Printers are from

Mars Designers are from

Venus

Ten steps to getting what you

need at the

printers

Thinking about stock

Pantone Colour systems

Don’t let Colour catch you out

The best Print Process 12 3 4 5 6

Images

The bottom line 10 Printer speak

File preparation

Black and Special finishes

Avoid being trapped

The Ten Steps

7 89

Choosing the best Print Process

1Considerations:

BudgetQuality

QuantitySustainability

2D or 3DTechniques and Special finishes

Understanding the Print Processes will help you choose the best printing method for you, your design and your client.

Offset LithoMost Litho printers offer 4 colour CMYK with additional 2 to 6 colour process including spot colour and varnish.Sheet fed higher volumes of over 1000 sheets- Generally up to A0/A1. 500gsm maximumCommon uses: Brochures, Flyers

Web offset LithoRoll fed high volumes usually one pass Good qualityCommon uses: Newspapers

FlexographyPackagingLower quality image and registrationPrint on nonabsorbent surfaces such as plastics and metalCommon uses: Packaging

RotogravureMore expensive process so only suited toHigh volumeHighest quality for image reproductionCommon uses: High end magazines, Cigarette boxes, Broadsheets

Screen printingManual or automatedNot as fine qualityUnusual substrates or 3d objectsCommon uses: Retail bags,

Digital pressMainly CMYK however recent technology offers Pantone spot colours up to six colours. No Metallic inkSheet and web fed Both Short and long runs generally <500 copies, specials and some offer large scale Generally RA3. 400 Gsm maximumLarge format: up to 1524mm wide x 175m rollCommon uses Brochures, posters, business cards

An original Heidelberg letterpress C 1963

Don’t let Colour catch you out

2There are two main colour models for Designers:

For screen RGB (red, green, blue)

For printed work CMYK (Cyan, magenta, yellow and key)

Brightness. hue and saturation are terms which help us specify and communicate colour information to your client and printer.

Considerations:

RGBCMYK

Process Pantone

Techniques and Special finishes

Hue

Saturation

Brightness or value

CMYK 4 colour printers can reproduce only a small proportion of these colours. Most software has a warning signal when a colour is chosen out of CMYK gamut for example in Photoshop with a CMYK document, if an out of gamut colour is chosen, the alert is on the colour picker menu. Photoshop also offers a CMYK alternative.

Gamuts and colour spaces help us to understand the range of colours

available in a device or system.

For example a screen can reproduce about 70% of the colours that are visible to the

human eye.

Remember - different digital devices, our screens and our eyes all have different arrays of colours called colour spaces; so the ‘same’ colour

can appear to be dramatically different.

Using Pantone Colour systems

3To be absolutely sure of the colour you and your client want to print use of the Pantone PMS colour system is essential.

Considerations:

BudgetSpot colours

Process coloursMonotone Duo tone

Stock

The 806C , a florescent spot colour, is more vibrant than its process CMYK equivalent because it is applied as a flat colour rather than being created from half tone dots of colour.Many Brands and Corporate logos specify their Pantone colours

Each colour within the Pantone system has a unique reference number to each hue and shade which when specified to a printer removes any room for error.

Pantone GuidesPantone Solid - A range of solid metallic, pastel and process colours that can be used on different paper stocks and substrates. (Matte, Coated or uncoated stock)

Pantone pastels - A range of flat,solid very pale colours. These are not tints but flat colours. (Coated and uncoated)

Pantone hexachrome: A range of sic process colours (CMYK plus green and orange) Can reproduce 90% of Pantone PMS colours

Pantone metallics - 300 special colours.

Looking at the swatches below demonstrates the difference between a spot colour and its nearest CMYK Process colour.

Thinking about stock

4Considerations:

BudgetWeight

QuantityPaper size

Sustainability2D or 3D

Substrates

Coated or uncoated?Coated stock has been treated so is not as absorbent as uncoated as a result the colour reproduction is much brighter than on uncoated stock

WeightPaper is weighed in grams per square metre (GSM). Generally heavier papers are bulkier and do not fold as effectively. The weight of paper is also an important budget consideration not only per sheet costs but also for example the cost of postage if the items are mail shots or promotional material.

SamplesObtain samples for your client and also to demonstrate to your printer the effect you wish to achieve. Ask your printer to produce a blank dummy or mock up so you can test the weight and feel of the product.

