
CD
DUPLICATION
For inexperienced
designers, figuring out the correct page sequencing when
designing a CD Booklet can be rather confusing. This article
is intended to clarify the difference between what looks
right and what is actually right. In short, Printer Spreads
versus Reader Spreads.
If you'd like to add
printed biographical information or song lyrics to your CD
duplication or CD manufacturing project you will likely need
to incorporate a CD booklet into your budget and designs.
Booklets tend to be more
popular than folders because were much more accustomed to
the format of a booklet. Just like a book or magazine, a
booklet is folded in half and is stapled in the middle, so
they are very compact and easy to browse through.
Printer
Spread Page Sequencing
Designing the booklet for
your CD duplication or CD manufacturing project shares many
of the same design rules that apply to every other aspect of
your project, but there is one commonly overlooked aspect we
want to bring to your attention: Printer Spreads.
Through a whole lifetime
of familiarity with books and magazines we know that page 3
comes after page 2 and then page 4 comes after page 3. This
is absolutely correct after a book has been printed, cut,
assembled and stitched but you actually have to design it
counter-intuitively.
For the purposes of your
CD duplication or CD manufacturing project your booklet is a
series of 2 panel folders that are stacked together, stapled
and then folded to create the book. There is a specific page
order required to assure the booklet has the correct page
sequence after it has been assembled, and this sequence (or
page order) is referred to as Printer Spreads.
Create A
Mock-Up
The best way for you to
see this is to make a Printer Spread mock-up of something
simple. Here's how you can create a Printer Spread mock-up
of a 4 panel (8 page) booklet using two pieces of scrap
paper:
►
Stack two pieces of paper
together (face to face).
►
Fold the stack evenly in
half.
►
Put a staple in the fold
to keep the two pieces of paper together as
to create a booklet.
►
Now number each page
beginning with the front cover as page 1.
►
After you've finished
remove the staple and take the booklet apart.
(Click on the image to view full size)
If you've done this
correctly you should have a total of eight pages that relate
to each other as follows:
[Page 8 - Page 1]
[Page 2 - Page 7]
[Page 6 - Page 3]
[Page 4 - Page 5]
What is
"Reader Spread" Page Sequencing?
Now having said all of
that, and we don't want to confuse you, but it is important
that you know the difference between Printer Spreads and
Reader Spreads.
Due to the
counter-intuitive page sequence involved with Printer
Spreads its easy to image that proofing a large booklet for
your CD duplication or CD manufacturing project could get
rather confusing. Reader Spreads can be created so the pages
are formatted in the same intuitive way that the reader
would experience them when viewing the finished booklet
(after the booklet was assembled and stitched). As you
learned from creating your mock-up, while Reader Spreads are
all well and good for viewing the pages in a more
true-to-life manner you cannot use Reader Spread page
sequencing for printing or it would lead to rather
disastrous results. |
