Booklets, catalogues and profiles
A booklet is the one printed object with a rule you cannot design around: a saddle-stitched book has a page count divisible by four, because one folded sheet is four pages. Everything else follows from the binding.
EZ Print prints booklets, catalogues and company profiles in Singapore, and has done since 2017. Saddle stitching takes page counts in multiples of four, from 8 pages to about 64, and it is the binding that opens nearly flat. Perfect binding starts at about 40 pages and gives a printable square spine. Wire-O opens completely flat and takes any page count. Text pages run 128–157 gsm; covers run 250–350 gsm and are usually laminated to stop the spine scuffing. A4 210 × 297 mm and A5 148 × 210 mm are the common sizes, with square 210 × 210 mm trimming from the same sheet. Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days for every binding, and a perfect-bound spine spends part of that window curing before it can be trimmed. Express is quoted per job. EZ Print quotes from the specification and does not publish prices.
Specifications, formats and enquiry details for each product quoted on this service.
A bound book of ruled, dotted or plain pages behind a printed cover, stitched, glued or wire-bound.
Also ordered as: Custom Notebook, Exercise Book, Workbook, Journal, Planner
A multi-page document stitched, glued or wire-bound, from a slim programme to a thick reference.
Also ordered as: Saddle Stitch Booklet, Perfect Bound Booklet, Wire-O Booklet, Programme Booklet, Event Programme
A bound book of products or services, laid out for browsing, with a laminated cover.
Also ordered as: Product Catalogue, Catalog, Company Profile, Corporate Profile, Price List Book
The yearly report to members or shareholders, usually perfect bound so the spine carries a title.
Also ordered as: Corporate Report, Sustainability Report, Impact Report, AGM Report
A periodical issue on coated text stock, stitched for slim issues and glued once the spine is thick.
Also ordered as: Newsletter, Zine, Bulletin, Journal Issue, Comic Book
A reference book that is opened again and again, so it is bound to lie flat or to take handling.
Also ordered as: Manual, Employee Handbook, Guidebook, User Manual, Student Handbook, Instruction Booklet
A book with a rigid printed case around a glued or sewn text block, for keepsakes and yearbooks.
Also ordered as: Hardcase Book, Casebound Book, Photo Book, Yearbook, Coffee Table Book, Commemorative Book
A multi-page menu bound to open flat, behind a laminated cover.
Also ordered as: Bound Menu, Menu Folder, Restaurant Menu Book, Wire-O Menu
Page count, size, binding and whether the cover is a separate stock. Those four decide the imposition, and the imposition decides everything downstream. The A5 page below is drawn at true physical size — including the creep allowance a thick saddle-stitched book eats off the outer edge.
Company profile
The spine margin, drawn
÷ 4
A saddle-stitched booklet has a page count divisible by four, because one folded sheet is four pages. There is no way around it, only ways to fill it.
What to ask for
300 A5 booklets 24 pages plus cover 157 gsm gloss art paper text, 310 gsm matt art card cover 4C/4C throughout Saddle stitched, matt lamination on the outside cover Print-ready PDF as single pages in reading order Needed by — your date
The material
A booklet is two specifications in one job. The text stock decides the weight in the hand and whether the book lies open; the cover stock decides whether it survives a shelf. The edges below are drawn at the measured caliper of the weight named.
Also sold as gloss art text, coated text. Held at 128 and 157 gsm.
The standard text page. Light enough that a 48-page book still closes properly, coated enough that photographs stay sharp.
Also sold as matt coated card, C2S matt. Held at 310, 350 and 400 gsm.
The cover. Heavy enough to protect the text block, and it takes lamination without silvering.
Also sold as uncoated natural, offset paper. Held at 300, 350 and 400 gsm.
Used as a cover where the book should feel like a notebook rather than a catalogue.
Also sold as simili paper, simili, bond paper, woodfree offset.
The light uncoated text paper most manuals, workbooks and internal reports are actually run on, and the sheet this market names directly — a booklet is quoted as so many pages of simili the way a card is quoted as so many gsm of art card. It is lighter than any cover stock and it is meant to be. It is ordered in by named weight for the job, and this estate publishes a weight only for the sheets it holds and has measured, so the weight is settled on the quote rather than here.
