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Printing
Unless otherwise stated the published prices are for 4-colour process (CMYK) sheet-fed offset lithography (litho)
using computer to plate technology (CTP).
Video of a Litho Press in action.
In addition we can also produce:
· Litho print up to six
colours in one pass;
· Digital printing in black only, 4-colour
process, or a combination of the two (for booklets and newsletters) -
double-sided, up to A3 with full bleed;
· Large format posters up to
1400mm wide by any length onto a variety of material such as self-adhesive,
clear and exterior vinyl (for exhibitions, shop fronts, POS, etc);
· 1 & 2 colour litho printing
up to A0 with full bleed.
· Self-adhesive vinyl lettering for
window graphics, vehicles and signage;
· We also have long established contacts
in the web offset field for printing newspapers and magazines.
Video of a Litho Press in action.
For an explanation of printing processes visit
Wikipedia - click
here.
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Graphics
from web pages
It's not a good idea to simply lift an image from someone's
website - and it's almost certainly an infringement of copyright.
There's no technical problem when printing
graphics from web pages but the quality is generally very, very
poor. Images on the web are only 72dpi when, to get maximum quality from
commercial printing, they need to be 300dpi or higher.
For top quality results
text and headlines should be produced in a programme that can use both vector
graphics and bitmap images. Examples are Adobe InDesign, Quark Express,
Corel Draw, Microsoft Publisher, PagePlus - and there are many
others to choose from.
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Cutter
guides and folder templates
We have a variety of
cutter guides and folder templates available in either oversize A4 or A5
sizes and in a variety of graphic formats. Email us with your requirements.
Or we can custom-build
them to your specific dimensions.
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Can
I use Microsoft Word?
Yes. It's excellent for
text - but scanned images and graphics are of low quality, usually only 72dpi
when, for commercial printing, they need to be 300dpi or higher.
If you send
us any high quality graphics separately we can replace them prior to printing
- at a small extra charge.
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Can
you print from Microsoft Power Point?
Yes we can. Please click here for more information about how to set up
your Powerpoint files for high quality printing.
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Can
you print from Microsoft Excel?
Yes. Text is fine but
scanned images and graphics are of low quality, usually only 72dpi when, for
commercial printing, they need to be 300dpi or higher.
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Cancelling an order
There is no legal right to cancel for custom-made items or for business-to-business transactions - but normally we are happy to cancel your order before it is dispatched.
However we will need to charge you for any time and materials we’ve used up to the point of cancellation, therefore the sooner you cancel your order, the less it will cost.
A small charge of £10 will apply if we’ve already processed your artwork and emailed you a proof.
Print4biz is not a consumer/retail site.
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File formats
The best format for high
quality printing is PDF (Portable Document Format) with all fonts converted
to curves (outlines).
You can download a PDF writer from cutepdf.com - it's free.
If you don't have a PDF
writer we can accept native files from most professional graphics packages
(both Macintosh and PC). We'll process them to make them CMYK 'print-ready'
and send you a proof for checking. These files need to be checked very
carefully for processing errors before printing.
If you are running Windows
and using any modern Microsoft software then just send us your documents and we'll
do the rest. If you're using older software (pre 95) then that's more
difficult. But don't worry, if you supply something we can't read we'll do
our best to sort it out.
NEVER enlarge images in your artwork - this can seriously degrade quality. For good
reproduction scan/create your images at the size you intend to print them (or do as graphics professionals do, scan oversize and do any retouching and
airbrushing before reducing them to the required printed size).
Create/scan your images at 300dpi and save them as TIF,
PSD or EPS formats.
JPG (or JPEG) files are fine as long as you use minimum
compression and you don't alter and save the images too many times (you lose
quality each time you save).
BMP and PCX formats are ok, but tend to produce very large
files.
Internet images: GIF format can only cope with 250 colours so they give inferior
results when printed - and most JPG images on the internet use extreme
compression which can cause colour shifts and blurriness.
