12345678910 PRINT// TOP 10 MUST DO’S/ KNOW’S
This manual is my understanding of the 10 most important elements to consider when dealing with print.
CONTENTS 1/ cost 2/ time 3/ colour 4/ colour gamut 5/ pantone 6/ printer 7/ format 8/ stock 9/ finishing 10/ proofing
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// ticktock TIME
Time is money, and money is more than likely on a budget. Find out how much time you have to work with and how long it will take for the work to be printed. Theres nothing worse than being late for a client, puntuality is everything.
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COSTING£££££££ The costing is a major factor to consider when designing something for a client. It is something you have to be aware of all the time. The client will have a budget and you have to find a way of using their money in a creative way as to provide the client with the most cost effectivedesign that works for them. - As soon as you get a brief for a client, the first thing you should do is contact several printers and get a rough quote. Obviously you wont know exactly what your going to do but a ballpark figure will be invaluable! - You need to understand things like unit costs and understand viable minimum quantities, extras, author corrections and maybe even delivery of the final prints.
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DUOTONE
MONOCHROME
Colour is a very important element when it comes to taking a piece of design to print. The printer will need to know the colour process you are using and what exact colours your design contains in order for the design to print exactly as a client needed. Depending on what colours you use within a design will effect the cost of print, so it is important to get it right before it goes to the printers.
// DUOTONE AND MONOCHROME
C
M
// SPOT COLOUR Spot colouring inks are specialist inks that use the globally recognized colour swatch system PANTONE. These are a series of colour swatches that are not made from the CMYK colour process. There are several different types of PANTONE colour books. Spot colouring is often used in logos. Each swatch has a special code which is recognized in all printers.
PANTONE 361C// SOLID COATED
PANTONE ORANGE 012U// PANTONE 238 PC// SOLID UNCOATED SOLID TO PROCESS EURO
Duotone colour is when you use 2 spot colours in a design. Tones from the two colours add tonal values. Monchrome is using just one colour and its tonal values, black is often known to be monochrome, but it can be any single spot colour.
// CMYK 4 COLOUR PROCESS
Y PANTONE 284M// SOLID MATTE
K PANTONE DS 199-1U// PROCESS UNCOATED
PANTONE DS 108-3C// PROCESS COATED
The most heard of colour process is CMYK, this is a four colour process made of cyan, magenta yellow and black. This process is often used for photographic images and is used in digital print quite often. When designing work for print it is vey important to make sure you are working in CMYK (if thats how you intend to print), worse case scenerio is that you try and print RGB colours your design will NOT look anything like it was intended to!
PANTONE 9324U// PASTEL UNCOATED
PANTONE 9524C// PASTEL COATED
PANTONE 8161C// METALLIC COATED
4 COLOUR GAMUT
range of e h t s w o h s gamut le for print b The colour a il a v a re ha colours whic to choose u o y lp e h y . The r print fo le and screen b a it u s t will be gamut. r colours tha u lo o c K Y the CM colours e and within h t ll a s w o sh This diagram print and e h t n e h t d an we can see within that. s ie it il ib s s o screen p
5 PANTONE 361C// SOLID COATED
PANTONE ORANGE 012U// PANTONE 238 PC// SOLID UNCOATED SOLID TO PROCESS EURO
PANTONE 284M// SOLID MATTE
PANTONE DS 199-1U// PROCESS UNCOATED
PANTONE
PANTONE DS 108-3C// PROCESS COATED
Pantone is a globally recognised colour reference system. Pantone swatches are a series of colours that each have their own unique colour code. This means that designers and printers around the world will all understand the Pantone system and can send their work almost anywhere in the world to be printed. 'The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.' // Wikipedia
PANTONE 9324U// PASTEL UNCOATED
PANTONE 9524C// PASTEL COATED
PANTONE 8161C// METALLIC COATED
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ROTARY FLEXOGRAPHY
A process which involves image printing plates that are based around a cylinder. This process is an automated one which means the material to be printed on can be fed through or on a roll. - There are 3 types of rotary printing:
- Offset lithography: Etched aliminium plates that are wrapped around a cylinder, which then transfers ink to a rubber offset blanket roller before then printing onto t he surface chosen. This process is vey fast and can also be known as DTP (direct to plate). Web offset is another type of lithoprinting, it is often used for producing large amounts of print for example newspaper printing. They use a big roll of printing material. They are very fast and often have finishing and folding built into them.
- Flexography: A positive mirror image is made of a rubber plate which is then placed around a cylinder which then transfers sticky ink to the print surface, this is usually done using roll feed.
Flexi is often used for things like sweet wrappers and packaging, its not brilliant quality because its cheaper than other processes. Companies always look for best value printing and what your printing and its purpose will decide on what printing process would be most appropriate.
SCREEN PRINTING - Screen printing: A printmaking technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink blocking stencil. Screen printing can either involve a rotary screen press which is mechanical or people could operate it.
