The Print Manual

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the print manual.

A GUIDE TO PAPER AND PRINTING

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COMPILED BY VINATI PYDIKONDALA

100 Year Old Paper Machine

Frogmore Mill, Apsley

contents.

All About Printing Choosing the Right Paper

11

Paper Sizes

12

Binding Techniques

13

A Brief History Of Printing

15

Printing Techniques Relief Printing

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Intaglio Printing

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Lithography

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ScreenPrinting

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Bibliography

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Of all the writing materials mankind has employed down through the ages, paper has become the most widely used across the world.

Paper has a long history stretching back to ancient Egypt in the third millennium BC. The word Paper is derived from papyrus, a plant that was once abundant in Egypt. Paper as we know today traces its roots back to China in the first AD. There is a lot to know about paper.

Some of the important things to consider when you are producing for print include paper formats, paper types and when to use a particular one, surface finishing and binding process. How can you make sure you’ve got the right paper? The best way is to learn everything you can about a paper before you buy.

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All About

PAPER

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paper types.

UNCOATED PAPER

COATED PAPER

An uncoated paper is an

Coated paper has been

absorbent paper stock

coated by a compound

When the ink soaks into

to yield a surface gloss,

uncoated paper, it adds a

smoothness and reduced

much warmer quality and

ink absorbency. It stops

fuller colours. They have a

ink from soaking into the

textured finish due to their

paper, giving the whole

porous nature and a great

thing a sharper look and

vintage feel.

feel. It gives a smooth, uniform finish with a sleek,

RECYCLED PAPER Made from re-used paper products, recycled paper is perfect for those who

professional shine. Coated papers have four types of finishes. Gloss, Dull, Matt and Silk.

are trying to reduce their environmental impact.

METALLIC PAPER

It can be used for most

Metallic papers have a

documents including

smooth, high-gloss ink-

reports, memo paper and

receptive coating that

forms too.

includes metallic pigments.

The surface glossiness and

BOND PAPER This type of paper is stronger and more durable than the average sheet of paper. It’s perfect for letterheads, typed reports and envelopes.

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sheen from the metallic pigments produce an appealing iridescence, with a high degree of luminance and reflectivity.

Choosing the Right Paper Choosing paper is tricky. Paper tells us about the function of the product, it’s feeling and quality.

Therefore it’s a crucial part of the overall experience of your final product. Thinking about the choice of paper even before you start your work on the computer is most ideal, not only to get the right feel but also to avoid printing issues and costs. Here are some questions to ask yourself about the use of paper for your printed production.

• What is the final product? A book, a poster, a flyer, packaging etc.

• What is the durability of paper required? A table top book would have to be more durable than a flyer.

• What effect do you want your product to exude?

Should it be fancy? Modern? Traditional?

• How much can the paper cost? What are the budget restrictions?

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paper sizes.

Size

mm x mm

A0

841 x 1189 mm

33.1 x 46.8 in

A1

594 x 841 mm

23.4 x 33.1 in

A2

420 x 594 mm

16.5 x 23.4 in

A3

297 x 420 mm

11.7 x 16.5 in

A4

210 x 297 mm

8.3 x 11.7 in

A5

148 x 210 mm

5.8 x 8.3 in

A6

105 x 148 mm

4.1 5.8 in

A7

74 x 105 mm

2.9 x 4.1 in

A5

A8

52 x 74 mm

2.0 x 2.9 in

A6

A9

37 x 52 mm

1.5 x 2.0 in

A10

26 x 37 mm

1.0 x 1.5 in

A Series

A0

A1

A2

A3

A4

A7

in x in

LIGHTER

paper weights.

Once you have decided on the type and size of paper, the thickness is the final stage. What people mean when they talk about the weight of a sheet of paper or card is effectively the thickness of that piece of paper.

Weight value of paper is measured in gsm (grams per square metre).

The higher the gsm the better quality and feel of the paper. Gsm is

HEAVIER

commonly used rather than g/m2 in most day to day use.

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35-55 gsm

Most newspapers

90 gsm

Mid-market magazine inner pages

130-250 gsm

A good quality promotional poster

180-250 gsm

Mid-market magazine cover

350 gsm

Most reasonable quality business cards

binding techniques.

SADDLE-STITCHING Pages are folded, creased and stapled together, with a long jawed stapler. This binding technique is often used for booklets, and magazines that have a smaller page count. Here the inside pages of the book are a bit narrower than the outside pages to make the pages sit inside the book properly.

PERFECT BINDING Pages are folded into sections and glued with a heavier printed wrap-around cover into the spine using a strong adhesive. It’s not the strongest form of binding and your book won’t open flat. In some cases several slots calles wells are carved out of the spine surface to create a stronger bond. Paperback novels are a great example of a perfect bound publication.

PUR PERFECT BINDING Here the binding is the same, but a stronger adhesive is used. The PUR glue is not opaque like the hot-melt glue.

