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issues to consider for perfect binding covers:
* design considerations for varying book thickness', which affect
the spine and back cover design
* graphic image formats
* the production process
We recently moved from Cerlox-bound (yuck) manuals to perfect-bound (of
sorts). What I mean by, "of sorts" is that instead of straight
perfect-bound, I went with a stay-flat perfect-bound manual (Stay-flat
just mean that the pages are not all glued to the spine, only a select
few.) I did this because I wanted the user to still be able to open the
book in front of their computer without having to worry about it
shutting or flipping pages on them. It is not that much more expensive,
but it produces a great effect.
As to your other questions,
* the book should be at least 132 pages for stay-flat binding
* all you have to worry about with varying thickness, is that your
cover and spine designs are set up for the correct number of pages.
Your printer can tell you the thickness of a 150 page manual (etc.) and
you just need to adjust the dimensions of the spine and the placement of
your front/back cover graphics to keep them centred
* our image format was cdr (Corel Draw), but I'm sure you can use
many different formats. Often, printer's like to see EPS files
* the production process is generally four-pronged:
1)plates and blue-line created for manual pages without the
cover (you get a proof to sign-off on)
2) actual pages printed (still without cover)
3) cover printed
4) document and cover move to bindery and are put together.
You can often save time by getting the cover art and covers
completed before the manual is ready (if you know the exact page count).
That is what I do because we are always going down to the wire. My
experience is that the whole job (mine is a two-colour, 132 page,
stay-flat bound, 7"X9" manual) takes a little over two weeks. You need
to really budget your time and ensure the printer's can work within your
deadlines.
Hope this helps! Like I said, this is just my experience, others may
have varying stories and processes.
Darla
_________________________________________________
Darla Kennington, Technical Writer
Accubid Systems Inc.
200-7725 Janes Street, Concord, Ontario, L4K 1X4
phone:905.761.9393 (ext.144) e-mail:darla -at- accubid -dot- com