Since JPG and
GIF are the most common image formats on the web, it follows therefore that
it's not a good idea to simply lift an image from someone's website - and
it's almost certainly an infringement of copyright.
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Resolution
- dots-per-inch - dpi
For photographs, drawings
and all colour images scan at 300dpi or higher. For black & white line art use 1200dpi.
Always
scan your material at the size at which it will be printed. Enlarging images in your
artwork can seriously degrade quality.
In other words don't scan your stuff and then enlarge it in your
layout program! This is another reason why you should not use images that are
lifted from websites; they are usually only 72dpi and will look very blurry
indeed when printed on a 'litho' printing press.
Click here for detailed information about scanning and
photo manipulation.
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Digital photographs
Pictures from digital
cameras are designed to be printed and generally reproduce very well
(much better than the equivalent film camera). As always though, the better the
equipment, the better the result.
As a rough guide divide the image dimensions (given in pixels)
by 300 to give the approximate 'litho' printing size. For example - a picture
of 1800 x 1200 pixels would be adequate for a printed size of up to 6in x 4in.
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Bleed and Margins (Quiet Border)
We need to allow for the working
tolerances of our equipment, booklet makers, binders, guillotines and folding
machinery - there is a margin of error with all mechanical processes.
In your artwork make sure that any graphic elements or
photographs that you want to print right to the edge of the paper actually go
beyond the edge by 3mm - this is called bleed - after your job is printed it will
be trimmed off.
Margins (Quiet Border) is the space around a printed page that contains
no important items (other than bleed elements).
Please don't put anything
within 3mm of the edge of the paper (the more space the
better).
Experienced print
designers never put anything close to the edge - especially printed page borders
- if the paper is just microns out-of-square borders can look very amateurish
indeed. If you want to use borders keep them well away from the edge - 10mm
is an appropriate minimum distance.
Tints
Depending on your software you can create
tints of any colour from 1-99% and they'll look fine on your monitor - but
when printed you will be disappointed.
Any tints below 5% will be too light to see
when printed on paper - and any tints above 95% will look like a solid
colour. So a practical range for tints is between 5% and 95% when using
a modern 4-colour litho printing press using CTP technology.
If you intend to print digitally then a
range between 15% and 85% is more realistic.
Scans and digital photographs
Create/scan your images at 300dpi and save them
as TIF, PSD or EPS formats
Flatten all layers to make smaller images.
JPG (or JPEG) files are fine as long as you
use minimum compression and you don't alter and save the images too many
times (you lose quality each time you save).
BMP and PCX formats are ok, but tend to produce
very large files.
Internet images: GIF format can only cope with 250 colours so they give inferior results when
printed - and most JPG images on the internet use extreme compression which
can cause colour shifts and blurriness. Since JPG and GIF are the most common
image formats on the web, it follows therefore that it's not a good idea to
simply lift an image from someone's website - and
it's almost certainly an infringement of copyright.
Never enlarge images in your artwork - this can seriously degrade quality. For good reproduction scan/create your
images at the size you
intend to print them (or do as graphics professionals do,
scan oversize and do any retouching and airbrushing before reducing them to
the required printed size).
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Fonts and typefaces
Fonts
are copyright protected and are not automatically copied when you save your
documents. Transferring your files will leave some fonts behind.
When the document is opened on another computer the software automatically uses
the fonts of the new machine and re-flows the text to suit.
There are a number of ways around this.
· 'Embed'
all fonts within your document - search the help file of your application to
learn how to do it.
· Use
the standard 'open' fonts that are supplied with Microsoft Windows - although
the spacing will still vary.
· Convert
all fonts to curves (outlines) if you have the facility.
· Convert
your documents to 'print-ready' PDFs.
Alternatively email us images of your fonts and we'll substitute
them with our closest match.
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Colour matching
Will my work look exactly like it does
on my monitor?
Unlikely, unless you have a properly calibrated monitor.
Scanners and digital cameras create images using combinations of
just three colours: Red, Green and Blue (called RGB). These
are the colours that computers use to display images.
