DESIGN FOR
:AN INTRODUCTION BY HEATHER BRADLEY
CONTENTS 1. Colour Processes CMYK & RGB
(2-3)
2. Multi-tones Monotone
(4-5)
(6-7)
Duotone & Tritone
3. Tints & Overprinting
(8-9)
4. Pantone & Spot Colours
(10-11)
5. Print Processes
(12-13)
6. Print Finishes
(14-17)
1
Cyan
Magenta
2
Yellow
Black
CMYK VS RGB Colour is essentially different wavelengths of light. It is described through values of hue, saturation and brightness by designers. There are two main colour models, that which relate to work on screen (RGB), and that which is printed (CMYK). CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yel- sponds to colours differently, so colour low and Key (Black). This process is management is needed to ensure accuaslo known as the full-colour proc- rate and predictable colour reproducess. These colours are overlapped to tion. produce the existing primary colours, i.e Cyan and Yellow overlap to create Designers and printers use gamut and Green. All colours overlapped creates colour spaces to calculate the range black as no light is able to escape.
of colours that can be produced. The common gamuts are RGB and CMYK.
RGB works on a similar basis only A gamut is the range of spectral colours starting with primary colours. Where visable to the human eye. red and green overlap, yellow is created and so on. Each primary represents Colour printing systems cannot reproa component of white light, so where duce the full colour gamut that the huall colours overlap, white is produced. man eye can see. The RGB gamut can RGB is specifically for on-screen use.
produce about 70% of these colours, and the CMYK gamut is even less than
Colour management is a process that this. governs how colour is translated from one piece of equipment in the printing A way around this is using Spot colprocess to another. Every device re- ours, as explained on pg 11.
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MONOTONE Monotone is a tonal image limited to full colour image, you discard all other using only one colour, along with all the colour information and transfer it to tints of that colour. Any colours can be greyscale. Using the duotone mode in used including Pantone spot colours. It photoshop, you can choose the colour can, however, be sometimes confused you wish to replace the black. You can for greyscale, as that is what the latter then further change how the colour is is correctly known as.
applied. It can simply replace the darkest black for the darkest shade of your
Though it restricts colour, it can prove chosen colour, and the lightest shade a very cheap printing job as it’s only of grey for the lightest shade of your to the four-colour process. You can, of your own preference, but you can use course, add in colours through clever this almost like a contrast tool. use of stock. This process is most commonly used in disposable producs such You can then further produce duoas newspapers.
tones, tritones and quadtones through this mode.
To create a monotone image from a
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Pantone Solid Coated 2756 C
using one printing plate as apposed chosen colour, it obviously depends on
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A duotone image is a tonal image made up of two colours, such as blue and yellow as shown opposite. In order to produce a successful duotone image, there needs to be balanced curve, which you are able to edit in the duotone mode in Photoshop, as explained on pg5 (monotone). If the curve is flattened or pushed to the top it will create a flooded colour. Duotone images are most commonly produced by using two spot colours (Pantones), rather than the full four colour process, in order to save on printing costs.
Solid Matte Pantone Reflex Blue M Pantone 393 M
Though it restricts colour, it can create a very atmospheric photo, and form a great piece of design.
DUOTONE 6
TRITONE Adding a third colour to a tonal image creates a tritone. You can stick with the preset values, Solid Matte
Pantone Reflex Blue M
but it is always good to play with the Pantone 393 M curve to see what effects you can get
Pantone 3405 M
out of it. Obviously this would be down to your own preference. Adding a fourth colour would then create a Quadtone. If a multitone image is created using Pantone spot colours but is to be printed CMYK, the image needs to be converted to the CMYK colour space once completed. This will choose the nearest CMYK colour to the Pantone. It would obviously be better to use Pantone colours to print to get a much richer colour.
