How to Design a Super-Simple Tear-Off Flap
Tear-off flaps are good alternatives for clients who want to save money on order devices while optimizing their effectiveness. So, today, I’m going to show you how to incorporate an inexpensive tear-off form that won’t interfere with the rest of your design.
Let’s say your client wants a 4-page catalog supplement of “hot” products that includes an order device. Though this technique can be adapted to other page sizes, let’s say the catalog supplement is to be printed on both sides of an 11” x 17” sheet that will eventually be folded twice to make a small self-mailer.
To make it easier to understand what I’m about to describe, follow along with a piece of 11” x 17” paper. (Or tape two 8.5” x 11” pages together on the long side to make a page that length.) Once you’ve gone through the process with this physical sample, transfer it to your design software.
Lay your 11” x 17” sheet in front of you horizontally (in landscape mode). Make a perforated line, top to bottom, on the right-hand page of the inside spread, about 3” in from the right-hand edge. (In the final production, this section will be folded on the perforation line toward the inside of the spread to make a tear-off order flap.)
Do that now.
With the flap folded over, the spread will be 11” x 14”.
Now, fold the piece in half, left edge over the new right edge so they line up. This brings the size down to 11” x 7”, with the tear-off flap tucked in on the right side.
This size – 11” x 7” – doesn’t meet standard mail requirements for “letter” size. And if it were mailed at the “flat” rate, postage would be a LOT more expensive. But don’t worry. Fold the piece in half one more time, top to bottom. It then becomes a 5 ½” x 7” self-mailer that’s in the proper size range and under the 3.3 oz. weight limit to mail at the “letter” rate.
Now, let’s design the mailing label area.
Flip the piece upside-down and backward, so the side fold ends up on the right and the middle fold is underneath the recipient’s address.
After orienting your sample self-mailer this way, draw a rectangular box where the address would go, and write the word “Address” inside the box. When the self-mailer is opened, all the catalog copy should be laid out in one direction with the address upside-down.
Do that now, and you’ll see what I mean.
Remember that the open sides of a self-mailer need to be tabbed for USPS automation. So if your client wants to include a return envelope, it could be inserted into the self-mailer, and the folds and tabs will keep it from falling out. Then the customer would simply tear off the order form, fill it out, fold it in half, and stuff it into the return envelope.
A tear-off flap works great for other designs, too.
In a brochure, for example, it could be used to list important dates, office hours, and contact numbers that the reader could remove to keep handy.
In a newsletter, it could provide information to be posted on a bulletin board or the family’s refrigerator.
In a discount mailer, it could be a group of coupons to lure the customer into your client’s store.
Best of all, the flap can be torn or cut off and used without ruining the rest of the publication.
How to Land Clients in 21 Days with Just Your Computer
How do I land my first client? It’s a question every aspiring freelancer asks eventually. Now, there’s a proven system for landing clients that removes the guesswork. Best of all? No cold calling. Learn More »
“I’m no longer stuck in a 8-5 job in an industry in which I have little interest, for an average salary, with very little time with my son. Copywriting’s made all the difference in the world.”
If yes, you could be in big demand, earning big money, writing just a few hours a day from anywhere in the world you choose to be.
Get Nick Usborne’s step-by-step system for creating money-making information websites.
In just 6 hours and 35 minutes, you can be in business earning $60 – $150 an hour writing simple resumes.
Learn the secrets behind succeeding in this in-demand career.
The work is plentiful … the pay scales are generous and the competition is scarce!
Get the answers to the hundreds of questions and concerns commonly asked in specific, step-by-step details.
Use this eight-step plan to make the leap from aspiring copywriter to professional copywriter this year.
Let your fellow AWAI members show you firsthand the easiest, most powerful way to land your first client … BEFORE you finish the program.
Writing for the web is a huge opportunity for copywriters. Let web expert Nick Usborne show you how to write blockbuster web copy in record time … even if you're a complete internet “rookie”!
It’s an opportunity to make $50,000, $75,000, $100,000 a year or more … working just a few hours a day.
A once complicated profession is now something you can do on a standard computer – even if you have little or no “artistic” ability.
It’s one thing to have a website. But if your website can’t be found by the search engines, it may as well not exist.
The Internet creates new income possibilities every day. The biggest among them: online video marketing.
Get the very techniques top-performing copywriters use to rattle off one groundbreaking control after another.
In his new book, Michael Masterson teaches you his very own formula for powerful persuasion and how to apply it to direct mail sales letters as well as online promotions.
Guest, Leave a Reply
Please Note: Your comments will be visible by everyone.