Printing presses however print pictures using a different set of
colours: Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black (called CMYK).
So at some stage your RGB file must be converted to CMYK in order to print it
on a printing press. This is easily done using an image editing program like
PhotoShop or Corel Photo Paint.
When we receive RGB images, we do a standard-value conversion to
CMYK, which may not be perfectly to your liking. So if you have the facility
please convert all RGB images to CMYK before you send them to us.
There are some colours in RGB that you can't make with CMYK.
They are said to be 'out of gamut'. CMYK orange and CMYK blue are good
examples of this (see below). In these cases the conversion filter just gets
as close as it can to the original colour.
Above is an example of a 'before' and
'after' conversion.
The top row is RGB, the bottom row CMYK.
Colour photographs don’t suffer very much from CMYK translation
- it's usually more noticeable if you
pick very rich, vibrant colours for a background or some other element of
your layout. It probably won't look bad, it just won't look exactly the same.
If you see printed material with strong oranges or blue
s then the colours are almost certainly
printed as extra 'spot' colours in addition to the four CMYK inks. We can
print up to six colours in one pass - email for a price.
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Coloured text
Using colours on headlines or type above about 12 point is ok,
but smaller sizes can be a problem.
What happens is that all printing presses have a small amount of
movement in the positioning of the different colours - the cyan, magenta, yellow and black portions of the print don't line up exactly. Couple this with the fact that CMYK mixes are made up of dots (i.e. apart from the pure CMYK colours most other colours are a mix of coloured dots) means that the finished print can appear to be slightly blurred particularly on fine lines and small fonts.
NOTE: this isn't an issue when using 100% of any of the CMYK colours - it's on smaller percentage mixes that it becomes a problem.
The same thing holds true for white text on a dark or coloured
background. You can do it but don't use point sizes smaller than about 12
point.
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Text over an image
Be careful about using photographs for backgrounds. If you put
text (any colour) on top it can be very hard to read. So the secret is to
lighten the photograph a lot - much more than you may think is necessary. Use
a photo editing program like Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop.
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Designing
for full colour printing (CMYK)
Choice of paper will
affect the colour of your work
Full colour (CMYK or 4-colour
process) printing uses transparent 'process' inks - so be aware that the
type, grade, quality, grain and colour of paper will affect the overall print
density and colour balance of the finished work. There can be a particularly
marked difference between coated 'art' papers and uncoated 'bond' type
papers. Also the light source under which you’re viewing the printed product
can dramatically affect the colour tone.
Black areas
To prevent black areas
from looking grey (particularly on uncoated papers) use a mix of 100% black
and 50% cyan. This also applies to headlines using fonts over 36 point.
Alternatively use 'Rich
Black' - 30% cyan, 30% magenta, 30% yellow, 100% black - but
this isn't so good if you intend using small fonts 'white out' of black
For ordinary body text use
100% black.
Text, fine rules and lines
If you have small text or
fine lines in your design, it is strongly recommended that you do not use a 4-colour mix on them. Although using a CMYK
colour mix is recommended on larger areas, using it for text smaller than
12pt or for very fine line work may result in poor results.
What happens is that all printing presses have a small amount of
movement in the positioning of the different colours - the cyan, magenta, yellow and black portions of the print don't line up exactly. Couple this with the fact that CMYK mixes are made up of dots (i.e. apart from the pure CMYK colours most other colours are a mix of coloured dots) means that the finished print can appear to be slightly blurred particularly on fine lines and small fonts.
NOTE: this isn't an issue when using 100% of any of the CMYK colours - it's on smaller percentage mixes that it becomes a problem.
Solid colour areas
For images and solid areas
try to keep the CMYK breakdown to no more than 300% (when all the colour
percentages are added together), especially when jobs are required with a
very fast turnaround The more ink, the less chance it has to dry and the
greater risk it may scuff and pick off.
