This just in – RR Donnelley’s Annual report is a funky fold, not your standard bound booklet!

This weeks fold features an Asymmetrical Broadside Booklet Fold submitted by RR Donnelley. This broadside booklet fold gives you the feel of a bound book but opens up to reveal a variety of panels. Watch the video below for more details!

Today I’ll show you this week’s fold: the Lady Liberty Self-envelope Mail piece. This sophisticated self-mailer was created by Structural Graphics in Essex, CT. On the outside, it’s a simple direct mail envelope but opens to reveal an L-format pop up that is illuminated by metallic gradient hidden behind a broad-side fold. Simple, yet classy!

Watch for yourself!

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VE51wjRCFNc

This week’s fold comes from SPC, Specialty Print Communications in Niles, IL. This Mystifying High Speed Inline Pop-up Mailer is a self-mailing piece printed on 100 lb. sterling matte text. Amazingly, these mailers were finished 100% inline from end to end. This is a great example of an exiting mailer than can be printed in high quantities and can apply to a variety of clients and marketing campaigns. Watch the video for more!

This weeks fold is the Accordion with Rockin’ Millboard covers sent it from Print It in Vancouver, Canada. This promotional piece highlights print technology and expertise at its finest. The piece features a long accordion fold which is actually two different folds seemed together. The front and back covers feature 60 point millboard to add weight and stability to the piece. Adding an additional creative feature, Print It embellished the front cover with perfectly die-cut and centered circles. Not to be outdone by the front cover, the back cover boasts of black letter press. See for yourself!

This week, we showcase the Iron Cross with Stitched-in Booklet submitted by Digital Ink in Alexandria, VA created for the American Bankers Association. The piece first opens in gate format to reveal two sides that fold out to create an iron cross format. The innovation doesn’t stop here. The interior boasts of a 12 page stitched booklet. This booklet provides an excellent opportunity to include marketing material into a leave-behind brochure or mailed item. Watch the video for more!

Welcome to the first FOW on The Digital Nirvana in 2012! I’m sure this year will bring plenty of innovative and fun new folds. This week’s Fab Kaleidoscope Cover Invitation comes from Schmitt’s Press in Baltimore and was created back in 2005 for a fundraising event for Maryland Institute College of Art. What makes this fold so interesting is how the die-cut shape on the front cover interacts with the graphic beneath to create a kaleidoscope effect. This is a superb example of creative designing with simpler folding.

As always, think finishing at the beginning. Enjoy!

This week’s fold is a Storytelling Vertical Open Gate into Accordion submitted by VSA Partners in Chicago. It’s a great example of how a folding can tell a company’s story. While this was not used as a direct mail piece, it’s a creative leave behind piece that people will want hold on to. The designer made great use of strategically placed QR codes to drive viewers to visit the website and specific videos. Enjoy!

Here is a special treat for Thanksgiving week… First is the Swing Cover Direct Mailer. This piece combines a swinger fold technique with a tri-fold and was completely done by machine at Bindagraphics in Baltimore, MD. Second, watch the actual footage of this mailer being printed in the production facility. Think of it as your turkey dinner with an extra special desert. Enjoy!

As always, be sure to check out more treats for printers and marketing service providers at www.OceWow.com.

In this week’s fold, Trish highlights another great creation from ITP in Elizabethtown, PA. This unique direct mail piece was created for New Homes Guide in Fairfax Virginia. ITP and New Homes Guide used this piece to not only tell advertisers about their new large-format magazine, but they also showed advertisers what space they can get for the same price. The piece opens into a tri-fold first, but then unexpectedly tri-folds down to show the new advertising capabilities of the magazine. This is an excellent example of using print creatively to highlight the magazine’s strengths. Check out the video below!

If you are looking for more innovative ideas like these, be sure to check out OceWow.com!

