Leaflets that are folded are usually used for advertising or marketing purposes. There are many types of folds, only the most popular types are listed here. Although it is difficult to put a date on when some of these folds were first used, it is evident that their popularity boomed when the first mass production printers were introduced.

Parallel fold

Different kinds of parallel folds are Concertina

Concertina

A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...

 folds, Letter Folds and Gate Folds.

Concertina fold

A concertina fold is a continuous parallel folding of brochures and similar printed material in an accordion-like fashion, that is with folds alternatively made to the front and back in zig zag folds. Because they do not nest (as in Letter Folds) panels can be the same size. Seen from above, concertina folds resemble a Z or M or series of zigs and zags.

Also known as a Z-CARD

Z-CARD

The Z-CARD® is the registered trademark for the foldable guide invented by George McDonald when he was a travel writer and consultant for British Airways. McDonald found that traditional fold-out maps were too bulky to carry with him on travel research trips and wanted a more convenient solution...

, Zig Zag Fold, Accordion Fold or z-Fold.

Letter fold

Folding pattern in which the folds are parallel and in the same direction, so that a kind of spiral is produced. The letter fold is a parallel fold. Two or more panels of the same width of the folded signature are folded around one panel. When the signature is folded twice, there are three panels on each side (six pages); with a tri-fold, the result is four panels on each side (eight pages). To allow proper nesting of panels that fold in, inside panels are usually 1/32" to 1/8" smaller than outer panels with the inside end panel being the smallest.

Also known as a Spiral Fold, Tri Fold, Brochure Fold, Business Letter, C Fold, Roll Fold and Barrel Fold.

French fold

Takes a concertina fold, folded in half down the middle to create 8 individual sections.

Double parallel fold

In double parallel folds the paper is folded in half and then folded in half again with a fold parallel to the first fold. To allow for proper nesting the two inside folded panels are 1/32" to 1/8" smaller than the two outer panels.

Double gate fold

In double gatefolds there are three parallel folds. The left and right edges of the paper fold and meet in the middle, without overlapping, along a center fold. The outer panels (the ones that fold in to the middle) are usually 1/32" to 1/8" smaller than the inner panels (the ones covered by the panels that fold in) to allow for proper folding and nesting.

See also

• Flyer (pamphlet)
  Flyer (pamphlet)
  __notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....
  
  
• Pamphlet
  Pamphlet
  A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
  
  

• Color printing
  Color printing
  Color printing or Colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color...
  
  
• Converters (industry)
• Flexography
  Flexography
  Flexography is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is basically an updated version of letterpress that can be used for printing on almost any type of substrate including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper...
  
  
• Foil imaging
  Foil imaging
  Foil imaging is a revolutionary printmaking technique developed at the University of Iowa by Professor Virginia A. Myers, with student research teams, in the late twentieth century. Enabled by the invention of the hand-held Iowa Foil Printer , it is a new art form derived from the commercial...
  
  
• Foil stamping
  Foil stamping
  Foil stamping, typically a commercial print process, is the application of pigment or metallic foil, often gold or silver, but can also be various patterns or what is known as pastel foil which is a flat opaque color or white special film-backed material, to paper where a heated die is stamped onto...
  
  
• Hot metal typesetting
  Hot metal typesetting
  In printing and typography, hot metal typesetting refers to 19th-century technologies for typesetting text in letterpress printing. This method injects molten type metal into a mold that has the shape of one or more glyphs...
  
  
• In-mould decoration
  In-Mould Decoration
  In-mould decoration, a special type of plastic moulding, is used for decorating plastic surfaces with color and/or with an abrasion resistant coat.-Principle:...
  
  
• In-mould labelling
  In-mould labelling
  In-mould labelling is the use of paper or plastic labels during the manufacturing of containers by blow molding, injection molding, or thermoforming processes. The label serves as the integral part of the final product, which is then delivered as pre-decorated item. Combining the decoration...
  
  
• Jang Young Sil
• Letterpress printing
  Letterpress printing
  Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image...
  
  
• Movable type
  Movable type
  Movable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document ....
  
  
• Offset printing
  Offset printing
  Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...
  
  
• Print on demand
  Print on demand
  Print on demand , sometimes called, in error, publish on demand, is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book are not printed until an order has been received...
  
  
• Printmaking
  Printmaking
  Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
  
  
• Security printing
  Security printing
  Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, passports, tamper-evident labels, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps and identity cards...
  
  
• Typography
  Typography
  Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
  
  
• Wang Zhen
  Wang Zhen (official)
  Wang Zhen was an official of the Yuan Dynasty of China. He is credited with the invention of the first wooden movable type printing in the world, while his predecessor of the Song Dynasty , Bi Sheng , invented the world's first earthenware movable type printing...