Printing 101. Commercial Print Technologies. Basic Steps To Print Purchasing

Transcription

1 Commercial Print Technologies 10 North Queen Street, Etobicoke, ON M8Z 2C4 P F Printing 101 Basic Steps To Print Purchasing

2 Contents 2 What Does My Printer Need to Know About My Project? 4 Should I Photocopy or Print My Project? 6 How Many Colors Should I Use? 8 What is 4-color Process Printing? 10 What Is CMYK Color? 12 What is Spot Color? 14 The Finishing Touch: Varnish 16 Aqueous Coating 18 UV Coating 20 What Does a Paper s Weight Mean? 22 The Difference Between Coated and Uncoated Stock 24 How Many Different Kinds of Binding Are There? 26 Die Cutting 28 Proof, never print without one 30 Proofing Marks 31 Terminology

3 What Does My Printer Need to Know About My Project? Before you start a project, I d recommend talking to a few printers to ask for printing quotes. It s best to talk to them before your job is designed. This way, you can figure out what specifications the printer recommends and what kind of job is in your budget. It s counterproductive and expensive to have a full-color piece designed only to find out that your budget will allow for a two spot-color printing job. It s also a good idea to get several time and money quotes, in writing, as these details can vary widely from printer to printer. A project that s two weeks late and costs hundreds of dollars more than you expected is not a situation you want. When you talk to a prospective printer, be prepared to tell them the following information: 1. The name of your project. 2. The dimensions and number of pages of the project. 3. The number of colors, process or spot, for the project. 4. The quantity of finished pieces that you ll want. 5. The color, feel and weight of the paper that you want the project printed on. 6. The materials that you will be supplying to the printer 7. When you need the project completed or delivered. Your printer will be able to offer some recommendations in terms of paper, matching colors, software acceptability, etc. You can ask if there are any ways that you can save a few dollars by altering the page size of the finished piece, using different colors, etc. To ensure that you get quotes you can easily compare, make sure you give each of the prospective printers the exact same specifications to bid on. This information, combined with your knowledge of the printer, should ensure your project looks great and is delivered both on budget and on time. 1 2

4 Should I Photocopy or Print My Project? The decision between Photocopying and Printing a project for smaller quantities is entirely reliant on the factors far from that of quality. With the modern photocopier and the advent of digital printing, the quality is really not an issue anymore between the choices available. Points to consider to make the choice easier: Photocopying: Fast, walk up and take away service. Mostly used for small to medium quantities for black and white, and small quantities for color. No preparation is required for photocopying. The quality is a compromise for the speed and convenience, but remember that the toner is not a guaranteed bond to the paper. Digital Printing: Digital printing consumes a slightly longer time to being ready, and the quantities can be medium although as the quantity rises, the price gets out of hand, although the convenience and speed makes it up. As this is a toner based printing process, slight texture is felt on the printed stock, and again the bond of the toner to the stock is not a guarantee. Newer technologies are using liquid ink processes and are more friendly to handling and the eye. Ink Jet: For very small quantities of large images, especially on special substrates. Considerably slow, and therefore good for a few copies each. Great for banners, one-off posters, signs etc. Price is relative to square foot purchase, but still the best bang for the buck. Sheetfed Offset Printing: As the header notes, sheetfed is printed after the roll of manufactured paper is cut to sheets. Great for any quantity from medium to large quantities, and very large quantities in smaller printed items. Definately the better alternative for heavier grades of stocks, covers etc. Time consideration must be allowed as the process requries the generation of metal plates prior to the printing of the job. Qualtiy is excellent, price drops drastically on larger print runs. Webfed Offset Printing: The web fed presses print on continuous stock fed from a roll of paper. This process is a much faster process and definately the cheap alternative to printing in large quantities. This is the most efficient system to use for large quantities of printing. Cheap brochures, sell sheets, flyers and inserts are definately ideal candidates for this process. 3 4

