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PrintAccess Print Buying
Basics |
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Digital Industry Digital copy preparation is now universal. Its application to typesetting, art creation, image capture and page makeup have replaced the traditional forms to such an extent that the mechanical "board" is the exception rather than the rule. However, the contents of the traditional mechanical that were considered absolute requirements still exist, but in a different form. While application programs provide file originators with a fantastic array of new tools, the significance of communications between the printer and the designer has not lessened. In fact, early collaboration has increased in importance. As some responsibilities shift from the prepress provider to the customer, the functions previously performed by that provider must now be understood and implemented by the designer/creator of the file. The file prepare is compelled to comprehend how the work performed on the computer has to reflect the needs of the ink-on-paper product that is the final result. If the anticipated goals - cost savings and quicker turnaround - are to be realized, these needs must be accurately reflected in the final file given to the printer. Prepress and printing basics are included in this section to guide you in these efforts. Design Choosing a designer who can efficiently and effectively execute in the digital environment can result in achieving some of the time and money savings that software vendors promise and customers now demand. Communication has become an absolute requirement between the print buyer, the designer and the printer to ensure smooth delivery of the steps leading to the final printed piece. Make sure the print provider you select is "on-board" at the creation stage to help you keep the project on-time, on-track, and on-budget. Beyond electronic wizardry, consider today's wide spectrum of papers, plus the creative production techniques like folding, embossing and coating. These contribute to the effectiveness of print as a media that gets marketing results. "Specing" the Job Detailed, accurate specifications are the key to success with any printing job. Your printer must have complete information to fulfill your expectations. In this section of the PIA-MidAmerica Graphic Arts Buyer's Guide, you'll find a checklist for writing printing specifications which will help you organize all the details. You can then use this "spec sheet" to help fill out a request for quotation and for issuing a purchase order. Selecting a Printer There are thousands of printers, so how do you choose? First, get to know your local printers. Take tours of their plants and note their specialties. Get to know a variety of printing salespeople and start a file of printing samples. Ask friends or associates for references. When other things are equal, it may be best to go with the company that will provide value-added services that fit the needs of your business, whether that is in full coordination of your project, design or distribution. Establishing an ongoing relationship enables your printer to know your printed product requirements and offer suggestions that can save time and money. How to Compare Estimates Each printer should have a mock-up of your design and complete specifications. Request written estimates. If you change a specification to one printer (for example, paper) be sure to change it for all. Otherwise, your estimates are not comparable. Most estimates are good for 30 days. Scheduling Quick turnaround is the rule, but it requires intelligent coordination. Once the who and what are determined, the when needs to be decided. Printing projects usually run on tight schedules, so stay on track and let vendors know the specifics. Begin with your distribution date and work backwards with your sales rep. Then stick to your schedule or alert your rep in advance if there are unavoidable delays. Tell your rep you expect to be informed if there are delays on the printer's end. If you are contracting tasks separately, account for the time that each vendor needs, including delivery. Getting to Plate In most situations, plates are prepared from film that is generated from imagesetters or directly from computer. In either case, correct copy preparation is paramount. When changes are made or mistakes caught after this plating step, costs rise rapidly. Jobs generated from computer files must contain all the printing production requirements that the final composited traditional plate film contained. File preparers who choose to construct files for plate-ready production must include spreads and chokes (called "trapping" in computer terminology), bleed overwork, plus trim and center mark indications that were formerly accomplished by the "image assembler" at the printer. Printers offer file manipulation services that cover things like trapping, low resolution image replacement and more. They generally prefer handling these critical production details in-house to assure proper preparation for their particular press and finishing lines. The importance of proofs from digital files has increased because of today's speed of production and the opportunities to rapidly incur expensive remake costs at the plate stage. Proofs should reflect exactly what is represented on the file or plate. Color Multicolor printing of some kind is the norm, whether it's spot color or four-color process. Spot color uses a designated ink color, while four-color process printing creates color by laying down overlapping dots (screens) of four primary ink colors: yellow, cyan, magenta and black (CMYK). The size, shape and degree of overlap of these dots determines the appearance of the final printed colors. The most convenient way to specify spot color is to use one of the color systems like Pantone or Trumatch. The newest page makeup, illustration and photo-editing software also support these systems. Each Trumatch or Pantone color has a formula for