It’s similar to the ever-popular art of Origami, but with commercial uses. Miniature folding is a specialized paper folding technique in which a large sheet of paper is folded and condensed into a compact size. They hold the potential to fit large amount of information into a tight space. Paper folding may not be a lost art anymore. It’s now a popular way to communicate information both within B2B and B2C industries.
Every printing service has a variety of folding styles you can choose from. Depending on the paper weight, some can be folded up to 8 times or more. This technique needs specialized equipment and often utilizes lightweight paper and, in some cases, adhesive. It’s used for product instruction, product information leaflets, maps, booklets, and other marketing inserts. Any product that comes in small packaging is a perfect candidate for compact folding. Because of size constraints, the accompanying necessary materials like guides, coupons or warranties can be inserted using mini- folded inserts. Here are a few advantages of compact folding:
Less Expensive that a Booklet Format
It’s more affordable to print on a single sheet then fold it down than it is to print on a multi-page booklet format. And when ordering in bulk, the cost savings can be significant. This technique is a money-saver.
Intuitive Information Flow Design
A folded instruction manual is much easier for the consumer to follow because they will be able to open up the sheet and view all the instructions in one page, instead of having to flip through an array of pages or refer to another guide. Any document that requires the consumer to follow step-by-step instructions on how to use, or assemble, the product, or even documents that explains the features of the product is best to be organized into a mini folded insert.
Neat Presentation with Enough Room for Creativity
Printing in one large sheet gives you a larger canvas to better display your information. You can supplement text with supporting diagrams or images to enhance comprehension. Because of the large surface area, the information will not look cluttered because there will be enough white space surrounding each element. Printing in a small booklet format can make information look chaotic because there is a lot information to fit in each small page.
Better Organization
When a sheet is folded, it has creases and these can be used as distinct panels to better organize the information into easily understandable sections. For example, each section can be filled with instructions in different languages or with information about different products. Also, if the product is complex with intricate instructions, these different sections can be filled with digestible pieces of helpful information in a logical fashion that is not overwhelming for the user.
More Flexibility
Products come in all sort of sizes, and so does its packaging. The dimension of bound booklets might not fit within the packaging for certain products. Mini folded sheets are much more flexible and can be easy tailored to specific proportions.
Compact folding is a cost effective, environmentally friendly and creative way to present information, and its already heavily used in pharmaceutical industry.