Whilst perfect binding does not suffer from the same degree of creep that you might find in a magazine, consideration should still be made for the effects of combining a large number of pages with the relatively stiff spine of a perfect binding. Even a 192-page magazine (relatively slender by comparison to some) can show a large degree of pinching of the pages in the centre of the finished magazine, making it difficult to read text near the interior bound edge. Remember to compensate for this by using wider inside margins when designing your pages.

Case Binding
This process is almost the same as perfect binding and is ideal for larger hardcover books. In this method, after the signatures have been ground off, the spine is reinforced with a gauze or cloth strip before affixing a hard cover.

Comb Binding
This method of binding is ideal for business reports, cookbooks and workbooks and is often used by companies to bind their own short-run publications internally and it allows the bound booklet to lie flat when opened. Small rectangular holes are punched down the edge of a stack of pages and the plastic teeth of the comb binding are then inserted into these. The spines can be removed and reattached if required, but this method does make adding a printed spine difficult, but not impossible. Once again, remember to allow wider inner margins to avoid the punch holes.

Coil or Spiral Binding
In this method of binding, a wire or plastic spiral is threaded through round holes punched in the edges of a stack of pages. As with comb binding, this binding method allows the pages to lie flat when opened.

Wire Binding
Wire binding uses tooth-like loops of wire in a similar fashion to comb binding; however it produces a much sturdier binding than the plastic comb binding method.

Post Binding
When producing heavy-duty publications with content that is constantly changing, this method might be the most suitable solution. Often seen in wallpaper sample books, metal posts are pushed through punched holes in the book and anchored with bolts that thread into the centre of the posts. This allows you to easily add or remove pages and can also allow an exterior cover with an imprinted spine.

There are many different variations on these basic binding methods, such as using ribbons or screws for example, but these tend to entail limited print runs and a large amount of hands-on work to produce them, resulting in larger make-up expense. Whichever method you choose to use, plan it carefully and don’t forget the margins!

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