So just a quick post today on what the term Registration means in the world of print.
Registration in its simplest form is the method of correlating overlapping colours on a single image. When printing an image with more than one colour (depending on the method of printing) each colour is placed onto the sheet at separate points. To make sure each of these colours are applied in exactly the right spot we use a method of alignment to keep consistent registration.
If you take a look at a press sheet - you'll notice various markings on them that won't necessarily on your artwork.
You may wonder how we're able to measure alignment from one colour? - Well Registration as well as being a method of checking alignment of colours - is actually what we call the above colour which is actually made up of 100% of each of the colours (CMYK). From this - you'll see any slight movement between any of the printing plates.
So you've been searching for the best quote you can find (naughty naughty, you shouldn't be doing this... read here why!). You've got all these prices in from different printers and wondered why they're so varied...!
... If the title had you wondering, then don't worry - this Blog post is all about a print term called 'creep' or push out or shingling or even feathering.
If you're not sure what creep is then i'll try and explain that first. Imaging you're printing a stitched brochure - a reasonable amount of pages and can be any size. Now this part you can do on your own. Grab a handful of paper (i'd say over 20 sheets so it's exaggerated), now just bend them in half like you're about to fold them... do you see the movement of the middle pages..? They all start to extend past the first piece of paper to the thickness of all the sheets you have.. That's creep.
Now imagine you have artwork on all those sheets that have been set up with the same guides as the first sheet! You'll end up having parts of the artwork chopped off. This doesn't really happen until you're at least 48 pages in on around 100gsm paper. There are various ways to prepare for creep - printers can have automated processes involved in their prepress to crop for the page creep or you can adjust the pages yourself. It's always best for this to be accounted for at the design stage so that everything is within your control. If you're creating a brochure and you're not sure about creep - then always ask for a paper dummy from your printer - this will be an exact reproduction of your final brochure and you'll be able to account for the amount of creep needed per page.
it's not just ink on paper... that certainly got your attention didn't it?
Well it should. I wanted to talk today about the huge separation that exists these days around print. You'll notice I use the generic term 'print' there, I could say Business Card or Brochure but lets face it - there's no real difference - it's all print right? WRONG!
If we're going to start bringing value back into our printed material and inevitably our businesses we need to realise that the items we're procuring are not just ink on paper. You're not just buying the cheapest and quickest piece of paper that you can get your hands on purely because it's the cheapest... are you?
Think about it the other way round - if money wasn't an issue and you had to choose the same final result... would you still have the same cheapest item produced - or would you look closely at the quality, at the production method and the way your message (the ink) gets placed onto that fine material you've chosen (the paper)...
Let me put it this way, when you have a business card produced - you're not just creating a bit of card that you think everyone in business needs to have. You're creating a contact, an avenue of communication, an image for yourself and your business in the absence of your real self - should this really be the cheapest item you can get your hands on - or something that will represent you and your business the way it should be, with quality.
We place that same onus on each item you need printing. Nowadays there are so many various presses out there that can in the simplest sense - lay ink on paper, that the majority of businesses are becoming blinded by price and ignoring quality. Something that, as a lot of people in the print industry will know, has led many companies to have to close its doors.
When you can sit down and positively, hand on heart shout - "I know I'm buying more than just print" - you'll be unstoppable. You're not buying a business card - you're buying communication... You're not buying letterheads - you're buying a relationship... You're not buying a brochure - you're offering an insight into your company...
I can safely say we're not just ink on paper, we have a passion for quality
So you've probably come across the term, GSM before. If you're ordering print of any kind. Whether that's business cards, brochures, posters or flyers you'll have already used the term, maybe without knowing it!
GSM means Grams per Square Metre. Basically it's the measurement of the weight of paper. This means we can be a little more precise when we speak in terms of thick, thin or firm, flimsy!
It also allows us to mark against your item a specific measurement of what your item is printed on. Allowing for easier reprints exactly as we did them previously.
So if you're new to this term - how can we make it a little more relative... well have a look below at the normal items and their standard paper weights.
Paper Weights explained
• 400gsm - This is the weight of a premium business card. Not to be confused with some online printers that provide only around 280gsm card.
• 350gsm - A standard for Bar or Club Flyers. Needed for standing up to a night out.
• 180gsm - 250gsm - Imagine a Magazine Cover with this weight of paper.
• 130gsm - 170gsm - The majority of posters are printed using this paper.
• 90gsm - Majority of magazine text pages are using this.
• 35gsm - 55gsm - Newspaper paper weight
Hopefully that will give you some idea as to paper weights and what these numbers mean the next time you see them on your screen or in a print spec.
Remember we're always here to help you if you do have a query regarding paper stock. So just give us a call or drop us an email.
You may be surprised to find out that when any photos or pictures are printed they're printed out of 4 inks. CMYK.
C for Cyan M for Magenta Y for Yellow K for Key or Black
CMYK is the standard print terms for professional print, most of the time it's referred to just as four colour process.By overlaying each of these colours you can create a wide range of colours
If you really want to get into the science of it, feel free to click here.
Trimming is the process of cutting a document down to its finished size. Commerical printing presses cannot print to the very edge of a sheet of paper so in order to achieve this effect, your design is usually printed onto a larger piece of paper. The excess unprinted border is trimmed off after printing using a guillotine.
If you are creating artwork for print, you will need to add an area of bleed to your design which is the part that's trimmed. If you're not sure what bleed is, take a look at our article 'What is Bleed?' for more information.
I want each of you now to reach into your back pocket - or your bag and pull out your business card.
Take a look at it as if you were handed this at an event by someone else. What are your immediate thoughts? What does it say about you, not just in the text - but in the design and the quality?
If you're not sure - follow this step by step thought process.