This week, Trish brings us the Neat Single Sheet Seat Belt Promo created by Lawton Printers in Central Florida. It is a single sheet card format featuring a seat belt that opens to reveal detailed information about the airline and its promos. Printed on an 80 to 100 lb cover stock, this fold is an excellent example of simple creativity. Watch Trish as she demonstrates the fold!

This week’s 60 Second Super Cool Fold of the Week was designed for The Clarrett Group and printed by Cedar Graphics inRonkonkoma,NY. From the outside, it looks like a briefcase with a handle but when you use that handle to open piece… it reveals a large format poster detailing the Clarett Group’s ambitious plans. The gate into closed-gate fold first revels a quad-fold, then a tri-fold until the poster is fully unraveled. Watch the video below to find out more about the Brooklyner Briefcase Brochure!

Looking for more innovative ideas like this? Look no further! Check out OceWOW for more tips for digital print providers.

Check out the latest 60 Second Super Cool Fold of the Week. This fold comes from ITP inElizabethtown,Pennsylvaniaand is a piece they created for Global Business travel Association. It is a self-mailing piece that uses an open gate fold format with an interesting tweak. Watch the video to learn more!

Here is the 112th Super Cool Fold of the Week from Trish at FoldFactory. Watch as she teaches you how to create the fun Assymetrical Gate Fold piece with a perfed postcard. It was originally designed by Cayenne Creative Group for International Paper to promote their Elements line.

Direct mailers seem to get more and more innovative every week and create digitally printed pieces that I couldn’t even fathom on my own. This week’s fold is no exception. It is a hexagon-shaped fold that unfolds to a larger hexagon. The catch to successfully recreating this piece is to ensure that each mini hexagon is slightly smaller than the one before it. Check it out!

This week’s fold comes from Capital Printing Company in Austin, TX and was created for Texas State.

Digital print used to be a fairly restrictive process. It was great for short runs, smaller formats and simple folding styles. Quality was good but not as good as offset, paper choice was limited and the glossy look of the toner was unmistakable. Times have changed, however.

The line between digital and conventional print has blurred and digital is better than ever. Not only has the quality become almost indistinguishable from offset print, the color is amazing, the variety of digitally-qualified papers has exploded, small format digital is moving to larger formats, and the technology of print finishing has caught up as well. High-speed automated folding machines can execute challenging folding configurations at the push of a button. Even highly complex direct mail pieces can be executed inline, taking them from a preprinted web to cut, fold, glue and conversion to a finished product in a single pass.

As a matter of fact, I was in Boston recently to check out some of the latest and greatest in automated finishing equipment at the Standard Finishing Systems National Demonstration Center. Click here to watch the video.

The technology of digital is its strength, as is the ability to create individualized print materials. There is tremendous value in using customer data to customize targeted mailings. This technique, one that many of us know as Variable Data Publishing (VDP) uses various software technologies to pull information from a database to customize the message or graphics in a printed piece. Combine VDP with other technologies such as Personalized URLs (PURLs) or QR codes and behold—the power of print!

From a print finishing perspective, the biggest challenges with digital print are static between the sheets, toner buildup on the rollers of the folding machine, and cracking at the fold. Your printer or print finisher will utilize industry-proven techniques to avoid these common issues, however if you have heavy coverage across folds, you should bring up the topic of scoring because the decision at times is subjective.

One important note: Not all printers have the same equipment, so it pays not to make assumptions. Just because machines exist that can automate an entire complex mailpiece inline, that doesn’t mean your printer has access to it. Some printers have limitations of size and folding style, so ask a lot of questions. Below is a list of questions to ask your printer before your next digitally-printed project.

Questions to ask your printer:

What is the maximum printable area of the sheet?

Are you offering any technology services that might enhance my project, such as variable data, PURLs or QR codes?

Can my project (and budget) benefit from any inline finishing processes that you offer?

Are there any limitations from a folding perspective?

Should I consider a varnish or coating to reduce the likelihood of scuffing?

At what quantity would my project be better suited to offset printing?