How to Cut & Fold Printed Materials
- 1). Launch your word processing or graphics-editing program and click the 'File' drop-down menu and create a new document. For best results, use a graphics-editing program like Photoshop or GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program). Commonly used word processing programs like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice will work for this project as well.
- 2). Adjust the document settings. Enter the settings for your page size and orientation. This information will change depending what kind of materials you will be printing.
Create an 8 x 10.5 inch document and select the horizontal (landscape) page orientation to make a brochure or birthday card. To create an invitation, business cards, or a set of handbill fliers, set the document at 8 x 10.5 inches. In this case, be sure to adjust the document to a vertical (portrait) page orientation. - 3). Adjust your margins to .125 and set the document bleed. If you plan cut the document after printing, in the case of business cards or quarter-page handbills for instance, you will need to set a bleed of at least .125 to allow your document to have color or images that extend beyond the page borders. The bleed basically refers to the portion of the document that overlaps the point where you will trim the final printed document.
- 4). Create the structure of the document. Some designers also like to place faint lines on the document where the folds will go to help them arrange the text and graphics and slice the document properly. Use the program's line tool to add fold lines and then format the lines so that they appear at 25 percent opacity.
To make a tri-fold brochure, create three vertical lines with the line tool and space them across the document equally.
To make a birthday card or invitation, place a vertical line in the middle of the document to create two spaces.
To create a set of business cards, place a vertical line in the middle of the document and then equally space three horizontal lines across the document to create eight rectangles.
To make handbill fliers, place one vertical and one horizontal line in the middle of the document to create four quadrants. - 5). Add content to the page using text boxes. Text boxes allow text to be moved across the page, which is helpful when building documents like brochures, for instance, which sometimes can have complicated folds. Regardless as to what type of materials you're creating, you will need to leave at least .25 inch of space between your text and any of the line guides.
Don't worry about the text getting to close to the edges of the document. The slightly smaller letter-size document prevents text from getting cut of during the printing process and creates an attractive border around the entire document.
Remember, if you're planning a design featuring a colored border along the outside edges of document, extend the colored area to the bleed mark that lies beyond the edge of the page. This will prevent you from having unwanted white space when you slice the document (reference 1). - 6). Adjust the printer setting and print the document. Begin by selecting the proper printer and proper page size. Since you will be cutting and folding the document, you will need to make sure the 'Print Crop Marks' option is selected before printing. Crop marks serve as guides to help you cut the document properly once it's printed. You can also print the document with the line guide layers showing to serve as cut lines. Adjust the opacity of the lines to prevent obscuring your designs.
- 7). Cut and fold the printed document. Use the crop marks as a guide to assist you as you cut out the document. Use a durable ruler as a straight edge and a crafting blade to create sharp crisp edges. Once you've cut out the design from inside of the crop marks, use the ruler and crafting blade to score the areas where the document should fold. Drag the dull edge of the crafting blade along the fold lines to create folds. Be careful to use gentle force so that you don't slice your material or your hand.
Source...