Clean dark grey solids
For a clean dark grey
solid, consider using a high percentage of black and a mix of cyan. Bear in mind that subtle colours,
especially in any large solid areas may be affected by other areas of strong
colour on your design, such as an illustration or large area with a dominant
colour. Remember that for speed and economy, printed designs are often laid
up or for 'work and turn' with both the front and back. Therefore, if one
side or area has a very dominant or subtle colour, other areas of colour may
well be adversely affected. So allowances for this may have to be made.
Choosing colours and tints
It is always good idea to
choose your colour using a Pantone Matching Guide and not to rely on the
colour picker or guide in the computer program you are using. When you
pick a solid colour in a swatch, look at the CMYK colours next to it. If they
are of a very similar four colour mix it will give you an idea how much the
colour may vary on the finished printed job. If the colour either side on the
swatch will also work with your design then you have built in some leeway.
Depending on your software you can create
tints of any colour from 1-99% and they'll look fine on your monitor - but
when printed you will be disappointed.
Any tints below 5% will be too light to see
when printed on paper - and any tints above 95% will look like a solid
colour. So a practical range for tints is between 10% and 90% when printed on
a modern litho printing press.
If you intend to print digitally then a
range of between 15% and 85% is more realistic.
Colour variance
When you select a colour from
a Pantone swatch book make sure you select the CMYK version and not the solid
or spot colour version. CMYK printing uses transparent 'process' inks whereas
spot colour printing uses opaque inks. Some colours are impossible to match
with CMYK printing. The age of your swatch book is also important as inks
fade, some faster than others and if you rely on an old swatch you may find
you get unexpected results.
Colour profiles
Produce your work in
CMYK mode preferably using the Euroscale Colour Profile
For
more information about CMYK printing visit Wikipedia - click
here..
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Designing
promotional material
It takes readers just a
few seconds to decide whether the stuff they are looking at is worth further attention.
Here are a few points that you should think about when producing your
material.
What’s in it for the
reader?
In
other words what are the benefits of your product or service? Can the reader
reduce, enhance, build, save or eliminate something? Can the reader profit in
some way by coming to you?
Use a photograph of
yourself or your product
A
picture will help the reader connect with you more easily. A photograph of
your products being used by happy, satisfied customers would be ideal.
List your services or
products
Make
it easy for the reader to see what you offer at a glance. Using bullet points
to present your list makes it easy to read.
Use a testimonial
Testimonials
increase your credibility. Use the person’s full name together with their
company name - and ask for their permission. A testimonial that is in
italics, with quotation marks will appear as someone is saying it.
Use the word free
I
know, you see it everywhere - but that's because it works! Buy one get one
free, free estimates, free parking, free delivery, or a free consultation are
just a few examples.
Call for action
What
do you want the reader to do? Arrange a free consultation? Visit your
website? Ask for a free estimate?
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Adobe
Acrobat
If you have Acrobat Distiller then
select the 'Press Quality' setting to create Adobe PDF documents best
suited for high-quality prepress printing. Created PDF documents can be
opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.
Portable Document Format
(PDF) has become a world standard for transferring files and documents. Use
whatever application you prefer and simply select Acrobat as your output
device - and then, depending on the settings you choose, it will embed your
fonts and images and convert your work into high quality artwork files for
printing. It can also compress stuff for easier emailing. If you take
printing seriously - a PDF creator is a must. Go to www.adobe.com for more info.
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Colour
WARNING: There can be a noticeable
difference between viewing your work on a computer screen and seeing the
final printed version - this is because computer screens are RGB devices
whereas most printers are CMYK (see
below for more info). For more accurate viewing use a colour
calibrated screen and convert all your RGB images to CMYK.
There are thousands of regularly used colours and millions more
that can be distinguished by the human eye. To give a name to each of them
would be impossible, so scientists have devised various ways of assigning
numeric values to colours.
These systems are called colour
models, and they provide precise methods for naming and reproducing
exact colours. Some are based on the optical components of the colours and
others are based on how people "feel" colours are related to each
other.
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Digital Printing
Technically similar to photocopying and laser
printing. Heat is used to bake different coloured powder onto the paper to
form the finished image.
