Don’t let your design creep off the page!
Any time you’re designing a saddlestiched job with more than a few pages, consider how creep could affect your job.
What exactly is creep anyway?
The term creep–or creepage– refers to the pushing-out of pages from the spine of a publication, due to several factors:
1. Page count of the publication
2. Paper weight and /or thickness
3. Style of binding (usually saddle-stitching)
Sometimes, creep is negligible.
For instance, a design with generous margins can “visually absorb” a good measure of creep. Big, fat saddle-stitched magazines rely on this factor.
Creepy design thoughts.
Imagine a design with:
•Thin vertical bars that bleed
•Type that bleeds or kisses edges
•Photos with critical crop features
•Page folios close to edge
There are no hard and fast formulas, but here’s a rule-of-thumb for guidance:
32 PAGES OF
60 lb. gloss text=1/16” creep
80 lb. matte text=1/8” creep
If your job includes images that are near the edge of the paper or a design element that is included on each page, you may need to adjust the location to maintain margins. Likewise, think about the location of design and copy if you plan to drill holes along the spine.