• Whats the paper it's printed on like? is it thick - does it feel premium, or does it feel a little flimsy and cheap? is it protected with a laminate?
• Whats the print like? Are the colours sharp and crisp? or is the line up of colours (registration) off? Has it been printed off on a home printer?
• Now what does it say? Has it got your attention or it a little hard to read?
• What about the design - does it look personal to the company or is it a generic template? Does it look professionally designed?
• Now how about the size, is it within the standard (85mm x 55mm) or is it slim and long or too big to fit into anyones business card holders?
• This one often gets over looked - are the details all professional? i.e. The address isn't a PO Box, there's no sign of a gmail or hotmail address anywhere? It's so easy nowadays to set up a domain and email address that no-one should be using these for business anymore.
All these items may seem a little bit detailed and over the top - but I guarantee you, you'll make these observations in seconds when looking at someones card AND you'll make judgements about their business.
The same can be said for yours. The next time you hand yours out to a potential client - they will be judging your business based on this. This is (most of the time) the first & lasting piece of business marketing that stays with a client when you've gone home - YOU NEED to make it stick.
Last month we talked about the Pantone System, a standardised colour reproduction system used by almost every printer to help create specific colours. When you think of large brands, brands that incorporate colour into their identity - it's more than likely they'll use a specific set of number to represent those colours. Take for example Ladbrokes - they have a specific ink mixed for their Red, this means - wherever they choose to get their items printed, the Ladbrokes brand is the same. There are still a few limitations with digital print - but even this is becoming rare with the advancement in colour matching systems.
So you can see the power of having a 'brand colour' attached to your business. It can also help with costs. Lets say you have a Green in your logo. Without a Pantone colour for this Green - everytime you get this printed - the printer is recreating this from the 4 colours (CMYK) by using a pantone colour you've reduced this to 1 colour. So again you can see the benefit in using a Pantone colour in your branding - of course it can work the other way also - if you're printing an item with a photograph in or something with extra colours, having a Pantone colour in there would mean adding another ink and bringing the inks to 5 (CMYK+Pantone). So it really depends on what you're print requirements are and what you're having printed.
I hope this has been of interest, if you're thinking of replacing a colour in your brand with a Pantone and would like some help - I'll be more than happy to talk through any queries you have to help make this as easy as possible. Just send me an email. richard@bluestarprintsolutions.co.uk or give me a call on 0844 272 9109.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could feel your print as well as see it. Well with advances in digital printing - it's now possible for that exact thing.
Lets say you were printing a picture of an Orange, there'd be no reason why you couldn't incorporate the texture of an orange peel into your artwork so you can stimulate the sense of touch as well as sight with your next marketing piece.. or lets say your business is reptiles.. there's nothing stopping you adding the scaly skin from a reptile onto a picture to really make them come to life. The possibilites can only be limited by your imagination. Together with Digital personalisation the possibilities that your next direct mail campaign could really jump out to your customers could be too big to ignore.
If you'd like more information on texture printing just drop us an Email or call us with your questions or items that you're thinking of and we'll help you along the whole process.
richard@bluestarprintsolutions.co.uk or 0844 272 9109.
Some great new Roller Banners we've just produced for a customer of ours - these are 800 x 2000mm 210gsm Polyester Hybrid UV Cure printed, 90% stop-light. Great for mobile applications or more permanent applications - these are for craft shows.
Roller Banners are a great way to exhibit your business or goods They're also extremely portable as the majority of roller banners these days come with bags as well.
If you're in need of a quick video on how to put one up or take one down - check out below.
It's nice once and a while to get a completely bespoke piece of print.
This book was created as a leaving gift for someone. Working with Spinnaker Direct we produced a 32pp Hardback Leaving book with pictures and notes from colleagues and friends.
The book was also needed in a very sharp turnaround - so within 3 days we had the item printed and down to Hove ready for presentation.
The Pantone Matching System is a standardised colour reproduction system. By Standardising the colours, different ink manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone System to make sure the colours match without direct contact with one another. One such use is standardising colours in the CMYK process. The CMYK process is a method of printing color by using four inks - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black). A majority of the world's printed material is produced using the CMYK process, and there is a special subset of Pantone colours that can be reproduced using CMYK.
Those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labelled as such within the company's guides.
However, most of the Pantone system's 1,114 Spot Colours cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments (15 including white and black) mixed in specified amounts.
The Pantone system also allows for many 'special' colours to be produced such as metallics and fluorescents. While most of the Pantone system colours are beyond the printed CMYK gamut, it was only in 2001 that Pantone began providing translations of their existing system with screen-based colours. (Screen-based colours use the RGB—red, green, blue—system to create various colours.)
Pantone colours are described by their allocated number (typically referred to as, for example, 'PMS 130'). PMS colors are almost always used in branding and have even found their way into government legislation (to describe the colors of flags).
"The single most effective tool you can use to build PROPER Relationships with your customers."
Nigel Botterill
If you currently send out email marketing or similar. Is there anything stopping you having a hard copy of what you send and posting that out as well? You could use the e-marketing to supplement the printed edition and provide even more information to your customers! We're making it easier for you to get your hands on some newsletters and are currently working out packages that not only include the content writing, layout/design & print, but the mailing of your newsletters too! That means all you have to do is sit back and carry on with what you're good at - Running Your Business. If you're interested in this opportunity - [3]click here to register your interest. We'll send you over the package details as soon as we've finished them.
This is the most common area of artwork that is missed when supplying files.
So we'll take a quick look at what it is and why you need to add it to your artwork.
If you're creating a flyer for instance and you have a background colour that you want filling the complete flyer - this colour needs to 'bleed' off the edge so when trimmed, there is no white space.
Take a look at our small image above to see what we mean - this image applies to the majority of files you may supply.
For more information on artwork and relevant settings and tips - view our artwork page on our website here.