5 How Many Colors Should I Use? The number of colors to be used depends entirely on how many colors you can achieve from as few colors as possible. The use of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black (CMYK) which is just 4 colors gives the effective possibility of over 16 million colors available to be printed by mixing these four colors in different strengths. An example of the above is very simple to understand once we look at a few possibilities. As the black color achieved in the mixing of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow is a very muddy brown color, the printing process uses Black as the fourth color. The examples and the color wheel only shows solid colors here, and when mixed in different strengths or percentages, different shades are achieved. Furthermore black is utilized to darken the color when required. Although this process gives an astronomical array of colors, sometimes the designer or the print buyer requests the use of special or spot colors. Spot colors added to the specturm above of the millions of colors, further enhances either a solid spot or a varying percentage, further making the arrays of possibilities even grander. If there are no special color or spot color requirements, or the images being printed are all color photographs, then CMYK or Process color printing is adequate. The only time it is recommended to use spot colors is when a specific color is required and cannot be compromised, or if there are large areas of a flat color required in the printed piece. The exception to the rule above, as there always is, when the use of metallic colors is made. Metallic colors are available in several golds, silver, and bronzes, and further mixed with pantone colors to achieve a metallized or perlized look to the images printed with the mixed inks. Is the Paper Color Counted as a Color? Whenever the colors are mentioned in print, the number is the quantity of colors that will be printed on the paper, not the inherent color of the paper. Therefore if the paper is WHITE, then the white is not counted as a color. 5 6

6 What is 4-color Process Printing? When the term 4 Color Process is used, it means that the four primary printing colors are used. These colors are as follows: Cyan (C) - a light blue color that lends coolness to the image Magenta (M) - a medium red color that lends warmth to the image Yellow (Y) - a bright yellow color that lends brightness to the image BlacK (K) - a filler color that compliments the image and gives it contrast. CMYK 4-color printing is capable of reproducing literally thousands of colors. This is the industry standard method of producing all color magazines, books, and other full color printed material. Light arrives in literally millions of colors, but our brains are organized to deal with only a few primary colors. That s all our optic hardware can deal with but our brain translates the optic information it receives into an entire rainbow of colors and hues. Though the actual colors used are different, all printing, and in fact motion pictures and television, all depend on an analogous system of building a rainbow from only a few basic colors. All light mediums use the primary colors associated with light being Red, Green, Blue (Also known as RGB). The software used in the print industry also utilizes the RGB format of colors which are on a different spectrum than CMYK. As files created in the RGB format would not look exactly as it looks like in the preparation software when printed with the CMYK format, it is advisable to convert these images or file to CMYK before sending for print. Full color printing, often referred to as CMYK or 4-color printing, reproduces a comprehensive photographic color spectrum using combinations of four basic ink colors - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Artwork and color photographs, once separated into their CMYK components, can be reproduced combining the four basic inks to provide a finished product which is virtually indistinguishable from the original. All color brochures, catalogues, magazines, posters, coffee table books, etc. are printed using this method. Metallic, fluorescent and some specific PMS (Pantone Matching System) colors cannot be reproduced with the CMYK process, so many of our printing presses offer 5, 6, 7 & 8 color capabilities to allow adding spot colors or other special inks to be printed in addition to, and at the same time, as the four CMYK colors. Our state-of-the-art pre-press department, however, uses advanced CTP (Computer to Plate) technology that eliminates the high cost of producing color separations, print film and film proofs. Now you can afford to take advantage of the high impact, professional quality images that full color printing brings to your marketing and promotional material. 7 8

7 What Is CMYK Color? CYMK is an acronym that represents the printing inks used in four-color process printing. These are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. As white light strikes translucent inks, a portion of the spectrum is absorbed. Color that is not absorbed is reflected back to your eye. In theory, pure cyan, magenta, and yellow pigments should combine to absorb all color and produce black; for this reason they are also called subtractive colors. Because all printing inks contain some impurities, these three inks actually produce a muddy brown and must be combined with black ink to produce a true black. A mixture of practical cyan, magenta, and yellow pigments is not pure black, but a dark muddy color. This is because theoretically cyan, magenta and yellow mixed should create black, but do not because it is near impossible to create pure pigments to make it occur. These colors can be combined and printed to emulate a wide number of other colors. If you look carefully (using a magnifying glass) at a printed color photograph in any magazine or book, you ll see that it s made up of rows of tiny dots called a halftone screen. The dots are placed at different angles and fool your eye into seeing a full spectrum of colors. Combining these inks to reproduce color is called four-color process printing. For a graphics file to be printed in CMYK, it must be converted or created in that color mode. A different sheet of film (or Digital plate if Computer To Plate is employed (CTP)) is created for each color. For the computer to tell the machine that produces the film, what to put on each sheet of film, the computer image must be in CMYK format. So, why do we refer to these four ink colors as CMYK and not CMYB? Well, it s to avoid confusion quite simply, it s so that no one will be confused into thinking that the last color is Blue rather than Black. 9 10

