The Prepress Toolkit - The Random Stuff They Don't Tell You

The Prepress Toolkit The Random Stuff They Don’t Tell You

Aaron Trigg

Overview Before diving in to any project it is wise to consider what it will take to get your project produced smoothly. There are many unforeseen factors that can ultimately crush your chances of having a flawless project. The Prepress Toolkit handbooks are designed to get you, the designer, through the prepress process with your sanity intact. Use these handbooks as quick reference guides to keep with you when starting in on a project and let them guide you through till the end. Follow us down the rabbit hole.

Aaron Trigg

Image: Reproducing smells/colors of different sorts.

Color Management Overview What you see, hear, smell is not what others see, hear, smell.

The fact is all your devices scanners, digital cameras, monitors, and printers reproduce colors differently. There are even differences in the way individual printers of the same model manage color. Many variables affect color, including your ink and paper type.Time to take control!

Color Management is a way to set up your environment (called a workflow) to allow all these devices to speak the same language so you can get accurate and predictable results. The ultimate goal is to match the colors of the image displayed on your monitor with the ones produced by your printer.

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We use Color Management software to create profiles for all your devices. A profile provides a description of each device’s color gamut – the range of reproducible color. You use these profiles in your workflow, and the result is an accurate translation from one device to the next, giving you consistent, predictable color.

Color Management Process Profiles

Profiles translate the uniqueness of each device into a universal language that can be shared among devices in a “device-independent� Color Management System. Profiles describe the color attributes of a particular device or viewing requirement by defining a mapping between the device source or target color space and a profile connection space (PCS). This PCS is either CIELAB or CIEXYZ.

Color Management Module

This takes the profiles’ device independent language and organizes it so that it can be shared between all the devices associated.

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Display

Profile (ICC/ICM)

Input

Profile (ICC/ICM)

Color Managment (CMM)

Profile (ICC/ICM)

Output

Choosing Paper Finding the right paper is not rocket science. Just point.

When weighing papers, manufacturers weigh one ream (500 sheets) of the paper’s parent sheets. There for, 500 20” x 26” sheets of 24lb cover stock would actually weigh 24 pounds.

The different parent sizes complicate things, but in the end, the weights do make some sense. For the vast majority of people who deal primarily with pre-cut 8 1/2” x 11” sheets, it is helpful to have comparable weights between the different paper grades.

Picking out paper at the local department store is easy enough, considering that most of them stock only plain copy paper, along with the occasional stationery. However, when making The Prepress Toolkit

the jump from white printer paper to the wide variety of papers sold by professional suppliers, many people are overwhelmed by the choices available. Paper types range from book to bristol to “onion skin,” and their weights are even more confusing, considering that a sheet of 20lb cover paper actually weighs less than a sheet of 20lb bond paper! It is our hope that this article will clear up much, if not all, of the confusion created by the printing industry’s unique system of paper types and weights.

Paper Types

The many different types of paper each have their own special characteristics, allowing printers to have a unique paper solution for any particular printing job. It is always helpful to know the differences between the many papers available, even if paper type is not important to your purchase.

On the next page are listed the most common types of paper, along with a description of each.

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Bond This common paper is used in a wide variety of applications, from business forms to household stationery. It is a strong sheet used in most copiers and desktop printers in the form of 8 ½” X 11” 20lb standard copy paper. Another reason it is so common is that it absorbs ink well. This absorbency is due in part to the paper’s cotton fiber content, which usually ranges from twentyfive to fifty percent. However, bond papers used in copy machines or fast laser printers usually lack this high cotton content because it can jam these machines easily.

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Book Aptly named, this paper is found mainly in books.

It is well suited for two-sided printing and is very durable as well as relatively inexpensive.

Index Index paper is stiff, inexpensive and absorbs ink well, making it the prime choice for index cards and business reply cards.

Bristol Originally produced in Bristol, England, this paper is a heavy, board-grade paper with a soft surface used, among other things, for catalog or paperback book covers. It is often manufactures by layering thinner papers together.

Newsprint Newsprint paper is used almost exclusively for newspapers, because it is recycled and cheap.

Cover Cover paper, also known as cardstock, is a heavy, stiff sheet which folds and resists damage well. Because of its durability, it is very common, used for folders, business cards, greeting cards, post cards and cook covers.

Offset This paper is used in offset printing presses because of its ability to resist tearing in the large fast machines.

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Tag Tag paper is dense and strong, used for store tags.

Newsprint These include rice paper and the ultra-thin onion skin paper, also known as tissue paper.

