Print Processes & Finishes, Colour & Artwork, Stock Binding & Cost.
Book One. Print Processes & Finishes.
Processes ____Intaglio Intaglio is the family of printing and printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, and the incised line or sunken area holds the ink. It is the direct opposite of a relief print Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface or matrix, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or mezzotint. Collographs may also be printed as intaglio plates. ____Rotogravure Rotogravure uses a rotary printing process, hence the name. This is much like that of Offset printing and Flexography. The image in engraved onto a cylinder which is used to print. This was originally used for Newspapers but was soon taken over the power of Offset Lithography. It is still used however, for commercial printing of magazines, postcards and cardboard packaging. Rotogravure is much better for longer print runs because the copper plates that it uses are much more durable and therefore will last longer. This is why Bank Notes and Stamps are used by this method. USED FOR : Bank Notes, Stamps, Cardboard Packaging ____Offset Lithography Offset Lithography is an ancient mass produced method of printed items. It was designed for consistency, so that each print would be identical to the next. The method was soon suited for printing newspapers and more recently web printing. Which is continuous huge rolls of paper. Because they are relied on to print the national news daily, they can be around the size of a house and are obviously well maintained daily. Industrial Litho Printers can print as much as 10,000 double sided, photo colour quality brochures in less than 4 hours. As well as being useful for Industrial Print, Offest Litho can also be used for large production runs on anything that can flow through on rolls such as leaflets, flyers and posters. The process works by rolling 4 ‘etched’ pieces of sheet metal, for the four CMYK colours, that have the chosen design inked out on them. Water and Oil determines where the ink is placed on the metal. A roll is used for the design to be printed onto, before transferred to a rubber roll that finally prints the ink onto the paper. USED FOR : Newspapers, Posters, Flyers ____flexography This process uses flexible printing plates that can be made from wither rubber or plastic, again, hence the name ‘flexography’. This means that packaging is often printing uses this process on a wide variety of materials; Plastic, Foil, Acetate Film or Brown Paper. The inked plates with a slightly raised image are rotated on a cylinder, which transfers the image to the substrate. Fast drying inks are used at a very high speed and therefore the process is used for repetitive patterns such as Gift-wrap or Wallpaper. The process uses separate colour plates so therefore normally in the CMYK process but can print up to 10 different colours, meaning it can achieve almost any colour using the PANTONE system. USED FOR : Gift-wrap, Wallpaper, Plastic Bags, Cartons and Sweet Wrappers ____Digital Printing Digital Printing uses a code language sent from a computer to a printer as apose to the Offset method. It usually uses large format, laser or inkjet printers and specifically used for very short runs such as Desktop Publishing. Page for Page, Digital Printing has a much higher cost than the traditional offset methods but the cost is usually saved on the fact that there is no technical steps needed such as printing the plates. This method allows for majorly quick turnaround and modification after each print. This method is ideal for
USED FOR : Desktop Publishing, Short Turnaround, One Off ’s, Specialist Jobs. ____Screen Printing The Screen Print process is a much more traditional hands on approach to printing. A Woven mesh is stretched across a screen and uses an ink blocking stencil. The stencil forms open areas of the mesh that allows the ink to transfer through to material underneath. A squeegee is pulled across the screen to push the ink through the holes. A number of screens can be used to create a multicolored print. Cylindrical screens can be used to print on 3D objects by stretching around the materials to print. This can be useful for printing onto Mugs or Sports Equipment such as Golf Balls. USED FOR : Artist Prints, Clothing. ___PAD Printing This process can transfer a 2D image onto a 3D object. It uses an indirect offset printing process that involves a silicone pad being pushed onto a substrate. PAD printing is therefore used for printing onto strange shaped objects that would be impossible to do otherwise . USED FOR : Medical Equipment, Sports Equipment, Toys, Electronic Objects, Clothing. ____Thermography Thermographic printing uses heat to create letter ot patterns on a sheet of paper, hence the name ‘Thermo’. The most basic form of this is when paper has been coated with a material that alters it’s colour when heated up. This is called direct thermal and is commonly used in most fax machines and shop till recipts. A more complex thermal tecnique is to melt print off a ribbon and directly onto the paper and this gives a much more ‘waxxy’ finish to your product. It gives a smooth raised finish, kind of like an embossed spot colour and is available in high gloss and clear finish. This can add a special touch when needed. -----Finsihes ___Embossing Embossing is the term given to an impression, in the form of a design, that is made in a material to give it some sort of relief. In Regular Printing, the printing plates are pressed against the chosen surface to leave a lasting imprint but Embossing is different. Embossing presses against the surface, which raises them and adds a whole new dimension to the object. Embossing uses extremely high force and pressure on the chosen stock, with a cut out die, which leaves the lasting impression. The process is fairly inexpensive but can have some amazing results. There are different kinds of embossing that can be uses which lead to intereting results. Blind Emboss is just one of these, when a blank section of stock is used in order to create the text in beveled paper instead of print and colour. Embossing is quite an elegant process which gives an object a completely different standard of quality. Embossing can give a lot of weight to regular paper. Embossing is usually purely used for ashetic purposes, but also has some functional uses such as the brail on a box of medication or the raised numbers on your credit card. Magnesium Dies are used for short run embossing. The designs are usually a large with not much detail. The photomechanically etched dies are the least expensive of the three dies and better used on smoother stocks with a maximum run of 5,000 impressions. Brass Dies are probably the most popular. They are flexible and provide sharp details and clean bevels. They can be used for longer runs of around 1000,000 impressions for highest quality reprodction. Copper Dies are somewhere in between the other two but don’t permit hand tooling. They are mid range in pricing and can be used for anything up to 100,000 impressions Rotary Embossing Dyes can achieve multi-level images of amazing quality. They are on a rotary spinner so
