You Gotta Know When to Fold Em’

Adding Visual Interest To Your Printed Marketing With Folding

Organizations everywhere will need a printed touch point to represent who they are and what they do. As marketers and designers, we are always trying to find new and exciting ways to present the organizations we work for. One way to spice up your print marketing is to try folding it in a new and unique way.

Folding paper; it’s a thing. It’s actually more than just a thing, it’s an entire industry of its own. There are people and companies that exist for the sole purpose of providing dielines, folding machines, and designers specializing in folded marketing pieces. Right now unique folding techniques are a hot trend in printing design. If done well, it allows an audience to interact and experience the brand in ways that they couldn’t before.

Before You Start Folding

Before you get a dieline and start designing; narrow down your message and figure out your distribution.

Decide on a message

Narrow down your message. Remember, too much information can be overwhelming and cause the viewer to skim or ignore the printed piece. Focus your message and direct to other resources. Get an idea of how big your piece will need to be and get as much of the written content ready before looking at a design.

Figure out distribution

How is your audience receiving this piece? Is it a direct mail campaign or is it information to be handed out at a tradeshow? Figure out how you will be delivering the piece before you start designing it. Weight, thickness, and materials all have to do with the mailability of your piece. Planning this in the beginning, can save you money in the long run.

Finding The Right Fold

Once you’ve gathered the message and distribution of your piece it is time to find the right folding technique.

Search for Inspiration

Design Websites
Start looking at work done by other designers. There are several sites dedicated to showcasing design work. Behance, Pinterest, and The Dieline (mostly packaging, but still a good place for inspiration) are all great places to start. For more design tips, check out our archive of design blogs here.

Find Inspiration Around You
Everyday we encounter print marketing. Start looking in your mailbox for inspiration. Save things you both love and dislike. If you are attending a trade show or industry event, collect print pieces from vendors and competitors. Keep your eyes open for interesting design and folding techniques.

The Fold Factory
An excellent source for folding inspiration is The Fold Factory YouTube channel. Every week host, Trisha Witkowski, features a new and interesting fold. Watch a few of their YouTube videos and let the creative juices flow.

Consult a Commercial Printing Company

Once you have an idea of what you’d like you to do, contact your print rep. Tell them your message, how it will be distributed, and what you’ve found for inspiration. A good print rep will be able to give you pointers on how to create a unique piece but stay within budget. Finding the right paper will be equally important as finding the right folding technique and print reps tend to have expert paper knowledge.

We all just want to stand out among the crowd. It is what we are striving to do when it comes to branding and marketing. You can do this with your print marketing. In print it all comes down to print quality, good design, and unique presentation. By taking a different approach to how your brochure is folded, you can engage your audience in a new and memorable way.