Something sparked my interest in parent sheet sizes yesterday. I don’t remember what it was, but I was rather disappointed to not find much information when I searched for parent sheet imposition and prepress tips.

When you’re thinking about sizing and folds for a new design, particularly for brochures or invitations, you have to take into consideration what will be the most economical to lay out on parent sheets when printing.

Parent sheets are the large sheets that printers initially print a project on. These are usually set up so that cutting and folding of common paper sizes (like 8.5x11) are easy.

The usual parent sizes are 17x22, 19x25, 23x35, 25x38 and 26x40 for the U.S., and A2, A1, and A0 for Europe and other countries that use ISO sizes.