8 What is Spot Color? In offset printing, a spot color is any color generated by an ink (pure or mixed) that is printed using a single run. When the need to match a particular color (a background or specific color in a logo or company color) on a printed piece, the use of a spot color is utilized. The main reason that the spot color is utilized is to maintain the color fidelity or accuracy of the color throughout the print run. There are several systems developed and in place for matching specific spot colors in the industry. In North America, the most common has been designed by Pantone Inc. The matching system developed by Pantone is called Pantone Matching System (PMS) and this system has approximately 1,000 different pre-defined colors that can be mixed from an array of base inks that are called Pantone Colors - these Pantone colors are the base inks that are sold by the company. A printer normally refers to the PMS number of the ink in the specification. Once the specification is established, the client and the printer refer to the color by its PMS number. To print in the spot color, the printer will take the specified PMS number, refer to it in a Color Chart which identifies the Pantone Colors (Base colors) that will be required to mix the PMS numbered ink, and further the percentages to be mixed to achieve the desired color. Computerised scales are available to printers with high volumes or the requirement to be accurate. The color achieved by the computerised scales are achieved faster and with less waste. This offers efficiency to the printer who can thus offer cheap printing of business cards, flyers, post cards, brochures, catalogues, and books. The PMS color mixed to achieve a color on coated paper will print with a different hue and density on offset stock, non white or off white stocks. This is the reason that the company that establishes these matching standards offer color swatch books in both offset and coated stocks. We utilize a computerized system to achieve the exact color that is required, thus reducing errors. The proofing of spot colors is not conquered in the Digital process of todays printing technology, but since a spot color is defined as a specific number in a matching system, its reproduction is almost always assumed to follow a PMS Guide or color chart

9 The Finishing Touch Varnish Varnish is essentially ink without pigment. It requires its own printing unit on press. It can be wettrapped (printed in-line at the same time other inks are laid down), or dry-trapped (run as an additional pass through the press after the initial ink coating has dried). The latter often provides a glossier finish. Varnish comes in gloss, dull, and satin (in-between dull and gloss), and can be tinted by adding pigment to the varnish. The varnish is applied as a protective layer of ink on the printed sheet offering a protective coating to deep and dark colors from showing finger prints. The use of Gloss and Matte varnishes are used to enhance and subdue certain areas of the printed image. It is highly recommended to protect the printed inks on images where the inks will rub against another surface, or on the sheet next to it. Ideally all business cards should be coated so that carrying them in one s pocket will not spoil the printed image by rubbing with the next card or the wallet that holds the cards. All dark colors should be coated as the dark pigments of colors like reflex blue, deep browns, deep greens, heavy purples and violets all take several months to dry, and sometimes never do fully dry. If varnish is applied on the top of these dark colors, it seals the color between the varnish and the paper. Varnishes, as with all coatings, can only be applied to coated stocks. Uncoated stocks will absorb the varnish into the paper substrate, and therefore virtually vanish. From an artistic standpoint, you can play a dull-varnished portion of the sheet against a portion without varnish or with a gloss varnish. This contrast can give emphasis to certain areas and/or give the impression of depth

