Custom Die-Cut Bookmarks

Card, Print and Finishes for Die-Cut Bookmarks

Bookmarks need to be stiff enough to resist bending but thin enough to sit between pages without damaging the spine. Card around 350 to 450 gsm is the usual range. Thicker card feels more premium but may leave a gap in slimmer paperbacks.

Printing on both sides is standard: artwork on the front, and on the back perhaps a book blurb, an author website, a library opening times panel or a reading log. Matt lamination gives a soft, readable surface and protects against wear; gloss makes illustrations vivid; soft touch feels luxurious in the hand. Foil, spot gloss and holographic finishes add sparkle, and a hole with a tassel or ribbon makes the bookmark easier to find in a closed book. The card weights are photographed edge-on in our guide to card and board types.

Sizing a Shaped Bookmark

A standard bookmark body is around 50 mm wide and 150 to 180 mm long, which suits both paperbacks and hardbacks. Shaped tops can add another 20 to 40 mm above the book. Keep the main body narrow enough for small paperbacks but long enough to be found easily.

For children's bookmarks, a slightly wider body gives more room for illustrations and is easier for small hands. Magnetic bookmarks, which fold over the page, are a different construction with their own sizes, so mention it if you want that style.

If you are designing for a particular book, measure its page size and check the bookmark against it, so the shaped top shows above the pages without being so tall that it catches on a bag.

Shaped bookmarks also need to fit whatever they are packed in. If you post them in envelopes with orders or tuck them into book sleeves, check the widest point of the shape against the envelope or sleeve before fixing the size. Bookmarks posted with pre-orders go in the printed square envelopes for small inserts many authors keep in stock.

Who Orders Die-Cut Bookmarks

Authors and illustrators hand them out at signings, school visits and festivals, or tuck them into pre-ordered books as a thank-you. Publishers send them to bookshops with new releases. Independent bookshops print their own as a giveaway with every purchase, and libraries use them for reading challenges and borrowing drives.

Schools and nurseries use them as rewards, and charities and museums print them for gift shops. Businesses outside publishing, such as cafés, tutors and coffee brands, use them as a memorable takeaway that sits on a desk or in a book for months.

Book clubs and literary festivals often print a bookmark with the reading list or programme on the back, which keeps the schedule in attendees' bags all weekend. Schools often pair a bookmark set with multicolour sticky notes for reading logs in the same colours.

Preparing Your Artwork

Supply artwork with a separate cutting line on its own layer, drawn as a single closed path. If you do not have a cutting line, send the illustration and we can draw one around it, following the outline with a small margin. Extend the background colour 3 mm beyond the cut so there are no white edges, and keep text at least 4 mm inside it.

The free design proof shows the cutting line over your artwork, front and back, so you can check that nothing important is lost at the edge. If you are ordering several designs, such as a set of characters, each design can have its own shape.

Thin white lines and fine text near the cut look risky in print, as a cut that drifts by a fraction of a millimetre can clip them. Keep a clear border of background colour around the edge instead. The free proof with the cutting line overlaid is where a narrow neck or a lost ear is caught.

Draw the Cutting Line Before the Illustration Is Finished

Shaped bookmarks go wrong when the illustration is finished first and the cutting line is traced round it afterwards, because the outline ends up with narrow necks and sharp points that tear. Draw the cutting line first as a single closed path with no part narrower than 8 mm, keep the body straight for 100 mm or more so it sits in a book, and then fit the artwork inside it with 3 mm of bleed beyond the line. Decide whether the top peeks over the page, since that part is handled most and wants the heavier card. Bookmarks that hang from the spine on a cord are set up as bookmarks with a tassel hole instead.

Email the cutting line, the artwork for both sides, the card weight and the quantity per design, and a custom quote comes back within one working day, followed by a free design proof with the line shown over the art. Bookmarks are cut in 4 to 7 working days once approved and delivered free and tracked on the UK mainland in 2 to 3 days. Bookmarks that arrive torn or misprinted are reprinted or refunded when reported within 10 days.