Printing four-to-one

Posted by Jaan on December 23rd, 2007 | Add your comment

Late last year I changed my printing habits. Instead of printing one paper page for each Writeroom or Word page I started printing 4 digi pages to each paper ditto.

This not only saves money and keeps happy green trees from becoming sad dead trees. It makes the content and structure of a document easier to grasp.

Most of the documents I work with on a daily basis are between 1 and 8 pages. News releases, proposals, requirement specifications etc., they all tend to be in that bracket.

Printing them 4-to-1 gives me something akin to a bird’s eye view of the information in them. I can easily judge if I have the right flow, if anything is missing. I am not distracting myself by turning pages or keeping reams of paper in check. It’s all there, in (usually) gloriously simple 4-to-1.

If I only need to print a one-pager, I usually go for the 2 pages per sheet layout option. The empty half of the page leaves lots of room for notes and annotations.

It has come to a point where I am surprised when I get handed a printed document with full text sheets. It looks clunky!

The reason for my 4-to-1 preferences in printing can probably be found in the fact that I am a very visually oriented person. My impression is that others working in visual (or visually connected) disciplines seem to take to this printing approach pretty quickly too. As of writing this post every web and print designer I have talked about this with has adopted it for text docs, and in a few cases for wire frames (I personally prefer full A4 or even A3 print outs of those). Project Manager uptake is about 3 out of 4, with sales people split at about 50/50.

I also introduced this printing approach to a few of my clients. It wasn’t hard; they were used too seeing my 4-to-1 documents in meetings and some of them started to ask about it. One, only half-jokingly, admitted that he wondered whether I was short on cash.

That last point, and a few strange looks aside, my experience is all positive and my advice would be to try it. I think you’ll see the benefits pretty quickly, including:

• The added benefit of getting a better overview of your document will change the way you write.
• It saves on weight and space when traveling for work.
• Helps the environment.
• Saves you money on ink, paper, and electricity.
• Probably prolongs the lifespan of your printer.

A shout out goes to the mother of my friend and colleague Johan Hedenblad. Mrs. Hedenblad is fond of saying, “If it’s not printed it’s not real”. She probably prints 4-to-1.