Download the template for your size and page count from our templates page and build the book as one cover sheet (back cover, spine and front cover side by side) followed by one sheet per inner spread. Every sheet carries 3 mm of bleed on its outer edges, and text stays at least 5 mm inside the cut. Export a single PDF in that order, with pictures at 300 dpi, and send it to us through the print-ready form: we check it by hand and put the finished design in your Printedin account for you to order.
This is the guide we send to customers who design their book in their own software. It follows the template line by line, because that is the file we print from. Every measurement below is for a 20 × 20 cm book with 16 pages; the template gives you the same figures for your own size and page count.
Before you start: size, page count, board
Three choices set every measurement in your file, so make them first.
- Size. Board books come in 12 × 12, 15 × 15, 16 × 16, 20 × 20, 15 × 21 and 21 × 15 cm. Another size is possible on a custom quote.
- Page count, covers included. Our count includes the front and back cover, so a "14 pages plus cover" book is 16 pages with us. The total is always even, because every board is printed on both sides. The standard counts are 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 and 26.
- Board. We print on two 300 g boards laminated back to back, about 0.8 mm a leaf. A heavier 350 g board is available on a custom quote, and it makes the spine thicker.
A book of N pages is N ÷ 2 sheets in your file: one cover sheet and one sheet for each inner spread. Our 16-page example is 8 sheets: the cover and 7 spreads.
Step 1: Download the template
- Open print templates and choose Board Book as the product.
- Choose your size. For a size that is not in the list, pick "Custom size…" and enter the finished width and height in whole millimetres, 60 to 420 mm a side; the bleed is added for you.
- Choose the page count, covers included. "Another extent…" takes any even number from 4 to 96.
- Leave the board at 300 gsm unless you have a quote for 350 gsm. The preview shows the spine width for your choice.
- Click "Download template (PDF)".
The PDF has three pages: the cover sheet, an inner spread, and a page explaining the lines. The first two are drawn at real size, and each one states its size in millimetres and in pixels at 300 dpi. For our example:
- Cover sheet: 412.4 × 206 mm, 4871 × 2433 px.
- Inner spread: 406 × 206 mm, 4795 × 2433 px.
Step 2: Set up your document
Any program that can set a page size in millimetres and export a PDF will do: InDesign, Illustrator, Affinity, Photoshop or Canva with a custom size. Make one page at the cover-sheet size and as many pages at the spread size as your book has spreads. The sizes already include the bleed, so if your program adds bleed of its own at export, set that to zero.
Place the matching template page on each page at 100 %, on a locked layer above your artwork, so you can see the lines while you work.
Step 3: Read the lines
- Red: the cut. Your artwork runs past it to the edge of the sheet. The 3 mm outside it is trimmed away; it is there so that the smallest drift of the cutter leaves no white strip. Extend the background into it rather than leaving it white.
- Dashed: the safety margin. Keep text, faces and anything you would hate to lose inside it, at least 5 mm from the cut.
- Blue: the folds. On the cover they are the two edges of the spine; on a spread, the single line is the centre fold. Nothing is cut at a fold, so there is no bleed there.
- Green: the crease on the back cover. A board book does not bend at its spine, so the cover hinges on a strip of the back cover next to the spine, as wide as the spine. The crease stays visible on the finished book: let the background run across it, but keep text and detail out.
- Corners. They are cut round, about 4 mm. Keep the corners of your file square; the die cuts the curve.
Step 4: Design the cover sheet
The cover sheet reads, from left to right: back cover, spine, front cover. The easiest way to make the spine look right is to lay one background across the whole sheet and place the front and back cover designs over it.
The spine is the page count times 0.4 mm: 6.4 mm for our 16 pages.
- Under 8 mm (fewer than 20 pages) the spine is too thin for a design of its own. Let the back cover and the front cover each run half the spine width past their edge, so they meet in the middle: 3.2 mm each in our example. The template marks this as "covers meet — no spine design".
- From 8 mm (20 pages and up) a title fits on the spine, reading top to bottom. Keep it 3 mm from each fold.
A barcode or a line of text on the back cover goes inside the safety margin and outside the green crease.
Step 5: Design the inner spreads
Each inner spread is one sheet: a left page and a right page with the centre fold between them. The first spread is the one you see when you open the front cover, and the last one faces the back cover.
- A picture can run across both pages. Keep faces, text and anything that must be read at least 10 mm from the centre fold.
- Bleed is needed on the outer edges only: top, bottom and the two outside edges.
- Pictures need 300 dpi at the size they print. A 300 dpi photo stretched to twice its width prints at 150 dpi.
Step 6: Export one PDF
- Hide or delete the template layer. Whatever is in the file is printed, guide lines included.
- Export everything as one PDF: the cover sheet first, then the spreads in reading order. Our 16-page book is an 8-page PDF.
- Embed the fonts or convert them to outlines.
- CMYK (PSO Coated v3, FOGRA51) gives the result closest to your screen. RGB is fine too: we convert it, and only a few very bright colours come out duller.
Step 7: Send it to us
Fill in the print-ready form with the size, page count and quantity, and add a link to the PDF (WeTransfer, Google Drive or Dropbox). We open every file by hand within a working day and tell you about anything that will not print well before you pay. Then we build the design from your file and put it in your Printedin account. Create the account with the email address you sent the form from, so that we can place the design there.
You will find the book under "My Designs". It opens in Printedin Studio, where "Preview" shows it in 3D, page by page, and "Export" downloads the PDF. That is your proof: nothing is printed until you order it with "Order".
For a catalogue size and page count you can also do it yourself: open Printedin Studio with the same size and page count and import your PDF. Page 1 goes to the cover and each following page to the next spread.
Questions and answers
How many pages should my PDF have?
Half the page count: one cover sheet and one sheet per inner spread. A 16-page book is an 8-page PDF, a 24-page book a 12-page PDF.
Can I send single pages instead of spreads?
Yes. Make each page the trim size plus 3 mm on every side (206 × 206 mm for a 20 × 20 cm book), put the front cover first and the back cover last, and we build the cover sheet and the spreads from them.
Where do I find the measurements for my size?
The template draws them for any size and page count, and print specifications lists the sizes, spine widths and file rules.
What does it cost?
See board book printing cost. One copy can be ordered, and every price includes delivery.