10 The Finishing Touch Aqueous Coating The most common reason for adding a coating over your printed piece is for protection: to avoid scuffing the ink, if you have included areas of heavy ink coverage. The decision to apply coating to a printed piece should be based on the following facts: Unprotected dry printing inks will attract the oils in the human hand and cause fingerprints and scuffing of the ink surfaces, with the most affected areas being the dark solids. Press applied coatings such as varnish and aqueous coatings are less costly than coatings applied after printing (off-press) like UV coating and film laminates. All off-press coatings are applied over dry inks at slow speeds. When applying off-press coatings the adhesion of the coating to the dry ink has to be considered as some inks will not adhere to certain coatings or laminates and flaking or de-lamination of the off-press application can occur. Applying the aqueous coating to a sheet prevents scuffing and gives it additional gloss. When a printed piece such as a publication or brochure is printed without a coating, the rubbing of one sheet to another, to a folder or to a package will scuff the dry unprotected inks. The aqueous coating is an eco-friendly product and water-based coating that dries much faster than an oil-based varnish. This enables a faster thru-put of a piece through the bindery process. Aqueous coating is not available to heat-set web printed products, and only varnish may be applied for the protection of the images. If you plan to be writing or rubber-stamping, or otherwise marking a finished piece, do not choose any aqueous coating as the coating will limit your ability to write on it. The application of the coating should be the final treatment to the printed image. Aqueous coating is only recommended for coated sheets, and will be absorbed into uncoated sheets and is not recommended. Certain inks change the color of the image after the application, and certain coatings yellow with age or discolour the paper. It is important to use hi-quality coatings with optical brighteners that enhance the brightness of the paper and the printed inks

11 The Finishing Touch UV Coating Ultra-violet cured coatings can be applied over ink printed on paper and dried by exposure to UV light. UV coatings can be formulated up to 100% solids so that they have no volatile component that contributes to pollution. This high solids level also allows for the coating to be applied in very thin films. UV coatings can be formulated to a wide variety of gloss ranges. Due to the normally high solids content of UV coating/varnish the surface of the cured film can be extremely reflective and glossy. 80 text and heavier weights of paper can be UV coated, however, cover weights are preferred. UV can be used on smooth, uncoated papers. UV can be applied on spot locations of the paper or by flooding the page. This coating application can deepen the color of the printed area. Drying is virtually instantaneous when exposed to the correct level of UV light so projects can move quickly into the bindery. Like the other coatings, consult your printer for projects requiring gluing. A printed page with UV coating applied can be very shiny or flattened to a matte finish. A good example of UV coated paper is photo paper sold for home printing projects. UV coatings that are not fully cured can have a slightly sticky feeling

12 What Does a Paper s Weight Mean? Paper is measured in pounds per 500 sheets (one Ream of paper) of a standard size of sheet based on the group or category of papers the grade. The different types of grades are Bond, Book, Text, Cover etc. Each group of the grade of paper is assigned a standard size that all weights are referred to. The basics of this standard are as follows: Bond has a standard size of 17 x 22 and this is the size that is measured for 500 sheets. If 500 sheets of this size weigh 20lbs, then the paper is classified as a 20lb bond. Heavier and lighter stocks will obviously be thicker or thinner than the 20lb. Therefore 16lb Bond or 24lb Bond will be the variations on this. Bond stocks (often referred to as Writing ) traditionally are uncoated stocks and are normally used around the office such as letterheads, photo copier and laser printer paper. The standard weight utilized is 20lb, with 24lb being the heavier alternative, and 16lb being the lighter alternative. Writing is a grade similar to bond, but made with a shorter fiber, yielding a softer sheet which can be made with a variety of finishes and which accepts ink more readily. Writing is generally more expensive than bond and is used for higher end applications like company stationery. Some bond and writing papers have distinctive watermarks in the sheet. Uncoated offset is made specifically for the rigors of commercial offset presses and is often used for the same applications as bond. The basis size of bond/writing papers is 17 x 22, whereas offset papers is 25 x 38. Equivalent bond/writing and offset weights: 16lb bond or writing = 40lb offset 20lb bond or writing = 50lb offset 24lb bond or writing = 60lb offset 28lb bond or writing = 70lb offset 32lb bond or writing = 80lb offset Both Coated and Uncoated stocks are available under the category of Book Papers. Weights vary from 30lb bible stock (very thin - mostly utilized for bibles) to a maximum around 115lbs. This classification is the most common for posters, catalogues, booklets and publication magazines. The basis size of Book papers is 25 x 38. Text stocks are utilized in projects requiring a better grade of paper and usually range from a low of around 60lb to a high of 100lb. The basis size of Text papers is 25 x 38 Cover papers, as the name denotes, is heavier and is utilized for post cards, business cards, rack cards, door hangers etc. The ranges of weights for Cover are from a low of 60lb. to a high of just over 100lb. The basis size of Cover papers is 24 x