creating that color with printer's inks. Preparing full-color files on your Mac or PC and delivering a file to your printer by physical or electronic means is now commonplace in most instances. Creating color files requires knowledge of the printing requirements for color, including trapping and color balance. Use of color management systems by the file originator who wishes to go beyond low-res images is an absolute requirement for quality and consistency. Despite all of today's advances, the most important aspects of dealing with printed color remain: make sure everyone "sees" the same color and understands the limitations of four-color process. Prepress color proofs that simulate color printing allow you to check composition, color breaks, registration and separation quality and are an essential step for satisfactory results. Printing, Finishing and Binding Once you have approved the prepress proofs, your job is ready to print. If a press check is included in your bid, you'll be at your printer's plant when the first sheets come off the press. At this point, the final tweaking is done and the press operator takes over. The final step in converting a printed sheet to product is called finishing and/or binding. They are as equally significant a stage as everything that has gone on before and must be planned into the original design. While bindery and finishing are usually the last phases of a printed job, it is important to identify these needs up front when planning the job so that all will run smoothly. Folding Folding is a relatively imprecise operation, so you must leave room for variations in the folds. Remember, also, that each fold is affected by the variation in the previous fold. Paper stock also affects folds. Prepare a paper dummy of the folds before you go to press, and remember to allow adequate trim for the bindery operation. Binding When planning your job, you need to decide if it will be bound and how. Talk about the bindery requirements with your printer or trade binder before going into production. Listed below are some common bindings and definitions. Saddle stitching Signatures inserted into each other and stapled through the spine. Requirements: Lip on back of signature at least 1/4". Head trims and foot trims should be 1/8". Side stitching Stapled through stack, parallel to spine. Spiral Binding Wire spiral inserted through hole-punched stack. Requirements: Minimum trim of 1/8" on head, spine, foot and front - more desired. Binding margin is 1/2". Comb binding Plastic comb binding inserted through hole-punched stack. Perfect binding Perfect-bound books are made from signatures that are stacked. On the left side, the folds are trimmed away. Hot glue is applied to the spine and the cover is pressed against it. Then the other sides of the book are trimmed away. Head trims and foot trims should be 1/8" or more. Binding is the work required to convert printed sheets into books, magazines, catalogs and folders. Included are the steps for scoring, folding, collating, stitching and trimming. Finishing includes mounting, die-cutting, laminating, embossing, punching, gluing and marbleizing. Last Word on Finishing If your printed project is going to be die-cut, coated or finished in any of the ways mentioned above, note that the mechanical requirements for these processes must be built into the design of the printed piece. For instance, aqueous and UV coatings are spectacular, but certain ink colors do not take coating as well as others. Always consult with your printer about your finishing plans, even if the printer is not coordinating the whole project. Offset Lithography The basic principle of offset printing, the dominant printing process, is this simple: ink and water don't mix. Early lithographers etched images onto flat stone. These images would accept ink, while the porous stone accepted water. When ink was applied, it stayed on the greasy image area and avoided the rest of the stone. Modern lithography uses the same concept but adds one important element. In modern presses, the image is transferred from the printing plate to a rubber blanket and then to the paper. Hence the name "offset." Although there are many different kinds, sizes and qualities of offset presses, the basic configuration remains the same. When the printing plate is exposed, an ink receptive coating is activated at the image area. On the press, the plate is dampened, first by water rollers, then by ink rollers. Ink adheres to the image area and water to the non-image area. As the cylinders rotate, the image is transferred to the blanket. Paper passes between the blanket cylinder and the image is transferred to the paper. The major types of offset presses are sheetfed and web. In a sheetfed press, cut paper is delivered into the machine. In a web press, paper comes on a large roll and is cut after printing. Sheetfed presses run the gamut in size and quality from 8-1/2" x 11" or 11" x 17" one-color duplicators found in the majority of quick printers and small commercial shops to high-quality eight-unit presses with sheet sizes as large as 55". Because web presses can print at very high speeds and large sheet sizes, they are generally used for forms, publications and very long runs. Letterpress Formerly the standard printing process, letterpress is now largely used for specialty work. Letterpress is often used for fine art prints, books and posters. Letterpress is also used for imprinting business cards and forms. In the process, the image area is actually raised above the rest of the plate, so the image makes a physical impression on the paper. Modern letterpress uses a photo-etching technique to remove the non-image area from the plate. Flexo Modern flexography, often called flexo, is a versatile process that uses photo-etched plates. The non-image areas on these plates are etched away, leaving only the printing surface that carries the ink directly to the substrate. Technological advances in platemaking, inks and presses make flexo well-suited for any job that