At Studio Red Design, we love creative folds within a document. The way a paper folds can help to tell and reveal a client's story. The simple turn of a page or panel can reinforce or bring to life a message or a story. Turning a panel, opening a fold, is a tangible and memorable experience. The act of unfolding can deliver a highly effective message while creating alignment through the physical interaction with the content. Why not make your design active, engaging, and fun?
A basic trifold contains two parallel folds to create 3 panels. These either fold into a center panel or can be further folded in an accordian fashion (a z-fold), thereby increasing the experience exponentially. Once one starts to talk about folds, there are a multitude of directions one can go, so wait for the next newsletter!
Many people think structured folding began with origami. The history of origami followed after the invention of paper and was a result of paper’s increasing use in society (keep in mind that paper was wildly expensive at first, so would be used many, many times). Independent paper folding traditions exist in East Asia and Europe and it is unclear whether they evolved separately or had a common source. The Japanese word “origami” itself is a compound of two smaller Japanese words: “ori” (root verb “oru”), meaning to fold, and “kami,” meaning paper. Friedrich Fröbel, the German inventor of “Kindergartens," recognized paper binding, weaving, folding, and cutting as teaching aids for child development during the early 19th century and implemented these in his schools for the very young. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_origami)
Today, designers do not tend to rely on hand-fold techniques of the past, but draw inspiration for designs that can be folded by machines (mechanized folders) for easy and efficient duplication. Sometimes, however, if the design is too complex, people are still called in to hand-fold.
Our world has multiple dimensions and we should seek to emulate that in our design. If you want to make your message grow, think on the adage that you cannot fold a single piece of paper in half more than eight times. Turns out with a large enough piece of paper and plenty of time and energy, you can keep going. That said, after only 103 folds, you reach 93 billion light years in thickness - the size of the observable Universe. Hence, if you want exponential growth, seize the fold!