2pp Jackets - open top, right, or left. About 5inch but we have many sizes.

Go here for more 2pp jackets

2Panel Jacket with wide spine - LP style:


Japanese Style /Oversized / OBI:


For here for more examples of Japanese style albums

2pp mailers:

Go here for more on mailers

2pp Jackets in Box Sets

See also Box Sets and Slipcase Sets:
Chipboard Box Sets
Slipcase Sets Multi Disc

4pp Jacket & Wallets:




See also:
Eco Jackets & Wallets
Fiberboard Jackets & Wallets
LP Blue Note Style Jackets
Die Cut Jackets
Japanese Style Jackets
Retro Style Vintage Jackets

We can do some really fun things with hubs. Hubs come in black or white foam, or cork. If you want more of an LP feel, we can glue a wrap across the inside, like our LP Albums, but still on jacket stock. We use 15/16pt stock on our jackets.

4pp Jackets with Hubs:




See also cd jackets with cork and foam hubs

Swinging Sleeves are another really fun alternative we do. You can hold one or more discs, or insert something like photos. We do these on our cd books as well.

4pp Jackets with Swinging Sleeves:

See also Unique CD Covers
and CD Books with Swinging Sleeves

If you are looking for more of an LP style, we can use a chipboard core and laminate a paper wrap. These are made just like the old school LP albums. The chipboard core we use for this is about 390gsm and the wrap is 120gsm laminated. Your choice of matte or gloss.

4pp LP Style Book (chipboard stock):


See also Vintage LP Albums

4pp Jackets, 2 Disc Double CD Wallets:


See also Double CD Packaging

 

Made to hold one, two, or three discs. Pockets or Hubs!

See also:
CD DVD jackets 4pp, 6pp, 8pp
Cross shaped jackets

7inch height is often referred to as DVD Height. of course you can out whatever type of disc in there you like...and all the same variations apply to these types of jackets as well; hubs, pinch pockets, diagonal pockets, sleeves, etc. Here are a few examples....

Also see our pages for Tall Jackets 4pp Bifold and Tall Jackets 6pp Trifold
Fiberboard Jackets
Jackets with Magnetic Closure
Jackets with Hubs
Custom Die Cut Jackets

When we do a 9inch high jacket, it is usually for a multidisc set. Pockets and hubs are good options for these.


See our page on Tall 9inch Jacket
and also check out some of our multidisc set pages

We can also go taller, 8.5x11 for notebook type / portfolio releases, or double disc on one panel.


See more tall jackets and portfolios

Jackets & Wallets– Usually 4panel and up, nice spine thick enough to hold print. The disc can be held with pockets or foam hub, basically anything but a tray - in which case we call it a traypak or digipak.
Wallets- same thing. Sometimes people refer to wallets as bifold or trifold, and usually they don’t have spines?

Sleeves?– In our minds these are usually 2pp (2 panel).
While we’re at it, how about covers? In our mind, covers are kind of representative of LP covers, which is a special style like a jacket with a thick spine and maybe an inner sleeve?

Bottom line- you tell us what you want and we can do it. You don’t want to know how many variations of a 4pp jacket we've produced! Dozens and dozens and dozens….no kidding. We like to customize and think outside the box, so we do.

Custom packaging is our specialty. You'll notice we don't have a catalog full of part numbers - that's GOOD. That means we can do exactly what you want. Tell us what you're looking for - is it a certain size, or a certain pocket style or just a look you are going for? Unusual jackets are the not so unusual for us. This section gives you photo examples along with popular features and options for a jacket - type disc packages.

We do have some common terminology you'll see around the site:
Midheight is what we call "about 5inch". Oversized Wide is something wider than 5 inch. Tall is about 7inch. MegaTall is about 10inch. Mini is about 3 inch. Being the Americans we are, we do have lots of inches around, but we try to work in cm and be progressive as much as we can. You'll see some mix and matching going on between inches and cm (wait till you hear about our paper stock measurements!).

Number of panels is another important term to master.
2pp = 2 panel jacket - frequently called sleeves or covers
4pp = 4 panel jackets - also called wallets as they open up like a wallet. Four printable panels, cover front + inside left + inside right + cover back. We typically make these double walled rather than single slabs. That gives you good sturdiness, and nice folds.

6pp = 6 panel jacket, or a tri fold.

8pp = 8 panel jacket, 4 on the outside, 4 on the inside.

10pp = 10 panel jacket, 5 on the outside, 5 on the inside. This is about the practical limit on jacket panels, although we can go to 12pp if desired. 10pp jackets can also be put into s neat cross or plus shape folding jacket configuration.

Remember vinyl 12 inch records? Remember how you reached into that jacket and got the LP out? Want that with a CD? Well, then consider a mini LP style jacket.

Inner Sleeves can be made to hold the disc. We can do white sleeves, kraft paper, black, various colored sleeves, and print them 1C, 4C or leave them blank. We can also do vellum sleeves.

Swinging Sleeves are another fun twist, and somewhat reminiscent of 45's. Check out what we made for OriaBlue.

Special thick stock paper can be use, or we can do a book binding LP version. Bellybands, printed or colored paper are a popular add on for Japan style LPs.

Here are a few direct links to LP pages:
Slideshow of LP Styles
Title- Secret Chiefs LP
LP Covers - 2pp and 4pp

Any jacket can actually be mailed, especially if securely shrinkwrapped, but if we add a special zipper rip strip to the jacket we tend to call these mailers. Mailers are typically not shrinkwrapped as they are already securely sealed.

