Written Content:
RGB Digital cameras, scanners and computer monitors create images using combinations of just three colours; Red, Green and Blue (RGB). These are the primary colours of visible light and is how your computer screen displays images. RGB colours often appear brighter and more vivid because the light is being projected directly into the eyes of the viewer.
CMYK The CMYK colour model (otherwise known as the process colour or four colour system) is a subtractive colour model, used in commercial printing CMYK is an abbreviation of the four inks used in this process; cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black). Everything you see in print is usually comprised of these four colours.
Spot colours Spot colours use one colour ink. Graphic designers use spot colours to ensure that a particular colour in a design will print. This may be necessary if the colour is outside the range (gamut) of the CMYK printing process, or because there is a need for a specific colour such as for a company or corporate logo. Spot colours have greater intensity and vibrancy as they print as a solid colour rather than composed of half-tone dots.
Pantone The Pantone colour system has been developed to include a wide range of different colours, including special solid, hexachrome, metallic and pastel colours. The Pantone system has a unique reference number to each hue and shade to allow communication between designers and printers. Pantone 323 U is an example of an Uncoated Pantone colour. U- Uncoated C- Coated EC- Euro Coated M- Matte
Multitone Multitone is a process of composing an image with ether one, two or three inks. This process requires that the printing press is set up with special inks, usually Pantone colours, instead of the standard CMYK inks. Using one, two or three colour inks that are not CMYK process colours may reduce the cost of printing. There are 3 techniques within the Multitone techniques. Monotone- Single ink Duotone- Two inks Tritone- Three inks
Black variations There are many variations of black which differs when printed, however looks the same on screen. This is because there is only one way to represent 100% black- absent of light. Standard- C0,M0,Y0,K 100 Rich- C68,M52,Y51,K100 Cool- C60,M0,Y0,K100 Warm- C0,M60,Y30,K100 Registration- C100,M100,Y100,K100 The Standard black creates a more duller black (dark grey). To create a rich black you will have to set CMYK settings as shown above.
ISO series ISO International Standards ensure that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality. For business, they are strategic tools that reduce costs by minimizing waste and errors and increasing productivity. In the ISO paper size system, the height-to-weight ratio of all pages is the square root to two (1.4142:1). International standard (ISO) paper sizes are used in most countries in the world today. The standard defines the "A" and "B" series of paper sizes.
A Series The A series of paper is the most commonly used worldwide, with A4 the most frequently used paper size in this series. A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10
1189 x 841 mm 841 x 594 mm 594 x 420 mm 420 x 297 mm 297 x 210 mm 210 x 148 mm 148 x 105 mm 105 x 74 mm 74 x 52 mm 52 x 37 mm 37 x 26 mm
B Series B series paper is less common than the A series, and is most often used for posters, books, envelopes and passports. B0 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10
1414 x 1000 mm 1000 x 707 mm 707 x 500 mm 500 x 353 mm 353 x 250 mm 250 x 176 mm 176 x 125 mm 125 x 88 mm 88 x 62 mm 62 x 44 mm 44 x 31 mm
GSM GSM is the mass per unit area of all types of paper and paperboard is expressed in terms of grams per square meter (g/m²). The unofficial unit symbol "gsm" instead of the standard "g/m²" is widely encountered in English speaking countries.
Coated Coated stock is fairly smooth to feel and appears better quality. Coated paper does not absorb the inks printed on it as much as uncoated stock will. The inks will stay on the top of the paper or the coating surface. Inks appear glossy to the eye. Examples of Coated stock are Photographs, high quality brochures etc.
Uncoated Uncoated papers have a rough, more natural feel to them. Uncoated stocks are classified as bonds, offsets, card, newsprint etc. Uncoated papers soak much larger quantities of ink, based on the surface area of the uneven finish of the uncoated stock. Uncoated stocks are ideal for quick ad less-precise printing.
Wove Wove paper is made on a closely woven wire roller and having a faint mesh pattern. Wove paper is a writing paper that has a uniform surface. It is also used for stationary and book publishing; this is a premium quality paper.
Bond An economic, uncoated wove paper. Bond paper is a high quality durable writing paper. It is commonly used for letterheads and stationery. Widely used for graphic work involving pencil, pen and felt-tip marker. This is a stronger tougher paper then wove paper.
Embossing Embossing makes something stand out from the page. It impresses an image or text onto the stock using an engraved metal die. This creates a raised impression. Tips: 1.The image has to be 3 times thicker then the stock. 2.Use thicker stock as it will hold the emboss much better.
