Design Considerations for Perfect Bound Books

Perfect bound books usually have more pages than their saddle-stitched counterparts. The cover includes a flat spine that is wide enough to accommodate all the pages of the book. When the bindery binds the book, they grind off the binding edge of the pages, roughening it up a little, so that the glue will adhere the pages to the spine. As a designer, you don’t need to worry about the grind-off, it is just the same as the area of the inner bleed.

When designing a perfect bound book, remember that imagery close to the spine may get lost in the gutter. If you have art too close to the inner edge, the viewer may crack the spine to see it, and you wouldn’t want that, because then there is a risk of pages coming loose from the binding. 

A couple things to consider when designing a perfect bound book:

• It’s best to avoid having imagery cross over the fold because of the way the binding “folds” leaving an area that is hard to see.
• If you do have a cross-over, make sure that no important parts of the imagery are too close to the fold.
• Keep text at least ½” from the inner edge of the pages.
• If you do use an image on cross-over, duplicate the image, put one side of the image on each page and nudge them out just a little, no more than 1/8”, to visually get the image to balance. 

If you have questions about how to do any this, don’t hesitate to call us at 727-572-9999 for more instructions.