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TINTS
Tints are great way to produce a numerous amount of colours from a single colour. A printer can be set to print a percentage of a particular colour,
Pantone Reflex Blue M - 100%
usually in increments of ten percent to produce 1,330 tints. There is restrictions, however. Tints below 10 percent and above 90 percent
Pantone Reflex Blue M - 80%
may not print properly due to the effect of dot gain. To see how tints will look when printed, there is a process where a tint bar
Pantone Reflex Blue M - 60%
can be printed on the edge of the wet proof (a preview of the design befor the final prints). If not how you expected, adjustments can then be easily made prior to the final printing, to ensure you get the colours you want. This is
Pantone Reflex Blue M - 40%
the only way to preview tints. Tints are mainly used to help save on printing costs. Though this process limits colour, it can produce a visually
Pantone Reflex Blue M - 20%
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enchancing piece of design.
OVER-
PRINTING Overprinting is where inks are printed order in which process colours print on top of each other to creat an ad- needs to be taken into consideration. ditional colour. This process creates If printing in the order of the abbrethe same colours to what they would viation, CMYK, yellow would obviously if they were mixed, for example, cyan not be able to overprint cyan. and yellow would create a green, as shown above.
In order to check pre-press, each individual plate in colour is printed, and
With CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow can then be placed onto a lightbox in and Black) colours, cyan can overprint order to get the effect of how they will all colours, however, yellow can only print. overprint black. Overprinting is most often used when In order to overprint sucsessfully, the working with typography.
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10
PANTONES & SPOT COLOURS
When printing in the CMYK four-col- process. However, can obviously beour process, the colours can often be- come expensive when using numerous come dull, this is because the colour is spot colours. outside the four-colour CMYK printing process gamut range. The CMYK Pantone is a colour matching system gamut range is very limited, however, used by Graphic Designers for inks, fortunately there is a way around this, papers and other materials. Pantone using spot colours.
swatch books allow us to view the colour before it is printed. Process colours
Spot colours are specially mixed inks, can also be matched to the nearest metallics, flourescents and spot var- Pantone colour. Pantone also provide a nishes that only uses one printing wide range of different swatch books for plate. They are most commonly used colour finishes including Hexachrome, when a bright/vivid colour is needed, Metallic and Pastel colours, along with or if a particular colour is requested, swatch books for different stocks, such such as for a corporate logo.
as Coated, Uncoated, Euro Coated and Matte. This is because the stock can
Spot colours have a greater vibrancy as manipulaye a colour’s appearance. they print as a solid colour, rather than one that is made up of half-tone CMYK Each Pantone colour is allocated a dots.
unique referece number in order to make it easier for communication be-
As this process only uses one printing tween designers and printers. For explate, it can be a very cheap printing ample, Pantone Solid Coated 2756 C.
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PROCESSES There are many different print process, each subject to
age from a printing plate is transferred for printing on otherwise impossible or offset onto a rubber roller, which is products, such as sports equipment then pressed against the substrate.
and toys, along with stationary. Rotogravure
Lithography functions on the basis that Also known as roto or gravure. oil and water repel each other. Gravure is a type of printing procLitho is considered the most common ess that involves engraving the image print process, mainly due to the fact onto a copper cylinder, like Litho and that the printing costs are fairly low, Flexo, and pressed striaght onto the and because the plates are easy to re- substrate pair. Gravure presses are the fastest and
different types of inks, stocks and finishes. These in-
Flexographic Printing
clude Digital Printing, Lithography, Flexogra-
Also known as ‘Flexo’. Flexo is a print- reels of paper rather than sheets. It is
phy, Pad Printing, Screen Printing and Rotogra-
ing process which uses a flexable relief most commonly used for magazines,
vure.
newspapers, postcards, and corrugates (cardboard) product packaging.
Digital Printing Digital Printing is what is most familiar to us, it works in the same way as a personal home printer would, but on a much larger scale. It is generally used for short print runs, and for personalised print jobs, such as if a specific name or shape were to be printed onto a design. Lithographic Printing Also known as ‘Litho’. It is a process whereby the inked im-
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plate.
widest presses in operation. Most use
It can be used on any type of substrate including plastic, metallic films, cello- Screen Printing phane and paper. It is most commonly Screen printing is a printing method used for printing on substrates required in which an ink is transferred through for various types of food packaging.
a screen, that holds the design, onto a substrate.
