Current Usage of Desktop Publishing Technology for Producing Communication Material
The NC Administration Class; Gabrielle Roy, Ashley MacDonald, Kirsty Blackmore, Robert Keil & Declan Hall
What is commercial printing?
Commercial printing is the process of taking art work and transferring that work onto a piece of paper, card, clothing, mugs etc.
What is in-house printing? In-house printing is managed and operated by a company’s own personnel. In-house printing is becoming increasingly popular as people find it may be cheaper, quicker or a more flexible way to produce their work. MZAfrica.com, (2015), Commercial%20printing.jpg [ONLINE]. Available at: http://mzafrica.com/ Images/Commercial%20printing.jpg [Accessed 05 June 15]. Ricoh, (2015), pid862.jpg [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.ricoh-ap.com/products/cat7/img/ pid862.jpg [Accessed 05 June 15].
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
ADVANTAGES:
More variety of options to choose from in terms of finishes, paper etc.
More professional than most in-house printing services
Experienced specialists
Fewer mistakes due to having experienced specialists
More specialist equipment
Quality—better quality of finished product
Cost effective for large numbers e.g. 100 business cards from Vista print is £4.99
DISADVANTAGES:
More expensive than in-house printing
Time consuming
Smaller market—Students may not be able to afford it
IN-HOUSE PRINTING
ADVANTAGES:
Cheaper
Quick & accessible to anyone
Equipment-consistent
More smaller/local business
DISADVANTAGES:
Time consuming
No specialist
Limited with finishes
Quality
More expensive than commercial printing e.g. 100 business cards from Viking Direct is £12.59
THESE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF THE TYPES OF DOCUMENTS THAT ARE CREATED USING IN-HOUSE AND COMMERCIAL PRINTERS: IN-HOUSE PRINTERS
COMMERCIAL PRINTERS
Annual Reports
Company Brochures
Advice Booklets
Billboards
Appointment Cards
Business cards
Binders
Leaflets
Booklets
Photo-posters
Business cards
Christmas cards
Calendars
Canvas
Menus
T-Shirts
Mugs
Menus
Booklets
Calendars
Mouse Mats
Commercial printing
The equipment used for commercial printing is more specialised and expensive due to the high quality and volume of the publications they produce. Through communication with Lochaber Embroidery And Printing we confirmed that they use the following equipment. We have listed a small variety of them below.
Offset Litho Process
Colour Digital Process
Digital Copy Printing Process
Letterpress Process
Silk Screen Process
In-house printing
The equipment used for in-house printing is less specialised but more suited for large quantities of printing. Through communication with The West Highland College we confirmed that they use the following equipment for in-house printing.
Ricoh Colour Printer—MP C2051
Ricoh Aficio —MP 5000
Commercial printing
WHAT SOFTWARE DO THEY USE TO DESIGN THE DOCUMENTS?
QUARKXPRESS 2015
Corel PaintShop ® Pro
CorelDraw ® Graphics Suite
Adobe Illustrator CC
Adobe Photoshop
Microsoft Publisher
IN-HOUSE PRINTING
WHAT SOFTWARE DO THEY USE TO DESIGN THE DOCUMENTS?
Adobe Photoshop
Microsoft Word Processor
Microsoft Publisher
Microsoft Excel
Multi-media publishing
Multimedia publishing is presenting multimedia works that have been authored and produced by a multimedia artist or video editor. The basic five Elements of Multimedia are Text, Images, Audio, Animation, and Video, and are most commonly published to the world wide web. HARDWARE USED FOR MULTI-MEDIA PUBLISHING:
Computer—PC/Apple Mac
Digital camera
Video recorder
SOFTWARE USED BY DESIGNERS FOR WEBSITE DESIGN IN MULTI-MEDIA PUBLISHING:
WordPress (For website publishing)
WordPress is often used by many companies i.e. EBay as it is free and easy to use. It is a web software which you can use to create highly functional websites or blogs.
Cont.
Issuu (For E-Books)
Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish and share your publications online
EXPLAIN THE PUBLISHING METHODS USED FOR ELECTRONIC MEDIA
Gather information
Design Brief
Create design specification
Compile information
Proof publication
Print or publish
references
Printing Services Scotland (2015) Our Services. From: www.printingservicesscotland.com/our-services.Accessed 28.05.2015
Word Press (2005) Word Press. From: wordpress.com/ website Accessed 28.05.2015
Issuu (2015) About Issuu. From: issuu.com/about Accessed 28.05.2015
Web Savvy (2009-2015) Website Design. From: www.websavvy-marketing.com/website-design Accessed 28.05.2015
Printing Service Scotland. From: scottishprint@aol.com. Research Project. Accessed 11.05.2015
WiseGeek(2003-2015) What is a commercial printer. From: www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-commercial-printer Accessed 28.05.2015
UHI WHC. From: Cheryl.Macrae.whc@uhi.ac.uk Assistance on in-house printing questions. Accessed 30.04.2015