They payed already?
did they comment?
Yes they paid and commented afterwards…
hmm… such a tricky one!!
If it was an error on your part, technically you should probably reimburse them the printing costs and then fix the design for them. Though not sure if that makes sense for you…if not, would reimburse them a set amount as a discount as others mentioned.
Not sure exactly what measurement you used, but if the panels aren’t even it is generally a very small difference in size to compensate for the thickness of the paper.
For future, it is a great idea to print a sample mockup on your own printer etc. to test out the folds. Even if you have to shrink it to print on a standard letter size, as long as you shrink it proportionally you can tell if it will fold correctly.
Unfortunately, when starting out in design you will probably have a few things like this happen, it is part of the learning process!
Thanks so much @Alyse-Bayles for your guidance!
The inner panel is .12" narrower than the other 2.
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Here is the gap, is it bad enough to warrant a discount/ reimbursement?
If it would be for my own personal thing, I don’t think I would care about it - it doesn’t look so bad, but if the client commented on it and complained about it, I think the correct thing to do would be to give a discount…
My 2 cents:
- This is not the world’s worst mistake in my opinion. i’ve done worse and it is hard to bear it when it is something on our part. But we are human!!!
- Sometimes clients put on a lot of pressure which causes more mistakes to happen.
- I have seen some graphic designers write as their email signature that any mistakes that go to print are at the responsibility of the client to check. I think it’s smart for this to be clear.
- I guess here you’re feeling this is something you should have gotten right b/c it’s a design/layout thing. However, if the printer they work with does not give you a template and you followed standard protocols then these things can easily happen. So in future, i’d say even for a tri-fold it could be good to request a template or email of the printer.
- For future clients or projects I would insist (or strongly encourage) that they do a test print first before they do hundreds then this type of thing could be corrected.
- Re giving a discount now, that’s a tough one - i like the idea of a % off a future one… maybe you could offer them a discount on this one but also explain the value of the work you did (like often i will work more hours on something when its fixed rate yet not charge for it) and let them decide if they are at peace with keeping to the original amount.
Hatzlacha! Great of you to share!
Whats the end verdict here:
Do you make the inner panels that TINY bit smaller?
Im using an 8.5x14 creating a quad fold brochure and dont want this getting messed up!!
anyone know the correct sizes?
Thanks in advance!
Thank you!
I spoke to a printer and confirmed that this is only applicable when the pages are folding into each other and not when you are doing a accordion fold
I wil always make the inner panel a tiny bit smaller than the 2 others for example 100+ 100+ 97 (to make 297 / A3) and I always recommend ny clients to print on good hard paper stock as the brochure appears more prestigious that way (unless the weight will cause high postage costs) However if it is thin paper like 150/ 170 g then you can make it even a bit less and an accordion fold does not need it at all. One should always print a digital sample and fold on crops etc to check before doing a large run. I dont think you need to discount for that gap as that is standard (albeit yours looks a tad large) unless the other folds are off etc