Let us know how you plan on printing the mailers, or if you need us to help you with that. Typically a square on the back is left unvarnished so that ink jet printing will adhere to it and not wipe off and smear. This needs to be set up in the artwork. Alternately, you can plan on using adhesive labels. We can help you with that as well. Mailing itself is best done directly with your local post office or through a mailing house as they do the presort stuff needed. Let us know if you need a referral. We've done mailers for the IRS for years and know all about the details.

Here's a direct link to our disc mailers page and also to the popup pak page as these are also used as mailers frequently.

We can also create business cards or stationary items to go with your package. Business cards slots are a popular add on feature. See what Deva did. Envelopes (pre-printed or printed with unique addresses) can also be made, as well as Business reply cards and postcards.

We've also made some beautiful laminated cards for clients - sometimes called art cards. These can be made with a stud or post if desired like we did for the Redkin Product.

Check out the art cards we made for Osseso.

Pocket Thumbholes
We have a huge selection of die cut pocket styles; thumbhole styles, slots, tubes, pinch, diagonal literature pockets, curved, and custom shapes. And we're always happy to make you a custom one.

If you need stickers, either applied or included on a roll or sheet, we can help with that too. Just let us know size and printing needs.

Other retail items can also be included.
USB thumb drives are very popular and we can help you with the manufacturing of that. See USB Manufacturing. Image Content was made with a unique design to hold 2 USB dongles. - see Image Content.

We made stencils for Molly - see Molly's Title

How about yo-yo's?

Bar codes are free addition, you need only to let us know that you want one. We'll place it for you, or send to you and have you place it.

The way bar codes work is that we purchase a block of them from the bar code council every year. Cost is about $800 and we get 1000 unique bar codes to distribute to our clients. The important feature of the bar code is that it be a unique number. Going through the bar code council ensures this. When you have your bar code, the retailer (where ever you are selling these at or through) will ask you for title information and you'll be able to assign that. See our barcode and distribution page for more information.

Bar code design need not be boring, by the way. You can do some fun and creative things with bar codes and still have them work. This site has some really fun designs: http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/04/japanese-creative-barcodes.html
One thing we do recommend is that you take the time to test it out, if you do decide to do something a little off the beaten path. Print it out and see if your local grocery store can zap it with their scanner and have it read.

Multiple versions of barcodes can also be done if planned carefully. For example, our Patagonia client has an American and a European jacket that had different barcodes. With artwork planning, it can involve a 1C black plate change on the press.

Another neat feature we can offer, are magnetic closures so panels snap together.

Velcro tabs are another neat idea that we routinely use on our pop up paks. These are available in black or white. Wonderful for when you want a product to be resealed in some way.

We have a large selection of paper stocks to choose from. Our standard paper stock is a white coated paper that contains 20-30% recycled content. This is actually more than many folks so called recycled stock! Just fyi, EPA defines recycled paper stock as being over 50% recycled content.

We also have what we call Truly Eco, that has a 70-80% recycled content. This is a softer stock due to the high post consumer content. We can order 100% recycled stock, but find that it tends to be too soft for almost all clients.
See: Recycled Stock CD / DVD Jackets

We can do any of the white papers in coated or uncoated stock, and apply various types of finishes and laminations. This is best coordinated with our art department to make sure you get the right combination for your artwork and the look you are after
.
Paper stocks are available in many thicknesses, and we can also do a board wrapping for book binding projects.

Fiberboard is a very fun stock made of unbleached, end of chain pulp material. It's a brownish, nubby kind of stock and can be printed 4C or 5C if we use a spot UV white.



See: Featured Title Magic Mama
Fiberboard CD / DVD Jackets

Check out our special paper stock page for more information.

Booklets are an easy matter to add. Generally these are full color inside and out, and are either gatefold, stapled, or poster style folded. They can be glued onto a panel or inserted into a pocket. Special uncoated appear stocks, or matte finishes are available. Recycled content can be standard 20-30% or 70-80% recycled content.

Perfect bound books have a thick spine and generally a heavier cover stock. These are available 28pages and up.


Slipcases can be made for any package, and are either single walled or double walled. We can do them top loading, side loading, with or without thumbholes, and with special die cut windows. Check out the slipcase sets we made for TED

Printing on jackets is generally cmyk, 4C process, but we can also do special pantone color (PMS colors) printing and Soy Inks.

For quoting purposes, 4C cmyk is generally equivalent to 2 PMS. Please note though that standard color matchprints are cmyk, so you might need a press proof if you need to proof the pantone colors. See our proofing page for more info on that.

PIPS, or Printed Inside Pockets and Spines, is great feature to add. This is where we print the back side of the paper (also called reverse side printing) and the effect is that the areas between the spines are fully printed and you get a nice continuous artwork coverage. If you have pockets, the are behind the pockets can also be printed. You won't see any glaring white, assuming you're printing on white stock!

Special Effects mean things like hot foil stamping, spot uv gloss and matte lamination, embossing (raised relief) and debossing (just the opposite- like sunken relief), metallic inks, and fun tricks with special paper stocks like spot UV white on fiberboard.
Check out: special effects printing in our Art Department.

Die Cut Windows and holes are also a fun addition!

Disc Printing includes 5C Offset printed discs, or silk screening if your art is better suited to that. But did you know that you can also do disc varnishes? Spot gloss on discs, or 6C? You may also be interested in disc serialization if you have the need to put a unique code on each disc. We also do some fun vinyl discs and clear substrate discs.