can also be used to emboss larger 3D skill environment. Blind Embossing is the process of embossing stock that an image has not already been stamped over. Leaving the bevels to be the only design. Debossing is the exact same process as Embossing except that the material is raised around the die impression as appose to the die area itself. USED FOR ; Logos, Business Cards, Braille, Bank Cards, Security Seals ____Letterpress Letterpress is a form of printing that is related to Type. It involves moveable type that is locked into a bed or a press. The metal glyphs are inked up using a roller and pressed into paper against it to form an impression. From the mid 15th Century when it was created by Mr Johannes Guttenberg, this type processs was used for printing all type related print such as newpapers. Letterpress printing remained the primary way to print and distribute information until the twentieth century, when offset printing was developed. It was also an extremely important technological innovation, making printed material available to a wider range of classes of people. ___Foil Blocking Foil Blocking is the application of pigment or metallic foil to paper where a heated die is stamped onto the foil making it stick to the surface leaving the design of the die that is used on the paper. Normal foiled colours tend to be Gold, Silver and Black and the technique can be combined with embossing or another printing process to give a much more dynamic image ____Spot Colours In offset printing, a spot color is any color generated by an ink (pure or mixed) that is printed using a single run. Spot colours are colours that cannot be obtained in the CMYK colour gamut and therefore are separately mixed to be printed. offset technicians around the world use the term spot color to mean any color generated by a non-standard offset ink; such as metallic, fluorescent, spot varnish, or custom hand-mixed inks. Every spot color that is being used, needs its own lithographic film. All the areas of the same spot color are printed using the same film and therefore the same lithographic plate. Spot UV coatings are often referred to as ‘spot colors’ too, even though it technically isn’t, they still require a separate lithographic film and print run. PANTONE – This is the dominant colour printing system in the US and Europe. TOYO – This is a common spot colour system used in Japan. ANPA – This is a pallete of 300 colours that is specified by the ‘American Newspapers Publishing Association’ for the usage of spot colours in Newspapers. RAL (Colour Space System) – This is a colour matching system that is used in Europe. It is mainly used for varnish and powder coating. Advantages – Using a spot colour instead or as well as the normal CMYK colour mode is a great way of achieving colours that are impossible to print in the four colour process. It also give you the chance to use metallic or fluorescent ink which gives extra impact and can make your work stand out amongst everything else. ___Spot Varnish A spot varnish using the same method as a spot colour, but it is primarily used to highlight an image by creating a gloss print over the top of unvarnished areas. This adds to the visual qualities and can enhance the aesthetics of your work. The varnish is essentially a clear ink that is applied at different levels of thickness over your print or stock. It is actually really practical, creating durability for your print and ensuring that the ink does not rub off. But on a more aesthetic level, it provides really nice visual and textural effects. A finish is any process that is applied to your print after the print process and Spot means that it is one selected area that the finish is going to be applied to. The UV in Varnish means the thickest possible varnish
available, and this will make a vivid gloss to your work. The advantages of using a spot varnish can be instant visual impact and multi-sensory impact which plays on the touch and feel of the product as well. It can add vibrancy to printed colours and show that your company is something a little bit different. ___Laminating Laminating is where paper, foil or cloth is glued onto board or other materials. This is a versatile finish that is used for a number of different things. For example, laminating foil onto carton board can enhance the visuals of the product making it appear more luxurious whereas laminating paper onto corrugated cardboard can achieve added strength which is good for packaging. Novelty foil - Used for small single chocolates or sweets, manufactured using unsupported 8mic-12mic aluminium. Chocolate Bar / Butter Wraps - Plain or printed aluminium foil laminated using either glue/wax to a variety of substrates. ____Die Cut & Die Stamp The die cutting process is used to cut a thin flat material such as paper or fabric in a particulalr shape. It uses a steel cutting die and can be used to punch out decorative shapes within a larger piece of work. It uses the same presses as letterpress, but simply allows us to cut a hole into our work with this. Die Cutting is generally used as a feature to help enhance the visual qualities or feel of a print. It can be used innovatively to create unique ideas and help the product stand out. Some common uses for die cut is to cut out a window on a greeting card for a message or to create a certain shaped card around the outsides which is called a ‘die stamp’. Something like a door hang would also be die stamp as well as a business car that was a unique shape or rounded corners.
Book Two. Colour & Artwork.
