Stock Weight
90 - 100 gsm - used for stationery, text for magazines and booklets, flyers and brochures.
120 -170 gsm - used for text for booklets, flyers and brochures. The heavier the weight, the more "upmarket" the feel.
200 - 250 gsm - used for magazine and booklet covers. Robust enough to give some body and stiffness when used in a publication, but not quite heavy enough to be used on its own for cards etc.
280 - 300 gsm - used for cards of all sorts and book and booklet covers.
Stock Types
brief look into paper stocks.
- Bond: writing papers, including ledger, that accept ink readily and can be erased
- Coated: book paper with a clay coating ensuring smoothness (dull, satin, gloss, matte)
- Text: uncoated book paper (often of an interesting color) used for announcements and the like
- Offset: uncoated book paper treated with sizing to resist moisture
- Opaque: uncoated book paper treated to be less transparent
- Cover: coated and uncoated; used for book covers, brochures, etc.
- Mill Bristol: a board grade receptive to folding, embossing, and stamping
- Newsprint: used for printing newspapers; highly acidic, degrades quickly
- Digital: for copiers and ink-jet and laser printers, as well as high-end digital presses like Xeikon and Indigo
- Coated One Side (C1S) - A cover stock that has a coating on one side and is dull on the reverse side.
- Coated Two Sides (C2S) - A cover stock that has a coating on both sides.
Colour Management
. CMYK(cyan/magenta/yellow/key black – 4 colour process) Subtractive.
This is used in the most common printed process called litho or offset litho
. RGB (red/green/blue – screen based) Additive.
Greyscale (Black and white continuous tone and any shade of grey, such as a
black and white photograph)
Paper Sizes
Printing Methods
• Lithography (Litho) PLANOGRAPHIC
Etched aluminium plates on a cylinder transfer ink to an ‘offset’ rubber blanket roller and then to print surface. This is the Most common method of printing which the majority of paper based product been done in this way. Mainly done in using CMYK inks it is very design friendly.
• Rotogravure (Gravure) INTAGLIO
Copper plates (with mirror image) transfer ink directly to print surface, usually rolls. Advantage, plates are more durable and so are good for long print runs such as newspapers and magazines where the quantity needs to be in the millions. it is a very quick and efficient was of printing huge quantities in a short amount of time.
• Flexography (Flexo) RELIF
A positive, mirror image rubber polymer plate, on a cylinder, transferi ink directly to print surface. Usually roll feed. This is used for products like sweet wrapper and drinks labels which are produced on huge rolls and cut down to size. Printing on surfaces other than paper it produced less of a quality than litho and which is also down to the detail achievable on a rubber plate.. Digital Print
The reproduction of images by translating the digital code direct from a computer to a material
without an intermediate physical process. This is the simplest printing method and used only for low run prints, such as proofs, large scale posters and banners. can vary greatly in quality but this is usually down to what is wanted to be printed so not to waste ink on insignificant items such as letter which don't need to be of high quality.
. Screen Printing
A printmaking technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink
blocking stencil.
Mono/Duo/Spot
. Duotone is when an image is printed in 2 spot colours. this can be any to colours. This printing method can produce very different effects depending on the colours used and easily done on programs like Photoshop and InDesign. You can use more colours which are know as Tritones for 3 colours and Quadtones for 4.
. Spot colour is a specially mixed colour opposed to a result of CMYK or RGB. This can be usefull for a designer wanting to produce say a campaign for a company and wanting to use a specific colour all the way through. the colours can be put into the printers to create consistancy within prinitng. This technique is extremely popular with photographers wanting to highlight part of a black and white photo.
. Mono is only using one coloured ink and the stock its printed on. It doesn't have to to one tone the ink can be used at a persentage such as tints of the colour used. This creates a tonal image. Black is the most common colour used for monoprints but others can be used also.
Print finishes
Foils
A metal plate is produced which has been etched so what you are wanting to print is raised. It's then put into a machine and heated the foil. so between your product and the plate is the foil. when stamped the foil makes contact with the product then the raised heat transfers the foil from the reel to the product.
Most foils are done in silver or gold, they can be don in different colours but the main attraction is the metallic surfaces. you get a much clearer colour than you would if using screen print and metallic paints. Embossing
Embossing is where you areas of a surface is raised compared to the rest of a product. This is adds cost to printing but give a very professional effect. it is done by creating a stamp of what you wish to emboss. the area you wish to emboss is raise on the stamp and is simply pressed against the product on the reverse side leaving a raised imprint.
Die Cutting
Die Cutting is the process to cut out shapes which aren't possible with a guillotine. it is mainly used for things like business card and leaflets if they what to use an interesting shape. The die cut is made by using a metal blade shaped to the necessary design, placed into a wooden block. rollers go over the blade cutting the shape out of the product.
Preparing the file for print.
When you are finished and ready to send work to a printers there is a few things you need to make sure you do.
check that all your images are saved as a CMYK-Tiff/EPS, not RGB and no GIF's/JPEG's or PSD's.
Bleeds that run off the page should run 3mm beyond the page except for binding where they should end at the edge of the page.
it's always a good idea to send separate film containing images incase the corrupt.
Make sure the printer has the fonts needed to print.
Check all the graphic elements to make sure they aren't in RGB.
Check if type and image overlap that they print correctly.
Choosing stock and considering folding/varnishing and other print finishes and testing them before hand
Embossing is where you areas of a surface is raised compared to the rest of a product. This is adds cost to printing but give a very professional effect. it is done by creating a stamp of what you wish to emboss. the area you wish to emboss is raise on the stamp and is simply pressed against the product on the reverse side leaving a raised imprint.
Die Cutting
Die Cutting is the process to cut out shapes which aren't possible with a guillotine. it is mainly used for things like business card and leaflets if they what to use an interesting shape. The die cut is made by using a metal blade shaped to the necessary design, placed into a wooden block. rollers go over the blade cutting the shape out of the product.
Preparing the file for print.
When you are finished and ready to send work to a printers there is a few things you need to make sure you do.
check that all your images are saved as a CMYK-Tiff/EPS, not RGB and no GIF's/JPEG's or PSD's.
Bleeds that run off the page should run 3mm beyond the page except for binding where they should end at the edge of the page.
it's always a good idea to send separate film containing images incase the corrupt.
Make sure the printer has the fonts needed to print.
Check all the graphic elements to make sure they aren't in RGB.
Check if type and image overlap that they print correctly.
Choosing stock and considering folding/varnishing and other print finishes and testing them before hand
No comments:
Post a Comment