Paper is one of many substrate available to print on. Plastics such as polypropylene are an environmentally friendly alternative

Iso paper sizesThe International Standard ISO216 is the most commonly used paper size in the UK and Europe. Of course you can chose any paper size you want however the cost will be much higher and the lead times probably longer. The C series is for envelopes - A C4 envelope being ideal for holding an A4 sheet. Two other series which you may come across are RA and SRA which are used by printers. They are slightly larger than the A series to provide for grip, trim and bleed.

Height x WidthSize mm A0 1189 x 841 A1 841 x 594 A2 594 x 420 A3 420 x 297 A4 297 x 210 A5 210 x 148 A6 148 x 105 A7 105 x 74 A8 74 x 52

Image clarity and quality

5Considerations:

QualityFile formats

CopyrightCMYK

Colour channels

Raster imagesComposed of pixels in a grid. Each Raster has a fixed resolution so if a low resolution is scaled up the image quality reduces. Print File formats: TIFF

Vector imagesContains scalable objects defined by paths rather than pixels which enables them to be scaled up without losing image quality.Print file formats: EPS, working files .ai

Other file formatsBitmaps - Composed of pixels in a grid of fixed resolutionLine art - Purely lines with no fill colourGreyscale -A tonal scale of achromatic tones that have varying levels of black and whiteHalf-tones - A continuous-tone image reproduced as a composition of dots.Duo tones have two colour channels so cannot be sent as a CMYK TIFF. If created in photoshop they are saved as EPS files

How to avoid Common pitfallsRe sizing images - ensure the image has sufficient resolution to not lose quality.

SoftwareIndesign when placing images use correct file formats and ensure files are grouped in one folder. For example Illustrator use .aiPhotoshop use .TIFF or if transparency use .psd, both with a resolution of 300dpi.

Ensure you own or have Copyright permission for any images used.

Ensure your file is in CMYK format not RGB

Avoid bad file formatsGIF is a file format for websites for images with large areas of flat colour due to only utilising 256 colours.JPEG can utilise 16.7 million colours in RGB and 4.5 billion in CMYK however because of its lossy format each time the image is saved you lose some quality. Most web images will be JPEG or GIF with a resolution of 72dpi and so to be avoided for any print based project.

Colour channelsEach digital image contains several colour channels. For example a CMYK image with one spot colour has five channels. Each channel corresponds to a colour printing plate.For this reason it is important to ensure any unused spot colours are deleted.Channels are also used for special finishes see step 7.

Avoid being Trapped

6What is trapping?When a design has adjacent area of different colours that are to be printed by different ink units on a press, unless the registration is perfect the results could look like the image below if no trapping is applied:

Ink-trapping techniquesSpread - The lighter object is made larger to spread onto the darker oneChoke - Reduce the size of the aperture that an object will print in Centred trap - A combination of enlarging object and reducing aperture

Considerations:

TechniquesPrinter settings

Software

Untrapped colours - Knockout or overprint?

Overprint is when one colour prints over another

while knockout is where a gap is left in one colour

for another to print in. The overprint allows the cyan

and magenta inks to mix to produce a different colour

Overprint

Knockout

Trapping and overprint in practise

By default text and objects knockout rather than overprinting. Colours can be overprinted however they will only overprint in the order they are laid down in the printing process.EG Cyan overprint all colours, while yellow only black.Indesign has built in automatic trapping however speak to your printer if in doubt. Manual trapping presets can be set on individual pages if needed.To overprint in Indesign chose output/attributes

Black and special finishes

7BlackFollowing from step 6, black is set to overprint everything. A mistake some designers make when creating a good solid black is to use registration black which is 100% of each of CMYK. Registration marks are designed to help the printer register the plates so are designed to print on each ink plate.This amount of ink will create many problems.The solution is to find your favourite mix of black.

Rich black : 63C, 52M, 51Y 100KCool black : 60C, 0M, 0Y, 100K Warm black : 0C, 60M, 30Y, 100K

Important to remember although all black looks the same on screen ie RGB they will not look the same printed out. Always ensure using a consistent mix of black throughout a document/image.

Considerations:

ConsistencyQuality

Techniques and Special finishes

The printer needs the designer to supply the art work for special finishes as a separate file. The Colour channels in Adobe Software can be used.Select a spot colour not in use in the design and specify this channel with the special finish. The same technique can be used for die cutting shapes and nets.