_____Colour Colour when sent to print uses a coding language that tries to interoperate the colours used when designing on screen. To solve this problem we must always use the CMYK colour mode when designing for print. Computer monitors emit color as RGB (red, green, blue) light. Although all colors of the visible spectrum can be produced by merging red, green and blue light, monitors are capable of displaying only a limited gamut (i.e., range) of the visible spectrum. CMYK versus RGB color spectrum
Whereas monitors emit light, inked paper absorbs or reflects specific wavelengths. Cyan, magenta and yellow pigments serve as filters, subtracting varying degrees of red, green and blue from white light to produce a selective gamut of spectral colors. Like monitors, printing inks also produce a color gamut that is only a subset of the visible spectrum, although the range is not the same for both. Consequently, the same art displayed on a computer monitor may not match to that printed in a publication. Also, because printing processes such as offset lithography use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) inks, digital art must be converted to CMYK color for print. Some printers prefer digital art files be supplied in the RGB color space with ICC profiles attached. Images can then be converted to the CMYK color space by the printer using color management methods that honor profiles if present; this helps preserve the best possible detail and vibrancy. Desktop scanners & colour space Most desktop scanners, digital cameras, and video capture systems save files as RGB and the conversion of RGB files to CMYK can be done in many ways. RGB converts to only CMY directly. However, when printing, we must add black ink and in doing so must cut back on some color. The Undercolor Removal (UCR) setup will help control this ratio so that a maximum ink density for the four colors will be 300% when printing on a coated paper stock. Image halftones In offset lithography, the density of CMYK inks can not be varied in continuous fashion across an image, so a range is produced by means of halftoning. In halftoning, translucent CMYK ink dots of variable size are printed in overlapping grids. Grids are placed at different angles for each of the ink colors. Smaller halftone dots absorb less light; thus, as a result of an increase in the amount of reflected light, apparent density is decreased and the object appears lighter. How CMYK works in Print & using Rich Black CMYK value refers to a set of 4 numbers between one and 100 representing the amount of each color mixed in order to achieve the desired color. The initial guess from this information would be that K=100 would be solid black but this is far from the truth. In actual fact, this creates a dark grey. To make RICH black. CMYK adds bits of cyan, magenta and yel-
low to make the key darker in order to achieve rich black. It is important however to not use RICH black for small text for obvious reasons. CMY and K are printed in slightly separate positions overlapping which will make small body copy appear blurred when printed. ______Artwork Resolution Resolution is basically the measurement of how many dots/pixels fit into one inch.
The resolution of an image refers to the density of the pixels (or printed dots) that make up that image or graphic. The higher the resolution, the crisper and more detailed the image will be. A lower resolution will be fuzzy, and less detailed. Image resolutions are measured in DPI (Dots Per Inch) and PPI (Pixels Per Inch). There are differences between the two DPI refers to a printed document, and the amount and spacing of the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black dots PPI refers to the pixels on a screen. They aren’t the same thing, but designers and print professionals tend to use the terms DPI and PPI interchangeably. Sometimes they’ll say DPI but mean PPI. For example, a 72dpi design for screen should really be referred to as 72ppi. The higher resolution, the sharper the image will be. The recommended resolution is 300 dpi (dots per inch) for crisp, clear results as most printers are set to 300dpi or even 600dpi. Lower resolution images appear fuzzy, jagged and blurry. Computer monitors are generally 72dpi and this is the default setting in photoshop. It is important you ensure all documents that are designed for print are set to at least 300dpi as it may look okay on screen at 72 but will look pixelated when printed. Re-sizing & Resampling When altering an image size in Photoshop you have two options, resize or resample. If you resample (the default option in Photoshop), you’re altering the pixel size of the document. If you resize (Uncheck the resample box), you’re altering the resolution and therefore the printed size of the document. As we know, resampling a document up is bad. Photoshop will have to guess what pixels to insert into the gaps. Resampling a document down is OK, as we’ve already got more than the amount of pixels we need. If you Resize an image, you’ll keep the same pixel size, but alter the actual print size and the resolution. Total Area Coverage (TAC)
Total Ink Density, or total area coverage as it is sometimes referred to, is the total amount of ink in one area of the page. For example, if the background of your piece is made up of 100C 80M 80Y 100K, the total ink density would be 360% for the background. Too much ink can cause appearance issues, such as muddy colors or ink puddling, and therefore total ink density needs to be capped at 290%. Source Interlink Media Prepress Department will reduce the ink density of any ads that are outside of our specification to 290%. Since color is subjective, it is important that the total ink density be adjusted prior to submitting your materials. Best Results for Printing Source Interlink Media has a total ink density requirement of 290%. Anything above this level will cause undesirable results in both reproduction and appearance. If large areas will use rich blacks it is recommended to keep your total ink density below 280%. Our recommended rich black is 60C 40M 40Y 100K. There are a number of methods to adjust ink density. The best solution is to cap the ink density during conversion from RGB to CMYK using a color profile (such as the U.S. Web Uncoated v2 that comes with Photoshop); this will give you the greatest control over the color quality. If your images are already CMYK, you can use the following technique to adjust your ink density in Adobe Photoshop. It is also possible to convert your CMYK images back to RGB and then use a color profile to adjust the ink densities upon conversion back to CMYK, although this option may produce undesirable results. Format & Compression Image File Formats Image file formats are standardized means of organizing and storing digital images. Image files are composed of digital data in one of these formats that can be rasterized for use on a computer display or printer. An image file format may store data in uncompressed, compressed, or vector formats. Once rasterized, an image becomes a grid of pixels, each of which has a number of bits to designate its color equal to the color depth of the device displaying it. Image File Compression There are two types of image file compression algorithms: lossless and lossy. Lossless compression algorithms reduce file size while preserving a perfect copy of the original uncompressed image. Lossless compression generally, but not exclusively, results in larger files than lossy compression. Lossless compression should be used to avoid accumulating stages of re-compression when editing images. Lossy compression algorithms preserve a representation of the original uncompressed image that may appear to be a perfect copy, but it is not a perfect copy. Oftentimes lossy compression is able to achieve smaller file sizes than lossless compression. Most lossy compression algorithms allow for variable compression that trades image quality for file size.
