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Before we look more closely at how to prepare artwork for a DL
brochure, we need to establish exactly what size DL actually is. For
those of you who are not sure, it’s a third of an A4 sheet; 210mm x
99mm. Remember, 210mm x 99mm.
The most obvious way to construct this would be to create an
A4 document and divide it into three panels of 99mm (see figure
6.1). The problem doing this is the panel that tucks inside the other
two needs to be slightly narrower (about 2 to 3mm) to allow the
brochure to lie completely flat when folded.
You may think that simply adjusting the measurements to
100mm, 100mm and 97mm would solve the problem and to a
certain extent you would be right. However, the new problem you
have created here is; the finished size of the brochure is no longer
true DL.
If this is OK with you, you should let your printer know before
they try and fold it to the correct size.
Another incorrect method I come across regularly is to create a
3 page facing pages document (see figure 6.2). The obvious problem
here is, currently in InDesign you cannot define a document with
different page sizes, so the tuck in page cannot be narrower.
The solution is very straightforward; often the best solutions are.
Simply create your document 295mm x 210mm and divide it into
3 panels of 99mm, 99mm and 97mm. This way you allow 2mm for
the tuck-in and the finished folded size is 210mm x 99mm; true DL
(see figure 6.3). Remember the opposite side is a mirror image.
The same principle applies if the brochure has eight or more
pages, in each instance where pages tuck-in, they MUST be
narrower than the pages they tuck inside of (see figure 6.4).
If you follow this advice and are accurate with your artwork
construction then the results will be exactly as you expect.
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