ROTOGRAVURE PAD PRINTING
- Rotogravure: This process uses copper plates which transfer ink directly to the print surface, usually on rolls. These are often long running printers due to the durability of the plates. The gravure process would be used for things like printed laminate flooring and glossy magazines, gravure is very good quality.
- Pad printing: This is a printing process where you can print a 2D image onto a 3D object. Things you could print on include pens, usb sticks, cups, golfballs etc.
WHAT? HOW? WHICH PRINTER? It is very important to know and understand how and what different types of printers work and what they are used for. Choosing the right printing method could save you time and money.
FORMATS
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//BERLINER
The Berliner is also a newspaper format but is taller and wider than a tabloid compact and is shorter than a broadsheet format.
//ENVELOPE C SIZE
C envelope sizes are based around the same principles as A and B sizes. Depending on the size of the envelope, an A size piece of paper should fold down into the same size C envelope size.
//TABLOID (COMPACT) BROADSHEET The tabloid, compact and broadsheet are all newspaper standard sizes. The Independant is an example of a tabloid paper. The broadsheet is the largest newspaper format, with the Guardian being a popular broadsheet paper. A compact is a broadsheet quality printed on a tabloid format, the Daily Mail is an example of this.
//STANDARD ISO PAPERS Standard ISO paper sizes are the most commonly known paper sizes. These relate to A4/A3 etc.
//A/SRA SIZES
The A and SRA paper sizes are a series of sizes that specify the sizes of untrimmed paper used by printers. Dimensions have normally been rounded to the nearest cm.
//IMPERIAL (NORTH AMERICA)
Imperial sizes were sizes measured by inches rather than cm. This was a measuring system that the UK used to use, often older generations can only understand the imperial system because they were taught that. North America is the only place that still uses the ‘old’ system. As a designer you have to be aware of this, as you could end up printing something in the wrong size.
//METRIC (REST OF THE WORLD) The metric system is using cm for measuring rather than inches (imperial). In a way I think it is alot easier to work with as it gives you smaller measurements to work with (as its easier to work out).
8 //STOCK??
Stock is a very important element to print. It can make or break a piece of design. Its not just the GSM (grams per square meter, weight) of the stock that is important, you need to know what type of stock is suitable for your printed design. //Laid? Laid paper has a slight texture to it. //Woven? Wove paper is mainly used for writing. It is made in a similar way to laid paper but is woven together after initial making. //Gloss? Gloss paper is often used for photo prints, its helps to make images look sharper and the colours more vibrant. //Silk? Silk paper has a very luxurious feel to it, it is paper but feels more like fabric, as it has particles of silk woven into it.
//Matte? Matte paper produces good quality prints but unlike gloss, it takes away the vibrancy of colours, and is very prone to fingerprints! //Coated? Coated paper is any paper that has had a particular surface added this includes gloss and matte. //Uncoated? Uncoated is the opposite of coated. The stock is a lot more tactile than coated stocks. //Boards? Boards could mean cardboard or mount board printing, it will have a higher GSM. //Carton? Carton stock is thicker than ‘paper’ stocks but thinner than boards. //Plastics? If you were to print on plastic, you may use the PAD process, unless it was a thinner plastic. //Acetates? Acetates are like very thin plastic sheets, almost like plastic paper. They have two sides, one of which will never dry if printed onto! //White?? What is white? There are so many different types of ‘white’, so dont be caught out. If your sending something to print on a particular white stock, send a sample to your printers so they have an idea of your white!
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//Binding
Binding is the process by which a book for example is put together. There are several binding methods, including perfect bound and swiss binding.
//Embossing/debossing
Embossing is the process in which a particular part of a design is raised, this is done using heat and pressure.
//Diecutting Diecutting is the process in which a particular piece of a design is cut out, using a diecutting machine.
//Foil blocking
Foil blocking is a process where use heat to transfer foils to a particular area of a design.
//Creasing Creasing is a process by which a design must have certain folds in it to be put together. For example paper shopping bags have particular folds in them. This process makes the final stage of the design easier.
//Folding
Folding is the process by which a design will be folded in a particular way after printing. This could be with leaflet designs for example.
A finishing is a method that is generally used after the printing has taken place. They are finishing touches that will make the design look amazing.
FINISHINGS.
10 // PRE FLIGHT CHECKS AND PROOFING This is probably one of the most important parts of sending work to print. The proofing and pre flight check ensure that everything is PERFECT! Everything is checked several times over before being given the GO AHEAD.
The BIG sign off// The sign off is where you take the work to the client and they triple check it is good to go and sign to say so. This is important! If anything goes wrong as you can just blame the client as they signed it off! (Obviously you check it too!)
IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER ALL OF THE PREVIOUS 10 TO DO’S. SLIPPING UP ON ONE COULD COST YOUTIME, MONEY AND YOUR CLIENTS!
Happy printing.
Design by Kirsty Hardingham.