Everyone has a spine. Sure it's not a part of the body we tend to think about or receive compliments on (how hard would you laugh if someone said, “My what a lovely spine you have …”), but it holds everything together with subtle precision. The same is true of a magazine spine. It's probably the last thing you notice when you pick up your favorite publication, but without it you wouldn't even want to try to sift through the piles of pages.

There are two types of binding for magazines: perfect binding and saddle stitch, otherwise known as wire-sewn. In a perfect bound magazine, printed sections lie on top of each other, with the backs of the sections held together with a thermally activated adhesive. In a saddle-stitched magazine, the sections are stitched inside of each other and held together with wire staples.

So how do you pick the right binding style for your publication?

Recently I asked three of our printers why it is so important for us to deliver our files on schedule. And all three basically gave the same answer.