The following shows a sample schedule for creating a single-page ad for a client.

If you are working for someone else, don’t be afraid to ask questions. You don’t look like a novice when you ask—you actually look pretty smart.

In addition to the three main questions above, you also need to ask—and answer—the following questions before you start on a project. Some of the answers you’ll get from your client; some you’ll have to figure out for yourself; some will come from other people, such as the manager of a print shop or the art director of a publication.

If you’re planning to create a multi-page document that will be produced on a printing press, such as a brochure, newsletter, annual report, or book, you need to check with the print shop about the total number of pages you think you’ll have. Because projects like books and lengthy newsletters are printed in units called signatures (defined below), you may end up with extra, blank pages at the end of your piece if you don’t plan carefully.

Books and newsletters that are printed at a professional printing establishment that uses big paper presses are not printed on individual sheets of paper that are the same size as those in the final product. These multi-page documents are printed on large sheets or rolls of paper with eight pages on one side and eight on the other side. This is called a “16-page signature” because when that one printed piece of paper is folded and trimmed, the result is 16 pages of the book held together at its folded edge. The folded set of pages is called the signature.

Signatures are bundles of papers grouped together to bind books, magazines, and other long documents. You can see the signatures in most hard cover books.

You have to think in signature units. If your signature unit is 16, then the number of pages in your project can be 16, 32, 48, 64, 80 and so on—any multiple of 16. If your signature is 8, the number of pages can be 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, and so on.

So what happens if your final project is only 67 pages? With a 16-page signature unit, your options are either 64 pages—not enough pages—or 80 pages in which case you’ll have 13 blank pages at the end of the book which is considered unacceptable by most publishers.

There are several ways to fix this: You can add 13 pages of copy and illustrations to fill up the blank pages. You can cut 3 pages of copy so the book fits into 64 pages. Or, if you are working for a large publishing house, you can ask the printer to switch to an 8-page signature and then add copy for only 5 extra pages (the next 8-page signature after 67 is 72). This is what Peachpit Press routinely does for many of my books.

You need to find out the signature unit before you do much work on a project destined for a printing press. You’d hate to discover that you have five blank pages at the end of a lengthy report, especially if you had told the client that the letter from the company president had to be cut because there wasn’t room for it.

When you read a magazine or brochure, you read from page 1 to page 2 to page 3 and so on. This is also how a page layout program such as InDesign or QuarkXPress displays the pages. This display is called reader’s spreads.

However, printed materials are not always printed in the same order that you read. Your print shop may tell you that the pages for a job need to be arranged in a certain order. Let’s say you create an 8-page brochure, and each individual page is 8 ½-×-11 inches. The print shop will print two pages, side by side, on one 11-×-17-inch piece of paper. Then they print two different newsletter pages on the other side of the paper.

The printer’s spread for an 8-page brochure positions page 8 next to page 1.

When this piece of pape is folded, the pages form the outside of the brochure.

On the other side of the same piece of paper, the printer’s spread positions page 2 next to page 7.

Additional pages are inserted and bound to create the finished brochure.

Figure . When pages are imposed, the order of the pages depends on the number of pages in each signature. Here the pages for an 8-page signature are assembled together.

To make sure these pages are in the correct order when the job is finished and folded, the print shop will arrange the pages in a special order called a printer’s spread. For instance, in a typical 8-page brochure, page 1 is printed to the right of page 8, on one wide piece of paper. On the other side of that piece of paper, page 2 is printed next to page 7. Page 3 is printed next to page 6, and on its other side, the printer’s spread is pages 4 and 5. When the brochure is bound together, the pages read in proper order. (If you want to see printer’s spreads, take apart the pages of a catalog. You’ll see how the pages are arranged next to each other. Or create the spread above with numbered pieces of paper.) The final position of the pages, set up in printer’s spreads, is called imposition. (For more information on imposition, see Chapter 16.)

Most paper is white. However, there are hundreds of different shades of white. Some whites are very warm, almost yellow; others are cool, almost blue or gray. Your print shop should be able to give you samples of different paper colors.

If you are using a desktop printer or photocopier, you can also choose between these different variations of white. Many companies use a plain, duller white paper for their ordinary print jobs because it tends to be less expensive, and then choose a brighter, more expensive white paper for special output.

Of course, you can also get paper in colors. Most copy shops and commercial presses have a wide variety of colors to choose from that will give more impact to flyers, invitations, and garage sale notices. However, keep in mind that most photographs don’t look so good on colored papers—our eyes just aren’t used to seeing the “whites” of a photograph as blue or pink.

Most professional printing starts with plain, white paper. Sometimes the entire paper is covered with ink so that it looks like the paper itself is a certain color. One way to determine the original color of the paper is to see if there is any white on the page or anywhere in a photograph. If there is white, then, almost certainly, that was the original color of the paper.

However, there are times when you will be printing onto a suface (technically called a substrate) that is not white. For instance, my favorite snacks come in little bags that have color printed on a silver substrate. Any white that is on the bag is actually a separate color ink that needs to be specified as a special color added to the document.

Papers are coated or uncoated, which refers to how smooth the surface of the paper feels. The degree of smoothness is created during the paper-making process.

Uncoated papers are rougher and tend to be porous (they soak up more ink). The paper used for newspapers and cheap catalogs is uncoated.

Coated papers are smooth and range from a rather dull coating to very glossy. They might be coated on only one side or on both. On coated papers, photographs and illustrations look sharp and crisp because the ink doesn’t absorb into the paper.

