7 things to learn about print

Notes on the mini lecture Amber gave. I found it very helpful as it touched upon the main aspects of preparing and finishing a product. Along with things to consider when creating a product to a professional standard, it has 7 'topics' and areas which make sense and help to categorise some of it in my head as it can be a little overwhelming when starting to research into print production. The 7 areas have helped me have some idea of topics to cover in the info-pack for the Design For Print 504 brief.

All these are really good starting points for further investigation, in order for me to become ready to basically make an info-pack on all this.

Based on a model for lithographic printing:

• Colour models
• Formats
• Artworking
• Stock
• Processes
• Finishing
• Costing

Colour models

• CMYK
• RGB
• Hexachrome - Made up of dots upclose
• Spot Colour
• PMS - Pantone Matching Systems

Formats

• ISO Paper sizes
• A + SRA Sizes
• Imperial sizes (North America) & Metric (Rest of the world)
• Tabloid (compact) Broadsheet, Berliner - These are newspaper and magazine kind of sizes, Berliner is kind of an imperial sizes, going with North America's system
• Envelope 'C' sizes

Stock

• Weights (gs) 80-90 gsm is the office standard weight
• Finish - Gloss/silk/matt/coated/uncoated
• Laid wove
• Boards
• Variations
• Plastics + acetates

Artworking

• Preparing work for print, working in the correct manner
• Document set-up - packaging - fonts etc
• File formats & fonts - making sure fonts are supported by printers,
• Spellcheck
• Colour specification
• Printer marks - e.g. registrations, crop marks, plate/separations information
• Pre-flight check
• Mock-ups
• Proof
• Sign off

Processes

• Lithograph
• Gravure
• Screen-print
• Flexography
• Pad-printing
• Six colour
• Laminate - gloss/matte
• More on the presentation

Finishing

• Finishing could be done in-house, be in touch with the clients and printers to see what your limitations are in designing and processes, along with the budget
• Folding & creasing
• Die stamping/cutting/drilling

A die cut, is the outside cut, for example cutting out the little notices that fit through door handles - the outside cut would be a die cut, and the cut out which the handle goes through would be a die stamp.

Costing

• Quotes, get early on before starting the job, just so you know what kind of budget you're working with, whether it's a personal project, your own personal money or for a client.
• Specify an identical job, right down to the finishing to at least 3 different printers and compare quotes is a good way of working.
• Learn or have a rough idea of what different processes and finishes will cost so you can keep it in the back of your head while art-working and designing
• Understanding viable minimum quantities, a lot of printers may only do a minimum run.
• Extras/Authors connections
• Delivery and logistics? Paper is pretty heavy..

All these topics give me a great starting point and I think pretty much all, maybe not artworking, but all the rest will be really useful for the info-pack to show the differences in stocks and finishes and costing. So for example I could show the info-pack to a client and they'd have a good idea of what kind of stocks they want on their product, how much certain things would costs and the effects of stock on colours etc etc. Artworking may be something I handle more on my side and other people, especially clients don't really need to worry about.