Cardboard Engineering and Fun Folds

When we mention cardboard engineering techniques we are really talking about a small handful of the simplest cardboard engineering cuts, creases and folds in order add a little extra oomph to you promotional marketing product. In this particular section we present examples of some slightly different ways to fold a strip of paper or an A4 sheet. There is nothing fancy here, no origami magic, just dead simple cardboard engineering stuff but the end result is massively more interesting that the starting point.

From A4 leaflet to Interactive Pocket Media

Let’s take a look at the Hidden Book for example. This promotional marketing product starts life as an A4 sheet. If it was left up to an ordinary printer, it would stay that way and it would become an A4 leaflet and then it would eventually find its way into your customer’s bin!  However, by adding one cut and 8 creases, the A4 sheet suddenly turns into a little 8-page book. Not only that, if you unfold it and fold it up again it becomes a different 8-page book. That’s like having two books for the price of one! Now, you might say, “Well, that’s only like looking at the reverse side of the A4 sheet” – but where’s the fun in that? By transforming the A4 sheet into a Hidden Book you will have transformed an A4 leaflet into a highly interactive marketing product that will be handled again and again. Not only that, as an A7 marketing item, the Hidden Book also falls into that category of handy pocket-sized marketing products known as pocket media!

The U Card is another example of how to easily transform an uninteresting A4 sheet into a snazzy piece of promotional marketing with just one cut and 7 creases. If you add a couple of extra cuts to the cover – like we did to form the “U” as pictured on the product page – you can add extra visual impact to your marketing product.

Credit Card Sized Printed Pocket Media

There is absolutely nothing new about a concertina fold, let’s get that straight, but it does add a very playful and tactile action to the act of turning a page. We decided to make use of this simple fold and to add some little extras in order to create what has become a very popular piece of pocket media indeed – the Foldilocks Card. The first step was easy – make the product the same size as a credit card. The second step was also fairly straightforward and that was to add a fastening device. Adding the flap and slot was the finishing touch to this very simple but delightful promotional product and it presented us with a piece of pocket media that hadn’t previously been produced for use in the promotional marketing arena. The Foldilocks card is one of those products that somehow “feels right” in your hand and when that feeling is achieved you are holding a winning product!

Cardboard Engineering Cuts to Create Pop-Up Cards

We feature two different examples of how cutting and folding can add an interesting feature to your promotional pop-up cards and other promotional products. The pop-up card showing the word “FREE” cut out and raised is very effective but beware, the more intricate it the cardboard engineering becomes, the longer it takes to assemble and therefore it makes a bigger hole in your pocket. The best advice is to keep it simple – keep it affordable – and the pop-up mouth device is a good example of that maxim.

We have made that cardboard engineering cut and fold on quite a few promotional products over the years, particularly on promotional pop-up cards when the technique has been used to good effect to represent eyes, beaks, mouths and windows.

Exceeded Expectations

“Whitney Woods were a pleasure to deal with and I am very happy to recommend them as they exceeded our expectations in every respect. Our client was thrilled with the product which was a spinner”

Judith Chilvers
Director
Printzone
North Yorkshire

Pop up Box to be Proud of!

“Whitney Woods produced a pop up box for us that our customers keep close at hand because of its uniqueness. It is a marketing product to be proud of!”

Andrew Bown-Copley
Director
Eagle Design Studio
Rotherham