.TIFF Vs .JPG Tiff files are better quality, but jpeg files are smaller in size JPEG
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a compression method; JPEG compression is (in most cases) lossy compression. The JPEG/JFIF filename extension is JPG or JPEG. Nearly every digital camera can save images in the JPEG/JFIF format, which supports 8-bit grayscale images and 24-bit color images (8 bits each for red, green, and blue). JPEG applies lossy compression to images, which can result in a significant reduction of the file size. The amount of compression can be specified, and the amount of compression affects the visual quality of the result. When not too great, the compression does not noticeably detract from the image’s quality, but JPEG files suffer when repeatedly edited and saved. (JPEG also provides lossless image storage, but the lossless version is not widely supported.) TIFF TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format is a flexible format that normally saves 8 bits or 16 bits per color (red, green, blue) for 24-bit and 48-bit totals, respectively, usually using either the TIFF or TIF filename extension. TIFF’s flexibility can be both an advantage and disadvantage, since a reader that reads every type of TIFF file does not exist. TIFFs can be lossy and lossless; some offer relatively good lossless compression for black and white images. Some digital cameras can save in TIFF format, using the LZW compression algorithm for lossless storage. TIFF image format is not widely supported by web browsers. TIFF remains widely accepted as a photograph file standard in the printing business. TIFF can handle device-specific color spaces, such as the CMYK defined by a particular set of printing press inks. JPEG compression is a “lossy” format where pixel information is thrown away to reduce file size. Algorithms rebuild the discarded data when the file is decompressed. LZW compression within the TIFF format is a lossless method, replacing repeating code with a tag which is replaced when the file is decompressed. Fonts True Type TrueType is an outline font standard developed by Apple computer in the late 1980s as a competitor to Adobe’s Type 1 fonts used in Postscript. It has become the most common format for fonts on both the Mac OS and Windows operating systems. Outlines The outlines of the characters (or glyphs) in TrueType fonts are made of straight line segments and quadratic Bezier Curves. These curves are mathematically simpler and faster to process than cubic Bézier curves, which are used both in the PostScript fonts. Using for Print It it useful to use TrueType fonts for print because they was purposely designed to look exactly the same on paper as they do on screen. Serif Vs Sans Serif Nearly all books, newspapers, and magazines use a serif font for body copy. It’s popularly accepted that – in print – serif fonts are easier to read. The idea being that the serifs actually make the letters flow together –
and subsequently easier on the eyes. While some sources say sans-serif fonts have existed since the 5th century BC, it wasn’t until the 1920s that they became somewhat popular – mostly being used in advertisements. It’s been said that serif fonts are for “readability,” while sans-serif fonts are for “legibility.” Which is why, in print, sans-serif fonts are often used as the headline font and serif fonts are used for the body text. In his book Cashvertising, Drew Eric Whitman cites a 1986 study of fonts (printed on paper) that found only 12 percent of participants effectively comprehended a paragraph set in sans-serif type versus 67 percent who were given a version set in serif typeface. Those who read the sans-serif version said they had a tough time reading the text and “continually had to backtrack to regain comprehension.” The conclusion being that serif fonts are easier to read when it comes to fonts on paper. So, if you’re sending out a sales letter or brochure in the mail, you probably want to use serif font (but, as mentioned in the first point, you could use sans-serif font for your headlines). Reversed Out Lettering Reversed 1-1 out lettering, or knocked-out type, should be out of a minimum of colours. Type or objects smaller than 10pt in size should ideally be reversed out of one colour only. Small letters reversed out of multiple colours - particularly fonts with fine serifs - will show colour in white type areas even with the slightest mis-registration on press. Check to ensure that reversed-out lettering does not become illegible due to the text’s background. Tints and backgrounds If you wish to reproduce a large solid black background I would recommend that the black prints at 100 per cent, along with a 40 per cent cyan tint to provide more density. This is often referred to as a “shiner”, and produces what is sometimes called a “rich black”. The inclusion of a common colour background or strap heading across several pages of a feature or sections of a magazine can draw attention to the natural minor variations in colour balance that occur across a press/ presses and during a press run. This can be minimised by creating these common colours out of as few process colours as possible. Give careful consideration to the use of one, or perhaps two colours to produce the common colour. Such a colour will enable a more consistent reproduction than the same object defined using all four process colours. However, certain two-colour combinations can also be prone to unattractive colour shifts - particularly when both colour values are midtones. Two-colour combinations where one colour is considerably higher than the other prove more stable, producing a more consistent, balanced result. To assure accurate reproduction on press it is advisable to supply a colour swatch or contract-colour proof. Tracking Tracking occurs when ink is consumed by an area of a sheet with a high percentage of one or more colours, creating a deficiency of that colour within a later area running in track. This effect is more evident on heavy tint areas running across the sheet. To avoid the effects of tracking it is important to consider the final imposition and design your layout accordingly. Black overprint