The heavier the text stock, the fewer pages a saddle stitch will take before the book stops closing. Past about 64 pages on 157 gsm, perfect binding is the honest answer rather than a heavier staple.The materials library
Creep is real. On a thick saddle-stitched book the inner pages push outward as the sheets nest, so the outer margin of the centre spread trims narrower than the cover. It is compensated in the imposition, not in the file.
Binding is the last operation and the one with the least room to recover. Saddle stitching folds through the spine and opens nearly flat. Perfect binding needs the glue to cure before the book can be trimmed, and that cure is a fixed number of hours no schedule shortens — which is why it is planned for rather than promised around.
| Finish | Tooling | What the reorder pays for |
|---|---|---|
| Round-corneringStandard radii, on a die held as stock tooling | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Matt or gloss laminationSingle pass, both sides | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Creasing and foldingA creasing line is scored above 170 gsm, so a coated sheet does not crack at the fold | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Spot UVNeeds a screen; reads best over matt film | Made once | Kept on file with your approved artwork. The reorder runs from it. |
| Saddle-stitch binding | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Perfect bindingIncludes the glue cure | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Wire-O bindingPunched and wired. Opens completely flat, any page count | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Cover creasingA heavy cover is creased at the spine so it opens without cracking | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
| Creep compensationImposition shifts inner pages inward on a thick saddle-stitched book | None | Nothing to make, so nothing to remake. |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Every operation here is quoted inside the standard window. What changes between a first order and a second is the tooling: a die, a block or a screen is made once and then kept on file with your approved artwork, which is why the reorder of a job carrying one is a different job from the first.
Every booklet problem that reaches a reprint started as a page count that was not divisible by four, or a margin that assumed the spine was flat.
Binding is chosen for how the book will be used, not for how it looks closed. A book read while doing something else must open flat; a book that sits on a shelf must have a spine you can read.
The most common booklet file problem is a document supplied as printer spreads — pages already paired the way they will sit on the sheet. Imposition depends on the binding, the page count and the creep, so a file that has guessed at it has to be taken apart before it can be used.
Send the page count and the text stock before you draw the cover, and the spine width comes back as a figure you can build to rather than one you have to guess.
Turnaround
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
Standard orders. The schedule for specialist finishing is confirmed in your quotation.
Same-day printing available.
Subject to artwork, stock and production capacity confirmation. Timing is agreed for each job.
The cure on a perfect-bound spine is a fixed number of hours before the book can be trimmed, and trimming it early is how a spine splits on the second opening. It is a fact about glue rather than about the schedule, which is why it is planned into the window instead of being promised away.
Every answer here is in the page source at full opacity, open or closed. An answer engine has to be able to read it without executing anything.
Because a saddle-stitched booklet is made from folded sheets, and one folded sheet is four pages — two on each side. A 22-page document becomes a 24-page booklet with two blanks. Planning the two extra pages is always better than finding them at the imposition stage.
Saddle stitching folds the sheets together and staples through the spine: it opens nearly flat, has no printable spine, and works from 8 to about 64 pages. Perfect binding glues the pages into a square spine you can print a title on: it starts around 40 pages, does not open flat, and needs the glue to cure before the book is trimmed.
Up to about 64 on 128–157 gsm text stock. Past that the book stops closing properly and the outer pages creep noticeably, and perfect binding becomes the honest answer rather than a heavier staple.
Creep is the way inner pages push outward as folded sheets nest inside one another, so the centre spread trims narrower on the outer edge than the cover does. It is compensated in the imposition rather than in your file — but keep anything critical 8 mm clear of the outer trim on a thick book and it will never be a problem.
310–350 gsm matt or gloss art card, laminated on the outside face only. Uncoated 300 gsm where the book should feel like a notebook. Laminating both faces of a perfect-bound cover is a mistake — glue does not key to film, so the text block eventually separates.
Yes, with perfect binding. The spine width is calculated from the page count and the caliper of the text stock, so send both before the cover is drawn and the figure comes back to build to.
Wire-O. It is punched and wired, takes any page count, and folds back on itself, which is why manuals and workbooks use it. It has no printable spine, so a book that has to be findable on a shelf wants perfect binding instead.
As single pages in reading order, page one being the front cover, each page at the trim size plus 3 mm bleed. Not as printer spreads: the imposition depends on the binding, the page count and the creep allowance, so a file that has already been paired up has to be taken apart first.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.
