The overall design and method of book binding

Books are the carrier of human culture. If a work is to be expressed in the form of a printed matter, it must undergo a series of projects such as selection of topics, editing and processing, overall design, production, printing, and post-press processing in order to obtain vivid books that can be presented to readers. The value of books is reflected in the content of books on the one hand, and on the other hand in the form of books. The shape of the book is the result of the overall design of the book.

The overall design of the book includes the binding design of the book shape and the layout design of the text. The framing design includes the selection of the open book and the book structure; the art design and the selection of the material type for the cover, the seal, the ring lining, the title sheet, the interleaf, the letter cover, etc.; the selection of the printing process, the post-press finishing process, and the binding process.

The overall design of the book is a three-dimensional plastic art design. Unlike general painting, the overall design is only a scheme, not the final work. After the design is completed, it also requires production links such as production, printing, and postpress processing. Through paper, various binding materials and printing processes, the design will be converted into a book with a physical form. Therefore, the overall design of the book and its final form, effect and quality must rely on the production, printing and post-press processing technologies. The implementation of the framing design is more dependent on the post-press processing technology.

The post-press processing of books can be divided into three categories according to the purpose of processing.

(1) Beautify the surface of the book. As above light, film, embossing stamping, hot stamping processing.

(2) Molding books. Such as the semi-finished product pages cut into the design of the size of the opening; binding cost book; book printing, die cutting, indentation and other processing.

(3) Processing of a book to obtain a specific function. Such as books with oil, moisture, wear, pest control and other protective functions.

Book binding style

The binding style of a book is the appearance of a book produced with different binding materials and binding processes. There are currently 5 types of book binding styles.

1. Paperback (brief)

(1) ordinary paperback. It consists of a cover without a Lekou, a main title page, and a book block.

(2) Le mouth paperback. It consists of a cover, a ring lining, a main title page, an insert (if any), and a book block. The binding methods generally used in paperback books include saddle stitching, flat stitching, staple thread stitching, cordless glue binding, and sewing glue and plastic thread hot stamping. The front cover of the paperback book is almost covered or coated, and some of them are embossed, hot stamped, die cut, etc.

2. Hardcover

Hardcover books are generally composed of a bookcase and a ring lining, a main title page, an insert, and a book block made of cardboard, paper, or fabric, and have the following three forms.

(1) Full paper hardcover. It consists of a full-paper book case, a ring lining, a main title page, inserts (if any), and a book block.

(2) paper cloth back hardcover. The back of the book case is made of cloth or other fabric, and the cardboard case or paper is used for the face and bottom seals of the book case.

(3) Full material hardcover. The face seals, backs and bottom seals of the book shells are made of fabrics and other materials such as fabrics or other fabrics and leather. The structure is the same as that of a full-paper hardcover book, but generally a protective cover is wrapped around the book shell.

The above three kinds of hardcover styles have round back and back. The book block binding of hardcover books generally adopts sewing thread binding, wireless glue binding, sewing glue binding and plastic thread hot binding.

3. Line loading

In the past, line decoration was mainly used for ancient books, and has now been used for reference in the binding design of many other books. If there are many books and periodicals that express the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, they will be decorated and embellished in a line style on the basis of glue. There are also some “new concept” thread binding books that are uniquely framed and are also carefully crafted by the designer’s clever design and post-press processing.

4. loose-leaf loading

The pages of a book are contained in a special paper bag or carton in a single page. More common in education, art books. The form of loose-leaf binding is yet to be developed, and innovations can also be made on materials such as kraft paper, cardboard, corrugated cardboard and so on. In the form of packaging can also break the original pattern.

5. Soft hardcover

This is a book that absorbs the hardcover feature of the hardcover book in plain paper style, and forms a “soft” hardcover form, which is also called “half hardcover”. This kind of book cover has more hardness and stiffness than ordinary paperback books.

At present, there are many styles of soft finishes, and there is much room for creation in the process of sealing. Such as "blue calico," a book, in the blue cover outside a layer of kraft paper seal with a hollow pattern, from the hollow pattern can reveal a little bit of blue, artistically highlight the contents of the book.

With the development and progress of society, the reader's aesthetic level is getting higher and higher, and the appearance requirements of books are also getting higher and higher. In order to cope with this development, when the publishing house is planning topics and publishing books, an important aspect is to consider what form of binding will be used to present the work to readers and what kind of binding method will be used to add brilliance to the manuscript. With eye-catching bookshelf, it is more competitive in the book market.

To realize the overall design plan, the shape of the book must be refined. Excellent framing design and meticulous post-press processing can greatly increase the sales of books, so it is said that post-press processing is an important means to improve the quality of books and realize value-added. However, post-press processing is also a double-edged sword. If the processing quality is good, it can add brilliance to the books; if the quality is not good, such as books appearing with binding skew, page drop, cover blistering, cover wrinkling and other quality problems, it will cause Poor sales, a large number of returns, making selection of topics planning, editing and processing, overall design, material selection, production, printing and other work have all been abandoned, a lot of manpower, financial resources and material resources. Therefore, in a sense, post-press processing is the key to determining the success or failure of book sales. At present, it is also a problem that publishers and printing companies attach great importance to.

Source: Printing Technology