Spectrolite - Page Templates - Risograph color separation - PDF booklet imposition

Page Templates

If you're not using Adobe InDesign or similar software, it can be tricky to set the exact size for your page template, to match the sizes in Spectrolite layouts. Here are some places to start, blank templates to copy, and other tips.

You might also be looking for the Software Recs page.

Google Docs

For making zines or layouts, one free way we use a lot is Google Docs or Slides. In there, you can to File > Page Setup and pick one of the standard paper sizes, eg Statement (5.5" x 8.5") or A5. Then once you've made your zine (very fun for collaborating too!), go to File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf) to export a PDF that you can upload to the Templates in Spectrolite!

Google Docs with Non-standard Paper Sizes

For non-standard paper sizes, you can use the templates below. Click the template link for your paper size to copy this document to your own drive.

Page Size	Pages on Sheet	Google Doc
A7	8-up on A4	link
A6	8-up on A3 4-up on A4	link
A5	4-up on A3 2-up on A4	link
4.25 x 7 in.	4-up on legal	link
7 x 8.5 in.	2-up on legal	link
2.75 x 4.25 in.	8-up on letter	link
3.5 x 4.25 in.	8-up on legal	link
4.25 x 5.5 in.	8-up on ledger 4-up on letter	link
4.25 x 3.67 in.	6-up on letter	link
5.5 x 4.67 in.	6-up on legal	link
5.5 x 5.67 in.	6-up on ledger	link

Making your own template

If you don't see a template for the paper size you want in the table above, you can make your own:

On your Mac, open the Pages app and create a new file.
Go to File -> Page Setup and under the paper size dropdown, click Manage Custom Sizes. Here you can create your own paper size. Apple's site has lots more detail.
Export your file (it can be blank, it just needs the right page size) as a Word document via File -> Export To -> Word.
Import that word .doc file into Google Docs

Google Slides

Google Slides allows you to create slideshows custom page sizes by clicking File -> Page Setup -> Custom.

Procreate

Page Size	Pages on Sheet	Pixels at 300dpi	Pixels at 400dpi	Pixels at 600dpi
A7	8-up on A4	909 x 1240 px	1213 x 1654 px	1819 x 2480 px
A6	8-up on A3 4-up on A4	1240 x 1748 px	1654 x 2331 px	2480 x 3496 px
A5	4-up on A3 2-up on A4	1748 x 2480 px	2331 x 3307 px	3496 x 4961 px
2.75 x 4.25 in.	8-up on letter	825 x 1275 px	1100 x 1700 px	1650 x 2550 px
3.5 x 4.25 in.	8-up on legal	1050 x 1275 px	1400 x 1700 px	2100 x 2550 px
4.25 x 5.5 in.	8-up on ledger 4-up on letter	1275 x 1650 px	1700 x 2200 px	2550 x 3300 px
4.25 x 3.67 in.	6-up on letter	1275 x 1101 px	1700 x 1468 px	2550 x 2202 px
5.5 x 4.67 in.	6-up on legal	1650 x 1401 px	2200 x 1868 px	3300 x 2802 px
5.5 x 5.67 in.	6-up on ledger	1650 x 1701 px	2200 x 2268 px	3300 x 3402 px

Sketch

Sketch is a vector based app similar to Adobe Illustrator, but with a one time purchase cost of $99 instead of a monthly subscription.

I often lay out zines in Sketch, with one artboard per page, and then use the Exports to export PDFs of each page.

In Finder, open the first page in Preview and click then click the icon to choose the sidebar display and make the checkmark next to Thumbnails show. (You can also click View > Thumbnails in the top menu or use the keyboard shortcut Option Command 2 to show the Thumbnails.)

Now, combine the pages in Preview by dragging the rest of the pages from finder into the sidebar with the thumbnails, and save your PDF.

Alternately, you can export an image (like a .PNG or .JPEG file) of each page, and then use Spectrolite's Images to PDF tool to combine them into a PDF.