Tri fold Brochure setup in InDesign
Brandon Hamric - 10-26-09
Adobe InDesign is a great tool for print designers to create documents for print. While some designers make sure their documents are properly setup, a large number of them don't setup their files correctly for print. This guide will explain the steps to take to both ensure proper layout and a smooth printing process.
Setup Tri fold Brochure in InDesign
Click File >> New >> Document at the top of InDesign.
This is the page setup window. You can setup a number of different types of documents by just changing the options around. Right now we are working on a tri-fold brochure. Set "Number of Pages" to 2, since we need a front and back. Uncheck "Facing Pages". Click the second button on orientation, which tells InDesign that this is a "landscape" orientation. Now, make sure the width is 11 in and the height is 8.5 in.
Now we get into the options that will be used to guide your design process. Set it to three columns. The gutter is 0.125 in (1/8 inch). Set the margins to 0.125 in. Last, set the bleed to 0.125 inches. All of these terms will be described in the last step.
Now comes a step that most forget when setting up a brochure. The flip panel needs to be 0.0625 inches shorter than all of the rest. When a tri-fold brochure is folded, if the flip panel is the same size as the rest, the brochure will bow up. To prevent this, click and hold on the left ruler and drag it to the right. See in the next step where to drop it.
You can drop the line between the right margin and the end of the document. Notice the blue line, it doesn't have to be exact here, just get it close to the middle of the two.
Now you can set exactly where that edge goes. You'll notice that in the top left of your screen you have a box that says "X" with some numbers beside it. Change that to 10.9375. That is, 0.0625 (1/16 inch) from the right edge of the document. *If you don't see this, try clicking on the blue line again to make sure you have it selected.
That's it, you now have a basic brochure template setup. A few notes. If you want color to the edge of the document, make sure it extends all the way to the red edge. No text should go past the purple margin lines. You can put text through the gutters but keep in mind, the document will fold through that text. Also make sure to not extend text or images past the right blue line that we created. This will be cut off after the document is printed.