100% black elements will automatically overprint other colours. This prevents normal black text knocking “holes” in tints. Therefore, it is important that larger 100% black page elements, such as boxes or very large point size text, do not have variations in colour beneath them. These will show through in the printed page. Alternatively a “shiner” (see above) can be used to produce a heavier, more consistent solid. If a black element is overprinting a four-colour image, include at least 1% pf CMY in your black to ensure the picture does not show through the black. Trims and Bleeds All page content that runs to the edge of the page must extend off the page by a minimum distance of 3 mm. This minimum distance is referred to as bleed. If bleed is not applied there is a risk of an unsightly white area appearing at the bleed edge. Elements that do not bleed should be a minimum distance of 5 mm from the edge of the page. This is referred to as the margin. Elements closer to the edge than this standard risk being trimmed off during the finishing process. Do not attempt to place text sitting exactly on the trim - you will almost certainly be disappointed with the finished trimmed result. Consideration should be given to the binding style when setting the margins. For perfect-bound titles consideration should be given for the area in the backs lost in the spine glueing. For wire-stitched titles remember that larger paginations cause “bulking” resulting in the centre pages of the magazine being considerably shorter in width than the pages at the front and back. The uneven fore-edge is trimmed away after it is stitched. You may wish to allow a larger fore-edge margin in such cases or a larger margin in the backs to allow for “feathering” at the imposition stage. Pages that read across the spine cannot be feathered so attention must be paid to the fore-edge to avoid important content being trimmed away. Check with your Production Controller at Headley Brothers for advice on how to proceed.
Particular attention must be paid to the covers of perfect-bound magazines. The cover is glued along the spine and attached to the first and last page of the contents and can lose an area of around 6-8 mm in the “hinge”. Check the Downloads Page for the PDF “DPS For Covers Template” that will guide you in dealing with this.
Perfect Binding Paginations below 56 pages are not suitable for perfect binding. Depending on the weight and bulk of the paper, fewer pages than this do not produce a spine of a viable width for the perfect binding process. Please consult your Production Controller for advice. Elements across spreads Accurate alignment of elements that go across a spread cannot be guaranteed. Items that can look bad across spreads on a final printed result are: rules; tint edges (especially diagonals); text and lineart. If it is necessary to run a line of text across a spread make sure the spine falls between words. This is even more evident in perfect-bound titles which cannot be opened out flat. There is always a certain amount of the page in the backs that cannot be seen. To overcome this, pages which cross a spread should be “thrown out”. Check with your Production Controller at Headley Brothers for advice on how this is achieved.
.Ink Rubbing Ink can be transferred through abrasive contact on press and bindery handling systems during the manufacturing process. Matt and silk/satin papers are particularly susceptible to ink rubbing. Consideration can be given to this at the design stage. Where possible avoid facing pages of heavy ink coverage against white, unprinted pages. Where possible avoid designs where the outside front cover is heavily inked and the outside back cover has large areas of white space or vice versa. If this is unavoidable, consider a seal, which can sometimes prevent marking. Web growth Paper has a tendency to expand as it absorbs moisture and shrink when it loses moisture. In the heatset web offset process heat is applied to the paper in order to flash off solvent and dry the ink. After heating the paper is cooled, and a layer of silicone emulsion is applied to “recondition” it. The heating of the paper removes a percentage of the moisture content which cannot be replaced in the printing process. The width of the web will have reduced by several millimetres when it leaves the press, which results in about one millimetre of shrinkage per page. In sheetfed printing the opposite occurs. Paper takes up water in the printing process and may stretch due to water absorption . When sheetfed covers are bound with web offset sections, the covers are trimmed flush with the inner sections. After the trimming the covers release moisture into the air and the web offset sections absorb moisture from the air. The covers may shrink slightly and the web sections will grow and hence show a difference in size. Since the industry-accepted best-practice is to run paper grain parallel to the spine, web growth beyond the sheetfed cover will normally be evident on the fore-edge. This effect is common within the printing industry and is most often seen when sheetfed covers are bound with web offset sections. It may be possible to minimise the impact of this effect by careful design of the cover and page one of the content. Speak to your Production Controller at Headley Brothers for advice. Spell Check important for obvious reasons. everything needs to be SPELL CHECKED! Printer Marks
Registration In colour printing, registration is the method of correlating overlapping colors on one single image. There are many different styles and types of registration, many of which employ the alignment of specific marks. Purpose When printing an image that has more than one color, depending on the method of printing, it is necessary to print the image one separate time for each separate color. Each one is called a “color run,” and they can be pulled from the same surface, inked differently, or from a completely different surface. So that the final image is consistent, and so each of the colors lines up correctly, a system of registration is necessary. Different print-
