Master Perfect Bound Artwork in 5 Minutes. Ultimate File Set-Up Guides
We know your time is precious but when you come to prepare your artwork definitely take 5 minutes to read through our step by step file set up pages. The illustrated guides make the process super easy and will answer 99% of the questions you may have.
To print your perfect bound books, we need 2 PDF files.
One for the cover spreads, one for the inside pages. Easy.
The cover file will be two pages and will be your outer and inner cover spreads. To make things super easy we have a video tutorial and downloadable templates here.
Have a watch of this video then carry on down this page once you have prepared the cover spreads.
Quick Cheat Sheet for Perfect Bound Cover Set-Up
Your perfect bound cover PDF has 2 pages:
Page 1 is the outer cover spread with the back cover on the left, the correct spine size through the middle and the front cover on the right.
Page 2 is the inside front cover on the left, a blank area through the middle for the width of the spine (this is where we bind on your inside pages so ideally this area will be left white). The inside back cover is on the right.
Preparing Your Inside Pages
The inside pages are a lot easier and are one file supplied as single pages in reading order. The first page of this file is the first right hand page of your book. The running order of your book is: front cover, inside front cover then the first right hand page.
It might be easier to design your work as spreads, so when you come to export it from InDesign to pdf, choose Pages and InDesign will work it's magic.
Crucial things to remember
We do need 3mm bleed on the edges of your pages. When you come to prepare your artwork for print and before you send it to us, watch this video which shows how to add bleed and why we need it. We won't go to print without the bleed so adding it from the start saves time.
Your export settings in Adobe InDesign should look like this.
Three things to notice:
- PDFx1a:2001 in the top dropdown menu.
- Crop Marks are ticked.
- Each of the bleed boxes is '3mm'.
Ideally, your file will be saved as PDFx1a:2001 when exported. If this is not available, do just choose the best quality output possible. You can select this from the top drop-down menu when you export to PDF.
Adobe InDesign is the industry standard for page layout
[We just need a PDF so use your personal favourite design program]
All of our website's guides on file set-up are for Adobe InDesign which you can get on a one-week free trial. However, as long as you can export your finished work to a high res pdf, do feel free to use your favourite program. Other options are Affinity Publisher, Quark Express, Illustrator, and even Word or Publisher. The same principles and guides still apply when preparing your layout. Canva is a possibility too but is primarily for digital design that will be used on website and on screen, rather than in print.
So, you don't need to have InDesign to send work to print with us, as long as you can send us a high quality pdf then we can print for you. The export setting will be different depending on which program to use but always choose 'High Quality' or 'Maximum' to ensure the work is crisp and in focus when printed.
If you are an Art Student then learning InDesign now will add an extra string to your bow and additional asset on you C.V for when you go to find a job after Uni.
Ex Why Zed are here to help
If you cannot set up your artwork, do ask. We have a wealth of print knowledge and if it is a simple fix to make your files print ready, we will do our best to help.
If you have never printed anything before and this all sounds like a foreign language, don’t worry, remember we are here to help on email, phone and live chat. If it is out of office hours then all of the answers are all in the Resource section on our website too.