Special finishesSome printers offer special finishes in house whilst others will sub contract the work. This can be another factor when choosing the right printer.A laminate is a layer of plastic coating that is heat sealed to the stockA Varnish is a colourless coating which can protect but increasingly is used in spot areas to enhance visual appearance.

A spot UV varnish

Embossing

Die cutting

Metallic spot colour

File preparation checklist

8 » Check and check again

» Typos, spacing and misaligned

images

» Image formats (TIFFS or EPS)

» Files are CMYK not RGB

» No RGB colours

» High resolution images

» No redundant alpha channels

» Bleeds 3mm beyond page

boundaries

» Separate files for all fonts and images

» Check use of a Consistent black

Considerations:

Check againSpellingImagesColoursFile formatsPrinter preferances

» If using a ‘spot’ varnish ensure

you include this information as a

separate pantone colour and specify

this in writing to the printer.

» Print and Mock up any digital files

and send a copy with the file to ensure

the printer knows what you expect.

» Check the file format preferred by

the printer (Often PDF although some

prefer source software files )

Software specific

Indesign has a ‘preflight’ option which enables you to check fonts, links, graphics and other information. Run this prior to creating the PDFEnsure the final design has been proofed by your client before sending the file to the Printers.

Printer speak

9BindingVarious printed pages are gathered and held together

Bit mapAn image made of pixels such as TIFF, JPEG and GIF

ChannelsDigital storage of colour information used by Printers to make separate colour, die cut, and special finish plates.

CMYKCyan, magenta, yellow and key (black), the 4 Subtractive colours used as process colours in printing

DPiDots per inch -the unit of measure for the resolution of an image.

ImpositionThe layout usually on a A1 or A0 sheet of paper of the sequence and position of pages that will print so the pages will be in the correct order

Considerations:

If in doubt , ASK for advice.

OverprintingWhere two different colour inks print over each other to produce a third colour.

Proof sign offThe most important stage in the Print process, where you and your client sign a ‘proof’ print off to print, an opportunity to make changes before committing too much money

RegistrationEach colour printing plate has registration marks to allow the printer to accurately lay down each colour.

RGBRed, green, blue primary colours of light, additive colours associated with a screen.

Spot colourGenerally a special non - CMYK ink colour however a two spot colour can refer to just Cyan and black for example.

StockThe substrate including paper, card, metal and plastic which can be printed on

TintHalf tone dots of a solid colour printed at ten percent increments

TrappingAvoids imperfections in registration between two colours which otherwise may print with a slight gap.

The Bottom Line

10Printing costs MONEY and YOU are responsible for meeting your clients objectives and deadline or else you may find yourself out of pocket.

» Obtain estimates from the printers even before you design anything to ensure this meets with your client’s budget » If the prinshop are new to you ask for

samples of the Print shop work before you place an order. » Agree what proofs you require and at

what stage you sign them off and if you want to Press Pass the job. » A good printer will generally mock up

your design to ensure folding and guillotine lines are correct. » Be aware that Inkjet proofs can look

brighter than a press run. » OBTAIN CLIENT APPROVAL IN

WRITING AT EVERY STAGE

Considerations:

EstimatesProofsClient sign offMockupsQuotesOrdersCOMMUNICATION

£Back the following up in writing with your printer

» Insist any problems are brought to your attention immediately so quick decisions can be made or else deadlines may be missed » The size of the job, page dimensions and

numbers » How many ink colours are required

including Pantone names if included » Ensure you agree on trapping mehods » Quantity, paper stock, price and terms of

delivery are on the Printer quote » Specify a job date deadline if appropriate » If you require a specific number of copies

be aware that some printers under or over run up to 10%. Also special finishing can lead to wastage If the quantity is essential ensure this is clearly specified. » Double spreads may not be adjacent

each other on the imposition plate and because of cutter draw the crossover may not match up. If this is a concern discuss with your printer although this may cost more as they will have to cut the job in small lifts.

Once you find a good printer and have established a working relationship with them...respect and cherish them. They can make or break an important job and establish your client’s confidence in YOU!

Designed by Lisa WhitakerBA (Hons) Graphic Design Level 5

OUGD201