Brochure Printing Guide: How to Choose Size, Paper, Fold and Finish

Every brochure order in Dubai comes down to five decisions: size, fold, paper weight, finish and quantity. Get them right and the brochure looks considered and prints on time. Get them wrong and you find out at proof stage, or worse, after 1,000 copies are already trimmed. This guide walks through each decision with real specifications and real pricing from PrintOnline's tri-fold brochure product, so you can plan an order rather than guess at one.

Size: A4, A5 or DL

A4 (210 x 297 mm) is the standard brochure sheet in the UAE. Folded once (bi-fold) it becomes an A5 booklet-style piece; folded twice (tri-fold or Z-fold) it becomes three DL-sized panels. A4 open gives the most surface area to work with and is what PrintOnline's standard tri-fold brochure is built on.

A5 (148 x 210 mm) works as a smaller stand-alone flyer or a folded-down handout. It costs less per piece and suits a simpler single message rather than a full company story.

DL (99 x 210 mm) is the long, narrow panel size you get from folding an A4 sheet into three. It is also sold as a stand-alone format for rate cards, menus and slim inserts, and it is the size each panel of a tri-fold brochure ends up at once folded.

For most Dubai businesses ordering a general company or product brochure, A4 folded down (bi-fold or tri-fold) is the default choice, because it gives enough space for a real narrative without becoming a booklet.

Fold: bi-fold, tri-fold, Z-fold

Bi-fold is one fold down the middle, giving four panels (two per side). It suits a simple message: a cover, a spread of content, and a back panel with contact details.

Tri-fold (3-fold) is two folds giving six panels. This is PrintOnline's standard brochure format: Advertising Flyers - Trifold brochure, A4, 150gsm, 3-fold, multipurpose. Six panels are enough to sequence an introduction, three or four service or product panels, and a back panel, which is why it is the most common brochure format for exhibitions, sales meetings and general company handouts.

Z-fold is also two folds, but folded in a zigzag rather than rolled inward, so both the front and back open flat in one continuous strip. It reads well for a timeline, a step-by-step process, or a wide single image split across panels, but it opens less intuitively for a first-time reader than a tri-fold. See the full comparison in bi-fold vs tri-fold brochure.

Paper GSM

GSM (grams per square metre) is paper weight, and it is the single biggest driver of how a brochure feels in the hand. PrintOnline's standard tri-fold brochure is printed on 150 GSM art paper, which folds cleanly, holds colour well, and is the working default for most brochure orders. A related flyer product runs on 170 GSM, a step heavier and noticeably stiffer for a single unfolded sheet. The trade-offs between paper weights, and where thicker stock helps and where it does not, are covered in 170 GSM vs 200 GSM vs 250 GSM.

Heavier is not automatically better for a folded piece: past a certain weight, paper resists folding cleanly and can crack along the crease unless it is properly scored first. Lighter stock folds effortlessly but feels less substantial and shows show-through from the printing on the other side. 150 to 170 GSM is the sweet spot most brochures land on.

Matte vs gloss

PrintOnline's tri-fold brochure offers both matte and gloss lamination as an add-on from 500 copies upward, priced at AED 65 for 500, AED 90 for 1,000 and AED 160 for 2,000 to 5,000 copies.

• Gloss makes colours punchier and photography sharper, and it resists fingerprints and light moisture better. It also reflects light, so text-heavy panels can be harder to read under strong lighting, and pen cannot write on it.
• Matte gives a softer, more premium, less reflective finish that reads well under exhibition lighting and takes a pen if someone wants to jot a note on it. Colours are slightly less vivid than gloss.

Unlaminated brochures are also available below the 500-copy threshold and cost less, but they mark and wear faster in a bag or a stack of handouts.

Digital vs offset printing

PrintOnline prints its tri-fold brochure digitally at 100 and 250 copies, and switches to offset from 500 copies upward. This is not a marketing choice, it is where the cost curve crosses over: digital presses have no plate setup cost and are efficient for short runs, while offset presses cost more to set up but print each additional sheet for a fraction of the digital cost, so they win decisively once volume climbs. The full comparison, including a cost table, is in digital vs offset brochure printing.

Quantity

On PrintOnline's tri-fold brochure the real pricing looks like this:

The jump from 250 to 500 copies is where per-piece cost falls off a cliff, because that is the digital-to-offset crossover. If your real need is somewhere around 300 to 400 copies, it is often cheaper to order 500 than to order fewer. A full pricing breakdown with what drives each tier is in how much does brochure printing cost in Dubai.

Artwork requirements

Whatever size, fold and paper you choose, the production requirements are fixed: artwork at 300 DPI at actual print size, at least 3 mm of bleed on all sides, supplied as PDF, AI or EPS. Standard sizes are trimmed by 3 mm from all edges, so nothing critical should sit within that margin. Printing is CMYK; RGB and Pantone codes are converted to CMYK before printing and exact colour matching is not guaranteed. One design per order or item, with free design support capped at 60 minutes for straightforward layouts.

Putting it together

A typical Dubai company brochure order: A4 tri-fold, 150 GSM, matte lamination, 500 to 1,000 copies, standard 3 to 5 working day production. That single combination covers most sales meeting and exhibition needs. For content structure rather than print specification, see what to include in a company profile brochure, and if the brochure is for a trade show, read brochure printing for exhibitions and trade shows.

A folded brochure is not always the right piece: if you need a single-sheet handout instead of panels, PrintOnline also prints flyers in A5, A4 and DL on 170 or 350 GSM and take-or-leave door hanging flyers on 350 GSM for residential and hotel distribution, while the A4 tri-fold brochure stays the better choice when you need six panels of content in one piece.

Order your brochure printing from PrintOnline.