A5 Booklets
16pp Self Cover onto 120gsm Uncoated
Four colour print throughout
Staple bound
Extra Time Magazine wanted a compact A5 zine to sit alongside the main issue — a neat “bonus” print piece that could carry extra depth without bloating the magazine itself. The wraparound cover image and restrained duotone styling do a lot of heavy lifting: it feels confident, classy, and instantly collectible.
This is exactly the kind of add-on that makes a football culture project feel like a proper artefact — not just something you read, but something you keep.
If you’re planning your own zine, start with our zine printing service — and if you like a clear, guided process, our Print Journey hub is the best place to begin.
This A5 booklet accompanied Extra Time Magazine as a focused piece on Chinatown Soccer Club. The content mix is spot-on for the audience: photography-led storytelling, interview quotes set with plenty of breathing space, and editorial pages that pace the flip nicely.
Because it’s a separate booklet, the zine gets to feel more intimate than the main issue. It’s the kind of format that invites re-reading — quick to pick up, easy to carry, and perfect for passing to a mate after a match.
Spec summary
Going self-cover on a tactile uncoated stock keeps everything feeling consistent in the hand — no “separate cover” stiffness, just a smooth, zine-like flex as you open it. It’s also a smart way to keep a companion booklet cost-effective while still looking intentional.
If you’re setting up artwork for this binding, our wire stitching set-up guide is the one to bookmark.
And for paper feel, this guide helps you choose with confidence.
The cover is the first win. That wraparound image gives the booklet momentum before you’ve even opened it — it looks great in the hand, and it looks even better in a stack. The duotone treatment keeps it refined and editorial, which suits the subject matter and avoids the “match programme” look.
Inside, the layouts balance personality and clarity: strong photography, clear quotes, and enough white space to let the interviews land. It’s additional content, but it never feels like leftovers.
This project had a real-world deadline and moving parts: proofing first, then a full run once the test print was approved. The emails show the same thing we see all the time with magazine teams — you’re juggling production, release dates, and logistics across time zones.
When the timeline tightened around an event, we split delivery so a small batch could land first for display, while the rest followed once everything (including extras) was ready. Practical, calm, and focused on what mattered most for launch week.
Ready to plan something similar? Our Printed Project Builder is a great place to map the spec before you upload files.
And when you’re ready to go.
A key detail from our side: you can’t physically bind a smaller stapled booklet inside a larger perfect bound magazine. So instead, we helped create a tidy “bundle” solution — shrink wrapping the magazine together with the A5 zine and sticker sheets.
It’s a simple fix, but it’s a big upgrade for how the final product is received: one clean pack, easy to sell, easy to ship, and it looks properly finished on arrival. (And yes — we can print stickers too)
