Question: Centerspread gutter

[SpecialDee]

Tab size feature supplements: Text and photos run across the center gutter-fold or not?

What is the logic behind text and photos not being placed in the gutter when broadsheet newspapers have folds on every page and each page has text and/or photos running through the fold.

[Tim Frank]

I'm not sure why there'd be a difference between tab and broadsheet. We try not to have any more items than necessary crossing the gutter because the pressure at the fold causes smudging, which can make text hard to read or give you blotchy stripes on images. Less ink in the gutter means cleaner pages.

[SpecialDee]

I'm curious as to whether or not the use of text/photos in gutters will become a trend as "real estate" in the print version becomes more expensive. Keeping the gutter free in the centerspread builds in the white space. But... that's a lot of real estate.

[Arindam Biswas]

There is no place to see text and photos crossing the gutter in case of a tab. The only situation is the centerspread. Here is a possibility to cross the gutter with text or photo. So one instance in a complete tab paper or supllement is widely noticible in comparison to broadsheet. Where we can see many situation that covers the horizontal fold. A big photo can run across the gutter but it has to be very clear that the center of attraction of the photo must be on either side of the gutter. And can use lift or brurb of a bigger font size through the gutter.

[SpecialDee]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I am just wondering why there is a different treatment between broadsheet papers which are folded and no one complains about text and photos going through the fold, and the inside centerspread of a tab size features supplement. I think this treatment deserves another look. Who is doing the complaining? Is it just for visual aesthetics? It can't be for readability as we read across the broadsheet fold. Is it to keep white space on a page - visual? Thank you for your thoughts. I am trying to grasp this concept but I think it is wrong.

[Mike Cornell]

Hi there. We sometimes will use the gutter but we must be careful not to place bodytype or cutline information in the space because rollers on our presses slightly perforate that area. As a result, type cannot be easily read — sometimes it can't be read at all. Headlines and photos are not as problematic, though there tends to be smudging in the area if the pressmen aren't extra careful. Hope this helps. Cheers, Mike