With FOREVER®, you can create two different types of design layouts for your books—standard and lay-flat:
Standard pages are like a typical book—the pages are stitched together at the seams that result in a natural downward from the center.
Lay-flat pages, on the other hand, are glued at the seam (sometimes stitched if they're in a larger book) that allow for your pages to be completely level with the surface it’s resting on—no crease in sight! You have to specify at checkout if you want lay-flat pages in your book, but ensuring a seamless design begins in the Artisan® software.
To switch between the two different layout views, you can follow these steps here:
- Select View from the main menu
- Click on Spreads
- Select Two Bound Pages
- Choose Options and switch between the Lay-flat and Standard view
When designing your book lay-flat like in the example above, you have the opportunity to create your design so it’s displayed uninterrupted across these two pages. Still, you must account for the space needed for the binding in the middle of your book. The software already accounts for that gap—if you switch between the pages in a two-page spread, you’ll notice a ¼” overlap in the center. That is the portion that will be lost in the binding of your book, so take this into consideration in your design.
When you switch to the standard page layout, you’ll notice that there is a shaded black bar in the middle of the two-page spread. The very center is where your book will be stitched, and the shaded part on either side is where that natural fold will occur. Take this into consideration as you design, as any photos and text that fall into that fold will be difficult to see and read.