SECTION SEWN Here pages are folded together into sections (signatures). Each section is then sewn together with the other sections along the spine. A Section Sewn book, regardless of pagecount will be able to lay flat.

SPIRAL BINDING Holes are punched through the pages of your document near the bound edge, and held together using either wire or plastic coils. The book falls flat in spiral binding 13

A Brief History of

PRINTING 14

The Rotary Press, 1843

Printing is one of the hallmarks of our civilization, alongside the creation of language, the standardization of the alphabet, and the development of paper.

Before the printing press was invented, any writings and drawings had to be completed painstakingly by hand. Before Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, spreading ideas in books was a tedious process. Books have to be copied by hand, a slow and painstaking process that is prone to mistakes. Their rarity made them invaluable and exclusive to scholars and monks. A lot of innovations have since been added to the way we use printing.

We take a look at some of the most important technological breakthroughs in printing.

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Woodblock Prinitng The first printing is performed in China during the Tang Dynasty, using ink on carved wooden blocks. It’s a system of printing using wooden matrices that were engraved, inked and pressed onto a sheet of paper. Multviple transfers of an image to paper begins.

The Advent Of Movable Type Clay Type In 1041, the printer Bi Sheng invented movable clay type. However, it had the drawback of breaking easily.

Wooden Type In 1298, this other inventor Wang Zhen began using much stronger wooden type that improved the quality of printing.

Metal Cast Type Meanwhile in Europe in the year 1439, Johannes Gutenberg of Germany, developed European movable type printing technology. He made metal moulds, by the use of dies, into which he could pour hot liquid metal, in order to produce separate letters as the same shape as those written by hand.

These letters were similar, more readable, and more durable than wooden blocks. Such letters could be arranged and rearranged many times as the printer wished to create different pages from the same letters.

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The Gutenberg Press The invention of the Gutenberg press revolutionized the printing industry. He cast these movable blocks of letters and symbols out of various metals like lead. He also created his own ink using linseed oil and soot — a development that represented a major improvement over the water-based inks used in China. But what really set it apart was the fact that this printing press allowed for an assembly line-style production process that was much more efficient than pressing paper to ink by hand. For the first time in history, books could be mass-produced — and at a fraction of the cost of conventional printing methods.

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Stereotyping Stereotyping as a process was invented in Edinburgh

by William Ged. It’s a process in which a whole page of type was cast in a single mould so that a printing plate could be made from it. Until the invention of the stereotype printing, type had to be reset if a second printing was to be made.

The Iron Printing Press Charles Stanhope invented— around 180o, the first printing press constructed wholly of iron.

The Rotary Print Press In the year 1843, Richard Hoe invented the first rotary press. This was a press that was fed by a paper roll. There was no longer a flat surface that exerted pressure to print: instead, the paper passed through a cylinder which exerted a far greater force. Thanks to the mechanisation of

The Mimeograph

the process and the introduction of continuous

The mimeograph machine was a

paper rolls, rotary printing presses could print up

lowcost duplicating machine that

to 8,000 sheets an hour. Which makes it the first

works by forcing ink through a

press suitable for large print runs.

stencil onto a paper.

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Ink Rollers

Dampening Rollers Plate Cylinder

Paper

Impression Cylinder

Sheet Transfer Cylinder

Blanket Cylinder

Printed Image

Paper

Offset Printing

Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface.

This indirect method of printing is based on a very simple chemical phenomenon: the repulsion between oil and water. The printing process is anything but simple though. An offset plate is divided into two areas: the image area, which is lipophilic and therefore attracts the ink; and the non-image area, which is hydrophilic, and repels the ink. The plate is dipped in a solution that binds to the non-image area, and then inked. In this way, the ink only adheres to the image, which is then transferred first to a rubber cylinder and then printed onto the paper. It’s called offset because the ink is not transferred directly onto the paper. Offset printing is the best choice when larger quantities are needed, and provides accurate color reproduction, and crisp, clean professional looking printing.

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Linotype Machine In 1885, German inventor Ottmar Mergenthaler developed the linotype, a typesetting machine.

The advantage of this system was that it automatically composed lines of type. It worked in much the same way as a typewriter: the operator composed lines of text by pressing keys on a keyboard. The line of matrices was then filled with molten lead, cast, inked and used to press the characters onto sheets of pape. Typesetters no longer had to compose lines of print by hand, one character at a time: everything was mechanised.

Laser Printing In 1971, the Xerox Corporation developed laser technology. In a laser printer, the content to be printed is generated by electronic processes and printed directly onto the sheet of paper. It became possible to print around 20,000 lines a minute. But more importantly, from this point on, anyone could print whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, in their office or home. However, it wasn’t until the beginning of the 1990s that laser printers became widely accessible to the public since the first laser printers were bulky, complicated and very expensive.

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The Beginning of 3D Printing As their name suggests, 3D printers can build three-dimensional objects, out of a variety of materials.