13 The Difference Between Coated and Uncoated Stock Printing Stock is made of bleached wood fibers, fillers, clay and caulk fillings. All papers start out being uncoated in the base preparation of the manufacture of paper. Once the paper is manufactured, it is covered in a white clay or clay and caulk filler material. The coating covers all the small crevices in the stock substrate, making it fairly smooth to feel. This coating limits the porosity (the measure of the pores of the paper) of paper in its raw form. The limiting of the porosity limits the absorption of liquids into the paper. A coated paper therefore does not absorb the inks printed on it as much as an offset or uncoated stock will. When the inks are not absorbed into the paper, the inks stay on the top of the paper or the coating. Inks being naturally glossy from the oils that are in them become glossier to the eye. As the porosity is reduced on the paper, the higher the gloss level of the inks. As less inks soak up on coated stocks, less ink is required to gain the same density of the ink color on the sheet compared with the uncoated stock. The images, type and photographs are much sharper on coated stocks. Coated stocks are not always glossy, and are available in a variety of finishes such as dull, matte or silk finish. These finishes are easier on the eye for reading long type passages. Unfortunately the loss of glossiness on the inks is also the result when these stocks are used. Often designers will specify a varnish on the pictures to gloss them back up when printed on such dull finished stocks. Uncoated papers, due to the fibers of the wood and other fillers are very rough compared to the coated stocks. Uncoated stocks are classified as bonds, offsets, card, newsprint etc. These uncoated papers soak much larger quantities of ink, based on the porousness and the surface area of the uneven finish of the uncoated stock. Uncoated stocks have a tendency to dry faster to the touch, as the ink vehicles (oils in the ink) are absorbed into the porous paper. The inks printed on an uncoated stock are also heavier in volume per square area and are sometimes never dry to a rub resistance. A good example is the yester-year s blotting paper that used to soak up the excess ink from the writing of a quill pen. Uncoated stocks are easier to write on as the surface accepts the ink more readily than a coated stock. Some writing inks will take several minutes to dry on higher gloss coated stocks, whereas ball point inks will smear even days later. Caution should be exercised if the piece being printed is being used as a piece to be written on

14 How Many Different Kinds of Binding Are There? There are many different ways to bind a multi-paged project. Some of these methods can be applied by affordable equipment while other methods are best left to bindery professionals found in a bindery. Here are some professional and office methods for holding pages together. Saddle Stitched Binding: A very common method employed in the print industry that can be used to bind books under approximately 1/8. A saddle stitched book has staples (stitches) on the spine. It gets its name from when it is spread out, and draped over a saddle to apply the stitches. The pages have to be in multiples of 4 as a sheet is folded in half and once folded, there are two sheets joined at the spine, each sheet having a front and back - therefore there are 4 pages to each spread (a 4 page piece in a saddle stitched book). The advantage of this type of a binding is that the book will open flat. Side-Stitched Binding: The application of a staple on the spine of loose pages is called Side Stitching. This method allows the binding of loose pages, and can be multiples of 2, with each sheet having a front page and a back page. The stitching done on the side exposes four cut edges on the book, and the durability is very short on this type of a binding. The other disadvantage is that this type of a binding does not allow the book to open flat. Perfect Binding: When the saddle stitching becomes prohibitive due to the thickness of the book, instead of nesting signatures, the signatures are stacked. This creates a square spine, rather than the pointed spine on a saddle stitched book. The spine of a perfect bound book is notched, or ground down, a glue applied, and a cover drawn over the spine. The spine of a perfect bound book is square. The disadvantage of a perfect bound book is that it does not open flat, however certain advancements in this process have made it possible to almost open a perfect book to a flat. Case Binding: A hard cardboard encased in the cover printed on a medium weight stock is made into a hard cover, with the spine attached to the front and back of the cover. This type of book binding process is for very durable items. The pages of the book can be sewn (smyth sewn) or processed in the same manner as the perfect binding, but some fancy edging is given to this book, and the spine does not adhere to the spine of the pages, thereby making the case bound book open flat, but not quite as flat as one would require to say if it were being photo-copied. Plastic Comb Binding: Like the name suggests, this is a method employed on loose leaf (loose sheets) that is bound using holes on the spine, and applying a plastic comb into the holes. This process is an inexpensive and very flexible binding process. The book bound in a plastic comb binding can be opened very flat. Plastic Coil Binding: Plastic Coil as it is commonly known, is the same type of binding as Plastic Comb binding, with the only difference that instead of the plastic comb, the use of a spiral coil is utilized in the holes made on the spine. Again this process of binding allows for a flat opening of the book

