Study Task 04 - Print finishes / book formats

Terminologies:

Colour management

Good colour management ensures the accuracy of colour reproduction between different equipment and processes in print production.

Gamut: 

RGB, CMYK and hexachrome (CMYKOG) 

Gamuts describe how accurately particular systems can reproduce certain colours - RGB can reproduce approx. 70% of colours that the human eye can see (but only on screens)

If you use colour outside the printing gamut then the closest equivalent will be used which may change the overall design. 

Colour profiles:

Pre-defined in relation to specific printing equipment and stock.

Pre-set colour profiles differ in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign as they assume different print requirements for each package. 

Coated/Un-coated:

Paper coating provides a certain surface quality but can affect how ink is absorbed - how sharp the image will appear. 

Process Colour:

CMYK - in offset lithography colours are applies using the CMYK gamut applied using half-tone dots.

Spot Colours:

Spot colours must be defined in a colour to be printed lies outside the working gamut system.

Spot colours must be defined within the image file (swatches) and in any conversations with the printer.

Spot colours can be defined using the Pantone colour system as a reference - the Pantone codes will not look the same on screen as they do in print so use printed reference. 

Printing and alignment

Black or 'registration' black 

In offset lithography, black is one plate in the printing process (the K of CMYK)

Registration black is achieved by printing on all four plates, so will cost more. 

Lithography:

This printing process uses plates (one for each colour) and ink is applied on the basis that oil and water repel each other. The ink from the plates is 'offset' onto a rubber printing surface before being applied to the paper.

- High-end publications that require attention to detail

Web:

Ultra-high volume printing often onto huge rolls of paper. Often uses flexography (relief) or rotogravure (intaglio- ink is inset into an engraving). 

- for newspaper printing most commonly

Bleed:

'Full Bleed' images must be printed beyond the margin limits to ensure that white edges don't appear after trimming

Crop Marks:

Crop marks communicate the trim regions. 

Tipped-in page:

A page that is printed separately but bound along with the other pages. Tip-ins can use different formats or different stock to the rest of the pages. 

Tip-on: 

Added content glued to a page or cover

Finishes and specialist techniques

Duplexing:

Bonding two different stocks together to act as one page with different textures or colours on each side

Foil Blocking:

Coloured foil is pressed into the stock using a foil stamp

Embossing/Debossing:

Embossed refers to a raised surface and debossing refers to an indented surface.

Die-cutting:

A design is cut out of the surface using a metal die.

Laminate:

A plastic coating heat-sealed onto a stock to provide a crisp finish and a liquid resistant surface. 

Varnish:

A colourless coating which can be applied similarly to spot colours. Varnish layers are often identified to the printer on a separate file using black to identify the varnish.

Standard book formats
The task was to cut out the 19 pieces of paper into the sizes of these standard book formats so that we would be left with a physical collection of the measurements to use as a reference when designing the books. Although it is ok to go against the standard book formats, it is useful to follow them because it means that the printing considerations have already been made and have been confirmed that the printing of this particular size will work ok.