can be printed on a substrate that can be supplied in a roll form. In addition to paper, these materials include box boards, foils, plastics, newsprint and more. Common applications for flexo include labels, tabs, corrugated boxes, cartons and newspapers. Gravure Basically, gravure turns everything in the image into halftone dots. The plate cylinder consists of tiny cells, varying in depth and width, that hold the ink. As the press runs, a doctor blade scrapes excess ink off the surface of the plate, leaving ink only in cells. As the paper contacts the plate, the ink is transferred, reproducing type, rules, graphics, and photographs as composites of very fine dots. Gravure is used only in very long runs, usually for publications and packaging printing. Screen Printing Screen printing is the most versatile form of print reproduction. Although once thought of as being oriented to short production runs, modern high-speed technology allows for volume production where brilliant, accurate colors, and close tolerance are necessary. Ink is expressed through a stretched fabric mesh by a squeegee blade to reproduce the original image onto the substrate below. Screen printing is not limited to press size or the same of any substrate. A variety of materials such as paper, plastic, metal, fabric and glass can be screen printed. Waterless Lithography Print buyers are hearing more and more about waterless offset as the process becomes more commonly used in the United States. Almost any offset printing press can be converted to run waterless if it is retrofitted with a cooling system that, among other things, helps maintain the ink's temperature. Newer presses are available with the conventional dampening system and a cooling system so that they can run waterless. Special plates must be used so that the non-image area still repels the ink. Key Concepts Printing is more than reproducing words and images on paper. It is the physical experience itself - holding the piece, feeling the paper, the interplay of ink and paper - that printing is concerned with. As such, paper - the vehicle of the message, as well as the biggest cost item in a printing job - is of prime importance. Understanding paper and picking the right sheet for your job can make or break your job. Papers are defined by grade and basic weight. Understanding these two concepts is the key to specifying the right paper. Grades of Paper There are five basic grades of paper: Bond Usually reserved for letterheads, business forms and quick printing jobs. Offset or uncoated book Probably the most common sheet for offset printing, offering a smooth, uncoated look. Coated book A glossy sheet that yields vivid colors and excellent reproduction. Text A high-quality sheet with a lot of texture. It gives soft, gentle colors and a look of class. Cover Used for book covers, postcards and business cards. It is available as a coated or uncoated sheet. Within each grade there are other distinctions - based on brightness, opacity and fiber content. For instance, there are matte, premium and ultra gloss finishes to coated paper. In uncoated book, there is #1 Offset, #3 Offset, Opaque and Lightweights. Text papers are distinguished by finishes like smooth/vellum, felt/embossed, laid and linen. Basic Weight Getting more specific, people identify papers in terms of their basic weights. Since coated papers are more compressed (calendered), you can't necessarily keep the same weight when switching grades. For instance, you may go from a 60# uncoated to a 70# coated sheet to keep the same thickness. That's why papers are usually referred to by weight and grade. What is basic weight, exactly? It is the weight of 500 sheets of paper cut to a standard size. So, 500 sheets of 25" x 38" 60# offset weighs 60 lbs. The standard size for bond is 17" x 22"; for text, offset and coated 25" x 38"; and for cover, 20" x 26". That's why two similar sheets of different grades may have very different basic weights; for instance, 24# bond and 50# offset. Different grades cover different ranges of weight: Bond Usually 16# for forms, 20# for copying and 24# for stationery. Text Ranges in weight from 60# to 100#, but the most common weights are 70# and 80#. Offset Usually a 50# to 70# stock. Coated book Generally goes from 30# to 70# for web, 50# to 110# for sheetfed. Cover Comes in 60#, 65#, 80# or 100# weights. Recycled Papers Our national waste disposal challenge has led to the increasing use of recycled papers. Paper companies have answered this increasing demand with offerings in all paper grades. While recycled sheets still command a premium over virgin stock, they are more widely available than in previous years. At this time, there are still differences in definitions associated with recycled papers, and concerned buyers need to consult the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) guidelines, State of Texas and federal definitions and paper company literature to make informed judgments.
The prepress proof gives an approximation of what the final image will look like, this is especially important in four-color printing. This is your last chance to catch prepress errors. Bluelines, ink-jet, and laminated four-color proofs are examples of prepress proofs.
This is your last chance to affect the final product. Press checks can be demanding because they are at the mercy of production schedules. Often you will have only a few hours notice of when your job will be on press. Making changes at this stage can cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Press checks are optional and depend on the complexity of your job. Always discuss a printer's policy on press checks at the time of quotation (cost per hour for press time, time limits, delay charges, etc.).
Printed samples if it's a reprint; printed samples of companion pieces (your printer should have these in advance);
Questions to ask BEFORE you prepare the file
Is the file Mac or PC?
Installing fonts included with the job.
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