Last month, Steve, Sam, Sam's wife Vanessa, and a
whole gaggle of friends made the hour and a half journey to the City by the Bay to catch a production of "Wicked". In case you haven't heard, the play is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch of the West's perspective. All we're gonna say is that Glinda and the Wicked Witch are roommates in college... and it all goes horribly wrong from there. Much like Steve and Sam's friendship.

In other news... Samson stepped up to the Ad2 plate last month by volunteering to be an industry Mentor. Ad2's new yearly tradition pairs an advertising industry vet with an interested college student to give he or she the skinny on our profession, with this year's Mentor program held at Wall St. Cantina. Come for the free drinks, stay for the knowledge!

While it may not seem like the most glamorous aspect of print design, folding your printed piece can break up monotony, highlight various aspects of your piece and reveal information in creative ways. Think of it as origami for your design work.

Here are a few common (and cool!) folding techniques:

1. Accordion folds Typical Accordion folds are 1/3-page folds that zig-zag in opposing directions. For a double-sided print piece, this results in six panels on the sheet, three panels per page spread. If you've ever received a pizza menu with your Sicilian pie, chances are it was folded accordion-style.

2. Gate folds Instead of 1/2-page or 1/3-page folds, Gate folds are produced by folding 1/4 of your page, on either side of the spread, toward the middle, with both edges of the folds meeting. These are also known as Window folds because you can open both folds at the same time, like shutters, to "reveal" the inside of the print piece.

3. C folds A C fold is very similar to the Accordion and Gate folds, but unlike the Accordion, the C's folds bend toward one another instead of away. This causes the folds to "stack" on top of one another. And though this fold is good for a "reveal", unlike the Gate fold, each fold has to be opened up one at a time. The best way to use the C fold is for a message that you'd like your audience to see in sequential order.

Extra Credit: All of the above folds are classified as Parallel folds because the scoring (fold creases), regardless of where they lie on your print piece, line up parallel with the other folds. Before you say "Duh!", we've only touched the tip of the iceberg here. There are Cross folds, French folds, Spiral folds and more, but none of these are parallel folds.
More on that in another installment of Design 101.