3D printers build objects using a process known as additive manufacturing. Material is put down in layers; each layer adds to the previous layer and in turn becomes a base for the next layer. Since its invention 50 years ago, 3D printing technology has progressed at a rapid pace, with significant impact in both the industrial and commercial world.

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There are a variety of printing techniques that designers can use to solve problems and create visual materials. Some are older than others, some are not as easily available as they used to be and others are much more expensive and often out of a clients budget. Regardless of the specifics or availability, all of these types of printing are still in practice today. It is important to know what you can do with printed materials in order to select the best possible materials and processes for the project.

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PRINTING TECHNIQUES

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relief.

Prints can be classified according to the type of surface used to make them. Those with raised printing surfaces are known as relief prints; woodcuts are the most common type of relief print. Relief printing is the oldest form of printmaking. A raised image is created by carving into the material in such a way that all the remains of the original surface is the design to be printed. It is transferred by applying pressure onto a substrate (paper, cloth, cardboard etc).

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intaglio.

Intaglio printing is the opposite of relief printing. It’s a printing process that uses an etched or engraved plate; the plate is smeared with ink and wiped clean, then the ink left in the recesses makes the print. Intaglio printing is the opposite of relief printing. It’s a printing process that uses an etched or engraved plate; the plate is smeared with ink and wiped clean, then the ink left in the recesses makes the print.

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lithography.

Lithography is a method of printing based on the principle that oil and water do not mix.

The image area of a lithographic printing plate will attract a greasy, oil-based ink, while the non-image areas will attract water, mutual chemical repulsion keeping the two regions separate. Thus, when the surface is moistened and inked, the ink adheres to the greasy drawing and not the wet stone, and is transferred perfectly to paper. Lithography is noted for its ability to capture fine detail and subtle differences in shading.

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Andy Warhol at Work, 1962

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screenprinting.

Screen printing -or known as silk printing, serigraphy- is a printing technique that requires three main tools: a screen, a squeegee and ink. In this process, a desired design can be printed on a material by pushing the ink through a mesh or stencil. The ink only transfers to areas that the screen permits. Silkscreen Printing is ideally suited for bold and graphic designs.

The basic printing process is the forcing of ink through a stencil onto paper with a squeegee.

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PrePress Processes

Press

Pre-press is a printing industry term for

Printing is the mechanical process of

the activities that occur after a commercial

applying ink to paper using an offset or

printer receives an order and a graphics file

digital press.

from a client , but before any actual printing takes place.

PostPress

1. Setting Up the File

Post-press is everything that takes place

The file is checked to make sure it contains

after your pages have been printed

all the elements necessary for a successful

on parent sheets, which is quite a bit.

print run

Books are folded, cut, and bound. It also

• The file is checked to make sure the images

includes decorative processes such as:

have the proper format and resolution.

• The PMS/CMYK colors are set up

1. Embossing and debossing

appropriately

Embossing is adding a relief image to the

• Layout elements such as margins, crop

print. Debossing is the opposite, creating

marks and bleeds are set up correctly.

a sunken image on the substrate.

2. Creating a Proof.

4. Die Cutting

A physical proof will demonstrate how the

Die cutting is a way to create unique

piece will be constructed, where it will be

shapes in material. It’s often used

folded, the order of the pages. In addition to

artistically on covers to cut windows into

avoiding any unforeseen errors, the purpose

the book, pop-up structures etc.

of the proof stage is to ensure that the client and printer are in complete agreement on

2. Foil stamping

the desired outcome.

Foils are applied on a heated die that presses a roll of foil against the substrate.

3. Printing Offset Plates.

Printing plates are custom made for each job

3. Spot UV

and provide a method for transferring the

Spot UV is a liquid varnish applied on

inked images to itplace on the paper. A plate

top of the printed surface that creates a

is made for each colour ( CMYK )

high-gloss shine.

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What Happens at the

PRINTERS 33

bibliography.

A Talk with Ina Kaur- Printing Techniques Visit to Local Printers- Vishwakala, Kyoorius Papers, and Judgepress in Bangalore WEBSITES https://www.pixartprinting.co.uk/blog/types-ofpaper/types https://creativepro.com/paper-tips-how-to-choosethe-right-paper/ http://www.officexpress.co.uk/paper-guide/ https://www.slideshare.net/adornajames/ different-types-of-printing-techniques-33412365 http://www.designishistory.com/1450/printingtechniques/ https://www.astate.edu/a/printing-services/prepress-and-post/ https://www.prepressure.com/finishing 34

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Information comes to you in many forms: the visuals on your toothpaste, the packaging in your cabinets; billboards and bus shelters. Design itself, is only the first step. It is important when conceiving a new design that the entire workflow is taken into consideration. The many ways that a design can be printed are varied and complex, but having some knowledge about how the print process works will help to create a more successful project.

This book outlines the basics of printing processes and techniques, a guide for all those new to the printing industry.