Are you planning to create a book, brochure or magazine with a glued or sewn spine? If so, it is important to know the exact spine thickness in advance. This will allow you to determine precisely how much space you have for the title and any other graphic elements, enabling you to extend your design beautifully across the entire cover.
How exactly do you calculate the spine thickness? It all depends on the number of pages, the types of paper used for the cover and the interior, and their weight. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a maths genius. At Buroform, we have developed a handy online tool that does the calculation for you in no time. Simply enter the required parameters and our calculator will do the rest.
> Go to spine thickness calculator
Paper comes in all sorts of types, sizes and weights. The type you choose has a major impact on the spine thickness of your book. Does your creation not have that many pages, but do you still want a wide spine? Then you can play around with the paper thickness. A thicker paper type automatically makes the spine wider. A thinner one does the opposite, of course. Or you can go one step further and choose bulking paper: it has more air between the fibres, making it fuller than a non-bulking variant of the same weight.
Hardcover books are a special case. You can also use our calculator for these. However, we recommend designing the interior first and waiting with the cover. Is your design more or less finalised? Then request a working drawing from us for the cover first. This allows us to perfectly match the spine thickness to your design, resulting in an even more beautiful end result.
Are you using text or other graphic elements that need to be centred on the spine? Then you need to pay extra attention. Bookbinding is and always will be a craft, which means that small deviations are always possible. Fortunately, you can limit these deviations by formatting your file in a specific way, preferably in InDesign. An example of a glued brochure with a soft cover and glued spine:
Are you adding extra pages to your book? Or are you changing the paper type or weight, for example? No problem, of course, but keep in mind that this will affect the spine thickness and cover design. Once all changes have been made, you will need to recalculate the spine thickness. Just visit our calculator and you’re good to go!
Are you ready to calculate the spine thickness of your book? You can find our spine thickness calculator via this simple link: buroform.be/rugdikte
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