ing devices have different methods of creating separate color runs. Registration Marks The little circle with a cross through it is printed using every colour of the four-colour printing process. If they’re being printed accurately, they should overlap precisely so the mark looks entirely black. Therefore if any of the colours are slightly offset (out of register) then they’ll be displayed, showing the job isn’t being printed correctly. Trim Marks These are small lines which show exactly where the finished page will be cut during the finishing processes. They should display at the edge of each margin. Colour Bars Colour bars are printed outside the trim area and are used for quality control purposes by the printer. Squares of colour are printed on the area of the page to be trimmed off, which the printing press operator uses to check colour density and consistency is maintained. This checking process is automated by some printers, with digital scanners tracking the colour bars to ensure quality and consistency is maintained. Pre Flight Checks Pre-flighting is a term used in the printing industry to describe the process of confirming that the digital files required for the printing process are all present, valid, correctly formatted, and of the desired type. The term originates from the pre-flight checklist used by pilots. The term was first used in a presentation at the Color Connections conference in 1990 by consultant Chuck Weger. The process of preflighting a print job helps reduce the likelihood of rasterization problems that cause production delays. Page layout software applications, (which allow users to combine images, graphics, and text from a variety of formats,) automate portions of the pre-flight process. Typically, client provided materials are verified by a pre-flight operator for completeness and to confirm the incoming materials meet the production requirements. The pre-flight process checks for: - images and graphics embedded by the client have been provided and are available to the application - fonts are accessible to the system - fonts are not corrupt - fonts are in a compatible file format - image files are of formats that the application can process - image files are of the correct color format (some RIPs have problems processing RGB images, for example) - image files are of the correct resolution - required color profiles are included - image files are not corrupt - confirm that the page layout document size, margins, bleeds, marks and page information all fit within - the constraints of the output device and match the client specifications - confirm that the correct colour separations or ink plates are being output Other, more advanced pre-flight steps might also include: - removing non-printing data, such as non-printing objects, hidden objects, objects outside the printable area and objects on layers below - flattening transparent objects into a single opaque object - converting fonts to paths - gathering embedded image and graphic files to one location accessible to the system
- compressing files into an archive format Mock-Ups
A mockup is a prototype if it provides at least part of the functionality of a system and enables testing of a design. Mock-ups are used by designers so they can see the design in printed format. This means that it is much easier to pick out any mistakes that would probably go un-noticed on screen. Mock-ups address the idea captured in a popular engineering one-liner: “You can fix it now on the drafting board with an eraser or you can fix it later on the construction site with a sledge hammer.” Client Sign Off Getting sign-off, in writing, is a vital part of best practice when sending designs, copy or code to clients. If changes need to be made later then, with sign-off completed, it is the client’s responsibility — not yours. If, for example, there is a typo in a design for a flyer (perhaps the date is wrong!) and the client spots the mistake *after* printing 1000s of copies the responsibility for the cost of re-printing is the clients… not yours. It is well established in law that by signing-off artwork the client accepts final responsibility for it. It means that, under normal circumstances, re-printing becomes a client’s responsibility once your artwork has been approved. Observing best practice in the design and marketing business means obtaining sign-off from your client before artwork goes into production. Once the client has signed off the artwork you are no longer responsible for it. It means that your Professional Indemnity insurance will not meet a claim for reprint (for example), because it would be the client’s responsibility (or possibly the printer’s if the reprint was the result of a straightforward printing error). The best way to protect your interests is to ensure that your standard Terms and Conditions carry reference to sign-off and the client’s responsibility. If, however, a client tried to blame you and attempted to make a claim against you, even if you weren’t at fault, then your Professional Indemnity would defend you. This would also be the case if the client simply refused to pay you, and threatened to counterclaim if you pursued the debt. If for some reason you can’t obtain a sign-off or the client makes a last minute verbal amendment, you should acknowledge the amendment in writing (by letter, email or fax). You could attach a proforma template that points out that, if the client is unable to sign-off the final artwork; you accept no responsibility for errors that may subsequently occur. If you inadvertently failed to obtain sign-off and there turned out to be an error in the artwork, you would still be covered. However, you should always try to observe best practice. Printing Proofs
A general term for a variety of options for seeing what your file will look like when printed is a proof. Think of it as evidence (proof) that what you put into your digital file will all come out on the printed page exactly as you intend: the right fonts, graphics, colors, margins, and overall positioning. Printing proofs are used for checking that all text and graphics and coluors come out as expected before going to press. It is a good practice to print a proof from your desktop printer and send along with your digital files to your service bureau or commercial printer. They can be black and white or in color but a good PostScript laser proof is ideal. If the file won’t print properly to a desktop printer, chances are it won’t come out on the printer press correctly either. A prepress proof uses ink jets, dyes, overlays or other methods to simulate the final printed piece. A press proof uses the printing plates and inks specified for the job. Proofing your work comes at various stages but there are specific types of proofs created during prepress and printing that allow the designer to see if their piece will come out as intended in the final printing. Different types of printing proofs are more accurate than others but with increased accuracy comes increased costs.
Book Three. Stocks, Binding & Costs.