15 Die cutting Die cutting is a manufacturing process used to generate large numbers of the same shape from the printed material. The die cut shapes are sometimes called blanks, because they are usually finished and decorated before being sold. The process is widely used on an assortment of materials all over the world, and many manufactured products contain several die cut components, often assembled together in a series of steps to create a finished product. Sharp specially shaped blades are used in die cutting. The blade is bent into the desired shape and mounted to a strong backing. The result is known as a die. The material being cut is placed on a flat surface with a supportive backing, and the die is pressed onto the material to cut it. Depending on what is being made, a single die might cut one piece of material, or it might be designed to slice through multiple layers, generating a stack of blanks. Many buyers find it helpful to consider a cookie cutter when thinking about die cutting. The cookie cutter is a type of die which is capable of cutting out a potentially infinite amount of blanks. Each blank will be exactly the same shape and size, meaning that the blanks can be cooked uniformly together and decorated at will for individuality. The alternative is cutting out each cookie by hand, a painstaking process which would result in irregular final products. Creating dies is meticulous work. The die must be designed so that it efficiently cuts the desired material with minimal waste. Most factories which use die cutting as part of their manufacturing process have techniques for recycling material left over from die cutting, but they want to avoid excess if possible. Often, multiple dies are fitted together on one mount, nestled with each other for maximum efficiency. Material left over from the die cutting process may be melted down and reused, or reworked into other components

16 Proofs, never print without one! A printed proof supplied by your print contractor (a printers or contract proof as it is known in the industry) protects you from any comeback if something goes wrong. If your printed documents differ from the proof supplied, then it s up to your printer to correct the problem at their expense. If you didn t approve a proof, he could easily say that any error was due to a problem with the artwork you supplied. Proofs come in several guises: Soft Proofs - Soft proofs are viewed on a computer monitor. Various solutions are available but the most common form is PDF (Portable Document Format), an increasingly secure method of proofing. The benefits of PDFs include low cost, speed and convenience. However, there are drawbacks. Unless you re an experienced user it can be difficult to spot problems which can affect the printed result. Also, accurate colour reproduction isn t possible unless you ve invested in a sophisticated professional colour calibration solution. Only rely on a PDF proof if you have no other option. NEVER rely on a PDF proof if you need to make sure your colours reproduce as expected, or if you can t afford the cost of a reprint if things go wrong. Whenever possible ask for a colour calibrated printed proof. Digital Proofs - Digital proofs are printed using an inkjet, laser, thermal wax or dye sublimation printer. These devices will have been colour calibrated so as to give a reasonably close representation of what your document will look like when it is printed. Wet or Press Proofs - Wet or press proofs are the most accurate of all. They are printed using the same process that will be used to produce your final document and can be printed onto the paper you have specified. If your document is being printed by conventional lithography, a wet proof can be expensive as it takes a good deal of time and effort to set up a printing press just to produce a single proof. However, if your document is being printed using a digital process, most print contractors will provide a wet proof relatively cheaply (or even free of charge!). When you receive your proof, make sure you check it! It might sound like an obvious thing to say but I ve had customers who have failed to notice that they ve spelled their own name incorrectly. Even better, get someone with a fresh pair of eyes to check the proof. If you notice any errors, compare the proof with the artwork you supplied. If the problem is due to an error with your artwork, your print contractor may make a small charge to cover the cost of making the corrections or handling your revised artwork. Always ask for another proof to ensure any corrections have been carried out successfully. Proofing can often seem like a pointless and time consuming process. After all, the vast majority of proofs are approved without any amends. However, when things do go wrong, you ll be glad you spotted the problem before it hit the press