Foil Blocking Foil blocking is a process where foil is pressed onto a stock through a heated die, which causes the foil to separate from its back. Foil blocking is also referred to as foil stamp, heat stamp, hot stamp, block print or foil emboss.
Spot Varnish Spot varnish is a special effect that puts an overprint varnish only on specific areas of a printed piece, spot varnish is often used to make a photograph pop off the page, highlight type etc.
De-bossing De-bossing is the opposite of Embossing. De-bossing applies pressure to the front side of paper stock forcing the material away or down from the paper surface. De-bossing is not as commonly used as embossing.
Offset lithography Offset lithography is a process used for printing on a flat surface, using printing plates. An image is transferred to a printing plate, which can be made of a variety of materials such as metal or paper. The plate is then chemically treated so that only image areas (such as type, colors, shapes etc.) will accept ink. Benefits: 1.Versatile 2. Flexible 3. Range of inks and stocks
Flexography Flexography is a form of printing process, which utilizes a flexible relief plate. Used for printing on almost any type of substrate, including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper. It is widely used for printing on substrates required for various types of food packaging. Benefits: 1. Suited for printing large areas of solid color. 2. Good quality prints 3. Any type of substrate
Rotogravure Rotogravure involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because it uses a rotary printing press. The rotogravure process is used for commercial printing of magazines, postcards, and corrugated (cardboard) product packaging. Benefits: 1. High volume and durable 2. Mass printing 3. Detail prints
Screen-printing Screen-printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink, which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, pumping ink into the mesh. Benefits: 1. Not as expensive 2. Shorter runs 3. Achieves high quality prints
Digital printing Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital based image directly to a variety of media. Digital printing is for small run jobs from desktop publishing. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, however avoiding all the technical steps needed for printing plates. Benefits: 1. Short runs 2. Specialise Printing 3. No offset or plate needed
File types Most File types are made to handle a specific kind of artwork, typically ether vector (Illustrator) or raster art (Photoshop). A designer will typically use just two file formats JPEG for when working with images that are to be used on screen and TIFF for work to be printed. There are also other file types that can be used with saving graphic content; these file types however are not used very often within the industry of graphic design.
TIFF An Industry standard file format, designed for the handling of raster or bitmapped images. TIFF- (Tagged image File Format) this is a file format for continuous-tone file for lossless compression of images for print.
JPEG JPEG-(Joint Photographic Experts Group) A continuous-tone file format for lossy compression images that are to be used for web images.
PDF PDF- (Portable Document format) a portable format used for sending files from the designer to the client used for checking and the printer for printing. A PDF embeds all the necessary fonts and graphic files for the design.
Costing It is important to know exactly what it is your going to produce ahead of time. This will allow you to contact printers and see if it is possible with the budget you may have. Discuss you requirements with the printers to ensure they will be no mistakes (mistakes can be very costly!). Get 2 or 3 quotes from different printers in order to make the most cost efficient decision. It is important to plan well in advance to get the most out of your print. Also consider the print process carefully as this could have a big difference on price, including the number of inks used.
Finishing costs Print finishes can be very expensive, sometimes more then the print itself. A foil blocked, die-cut, embossed, spot varnished print can look really nice and improve the quality of the design. However this can also be represented in the price, due to the labor and costing requirements. Make sure you know your budget before planning something big.
Proofing A Preflight check is one way of noticing problem areas within the document. This checks that all used images and fonts can be found in its location area. It also checks if the colours are in the correct mode for printing. This can be accessed by going to file>preflight. In the dialogue window, a small warning icon will indicate a problem. Preflight does not indicate all the problems, so it is important to carry out general proof checks. General issues: 1.Is the size of your document correct? 2.Spelling mistakes 3.Is the bleed correct? 4.Is the resolution of the image set at 300dpi?
Bleed Bleed is used for all objects overlapping the border off the document. Such as when you are working on a magazine with images against the sides of your pages. You will have to supply the printer with a document larger then the final document. There are a lot of things that could go wrong if you weren't using bleed when cropping, the images wouldn't be neatly aligned with the side of the document. Standard measurements for bleed are 3mm.

Crop
marks
Crossed lines placed in the corners of an image or a document to indicate where to trim the page known as crop marks. Crop Marks can be placed on manually or automatically using InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop. Crop marks are typically used when printing to a larger sheet of paper than the final trim size of the document, especially when doing bleeds. They indicate where to cut the paper.
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 printing1000s of copies the responsibility for the cost of re-printing are the clients not yours.