___Stock ___Weights Paper Density is the correct term for the weight of the paper or pulp and it uses a certain area of the paper to measure the mass. It is also reffered to as ‘grammage’. Paper products that let little or no light pass through are considered dense or heavy and paper products that allow some light to pass through are considered lightweight. The most common way of expressing paper desnsity is in grams per square meter (g/m²). Caliper is the name given to the paper thickness. It is a common measurment that is required for certain printing applications. Since a paper’s density is typically not directly known or specified, the thickness of any sheet of paper cannot be calculated by any method. Instead, it is measured and specified separately as its caliper. Caliper is measured in micrometers (1/1000 of a mm). Grammage is measured by Quality Control System and verified by laboratory measurement. _____GSM GSM stands for ‘Grams per Square Meter’. It is the standadised measurement for paper and allows printers to have a much more precise control of how thick or thin the paper should be for it’s particular use. It actually tells you how much a square meter of the paper your using would weigh in grams. This is a really good system as it allows clients to know exactly what they are getting through the use of GSM samples. Average Measurements and Possible Uses. - 350GSM – A reasonable quality Business Card. - 180 to 250 GSM – A mid-market magazine cover. - 130 to 170 GSM – A good quality promotional poster. - 90GSM – A mid-market magazine’s inner pages. - 35 to 55 GSM – Most newspapers - Less than 35 GSM – Rice paper – Really Thin! Metric Vs Imperial Translation Grid ____Paper Sizes There are many different paper size standard conventions in different countries and have been even more over the past years. Today however, there is an Internations ISO standard paper size which includes the A, B and C sizes and also a local standard that is used in Norht America. This is for things such as Letter, Legal and Ledger. ___ISO System In The ISO paper size system, the height-to-width ratio of all pages is the square root of two (1.4142 : 1). To explain this better, the width and height of the page is the same equivalent in relation to one side of a square and the diagonal across a square. So, when you place two pages together, the resulting height and width will be the same proportions as one page. The diagram help explain this better. _____A Sizes The A Series of paper is probably the most common and recognizable. This is because it is what is conventionally used in Europe throughout most businesses because it has become part of the fabric of our lives. It is used in desktop printers for the masses and in offices as well as most printed material such as mail, posters and flyers. This is mainly because of it’s ease, popularity and usability to sit within our everyday lives. The dimensions of the A size paper are defined by the ISO system, for example, A5 is half of A4 size paper and A2 is half of A1 size paper. ____B Series
As well as the A Series, there is also a less popular B Series of paper. The area of the B Series sheets is the geometric mean of successive A Series sheets. This is not common in general and office use but is still used regularly is certain situations. A lot of Books and Posters tend to use this measurement. For example B5 is a popular choice for books and B3 is a popular choice for posters depending on the situation. ______C Sizes The C Series of sizes, like the B Series, is the geometric mean of the areas of both the A and B Series Sheets of the same number. For example, C4 is the mean of both A4 and B4 which makes it slightly bigger than A4 but slightly smaller than B4. Somewhere in the middle. This size is only ever used for enveolopes and a practial use would be that an A4 sized letter would fold down into a C4 sized envelope. ____ANSI Sizes Like the ISO System, The American National Standards Institute created their own system which would also take the form of one sheet of paper cut in half would make two of the smaller size but it is slightly different in measurements to A, B or C. The Ansi A Size of paper in used for Letters which is of a different size to but similar to that of A4. Ansi B is the size that is used for Leger or Tabloid and this is again different to but a similar size to A3. There is also C, D and E which are similar to A2, A1 and A0. ____Finsihes Cockle This is often found in bond paper and has a rippled, puckered surface. Looking more like hand made paper it is created by air drying paper with a controlled amount of tension. Felt This is uncoated paper whose soft surface texture is created by pressing patterned woven wool or synthetic felt belts onto the paper during manufacture. Gloss This lustrous, shiny, surface is produced by adding compounds to the paper during its manufacture. It is usually found on higher quality coated paper.
Laid It simulates the look and feel of handmade paper containing grids of parallel lines and is created using special rollers applied while the paper is still wet.
Linen This looks like linen cloth and is an embossed finish. Matt This is a dull finish devoid of the luster of gloss finishes making text easier to read and colours looking softer. Parchment When treating paper with sulfuric acid it creates this antique appearance and becomes grease and dirt resistant as well as having a high wet-strength.
Smooth This smooth finish is achieved via calendaring. Vellum This is a slightly rough, “toothy” textured finish looking similar to an eggshell. It works well in high-speed printing and has a very high ink absorbency rate.
