printing An designer s guide to newsprint printing

7 Toptips printing An designer s guide to newsprint printing

The Meeting Place of Intelligent Business Introduction Our aim in producing this guide is to help you modify your files to meet our paper and printing requirements, so you can receive the best print result possible. Aside from our NBR Photoshop Actions which are a step by step process you can use, we ve also put together some basic rules which acknowledge that any printing is defined by the paper and ink used to create images and words. The following will help provide a good match between screen and paper. Before we get into the Top 7 NBR Printing Tips though, please make sure your ad meets the following pre-press requirements: Pre-press requirements Colour All graphics used should be either CMYK or Grayscale - RGB images/ads are not acceptable Full colour ads must be CMYK only Spot colour ads must still be supplied as CMYK Image specifications Colour images Image resolution: 300dpi Mono images Image resolution: 300dpi Total ink limit: 240% Please ensure all white logos on coloured backgrounds are NOT set on Overprint Fill which may cause the logo to drop out PDF settings Please distill advertisements with no cropmarks or bleed Advertising material should be cropped to the exact size booked We accept digital files in PDF format only Please note that PDFs should be made by using Adobe Distiller only, NOT exported from programs like Microsoft Word, Publisher, PowerPoint etc. You can obtain a copy of our job options to upload into your Adobe Distiller by emailing our designer/mac operator at ads@nbr.co.nz Fonts We require all fonts to be embedded in PDFs (or alternatively converted to paths) 2

An guide to newsprint printing 7 Toptips printing 1 stock NBR is printed on newsprint Why does this matter? Newsprint is a highly absorbent paper and, because of this, it requires less ink than a glossy, water-repellent stock with higher degrees of ink holdout. To illustrate this, take an eye dropper filled with coffee and place one drop on a newspaper and another on some nice glossy paper. The drop on the newspaper will really expand; the other not as much. Replace the coffee with ink and this expansion of ink in printing is known as dot gain. 2 dot gain Dot gain means darker prints What is this? Dot gain is neither good nor bad, just simply characteristic of newsprint printing process. A high resolution image has 300 dots per inch (dpi) but in newsprint, its absorbent nature means that dot gain occurs beyond this because the ink spreads to surrounding halftone dots. Because of its highly absorbent nature, newsprint has a 26% dot gain ie., if your black ink is set at 3%, it will print out at 29% due to dot gain. This means more ink on the page and darker images. Reducing your ink levels via Photoshop, Indesign or Illustrator will help combat dark print results. 3 ink 240% ink rule What is this? Being highly absorbent, newsprint stock can only handle up to 240% of any combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks. Any more than this and your artwork risks bleeding or not drying in the process which can mean delays in your product being printed and ink on opposite pages. Because of these risks, no files over 240% ink can be accepted. 3

7 Toptips printing 4 text Choose text style and size wisely TT Why does this matter? The sharpness (and subsequent legibility) of coloured text and reversed text is affected by: 1. The number of process colours which have been used 2. The percentages of those colours, 3. The point size of the typeface, and 4. The structure of the typeface. To maximise sharpness and legibility: Don t combine multiple inks to create a typeface smaller than 9 points. If using text below 9 points, use one colour only ie. only 100% black or 100% cyan. Multiple layers of ink on a small text size reduce legibility significantly. If using a reverse typeface, try to stay above 9 points, or use a medium to bold font. For text on multi-ink backgrounds, try to have one of the colours in the background at 100% to give the text a clean edge. Consider your typeface. If it includes thick and thin elements as well as serifs, the smallest parts of the typeface can be compromised if a combination of colours is used or if it is on a reverse background. Enlarge this typeface so elements of it don t disappear into the inked background or look blurry (see rule 7 registration) with multiple colours. 5 images Sharpen and lighten images Why does this matter? Alter your images to be lighter and brighter to compensate for them printing darker. Sharpen your images and make sure there is good contrast. Use curves in Photoshop to reduce dark areas and lighten the overall image. With faces, check the red and yellow settings, lower these in Photoshop and increase the contrast to reduce over-red or over-yellow faces, understanding that a slightly pink image will print red or a slightly yellow image will print yellow due to dot gain. 4

An guide to newsprint printing Top 7 printing tips 6 colour Keep your colours simple Why does this matter? Simplify your inks. Remember, less is more with ink in newsprint. Less ink will bring up greater luminosity in your colours. Keep in mind what dot gain on newsprint can do to your colours: For example, your red might have a 7% black in it after its conversion to CMYK. This will always cause the red to turn brown when printing. A reliable red is 100% yellow and 90-100% magenta. This rule also applies to photos. All ink colours will be enhanced. Having black in your photos can darken your images substantially. So check there is enough contrast and reduce the black. The ink-reduced version of your image/ ad will print out like the intended original due to our paper stock s absorbent nature. 7 registration Registration rules Why does this matter? A web press printing on newsprint will generally not register dot-to-dot because of paper movement and the stability of the paper. This increases the chance of mis-registration, which has the effect of blurring the image. To reduce this risk, reduce the number of colours requiring registration. A single black image or text will never suffer mis-registration. But a colour made up from two process colours will print more sharply than a similar colour made from three or four process colours. In other words, an object on the page made from Cyan will most likely print sharper than one which is a mix of cyan and magenta and sharper again than one combining cyan, magenta and yellow etc. In summary We understand that these print methods differ from normal standard gloss printing. What you see on screen is not necessarily how it will print because digital screens (RGB) don t show a true representation of CMYK printing. But we believe working within our paper stock restrictions, our tips will lead to the best presentation possible of your ad in NBR. 5