Don’t confuse coated paper with varnished or laminated paper. Varnishing or lamination is actually part of the printing process, where extra coatings of clear shellac or plastic are applied to add even more gloss to a paper. Go look at the boxes for most bars of soap. That surface is usually varnished to keep moisture from the product inside.

A paper’s finish is the texture or smoothness of the paper. An antique finish is a rough texture. Eggshell or vellum finishes are smoother. There are also specialty finishes made to simulate the look of fabrics, such as tweed or linen. Keep in mind that if you use a paper with a textured finish, your text might not look as clean or the illustrations may look a little rough because the ink has to bend up and down around the nooks and crannies of the finish.

Paper is graded according to its weight—which is usually expressed in terms of how much 500 sheets of the paper in its standard size weighs.

The typical bond paper for a laser printer or copy machine is listed as 24-pound; lighter bond paper is 20-pound.

Book paper is either coated or uncoated and can weigh between 30 and 110 pounds. Despite the name, book paper can be used for books, magazines, posters, flyers, or any job that doesn’t need exceptional quality.

Text paper is the term used to describe a high-quality coated or uncoated paper used for better-quality printing. Annual reports, magazine inserts, and premium movie and theatre programs use text. Common weights of text papers are 70- or 80-pound.

Cover stock is a heavier-weight paper that usually matches the colors of certain book papers. Cover stock can be used for book covers, business cards, postcards, or presentation covers. Typical cover weights are 60, 65, 80, or 100.

As a general rule, the heavier the paper the more it costs. If you are going to mail your printed piece, take into consideration the weight of the paper because it might affect the postage you have to pay.

There are a few other features to consider when looking at paper.

Strength is how well the paper holds up under stress. Paper bags and envelopes need a high degree of strength.

Thickness is how thick the paper is. Thick papers don’t have to weigh a lot. Some books are printed on very thick but lightweight paper, which makes the book look like it has more pages.

Brightness is how light reflects off the paper. Some papers contain fluorescents so they appear brighter. This makes the paper sparkle more, but can affect the color of printed images.

Opacity refers to how much the text or images printed on the other side of the page show through. If you are creating a book with lots of text and illustrations, make sure the opacity is not too low or your readers will be distracted by the images and text from the other side of the paper.

You may also want to consider using a recycled paper that comes from at least 30% of used papers.

If you are printing the project on a desktop printer or copier, you will most likely want to use one of the typical office bindings. Some of these bindings can be applied in your own office; others may need to be done by a local copy shop.

Three-ring binding uses three punched holes in the paper and a three-ring binder. The primary advantage of three-ring binding is that you can add or delete pages easily. Unfortunately, three-ring binding tends to remind people of their school days and screams amateur output.

Plastic comb binding uses a plastic insert with teeth that fit into rectangular holes in the paper. There are inexpensive kits that punch the holes in the paper as well as hold the teeth open. This makes it easier than manually trying to add or delete pages. There is usually a limit of 2 inches to the thickness of a plastic comb. Anything thicker tends to fall apart too easily.

Spiral binding uses a metal or plastic spiral that coils through many small holes on the side of the paper. Unlike the plastic comb, once you have bound the pages with the spiral, it is almost impossible to add more pages. (It’s not too difficult to tear out pages, but you do have to delete the little strips of paper that collect inside the spiral.)

Wir-O binding is similar to spiral binding, but instead of a single spiral, two wire teeth fit into rectangular holes in the paper. Wir-O is sturdier than spiral binding but also makes it difficult to add pages to the document.

Velo binding uses two plastic strips on either side of the document. The strips are held together with plastic pins and bound together with heat. Velo-bound documents cannot be unbound without destroying the strips and pins.

Fastback binding uses a cloth or paper strip wrapped around the spine of the pages and then glued in position. Fastback is the most professional-appearing binding in an office environment, but the pages can fall out if the booklet is used a lot.

Saddle-stitch binding uses two or more staples inserted right at the fold of the paper. The pages of the document need to be printed on both sides of the paper in the correct position for final binding. This type of imposition is best handled by a professional copy shop or office document center.

A print shop will ask what type of binding you want. They may also suggest one type over another depending on the number of pages you will need to hold together. Below are descriptions of the types of bindings typically used by professional print shops. (Some of these bindings are similar to the office bindings described in the previous section.) Some print shops do their own binding and finishing; many send the printed job to a separate company that binds and finishes it.

Spiral binding uses a metal or plastic spiral that coils through holes at the side of the paper.

Wir-O binding is similar to spiral binding, but is sturdier.

Saddle-stitch binding uses two or more staples inserted in the fold to hold both the cover and the pages.

Side-stitch binding combines all the signatures and the cover and stitches them together with staples on the outside of the book cover.

Perfect binding gathers all the signatures together. The spine is then ground to create a flat edge, and a paper cover is glued around the spine. Most magazines are bound this way.

Case binding sews the individual signatures together and glues them to a gauze strip, then affixes end papers with glue and attaches them onto hard covers. This is the most common form of binding for hardcover books.

Sewn-and-glued binding sews the signatures together and then glues them to a cover as in perfect binding. (This book has been bound using sewn-and-glued binding.)

Lay-flat binding gathers all the signatures together and grinds the spine as in perfect binding. The cover is then glued to the book at each side of the spine, which allows the pages of the book to lay flat when opened. However, pages tend to fly out of this type of binding if the spine of the book is opened too far.