February 2007 -Prime Applications for Otabind

Otabind allows books to lay flat with a flexible spine

Otabind layflat adhesive binding has been available in the U.S. for more than 25 years. In fact, Muscle Bound was one of the first handful to add this patented binding style to our repertoire. Despite its longevity, we’ve recently noticed an increased awareness among designers and printers of Otabind’s advantages.  Many more customers are requesting Otabind as their preference for adhesive binding.

If you’re not familiar with Otabind, click here for an overview. Below are a few examples of projects that are an ideal fit for Otabind:

Music Books
Music books have traditionally been perfect-bound for two reasons: Economy and ability to bind thin and thick books. But perfect binding presents one key limitation for music books; the spines are not flexible enough to remain open on a table or music stand, the two most common usage environments.

In the Otabind process, the cover is attached to the book block at the hinge scores, allowing the cover to float free of the spine. The result is that music books of any size and thickness open easily and remain open during use.

Cookbooks
As even a weekend chef can attest, cookbooks are a prime application for a hands-free binding style. Many cookbooks are mechanically-bound, commonly using Wire-O or spiral binding, to allow for completely lay-flat, hands-free usage.

Otabind offers almost all the functionality of mechanical binding along with a few key advantages. From a production standpoint, Otabind can be more economical than mechanical binding as it involves fewer processes. As a soft cover adhesive-bound book, Otabind allows for spine printing – an important feature for attracting attention on crowded bookstore shelves. In addition, users experience no reduction in durability, longevity or lay-flat operation with an Otabind cookbook.

The Muscle Bound Advantage
As one of the first North American providers of Otabind, Muscle Bound Bindery is well-versed in helping you design brochures, catalogs, reference manuals, educational materials and other books that take full advantage of this layflat binding style. We also offer soft cover perfect binding, as well as side-sewn hard cover case binding to give you a binding style for every application and budget. Give us a call to discuss top-quality binding solutions for your next book project.