Check list before sending artwork to NBR 1. Have you used our NBR Photoshop Actions to ensure all essential preferences are set before starting to manipulate an image? 2. Have you converted all artwork to cmyk? 3. Is any part of your ad over the 240% ink limit? You can check this by using the eyedropper tool in Photoshop and checking in your Colour tab the cmyk breakdown. Or in Output Preview in Adobe Acrobat, you can set the Total Area Coverage to 240% and view any areas that might be above 240%. 4. Are your images sharp in contrast and colour, light and bright? 5. Is there any text that you think, given the rules about text size and colour, could be compromised? 6. Is your final pdf a high resolution pdf? 7. Is your final pdf the right size? For example, an NBR 10x6 means 10cm high by 26cm wide (the width of six NBR columns). If unsure, please check our newspaper specs. For more information Please contact Michael Hickmott Advertising Co-ordinator Email: Michael@nbr.co.nz, DDI: +64 (0)9 282 4491 6

An guide to newsprint printing Ad sizes & specs 38x6 20x6 10x6 Our newspaper is based on a 6 column grid. Each column width is 40mm, with a gutter of 4.24mm. When booking an ad with us, please specify the measurement you are after ie. 38x6, 20x6 etc. 38cm high x 6 columns wide = 380mm h x 260mm w Full page 20cm high x 6 columns wide = 200mm h x 260mm w Half page 10cm high x 6 columns wide = 100mm h x 260mm w Quarter page horizontal Deadlines Booking and material: 3pm Friday before publication Cancellation deadline: All contracts are non-cancellable 20x3 12x6 20x4 Ad format Please ensure your ad is in CMYK no spot / pantone / RGB will be accepted Please supply high resolution pdfs 240% Ink rule NBR follows a 240% ink limit due to the newsprint stock. Please ensure any colour combinations of CMYK or photos used do not exceed 240% in total. 20cm high x 3 columns wide = 200mm h x 128mm w Quarter page vertical 12cm high x 6 columns wide = 120mm h x 260mm w 26cm high x 4 columns wide = 260mm h x 172mm w Pony NBR Mechanicals Frequency: weekly, Friday, 48 weeks a year Size: tabloid Stock: 70gsm high quality uncoated pages throughout the paper Printing process: Web Offset Paper size: 41cm x 28cm wide Image area: 38cm x 26cm No bleed except through the gutter 28x5 10x2 10x3 28cm high x 5 columns wide = 280mm h x 216mm w 10cm high x 2 columns wide = 100mm h x 84mm w 10cm high x 3 columns wide = 100mm h x 128mm w 7

DESIGNER S THE 240% RULE NOTE To ensure your quality ad matches our quality paper, please see that any COLOURS or IMAGES you use does not exceed a total of 240% in their CMYK breakdown. NBR INK LIMITNBR paper stock 70gsm high quality, uncoated offset Maximum total ink weight accepted 240% CORRECT EXAMPLE C = 0% M = 60% Y = 100% K = 0% TOTAL INK = 160% Under the 240% limit If you use InDesign or Illustrator, please check that none of your swatches is above 240% (see above). If you use an image in your ad, please check in Photoshop using your Info box. The fastest way to do this is to take the Pick tool and select the darkest area (this would use up the most ink). Your Info box will tell you if you are over the limit (see below). Adjusting your colour levels will help reduce it to the correct ink weight. INCORRECT EXAMPLE C = 73% M = 63% Y = 67% K = 92% TOTAL INK = 295% Over the 240% limit

NOTE (at the darkest spot of the image) C = 100% M = 60% Y = 0% k = 70% TOTAL INK = 230% HELPFUL TIP Occasionally, an image under 240% ink total may be overlapped with a colour also under 240% ink total. But combined their ink weight can be over 240% (see below). C = 100% M = 60% Y = 0% k = 40% TOTAL INK = 200% These are potential problem areas that would exceed 240% [230% + 200% = 430%]. If this happens, please reduce either the CMYK image ink weight (reduce the amount of black you have) or the vector CMYK ink weight. Before you go checking or changing your swatches and darkest points in your images, a quick way to check if you are over the 240% limit is through Adobe Acrobat. In Print Production, open Output Preview. Choose Separations in your Preview option. Click on Total Area Coverage below and choose a bright colour that will make problem areas visible. Set your ink limit at 240%. Any problem areas will be highlighted on your ad. NBR INK LIMIT