These systems work directly from electronic
data and avoid the intermediate stage of printing plates. Because these
machines use an inherently four-colour process (CMYK) there is no cost saving
to be made from using one or two-colour designs.
The quality is not yet up
to the standard of modern litho printing - but the man in the street would
find it difficult to spot the difference.
For more information about
printing processes visit Wikipedia - click here.
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Full
colour (4-colour or CMYK) printing
The vast majority of colour magazines,
brochures and leaflets are Litho printed using the CMYK 4-colour process. The initial set-up costs are higher than digital presses but because they run
at much higher speeds they're more economic for larger quantities.
'4-colour' printing presses use the CMYK colour model. By using
cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks, you can mix nearly any colour.
When preparing a colour image for printing, the operator makes
four printing plates. Each plate is for one of the four colours of ink in the
CMYK model. When all four plates are aligned and printed on top of each
other, the inks will combine to simulate the proper colours. This method is
referred to as 'process colour' (or '4-colour') printing.
For
more information click
here - it tells you all you need to know about printing.
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RGB
Colour Model (Red, Green, Blue)
Used for the Internet, TV screens and computer monitors.
In the RGB system, the red, green and blue dots are assigned
brightness values along some scale, for example 0 to 255, where 0 is dark and
255 is bright. By listing the three values for the red, green and blue
phosphors, you can specify the exact colour that will be mixed.
Additive colours get lighter when mixed. As each component of
light is mixed in, the combination becomes a new colour. Red, green and blue
are the three additive primaries. You can mix any colour of light with
different combinations of the additive primaries. When you mix all three
together in balanced amounts, you get white.
These three primaries are the basis of the additive colour
model. It's called the RGB model, and it's usually used to create colour on
your computer display as well as other electronic devices. By mixing together
various amounts of red, green and blue light, you can make almost any colour.
The RGB colour space is a multi-coloured cube with different points showing
what colours different mixtures of red, green, and blue make.
Television screens and computer monitors make their colours by
mixing red, green and blue lights. A monitor or television screen mixes a
colour by illuminating tiny dots of red, green and blue phosphors with an
electron gun located at the back of the monitor. By illuminating each of the
dots to a different brightness, the monitor creates different colours.
Because the RGB model is only capable of producing a certain
range of colours, there are some
colours that cannot be reproduced accurately by a computer monitor. The number of colours visible on a monitor is further reduced by the
limitations of the video hardware in the computer, which may display anywhere
from just black and white up to 16.7 million colours.
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HSL Colour Model
(Hue, Saturation, Luminance)
The HSL model is very similar to the RGB model. In fact, when they're
expressed mathematically, they're identical. The difference lies in how
colours are expressed numerically. The hue determines which basic colour it
is. Red, green, blue, yellow, orange, etc. are different hues. Saturation and
luminance tell more about the variations of these basic colours. Saturation
is the vividness (or "purity") of the colour, i.e., how much of the
colour's complement is mixed in. Finally, luminance refers to the
"whiteness" of the colour. It may also be termed
"brightness," "value" or "intensity."
Other models related to the HSL model are the HSB (Hue,
Saturation, brightness) and HSI (Hue, Saturation, Intensity) models. These
terms are all similar but not interchangeable.
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CIE Colour Model (Commission Internationale l'eclairage)
The CIE model is a more subjective description than the others.
In 1931, the Commission Internationale l'Eclairage tested many people and
found that the sensitivity of the receptors in the eye caused certain colours
to be associated with others. The CIE colour space includes all visible
colours, whether or not they can be defined in the RGB or CMYK models. Computer printers and other devices for
displaying colour have practical limitations that prevent them from making ALL
of the visible colours. The colours that they CAN create are collectively
called the colour gamut. The CIE model is useful in part because a
printer's colour gamut can be drawn on the CIE colour space showing what
colours cannot be printed. Other colour models closely related to CIE are UCS
(Uniform Colour Space), CIELAB and CIELUV.
PANTONE Matching System See pantone
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