Design To Print - Know Where You're Going From Design Into Print: Preparing Graphics and Text for Professional Printing by Sandee Cohen What are the questions: 1. What kind of project is it? Is it a book, brochure, annual report, single page flyer, etc? This tells you physical properties of project: general size (folds) approximate number of pages (single or double sided, signatures) number of colors kind of paper how pages are held together 2. How much money can I spend? budget for the project 3. When is it due? long, short, immediately flexible or fixed plan due dates for other parts of the project sample schedule: 4. Who's printing it? office inkjet printer, copy shop, small print shop, large commercial press understand advantages and disadvantages of each understand process color and spot color printing before decision Signatures When dealing with multi-page document on printing press (brochure, newsletter, annual report, book) check with print shop about page numbers in case they use signatures. Big paper presses don't print on individual sheets, they print on large sheets or rolls of paper with eight pages on each side resulting in a 16-page signature (when folded and trimmed the result is 16 pages held together at its
folded edge). If signature unit is 16 then pages in project can be 16, 32, 48, 64, 80, etc. If signature unit is 8 then pages in project can be 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, etc. What happens if final project is 67 pages? With 16-page signature units your options are 64 pages (3 pages short) or 80 pages (13 pages over unacceptable by most publishers). How do you fix this problem? add 13 pages of copy and illustrations cut 3 pages of copy (adjust leading, tracking, kerning, paragraph spacing, etc) ask printer to switch to an 8-page signature Printing order (Imposition) When reading a magazine you read from page 1, to 2, to 3 and so on. When you set up your project in your layout program then this is also how your pages are displayed. This is called reader's spreads. Some printed materials are not always printed the same order as you read. A printer may request a certain order if the printing pages on a single sheet of paper in a particular order so they can come out in the correct sequence when cut and folded. This order is known as printer's spread and the final position of the pages, set up in printer's spreads, is called imposition.
Folds Determine the amount of folds that will be used and mock it up. Folding the paper changes the size of the individual pages. Each fold you add adds more pages to the job. Take your mockup to the print shop to make sure it can be printed as such. Tricky folds might not be done by a machine, which means it may have to folded by hand resulting in higher cost. You may have to rearrange folding depending on print shop recommendations. Cost of Copies Determine how many finished pieces of the project that you will need. The number of finished pieces is know as the print run. This will often determine what kind of printing process you should choose. For example 500 copies of a full-color page may cost $1,000 printed at a commercial print shop (about $2 each print). However, 500 copies on a color photocopier might only cost $200 (about 40 ). So the obvious choice for this case may be the copy shop. But now lets say you need 10,000 copies of the same page. The copy shop may bring the cost down to about 30 each for a total cost of $3,000. But at a commercial print shop the copies may only cost $1000. That's because once a job starts to run on a commercial printing press there is very little difference between printing 500 copies or 10,000 copies. In other words, the more copies you print, the less each individual copy will cost. So in this case the commercial print shop is the better deal. For the most part, copy shops are more cost efficient for print runs under 500 copies and commercial print shops are more affordable for anything over 10,000 copies. The jobs in between will depend on the job. Get various estimates to determine your best option. Colors We see the various colors on the page but what we should be asking is how many inks are needed to create those colors. You may look at an ad where you see red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, pink, brown and black but that doesn't mean that the ad was printed using all of those colors. They were printed using four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Those colors are mixed on the page to create all other colors. This is called process printing. There may be a time when you might want to add just a single color such as gold or bright orange in addition to the black ink; this is called spot color printing. Deciding on how many inks for a job may depend on your budget since the more inks, the higher the cost. Graphics Determine what type of graphics you are going to use and where you will be getting those graphics. Make sure if you are using an illustrator or a Photographer that you
work their deadlines into your schedule. The graphics might also determine how many colors you want to use in your project. For example if your are printing photographs of food for a restaurant you may want to use all four colors so that you can make the food look as delicious as possible. Also consider how your graphic looks when printed professionally compared to a desktop printer of photocopier. On the other hand a simple line drawing might reproduce rather well using an ordinary desktop printer. Paper Ask your print shop what your paper options are because only certain types of papers can be used in certain types of printers or copiers. Often times printers have a small variety of papers to choose from but are willing to use your paper if they meet their requirements. You can find various paper types at your local stationary store, office supply shop or specialty paper catalogs. Paper Color Even though most papers are white there are hundreds of different shades of white. Some whites are warm (almost yellowish) some are cool (almost blue or gray). Your print shop should be able to give you samples of different paper colors and weights. Many companies use a plain, dull white paper for ordinary print jobs because it tends to be less expensive. A brighter more expensive white is saved for special output. You may also have a choice of a wide variety of colors to choose from to give more impact to your flyers, invitations and garage sale notices. But keep in mind that