17 Proofing marks 29 30

18 Terminolgy Accordion fold: Bindery term, two or more parallel folds which open like an accordion. Alteration: Change in copy of specifications after production has begun. Back up: Printing the second side of a sheet already printed on one side. Basis weight: Weight in pounds of a ream of paper cut to the basic size for its grade. Bind: To fasten sheets or signatures with wire, thread, glue or by other means. Bindery: The finishing department of a print shop or firm specializing in finishing printed products. Bleed: Printing that goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming. Blind embossing: An image pressed into a sheet without ink or foil. Bond paper: Strong durable paper grade used for letterheads and business forms. Butt: Joining images without overlapping. Carbonless: Pressure sensitive writing paper that does not use carbon. Camera-ready copy: Print ready mechanical art. Cast coated: Coated paper with a high gloss reflective finish. Coated paper: A clay coated printing paper with a smooth finish. Collate: A finishing term for gathering paper in a precise order. Color separations: The process of preparing artwork, photographs, transparencies, or computer generated art for printing by separating into the four primary printing colors. Comb bind: To plastic comb bind by inserting the comb into punched holes. Contrast: The tonal change in color from light to dark. Copy: All furnished material or disc used in the production of a printed product. Crash number: Numbering paper by pressing an image on the first sheet which is transferred to all parts of the printed set. Crimping: Puncture marks holding business forms together. Crop: To cut off parts of a picture or image. Crop marks: Printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet. Cyan: One of four standard process colors. The blue color. Die: Metal rule or imaged block used to cut or place an image on paper in the finishing process. Die cutting: Curing images in or out of paper. Dummy: A rough layout of a printed piece showing position and finished size. Duotone: A halftone picture made up of two printed colors. Emboss: Pressing an image into paper so that it will create a raised relief. Flood: To cover a printed page with ink, varnish, or plastic coating. Foil: A metallic or pigmented coating on plastic sheets or rolls used in foil stamping and foil embossing. Foil emboss: Foil stamping and embossing an image on paper with a die. Foil stamping: Using a die to place a metallic or pigmented image on paper. 4-color-process: The process of combining four basic colors to create a printed color picture or colors composed from the basic four colors. Gang: Getting the most out of a printing press by using the maximum sheet size to print multiple images or jobs on the same sheet. A way to save money. Ghosting: A faint printed image that appears on a printed sheet where it was not intended. More often than not this problem is a function of graphical design. It is hard to tell when or where ghosting will occur. Sometimes you can see the problem developing immediately after printing the sheet, other times the problem occurs while drying. However the problem occurs it is costly to fix, if it can be fixed. Occasionally it can be eliminated by changing the color sequence, the inks, the paper, changing to a press with a drier, printing the problem area in a separate pass through the press or changing the racking (reducing the number of sheets on the drying racks). Since it is a function of graphical design, the client pays for the increased cost. Grippers: The metal fingers on a printing press that hold the paper as it passes through the press. Hairline: A very thin line or gap about the width of a hair or 1/100 inch. Halftone: Converting a continuous tone to dots for printing. Hard copy: The output of a computer printer, or typed text sent for typesetting. Image area: Portion of paper on which ink can appear. Impression: Putting an image on paper. Indicia: Postal information placed on a printed product. Ink fountain: The reservoir on a printing press that holds the ink. Knock out: To mask out an image. Laid finish: Simulating the surface of handmade paper. Laminate: To cover with film, to bond or glue one surface to another. Line copy: High contrast copy not requiring a halftone. Lines per inch: The number of rows of dots per inch in a halftone. Magenta: Process red, one of the basic colors in process color. Makeready: All the activities required to prepare a press for printing. Matchprint: Trade name for 3M integral color proof. Matte finish: Dull paper or ink finish. Moiré: Occurs when screen angles are wrong causing odd patterns in photographs. Negative: The image on film that makes the white areas of originals black and black areas