Binding is how the pages are held together, and it constrains far more than it looks like it should — page count, how the book opens, whether there is a printable spine, and how the artwork has to be built.
Saddle stitching
Sheets are folded in half, nested inside one another, and stapled through the fold. The staples sit in the spine, which is why it is called a stitch rather than a staple.
- Pages always come in multiples of four. One folded sheet gives four pages, so there is no such thing as a 10-page saddle stitched booklet.
- It opens completely flat, which matters for anything with a photograph or diagram crossing the centre.
- No flat spine, so nothing can be printed on the edge.
- Best at lower page counts. Past a certain thickness the nested sheets push the inner pages outward.
Our booklets are A5, saddle stitched, from 8 to 32 pages in multiples of four including the cover.
Perfect binding
Pages are stacked flat, the spine edge is ground and glued, and a wrapped cover is attached. This is how most paperbacks and thick catalogues are made.
- Any page count, not just multiples of four.
- A real flat spine that can carry a title — the reason it is standard for anything going on a shelf.
- Does not lie flat when open; content near the spine is partly lost into the gutter.
- Needs enough pages to make a spine thick enough to glue at all.
Which one, in practice
Page count usually decides for you. Under about 40 pages, saddle stitching is the natural fit and lies flat. Well over that, perfect binding is the only option that holds together and gives you a spine.
Between those, it is a judgement call about whether the piece needs to read as a book — with a printed spine — or as a booklet that opens flat.
The creep problem, if you saddle stitch
Because the pages nest inside one another, the innermost sheet sticks out further than the outer one. The whole book is trimmed flush afterwards, so the inner pages lose slightly more from the outside edge. That effect is called creep.
It only matters if you have page numbers, borders or text sitting close to the outside edge — they will appear to drift inward as you go through the book. Keeping content at least 4mm inside the trim handles it on a booklet of this size.
What we print today
Our booklet product is A5, saddle stitched, 8 to 32 pages, with cover and text stock chosen separately. If your job needs a different format or a bound spine, get in touch before you order rather than working around the configurator.