Custom Coloring Books: Stress Reliever & Marketing Resource

Custom Coloring Books: Stress Reliever & Marketing Resource

Coloring books aren’t just for kids. And with Saddle Stitch Booklets, they’re not just for relaxing either. Sure, adult coloring books are an ideal addition to your de-stress toolbox, but they can also be a branding opportunity for your business. As for kids’ coloring books, they can be as educational as they are entertaining. With custom booklets, you can make your own coloring books for just about anything.

A stack of three custom coloring books with saddle stitch bindings.

A Blank Canvas

Designing begins with the book itself. Enter: Saddle Stitch Booklets. With pages stapled together through the fold line, they’re perfect for custom coloring books. Our premium booklet printing lets you customize that standard binding and tailor your book to your purpose.

 

Online printing with Smartpress means you can choose custom options to utilize coloring books as promotional items for your business, fun wedding or party favors and more.

A marketing coloring book printed with a saddle stitch binding and Outside the Lines on the front.

100# Coated Gloss White Cover with 100# Uncoated Smooth White Text Interior Pages, 8.5 x 11″

A custom coloring book laying open to a black and white cabin illustration and a Jack Kerouac quote.

Promote with a Palette

Customized coloring books can be an outlet for personal escapism and meditation or even an unexpected promotional strategy. Parsa Behnamiri, founder and president of FreeMarket Gallery in Atlanta, GA, created one to highlight the creativity of artists in his community.

Behnamiri dreamed up his “Outside the Lines Coloring Book” “to bring attention to a sampling of talented Atlanta-based FreeMarket artists, while also creating a way for people to engage with local arts from the comfort of their home.”

 

A custom coloring book laying open to a black and white illustration of a woman and a quote.
A custom coloring book laying open to a black and white graphic and a quote from Andy Warhol.

 

With a cover design by artist Jake Llaurado, Behnamiri took full advantage of Smartpress’ online printing services, which includes a wide array of paper stocks that made all the difference.

 

“My primary advice would be to choose a paper type suited to coloring, both for colored pencils and markers/pens,” Behnamiri said. “No one wants their coloring to bleed through the paper.”

From recycled, linen, felt weave and more, Behnamiri found the perfect stock with help from Smartpress’ team of print experts. In the end, it was Uncoated Smooth – White with a 100# text weight.

 

“The final product was well-made and showed off the artwork really well,” Behnamiri said. And with assistance on proper bleed, it turned “into something worthy of bragging.”

 

Behnamiri’s Tip: “Don’t print images to be colored on the front and back of the same page/sheet of paper to prevent bleed-through. We filled blank pages with art/creativity quotes.”

A custom coloring book printed with a saddle stitch binding and Orange County Library System on the front.

80# Coated Matte White Cover with 80# Uncoated Smooth White Text Interior Pages, Flat Matte UV Coating on Cover, 6 x 9″

A custom coloring book laying open to a black and white picture of Frankenstein.

Strategic Shades

From activity books for Sunday school classes to distraction tactics for your clients’ children as you talk shop, coloring book printing goes beyond crayons and markers. Ben Garcia, lead graphic designer for the Orange County Library System in Orlando, FL, designed “Color Your Universe” to promote engagement in library events.

“[It] was created for the Adult Summer Reading Program, A Universe of Stories, which also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the moon landing,” Garcia said. “[It] helped promote the program and was used as part of our Adult Coloring event series.”

A custom coloring book with Moby Dick and a black and white whale and ship design on the front.

A custom coloring book printing with great gatsby and a black and white flapper design on the front.

 

Highlighting artwork inspired by classic literature, “Color Your Universe” became a reality easily with Smartpress’ black-only ink option. It’s available on both the inside and outside of the cover and interior pages and is an essential feature of saddle stitch coloring books.

For Garcia, working with an online printer wasn’t messy at all – Smartpress stayed inside the lines the whole time. “Smartpress provided the highest quality printing service in the shortest time, [for an] overall great experience,” he said. “[The] booklets came out beautifully and proofing was quick. [I’m] very pleased and will be a repeat customer.”

 

Garcia’s Tip: “[Do] lots of researching, experimenting, learning from mistakes, taking breaks, not rushing and being self-critical. We really wanted to offer something unique to our library.”

A custom coloring book laying open to a scene with fish, jellyfish, stars, clouds and dragons.

80# Coated Gloss White Cover with 70# Uncoated Smooth White Text Interior Pages, 8 x 7.25″

“My Good Things” Coloring Book Design by Kristy Lau

Hints for Your Tints

  • Select cover weights can be finished with Soft Touch or UV coating, but for the perfect “coloring book” look and feel for interior pages, print your book with an uncoated text weight.
  • Keep in mind the heavier the paper stock weight, the less likely it will be for markers to bleed through to the other side.
  • Include standard coloring book artwork and imagery, but also consider incorporating mazes, word finds, crossword puzzles and other creative activities.
  • Use Versions to print various content in booklets over a series of lessons, subjects or curriculum.
  • Be sure to design your level of complexity to your audience (e.g., more intricate designs for adults, larger and more open illustrations for kids).
  • Get more coloring book printing inspo:
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