Pad Printing Pad printing is the printing process It is a very slow and expensive printing that can transfer a 2D image onto a 3D process, but can be applied to a wide object. This is a process whereby the range of materials, including cloths, image is transferred from the printing ceramics and metals. plate via a silicone pad onto the substrate.
Specific colours can be used and can create a raised surface that adds a tac-
This process is most commonly used tile element to a design.
Linney Group - Lithographic Printer - www.linney.com/Linney-Print
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PRINT FINISHES
Once printed, there are a wide range with block colour, it doesn’t tend to of processes to use which can provide work on tonal images such as photothe finishing touches to a design. These graphs. processes include foil blocking, die cutting, embossing, debossing, perfora- Die Cutting tion, tip-ins, duplexing and varnishes.
Die cutting is used to cut away a specified area of a design, such as the ti-
Foil Blocking
tle text and shapes. It uses a steel die
Foil blocking is the process in which which is bent into the desired shape. coloured foil is transfered onto a de- The material being cut is placed onto a sign via a heated die.
flat surface, and the die is pressed onto the material to cut it.
This process adds a shiny, metallic finish to the design and is mostly used in This process is most often used for elements such as title text. It is a great decoration, and can even add an interway to add a personal touch to your active factor as it encourages people design and creates a professional feel. to touch it. It is most commonly used It can also be quit interactive as a dark on business cards and sometimes mail foil would have to be faced towards the shots and leaflets. light in order to be able to see it. Embossing Foil blocking, however, is only used Embossing is the process where a de-
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sign is stamped from underneath onto the stock to leave an impression. Thinner stocks can hold more detail than thicker stocks, but thicker stocks can create a higher emboss. Soft papers are also easy to emboss, and coated stocks hold detail well however can crack. To add colour, it is sometimes made with foil, but are mainly left without to add a tactile element to a design. Again, this process can add a interactive element to a design as the audience will Marque - Begg - Debossed lines above and below logo.
have to touch it, or face it toward light to read/see it. Debossing Very similar to embossing only it’s stamped from above onto a stock to create an indentation. Debossing also produces better on thicker stock as it creates a deeper indentation. Perforation Perforation is the process whereby an area of a design is slightly cut to weaken it, so that it can be detatched/ripped away easily. It can also be used for dec-
Aileen Barrameda - Buzzy’s peanut brittle - Die cutting on the side of packaging.
oration.
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This process is most commonly used doccumnet and are most commonly on small paper packages. Again, this used in mail shots. can form a very interactive element to a design as it has to be physically pulled Varnishes away.
Varnishes are a colourless coating, added to a finished print job to add a
Duplexing
shiny texture to a specific area of the
Duplexing is the joining of two differ- surface. This also protects it from wear ent stocks to form a single piece with or smudging. This can enhance the visdifferent colours/textures on either ual appearance of a design, or elements side.
within it, such as a spot varnish.
Sometimes used for colour to save Spot varnishes can be applied in the printing costs. This process can add a same way that inks are printed. Any great visual element to a design.
part of a printed surface can have a spot varnish applied.
The term ‘duplexing’ is also known as the printing on both sides of sheet of There are many types of varnish, inpaper, or two-sided copying.
cluding gloss, matt (or dull), neutral, pearlescent, satin (or silk), textured
Tip-ins and Tip-ons
spot UV and UV varnish.
Tip-ins is the process where different sized papers are added into a doccu- They are most commonly used on short ment by wrapping it around the center title text, along with simple shapes. It fold. It most often uses different col- can also add an interactive factor as, ours and stocks.
if used without colour, the doccument would have to be faced towards light to
Tip-ons is where an element is pasted be read. onto the doccument. Mainly used for temporary elements which can be taken away, such as business cards. Tip-ons can be placed anywhere on a
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Black Fleece - Perfume - Perfarated packaging.
Dance Made - Business Card - Embossed text.
Carluccio’s Tags - Foiled and Embossed.
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This publication was wrote and edited by Heather Bradley. Research was collected mainly from ‘The Production Manual; A Graphic Design Handbook - Gavin Abrose and Paul Harris’ along with other books, various online sources and tutors.