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Your catalog printing pieces are strong marketing tools to use to promote your products and services. In fact, most business owners use catalogs for their promotional campaign because they are convenient to read, easy to handle, and flexible.

Nevertheless, just like any other marketing medium, your catalog printing project needs to be well planned not only from the start of the design and until the printing process; you should also look after the finishing stage when your catalog printing outfit puts the final touches. Your catalog printing project can only be considered well done if and when you put quality planning and well thought of decisions from start to finish.

There are several finishing options available for you to choose from. As the catalog printing per se is important to your marketing campaign, producing excellent quality catalogs include the finishing touches that are functional and well planned even at the beginning. Your catalog printing design, size and format, layout, as well as your paper stock and ink will determine what kind of finishing would be appropriate for your project.

For example, when you want an 8 ' by 11 tri-fold catalogs, your catalog printing layout should be made as to consider the cover and area for the mailing address. You should consider that they are still at the right place even after you've finished with the folding process.

For a heavier stock, the finishing option should be scoring because you might want to consider the effect to the paper and ink once you've applied the fold.

And so on and so forth'

Here are ways to polish off your catalog printing projects:

1 ' Folding. Considered the most widely used catalog printing finish, folding provides a cost effective alternative but still allows you to send a solid and clear message to your target audience. With a much lower cost, the folding method lets you create a more flexible catalog with many pages. A standard size of 8 ' x 11 can have as much as 6 panels or pages, and even more, with the application of a tri-fold or a z-fold. On the other hand, a half fold gives you a single fold with 4 pages to work on.

2 ' Scoring. In contrast, the scoring method allows you a more durable finishing touch to your catalog printing project using heavier paper stock and ink coverage. Scoring helps you avoid cracking at the fold throughout your catalogs. So be sure to ask for the scoring method from your catalog printer if you decide to utilize heavy paper and ink.

3 'Binding, Saddle Stitching, etc. Other binding and finishing options include binding, saddle stitching, and perfect binding.

In addition to folding, the binding method is also frequently used in catalog printing projects. When designing a catalog with 4 or more pages, binding is more appropriate because it lets you style your print catalogs according to your desired number of pages.

There are two binding options available: (1) perfect binding, and (2) saddle stitching.

Perfect binding is commonly used for an upscale and more costly finishing for your catalog printing because it allows for your catalog printing pieces to stay intact even with frequent handling. It is also more appropriate for catalogs that have more than 80 pages. Catalog printers use an adhesive or heavy glue to bind the backbone of the pages, just like a paperback or magazine.

Saddle stitching, on the other hand, uses staples to hold the catalog printing pages together. This method is normally applied on catalogs that have less than 80 pages.

There are still other finishing and binding options available in the catalog printing market. Just remember to ask your catalog printer on what may be the most suitable finish for your catalog printing pieces. And most of all, select what is within your budget.