most photographs don't look good on colored paper. Most printers start with plain white paper and the white areas of the paper are the paper itself. However there are times when you might print onto a surface (called substrate) that isn't white. This is a silver substrate with color printed on it, therefore, any white in the copy is actually a separate color ink that needs to be specified as a special color added to the document. Paper Coating Papers are either coated or uncoated (how smooth the surface of the paper feels). Uncoated papers are rougher and tend to be more porous (they soak up more ink). Paper used for newspapers and cheap catalogs is uncoated. Coated papers are smooth and range from dull to glossy. They may be coated on only one side or both sides. Coated papers make photographs and illustrations look sharp and crisp because the ink doesn't absorb into the paper. Paper Finishes A paper's finish is the texture of smoothness of the paper. An antique finish has a rough texture where an eggshell or vellum finish is smoother. Specialty finished may simulate the look of fabrics such as tweed or linen. But keep in mind that a textured finish might make your text or illustrations look a little rough because the
ink has to bend up and down around the nooks and crannies of the finish. Paper Weight Paper is graded according to its weight. This is usually expressed in terms of how much 500 sheets of the paper in its standard size weighs. Generally the heavier the paper the more it costs. If you plan on mailing your printed piece then consider the postage you have to pay based on the weight of the paper. Typical bond paper for a laser printer or copy machine is listed as 24-pound; lighter bond paper is 20-pound. Book paper is either coated or uncoated and can weigh between 30 and 110 pounds. Book paper can be used for books, magazines, posters, flyers, or any job that doesn't need exceptional quality. Text paper is a term used to describe a high-quality coated or uncoated paper used for better-quality printing. Examples would be annual reports, magazine inserts and premium movie and theatre programs. Common weights of text papers are 70 or 80-pound. Cover stock is a heavier paper that usually matches the colors of certain book papers. Typically used for book covers, business cards, postcards or presentation covers. Typical cover weights are 60, 65, 80 or 100. Other Paper Considerations Consider the following when looking for paper: Strength is how well the paper holds up under stress (paper bags and envelopes). Thickness is how think the paper is. This doesn't mean it has to weigh a lot. Brightness is how light reflects off the paper. Some papers contain fluorescents that make them appear brighter, and can even make it sparkle more which may affect the color of printed images. Opacity refers to how much the text or images printed on the other side of the page show through. If you have text and a lot of illustrations make sure the opacity is not too low or your readers may be distracted by the images and text from the other side of the paper. Recycled Paper comes from at least 30% of used papers. Bindings When you're dealing with a printed project with more than one piece of paper then you need to determine what type of binding you want to use for the job. Binding refers to the technique that holds the pages together. Office Bindings If you are printing on a desktop printer or copier you will most likely use this type of binding since it can be done in your own office or in a local copy shop. Three-ring binding uses three punched holes in the paper and a three-ring binder. Advantage: you can add or delete pages easily. Disadvantages: reminds people of school days and screams amateur.
Plastic comb binding uses a plastic insert with teeth that fit into rectangular holes in the paper. Advantages: inexpensive, kits punch holes and hold teeth open to make it easier to manually add or delete pages. Disadvantages: usually a limit of 2 inches of thickness of a plastic comb (thicker tends to fall apart to easy). Spiral binding uses a metal or plastic spiral that coils through many small holes on the side of the paper. Disadvantages: Once you have bound the pages it's almost impossible to add more pages. Wir-O binding is similar to spiral binding, but instead of a single spiral, two wire teeth fit into rectangular holes in the paper. Advantages: sturdier than spiral binding. Disadvantages: makes it difficult to add pages to the document. Velo binding uses two plastic strips on either side of the document. The strips are held together with a plastic pins and bound together with heat. Disadvantages: cannot be unbound without destroying the strips and pins. Fastback binding uses a cloth or paper strip wrapped around the spine of the pages and then glued in position. Advantages: most professional-appearing binding in office environment. Disadvantages: pages can fall out if the booklet if used a lot. Saddle-stitch binding uses two or more staples inserted right at the fold of the paper. The pages of the document need to be printed on both sides of the paper in the correct position for final binding. Disadvantages: best handled by a professional copy shop or office document center.
Professional Bindings These bindings are typically used by professional print shops. Some print shops will do their own binding and finishing but others may send the printed job to a separate company that binds and finishes it. Many of the office bindings can be done at the professional print shop as well. Side-stitch binding combines all the signatures and the cover and stitches them together with staples on the outside of the book cover. Perfect binding gathers all the signatures together. The spine is then ground to create a flat edge, and a paper cover is glued around the spine. Most magazines are bound this way. Case binding sews the individual signatures together and glues them to a gauze strip, then affixes end papers with glue and attaches them onto hard covers. This is the most common form of binding for hardcover books. Sewn-and-glued bindings sews the signatures together and then glues them to a cover as in perfect binding. Lay-flat binding gathers all the signatures together and grinds the spine as in perfect binding. The cover is then glued to the book at each side of the spine, which allows the pages of the book to lay flat when opened. Disadvantages: pages tend to fall out if the spine of the book is opened too far.