This week’s fold is an ingenious format for direct mail. It was sent to me by my friends at Sandy Alexander - it’s a piece that they produce fully-inline at their direct mail facility Sandy Direct in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is a patent-pending glued booklet solution that uses a super-smart technique to create movement and a dynamic reveal when the piece is opened. When you lift the cover, evenly-spaced stepped pages fan out and lay perfectly flat. There are so many practical and creative solutions that would work with this format. I love it - you have to check it out!
FOLD of the WEEK: The Amazing Moving Steps Direct Mailer
February 1st, 2012FOLD of the WEEK: Tri-fold with Surprise Lift-up Panels
January 25th, 2012I was in Calgary last week for International Print Week on behalf of NorQuest College Centre for Excellence in Print Media and I was giving workshops at SAIT Polytechnic and one of my workshop attendees, Kallen Printing (longtime foldfactory fans), brought me a huge box filled with gorgeous print samples. It was hard to pick one to feature this week - but I did it! This piece was part of a larger bound piece, and it was in a pocket at the back. The format is so smart and functional as well as beautiful in its application. It’s a great use of a tri-fold format and short folding to create reveal panels and an organized presentation of the content. You’re gonna love it, eh?
FOLD of the WEEK: Broadside Double Parallel with Short Gate Panels
January 18th, 2012I love the brochure racks at visitor centers and rest stops. You can find some interesting folded formats there (and some not-so-interesting stuff, too). You just need to be sure you build in enough time to cover the territory so you don’t leave empty-handed. This week’s fold is something I found at a visitor’s bureau in Pennsylvania. The format is really nice. It looks like a standard broadside double parallel, but when you open it up to the interior poster spread, there are two additional tall gate panels that create a sidebar effect and frame the content. Lots of creative opportunities for this format - I think you’re gonna like it.
FOLD of the WEEK: Iron Cross with Stitched-in Booklet
January 11th, 2012This week’s fold is from DigiLink in Alexandria, VA, and it’s a piece they produced for American Bankers Association. The format is really smart - it looks like a vertical Gate Fold, and then you open it and realize it’s an Iron Cross, but it gets better. When you get to the center, there’s a 12-page booklet stitched in! It’s really well produced, and a great example of creative yet practical format usage. This could also easily convert from square to a rectangular (more mail-friendly) format. Enjoy!
FOLD of the WEEK: Fab Kaleidoscope Cover Invitation
January 4th, 2012I wanted to start the year with something really fun. Sent to us by Schmitz Press in Baltimore, Maryland, this was an older piece (2005) they dug up for me, and I’m so glad they did! The client was Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and it’s an invitation to a find-raising event. The fold itself is simple - it’s just a 4-pager. The magic is in the cover. They grommeted a circle with an elaborate die cut to the cover and the circular “wheel” interacts with the color graphics below it and the effect is like a kaleidoscope. It’s so cool - hard to put down. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
FOLD of the WEEK: Stunning Pyramid Promo Piece
December 21st, 2011OK, everybody, we’re going to end the year with a bang – this week’s super-cool fold is a stunner. It’s a fascinating 3D pyramid format that was created to promote a gallery exhibit. Designed by Ben Bilow for Columbia College Chicago and produced by Lake County Press in Waukegan, Illinois, this piece is a triple-threat of creative format, great design and gorgeous production. You really must see this piece. So, enjoy – have a safe and happy holiday and I’ll see you all in 2012!
FOLD of the WEEK: Two-way Reversible Brochure
December 14th, 2011This week’s format is an amazingly creative solution produced by Ace Graphics in Naperville, IL, and designed by Mary Ervin and Michael Stanard from One Zero Charlie in Woodstock, IL for their client Garrett Technologies. At a glance, the brochure looks like a basic 4-pager, but upon closer inspection, the piece opens from the front and the back due to a specialized die/score and a glued tab. This one is hard to explain - you’ll have to watch the video to understand it, and you may need to watch it twice. It’s a real brain-teaser!
FOLD of the WEEK: Reverse Locked Gate Dimensional Holiday Card
December 7th, 2011Just in time for the holidays, this holiday card for GLS Companies in Minneapolis is an absolute treat! The dimensional design is really unique and exciting, and the production is equally as impressive. Digitally printed on an HP 7500 6-color digital press and die-cut on a Kluge entirely in-house, this card was printed CMYK plus 2X opaque white on a metallic C1S sheet. Variable data customized the 3400 pieces for their 23 sales reps. Fabulous - share it with your friends!
FOLD of the WEEK: Storytelling Vertical Open Gate into Accordion
November 30th, 2011Did you know that a clever choice of folding style can actually help to tell a story? This folded educational piece from Sappi Fine Paper North America was created to educate people about the massive sustainability efforts they’ve made at their Somerset mill in Maine. Designed by VSA Partners in Chicago, the piece uses a unique vertical format open gate that changes direction and folds down into an accordion. The format is large and is pretty thick when folded down, so they made really nice slipcovers for the brochures. Check it out!
FOLD of the WEEK: Amazing “Parking Car” Direct Mailer
November 16th, 2011Prepare to witness a direct mail masterpiece! Paper engineering, production and assembly by Structural Graphics in Essex, CT, concept and design by Team Detroit in Dearborn, Michigan. This piece was for Ford, advertising their Ford Focus sedan, and the cover promotes the vehicle’s auto-parking feature. When the cover is lifted, a car parallel parks itself right in front of your eyes. It’s too cool to explain - you have to see it to believe it!
