36 03 For cover design, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop are commonly used. InDesign excels in layout design, Illustrator handles illustrations and vectors, and Photoshop is great for photo editing. This section provides guidelines on using these tools to create a professional cover design that meets the necessary technical specifications. Cover Layout If you are creating the cover yourself, please keep to the following guidelines (see page 38): • The total width of the document is equal to your book size plus the spine thickness and 6 mm (bleed). • Please submit the PDF as a single page (spread). • Make sure that bleed elements extend to the edge of the page, with a 3 mm bleed. • The correct spine thickness depends on the type of paper and the number of pages. Information on calculating the spine thickness can be found in your portal. • Images must be of high quality (minimum 300 DPI, maximum 600 DPI). • Do not place important images or text too close to the edge of the page (see safe area). • Want to print the inside of the cover? See page 39 for specifications. • Interested in a bookmark as an invitation? Look for submission instructions on our website or in your portal. Cover in Adobe InDesign or Illustrator 1. Create a document with a total width equal to the back, spine, and front of the book. 2. Specify the 3 mm bleed in the document. This line will be displayed in red outside the document size (black line). Make sure that background colors or images extend to this line. 3. The dotted lines indicate a safe margin of 10 mm. Use the specifications of the attached screenshots (margins); this line is magenta. Place text and image elements within this margin without any problems. 4. Export the document as PDF with bleed and crop marks. Instructions for this can be found from page 78 of this manual.
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