A5 Casebound Books
Cover onto Black Wibalin Natural
White foiling to outer (this is a stunning combination)
Endpapers printed onto 170gsm Uncoated
304pp Inside pages onto 120gsm Uncoated (27mm spine)
Black ink printing
Casebound (Hardcover, Glued)
GAINS Journal is a 75-day wellbeing journal designed to be used properly – daily, repeatedly, with a pen in hand. So it needed to feel confident and durable from the first touch. We printed it as an A5 casebound hardback with a black Wibalin cloth cover and crisp white foiling – a simple, punchy combination that instantly reads “premium tool” rather than “disposable notebook”.
It’s also a satisfyingly hefty book. With a thick text block and a chunky spine, it has that almost brick-like presence you want for a structured programme – something you’ll keep on your desk and actually stick with.
This is an “inner compass” system built around four pillars. The opening hits you with bold graphic icons straight away, then the pages guide the reader through the 75-day rebuild using calm prompts and repeatable layouts. The content is organised in neat batches, encouraging steady progress rather than a one-off burst of motivation.
Because this is made to be handled every day, we kept the materials practical and tactile. Uncoated stocks keep glare down and make the pages feel inviting to write on, while the hardback build protects the book long-term.
If you’re planning something similar, our hardback book printing service is a good starting point, and our hardback file set-up guide covers the key layout and export details.
The cover does the job in a single glance: big, centred typography; no clutter; and that white foil snapping against the black cloth. Inside, the layouts stay disciplined – plenty of breathing space, consistent rules and line weights, and prompts that feel calm rather than shouty.
One small but important production detail: we advised removing borders on the first and last text pages. In a hardback, the endpapers glue down and naturally hide a few millimetres near the spine, so borders can end up looking uneven. That tiny tweak keeps everything looking intentional.
The project started with a clear brief: a premium clothbound hardback, black-and-white throughout, and a minimal cover with white foiling. We talked through binding options early on, including how section sewing would affect cost and schedule, and the client chose glued binding for speed on the first run.
We also checked the practical stuff that matters for journals: line weight, line spacing, and whether the pages would be comfortable to write on at A5. Once we confirmed the layout would feel right on 120gsm uncoated, the client could export with confidence.
There was a classic pre-Christmas sprint to get everything signed off. Foil dies had already been made, so when a last-minute cover tweak appeared, we kept things moving by sticking with the approved version and getting a final proof signed off quickly.
Alongside the usual file checks and proofing, we stepped in on the fiddly parts: supplying an InDesign template, explaining how to set up foil artwork properly, and positioning the spine elements so the title reads cleanly on a shelf. The client was designing in Canva, so we took the pressure off by rebuilding the cover layout in-house to match the final spine width.
If you want to sanity-check your own files, our file set-up guide and 3mm bleed resource are the quickest way to avoid common export mistakes. When you’re ready, you can start with the Printed Project Builder to get a quote or head straight to ready to order.
Want to see more bound projects like this? Browse our portfolio, or dig into hardback inspiration for more material-and-finish combinations.
