PRINT MANUAL

10 PROCESSES

OF

PRINT

PRODUCTION

- MITCH WEAVER BAGD

SUBSTRATES - MDF

- POLYTHENE

- CERAMIC

A substrate relates to the appropriate material used as a stock. This can range from normal paper, card, boards to even metal and ceramics. By thinking about the context in which the substrate will be used, will allow you to define the overall concept of a brief and determine the effective outcome that will ultimately fulfil the purpose.

Also, the cost can reflect on the material used for printing. For example, using a high quality, gloss stock for a newspaper would not be cost effective as the aim of the piece of print is to give the reader information on a daily basis. Newspapers are not made to be kept as you would with a magazine. This can also determine the design process from the start. By being aware of what techniques and materials that can be used, will allow the designer to strengthen their creative possibility.

PAPER TYPES

- NEWSPRINT

BLACK CARD -

This term refers to any piece of stock that can be printed on using conventional printing processes, such as lithography and screen printing. In orde to achieve the best quality print, you need to be aware of the GSM ( grams per square metre ) which is the weight and also the size, which ranges in different forms across the globe. Typically you would use 'A' sizes such as ( A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 ) and so on.

DIGITAL PRINTING Ideally this is not the most cost effective way to producing large amounts of print in the industrial world. It can be extremely time consuming but the benefit of it being able to achieve tis is high quality print finishes.

Saying that, they are constantly put into use everyday as a necessity to most modern working environments or homes.

The difference between using digital to other more traditional methods as there is no plates required in order to produce a higher quality piece of visual print work. More commonly used by artists to create Giclee prints that are accurately reproduced. Short runs allow the printer to be able to focus on the detail throughout the image, giving accurate results at the best quality possible.

GICLEE PRINT -

PAD PRINTING A substrate relates to the appropriate material used as a stock. This can range from normal paper, card, boards to even metal and ceramics. By thinking about the context in which the substrate will be used, will allow you to define the overall concept of a brief and determine the effective outcome that will ultimately fulfil the purpose.

Also, the cost can reflect on the material used for printing. For example, using a high quality, gloss stock for a newspaper would not be cost effective as the aim of the piece of print is to give the reader information on a daily basis. Newspapers are not made to be kept as you would with a magazine. This can also determine the design process from the start. By being aware of what techniques and materials that can be used, will allow the designer to strengthen their creative possibility.

- IPHONE SKIN ZIPPO LIGHTER -

ROTARY PRINTING LITHOGRAHPY

OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY (LITHO) This process of printing involves an extremely high volume process to produce consistent results in a fairly short space of time. Sheet-fed Litho involves using the CMYK four colour process, each plate containing the appropriate colour. Web litho uses a continuous roll to allow an increase in printing volume effectively producing larger amounts of print.

The video below demonstrates to motion of the Litho print production method and what can ultimately be achieved by using this process. Each machine typically involves four main towers, each with one colour assigned to systematically apply the ink to paper.

FLEXOGRAPHY Commonly used for more everyday essential pieces of design work, ranging from labels, food packaging and general throw away packets. Mass produced on a large scale in order to maximise the potential profit growth from a product. it has the basic similarities of other rotary print processes, where a plate is wrapped around a cylinder forming the printing structure for the print to work. Unlike gravure or litho, the plate is made from a synthetic rubber material or photopolymer. This again in turns reduces the price of printing as there is no need to use expensive metals to create a plate for print.

GRAVURE

This process of print is similar to lithography in terms of the function that it works in. There is a copper plate that has the image for print engraved, this results in increased durability for a longer period of time. Obviously the cost of print grows but if you are producing batches of 10000 prints or more, constantly then this is the ideal process to be used.

Typical pieces of design work that may be used involve flooring, brochures and magazines. Additional operations can be included during this process, such as saddle stitching. Allowing the brochure to be bound along the production line with one swift motion.

SCREEN PRINTING The main basis of this methods is similar to those of all the other print processes, as you have to separate the colours onto different screens to form a way to layer the design together. Although this is an extremely versatile process, allowing you to print onto a larger number of stocks with greater strengths of ink.

Providing mixed qualities to work depending on the design.

Any image that you want to print with this method needs to be fixed to a screen. The method of doing this is to use ultraviolet light the burn the image onto a resin, which in turns sets leaving the appropriate image visible. The material used is formed from a mesh, stretched over a metal frame. It can be washed and reused creating a cost effective and traditional way to printing.

The ink is pulled across the screen in one direction to apply onto the print, then moved back in the other to take it off. Using a 'squeegee' to push the ink over the screen, the mesh allows only a certain amount to be pressed through, creating a print. This is then left to dry until another layer can be applied using the same method.

ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING This process uses the basic fundamentals of normal screen printing but instead it's used on a more industrial scale, to create much greater batches of print work. Each screen rotates round one another form a systematic sequence where colour can be applied much more effectively than having to manually change the screen each time.

HALFTONES This process is used to create an illusion of the original image by replicating the photographic tones that are used in print. By using this method, the dots can be built up to create a full colour CMYK finished image, normally appropriated to a photograph or full colour detailed image.

Greyscale - Single coarse halfton screen.

Duotone - Double halftone screen. Normally using black with either a spot colour.

Four-colour Image - Four screens using full CMYK colour.

Four-colour Black - Four screens using full CMYK colour to create a richer Monotone colour.

FINISHES - FOIL BLOCKING

SPOT VARNISH -

This process of print is similar to lithography in terms of the function that it works in. There is a copper plate that has the image for print engraved, this results in increased durability for a longer period of time. Obviously the cost of print grows but if you are producing batches of 10000 prints or more, constantly then this is the ideal process to be used.

Typical pieces of design work that may be used involve flooring, brochures and magazines. Additional operations can be included during this process, such as saddle stitching. Allowing the brochure to be bound along the production line with one swift motion.

PROCESS

COLOURS -

CMYKOG

cyan / magenta / yellow / black / orange / green