Booklet Designer
The Booklet Designer is a multi-page layout workspace for creating folded booklets: rulebooks, player reference sheets, mini-novels, and accordion-style inserts. When your component type is a booklet, the editor shifts into a page-aware mode that manages page order, folding patterns, and print layout automatically.
Accessing the Booklet Designer
Select a booklet component type from the component selector in the toolbar. TheGameCrafter offers several booklet sizes and fold counts. Once selected, the canvas shows the current page spread with a page navigation strip at the bottom.
Tip: Saddle-stitched booklets print best in multiples of 4 pages (4, 8, 12, 16...) because each sheet of paper produces 4 printed surfaces when folded. Chitmunk doesn't block you from adding an odd page count, so plan ahead to avoid a lopsided final spread.
Choosing a Booklet Type
Chitmunk doesn't have a separate folding-pattern picker — the physical binding is set by which booklet component you choose in the component selector:
- Booklets: Saddle-stitched (folded and stapled at the spine). The standard choice for rulebooks.
- Coil Books: Spiral coil binding.
- Perfect Bound Books: Glued flat spine, like a paperback — best for longer rulebooks.
Whichever type you pick, the designer shows your pages as facing spreads (like an open book) and handles pagination automatically — you design in reading order and Chitmunk takes care of the rest.
Spine and Binding Options
For saddle-stitched booklets, the spine is the folded edge. Key considerations:
- Spine Width: Thin booklets (4–8 pages) have a very narrow spine — typically 0. Avoid placing critical content within 3mm of the spine fold line.
- Bleed at Spine: Unlike card bleed zones that go outward, spine bleed goes inward. Keep important design elements 3mm inside the safe zone on pages adjacent to the spine.
- Creep: In thick booklets, inner pages extend slightly further than outer pages due to folding. TGC accounts for this in their spec; keep important content within the safe zone to avoid trim issues.
Inner and Outer Cover Design
The booklet has four special pages with specific roles:
- Front Cover (Page 1): The visible face when the booklet is closed. Typically the most graphic-heavy page with the title and main art.
- Inside Front Cover (Page 2): First interior page. Often used for a quick-start guide or introduction.
- Inside Back Cover (Last page - 1): Interior back page. Good for rules summary, index, or credits.
- Back Cover (Last page): The exterior back when closed. Typically shows publisher info, barcode area, or flavor art.
The page navigation strip labels pages by number (Page 1, Page 2...) rather than by role, so keep track of which numbered page is your front cover, inside covers, and back cover as you design.
Page Management
Adding Pages
Click the + Add Page button in the page navigation strip to append one page at a time to the end of the booklet. There's no insert-after option — reorder the new page by dragging it into place, or right-click any page and choose Duplicate Page to insert a copy directly after it.
Removing Pages
Click - Remove Page to delete the last page, or right-click any page in the navigation strip and choose Delete Page to remove that specific page. Chitmunk asks you to confirm first — deleted content is permanently gone, so duplicate a page before deleting it if you want to keep its content.
Reordering Pages
Drag pages in the navigation strip to reorder them, including the front and back cover pages — Chitmunk doesn't lock them in place, so double-check page order before exporting.
Duplicating Pages
Right-click a page and select Duplicate Page to create an exact copy immediately after it. This is useful for pages with consistent structure (like a repeated chapter template) that you want to customize per chapter.
Print Layout Considerations
- Page Numbers: Add page number text elements with the
{{_pageNumber}}binding. This automatically fills with the correct page number when exporting. - Running Headers/Footers: Use Master Elements (mark as "master" in the element properties) on the template layer to repeat headers or footers across all pages without duplicating them manually.
- Bleed on all four sides: Unlike cards (which only bleed outward), booklet pages bleed on all four sides — top, bottom, outer edge, and inner spine edge. Extend background images to the full bleed zone on every page.
- Text margins: Keep body text at least 8mm from all edges (including the spine) to account for binding and bleed. Enable the safe zone overlay from the View dropdown to see this area.
- Export as PDF: Booklets export as multi-page PDFs with pages in reading order. For print, export at 300 DPI (requires Rare subscription).
Tip: Design all pages at the same zoom level. The default "Fit to Window" zoom adapts per page, which can be disorienting. Press F to fit, then use a fixed zoom (e.g., 75%) while designing for consistent visual sizing across pages.
Tips & Best Practices
- Start with a grid: Use the Alignment & Layout guide's grid snap and ruler guides to set up consistent margins before adding any content. Inconsistent margins across pages look unprofessional in print.
- Design spreads together: Adjacent pages in a saddle-stitched booklet are viewed as spreads (two pages side by side). Use the Spread View in the page navigation to see both pages at once and design across the fold.
- Mind the gutter: The inner margin (gutter) near the spine needs extra space. Standard body text is 8mm from the spine; for double-page illustrations, make sure the focal point is away from the center fold.
- Use Chitmunk's rulers: Drag from the ruler to create guide lines at your margin positions. These snap elements into place consistently across pages.
- Preview before export: Use Preview All Cards (grid view) to see all pages in a miniature grid. This helps spot inconsistencies in layout, font sizes, and spacing across pages.