Wove This smooth but not slick finish has a slightly patterned mesh texture created via a felt roller covered in woven wire. Paperboard This is a thick paper based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.25 mm/0.010 in or 10 points) than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a basis weight (grammage) above 224 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single or multi-ply. Paperboard can be easily cut and formed, is lightweight, and because it is strong, is used in packaging. Another end-use would be graphic printing, such as book and magazine covers or postcards. Sometimes it is referred to as cardboard, which is a generic, lay term used to refer to any heavy paper pulp based board. Cellulose acetate film Cellulose Acetate film, or safety film, is used inphotography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly flammable nitrate film. ___Binding ____Saddle Stitch Binding This is probably the most simplest way to bind a book. It is typically used to bind things like notebooks, brochures, pamphlets and other small books. This is ectremly common and something that you are likely to see on a day to day basis. The book is stapled at the centre down the spine, usually two or three times depending on the size. The ‘saddle’ refers the the center of the folded papers where it is stapled and is said to be based off the shape of a horses saddle. A long arm stapler is all you need for this method. Nothing special. ______Paperback Binding All novels and general ‘paperback’ books are binded using this method. The term paper back simply means that the cover of the book is just like paper or of quite a thin GSM. They are thicker than the pages of the book to give the illusion of a cover but don’t really protect the book in a way that a hardcover does. The process is fairly simple and can be done by amateurs once learned and some book binding hobbiest and small time authors tend to do this themselves. _____Perfect Binding Again, this is generally used on all ‘Hardback’ books such as novels, diaries or dictionarys. They generally last a long time are built to do so. In the process of this, a thick cover is applied but the use of a certain kind of glue.
The result of this method is top quality and will protect the contents of the book as well as give it a really nice final finish. It is much harder to do on an amateur level, but still possible. ____Japanese Stab Stitch The official name for this method is actually the Yotsunme Toji and this is a very simple but effective form of Japanese book binding. The name simply translates to “Four Holes’ as this is what is created to bind the book. Four Holes are made down one edge of the book through all the pages and then this is sewn in a particular method. This is good for repairing books or sewing together loose pages that have been transformed into a book. ____Coptic Binding This is one of the oldest forms of bookbinding tecniques and is said to have been practiced by the Sopts in Egypt. It is also quite simple but gives an amazing finish to the visual quality of the book. This binding is useful because the covers can be folded right back to touch each other without being damaged. There is no spine to the book and the pages are folded inside each other. Two covers are placed above and below the papers and it is sewed through one edge. There are different methods of sewing. Some of them are easy while others are difficult. I always advice to start with easy ones and then go for the difficult ones. ___Thermal Tape Modern tape binding uses heat to transfer the tape onto and around the spine of the book which gives a nice professional finish. The old ‘hand taping’ method was literally just folding tape around the spine with no heat transfer which left a more ‘amateur’ looking effect. Once cool the strip becomes firm so lettering can be applied to the spine. Spine Copy is printed using gold lettering. It is attractive and it makes your book easier to find on the shelf. _____ Plastic Coil / Spiral Little holes are punched down the left side of the pages and a plastic coil is run through them in a spiral pattern. This is general used for manuals and books that are used in a workplace. It might not seem like the most aesthetically pleasing method of binding but it is fairly cheap and very useful. Generally, the coils are black or white in colour but can be produced in any colour depending on the book and purpose. A benefit of this binding is that it lays flat when opened and this is why this method is used for a lot of work manuels. ____Folding & Creasing Printed documents can be folded in a number of different ways. The most common folds are shown below. Paper of around 200gsm and above needs to be creased to prevent it from ‘cracking’ (tearing). This involves scoring the paper before it is folded. ____ Collating In printing, the term Collate refers to the gathering and arranging of individual sheets or other printed components into a pre-determined sequence. Basically, Collating creates consistent, logical sets from multiple parts. Diagram A illustrates four sets of documents which have been collated. Diagram B illustrates four sets of documents which have not been collated. Examples of Collated Documents
A short-run perfect bound book would require its pages to be collated in numerical order before it could be bound. Also, multi-part forms and checks are created from individual sheets collated in a specific sequence.
Diagram B
Diagram B - Uncollated sets of documents Bear in mind that the individual parts of a print project can be collated without having to be bound or fastened together. For example, promotional packets – like those used for seminars, sales presentations, trade shows and other marketing purposes – are often collated in advance for easy distribution. Likewise, printed instructional handouts may be collated in a particular order but are not necessarily bound or fastened together. ____Perferating A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes are called a perforation. The process of creating perforations is called perforating, which involves puncturing the workpiece with a tool. Perforations are usually used to allow easy separation of two sections of the material, such as allowing paper to be torn easily along the line. Packaging with perforations in paperboard or plastic film is easy for consumers to open. Other purposes include filtrating fluids, sound deadening, allowing light or fluids to pass through, and to create an aesthetic design. Various applications include packaging films (to allow the contents to breathe), medical films, micro perforated plateand sound and vapour barriers.
Uses Perforation frequently refers to the practice of creating a long series of holes or slits so that paper or plastics can be torn more easily along a given line: this is used in easy-open packaging. Since the creation of perforation devices in the 1840s and 1850s, it has seen use in several areas.Postage Stamps are one common application of this, where small round holes are cut in lines to create individual pieces. Perforations on stamps are rather large, in the order of a millimeter, in comparison other perforated materials often have smaller holes. It is common for notebooks and legal pads to have perforations making it easier to tear out individual pages. In today’s cases, perforation is used in ways to separate loose leaf (or even a form of graph paper from a ringed binder). A fine perforation next to the rings allows the page to be separated from the book with no confetti. Screwcaps on glass or plastic bottles are sealed with a ring at the bottom of the cap attached by perforation. Twisting the cap has the effect of rupturing the material between the perforations and indicating that the original seal has been broken.
WWPerforation can be created by pins, needles, die and punch or laser.