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Text Text paper comes in many different colors and textures making it perfect for such applications as announcements and brochures.

Stiffness The stiffness of paper depends mainly on the paper type. Most bond, book and text sheets are not very stiff. Tag and Bristol stocks tend to be stiffer, and index and cover stocks are made to be the stiffest. Stiffer papers are usually more durable and can be used for a wide variety of applications. Also, the grain of paper is often listed on the packaging. Paper is ultimately made from wood and has a grain just as wood does.

The grain is simply the direction in which the fibers which make the paper tend to run. For example, 8 ½ x 11 paper packaged as having long grain, has fibers which run with the long edge of the paper. It is sometimes important to know the grain if you plan on folding the paper, because folding against the grain in a stiff sheet can cause the paper to crack. Many times, stiff stock that is meant to be folded, such as

greeting cards, is pre-scored so it can be safely and easily folded.

Some papers may be available with a special coating which smoothes out the surface of the paper, reducing bleeding and making colors shine brighter. While several coatings are put on papers, ranging from clay to enamel, the most common is a heavy, high gloss chemical coating for specialized inkjet papers. This coating does not allow as much ink to soak into the sheet as would normally, so colors sit on top and look much better. Bond papers and cover papers are the prime candidates for this treatment, which can give a normal inkjet printout the boost it needs for true photographic quality.

Scoring and Folding Folding paper use to be so simple when you were little.

Two factors involved in every successful folding procedure are the grain direction of this paper in relation to the fold and the scoring requirements. These factors influence production planning for on-press impositions and off-press bindery operations.

Grain Direction

Binderies usually prefer to fold the paper with the grain since paper offers the least resistance to folding in the same direction as most fibers in a sheet. In addition, pages in perfect bound and saddle-stitched signatures tend to lie flat better when folds are made with the grain.

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Technically, however, the strongest folds result when folding paper across the grain since paper has a greater resistance to tearing in that direction. Fiber alignment at right angles to the fold will provide, for example, resistance to the stress created by stapling on the fold of a saddlestitched project.

Job formats often determine the final position of the fold in relation to grain direction. The most efficient impositions and pressroom preferences for grain direction may take priority over bindery considerations. Plus, some projects often require two folds with one at right angles to the other.

Usually, the most preferred grain direction will be used for the primary fold.

Testing a paper’s folding abilities before production should indicate if one grain direction is definitely preferred over the other. Testing will also show if scoring should be considered, although most production planners recognize that scoring will always produce the best folds and is especially required for heavier papers.

Scoring

Cover weight papers and heavy text papers should always be letterpress scored prior to folding. While litho scores may produce acceptable results on light text weight papers, the technique does not usually provide the clean, uniform “crease� delivered by scores made on letterpress equipment. The most common and effective Letterpress scoring techniques are the

rule and counter method, the wire (or string) and rule method, and the popular Channel Creasing Matrix method. Whichever technique is used, certain guidelines always apply.

First, the score width would never be less than the caliper of the paper. Generally, the thicker the paper, the wider the score should be. Next, the end use should be considered. A folder that will house inserts, or a cover that will bind to several signatures will require scoring wide enough to efficiently accommodate the bulk and caliper of the material inside. Finally, the raised ridge or bump created by the score should always be on the inside of the fold to insure the maximum strength and flat-test folding.

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Knowing The Folds

Parallel Fold

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Accordion Fold

Short Flap Fold

Gate Fold

Double Parallel Fold

Barrel/Roll Fold

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Postal Standards For Bulk Mail You know all that junk mail you’ve been getting? Now send some to your friends.

When automated processing (bulk mailing) is going to be used on your mailing pieces, there are basic standards that need to be followed when designing the mail piece. Shown below are some of the standards that need to be followed when designing your mailing for automated processing.

Return Address

Must not extend to the right more than half the length of the piece.The bottom edge of the address must not extend down more than one third of the height of the piece.

Ink Free Address Area

This area is reserved for the address. This area must be free of design (less than 10% ink density).

This includes the area 5/8� from the bottom edge where the Postal Service bar codes print.

Bar Code Clear Zone

Area in lower portion on address side of the mailing piece. The area from the bottom edge up to 5/8� from the bottom edge.

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Return Address Area

4.25” x 5.5” Card 4.5” x 5.75” Bleed 4.25” x 5.5” Trim

Ink Free Area 3.75” x 2.7”

4” x 5.25” Safe Zone

.625” Ink Free Area

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The Prepress Toolkit The Random Stuff They Don’t Tell You Aaron Trigg