white. Offsetting: Using an intermediate surface used to transfer ink. Also, an unpleasant happening when the images of freshly printed sheets transfer images to each other. Offset paper: Term for uncoated book paper. Opacity: The amount of show-through on a printed sheet. The more opacity or the thicker the paper the less show-through. (The thicker/ heavier the paper the higher the cost.) Outline halftone: Removing the background of a picture or silhouetting an image in a picture. Overrun or overs: Copies printed in excess of the specified quantity. (Printing trade terms allow for % to represent a completed order.) Page count: Total number of pages in a book including blanks. Perfect bind: A type of binding that glues the edge of sheets to a cover like a telephone book, Microsoft software manual, or Country Living Magazine. PMS: The abbreviated name of the Pantone Color Matching System. PostScript: The computer language most recognized by printing devices. Process blue: The blue or cyan color in process printing. Process colors: Cyan (blue), magenta (process red), yellow (process yellow), black (process black). Ream: Five hundred sheets of paper. Register: To position print in the proper position in relation to the edge of the sheet and to other printing on the same sheet. Register marks: Cross-hair lines or marks on film, plates, and paper that guide strippers, platemakers, pressmen, and bindery personnel in processing a print order from start to finish. Reverse: The opposite of what you see. Printing the background of an image. For example; type your name on a piece of paper. The reverse of this would be a black piece of paper with a white name. Saddle stitch: Binding a booklet or magazine with staples in the seam where it folds. Scanner: Device used to make color separations, halftones, duo tones and tri tones. Also a device used to scan art, pictures or drawings in desktop publishing. Score: A crease put on paper to help it fold better. Screen angles: Frequently a desktop publishers nightmare. The angles at which halftone, duo tones, tri tones, and color separation printing films are placed to make them look right. Self-cover: Using the same paper as the text for the cover. Side guide: The mechanical register unit on a printing press that positions a sheet from the side. Side stitch: Binding by stapling along one side of a sheet. Signature: A sheet of printed pages which when folded become a part of a book or publication. Skid: A pallet used for a pile of cut sheets. Specifications: A precise description of a print order. Spine: The binding edge of a book or publication. Spot varnish: Varnish used to highlight a specific part of the printed sheet. Stamping: Term for foil stamping. Stat: Term for inexpensive print of line copy or halftone. Step-and-repeat: A procedure for placing the same image on plates in multiple places. Stock: The material to be printed. Stripping: The positioning of film on a flat prior to platemaking. Text paper: Grades of uncoated paper with textured surfaces. Tints: A shade of a single color or combined colors. Transparency: A positive photographic slide on film allowing light to pass through. Trapping: The ability to print one ink over the other. Trim marks: Similar to crop or register marks. These marks show where to trim the printed sheet. Trim size: The final size of one printed image after the last trim is made. Under-run: Production of fewer copies than ordered. See over run. Up: Printing two or three up means printing multiple copies of the same image on the same sheet. UV coating: Liquid laminate bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. Environmentally friendly. Varnish: A clear liquid applied to printed surfaces for looks and protection. (UV coating looks better.) Wash-up: Removing printing ink from a press, washing the rollers and blanket. Certain ink colors require multiple wash-ups to avoid ink and chemical contamination. Waste: A term for planned spoilage. Watermark: A distinctive design created in paper at the time of manufacture that can be easily seen by holding the paper up to a light. Web press: The name of a type of presses that print from rolls of paper. Wire O: A bindery trade name for mechanical binding using double loops of wire through a hole. Wire-O binding: A method of wire binding books along the binding edge that will allow the book to lay flat using double loops. See Wire O. Work and tumble: Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from the gripper to the tail to print the second side using the same side guide and plate for the second side. Work and turn: Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from left to right using the same side guides and plate for the second side. Wove paper: A paper having a uniform unlined surface with a smooth finish