Printing terminology - Its not black & white

Free Design Software

 

We recommend using serif page plus to design your own artwork it comes with its own design templates also free to download. We also recommend open office for simpler design work and book/booklet writing. If you would prefer a better software we highly recommend InDesign by Adobe this is however not a free program.

 

Prepress

 

Is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing. The prepress procedure includes the manufacture of a printing plate, image carrier or form, ready for mounting on a printing press, as well as the adjustment of images and texts or the creation of a high-quality print file. In today's prepress shop, the form of delivery from the customer is usually electronic, either a PDF or application files created from such programs as Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress.

 

Bleed

 

Is the portion of the product that will be trimmed off when it is cut to the final size. it is normally a continuation of the colour or image that remains on the trim edge. It is important to include this on every print job so that we can insure your finished product comes out perfect! Bleed of 2mm must be allowed on all trimmed edges of the artwork. e.g.

 

A2 - 424mm x 598mm including 2mm bleeds (finished size: 420mm x 594mm)

A3 - 301mm x 424mm including 2mm bleeds (finished size: 297mm x 420mm)

A4 - 214mm x 301mm including 2mm bleeds (finished size: 210mm x 297mm)

A5- 152mm x 214mm including 2mm bleeds (finished size: 148mm x 210mm)

A6 - 109mm x 152mm including 2mm bleeds (finished size: 105mm x 148mm)

DL - 103mm x 214mm including 2mm bleeds (finished size: 99mm x 210mm)

BC - 089mm x 059mm including 2mm bleeds (finished size: 85mm x 55mm)

 

Margin

 

Is the safety area between the edge of the document and any elements that are not to be trimmed (Text and photos that do not bleed). We require a minimum 5mm margin to contain all text and images which do not bleed off the finished size.

 

CMYK

 

Colour model (process colour, four colour) is a subtractive colour model, used in colour printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some colour printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key black. Though it varies by print house, press operator, press manufacturer and press run, ink is typically applied in the order of the abbreviation. The “K” in CMYK stands for key since in four-colour printing cyan, magenta, and yellow printing plates are carefully keyed or aligned with the key of the black key plate.

The CMYK model works by partially or entirely masking colours on a lighter, usually white, background. The ink reduces the light that would otherwise be reflected. Such a model is called subtractive because inks “subtract” brightness from white. In additive colour models such as RGB , white is the “additive” combination of all primary coloured lights, while black is the absence of light. In the CMYK model, it is the opposite: white is the natural colour of the paper or other background, while black results from a full combination of coloured inks. To save money on ink, and to produce deeper black tones, unsaturated and dark colours are produced by using black ink instead of the combination of cyan, magenta and yellow.

Pantone Colour System

 

Is largely a standardized colour reproduction system. By standardizing the colours, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colours match without direct contact with one another. Pantone colours are described by their allocated number (typically referred to as, for example, 'PMS 130'). PMS colours are almost always used in branding and have even found their way into government legislation (to describe the colours of flags).

Sizes in inches

 

Here is a quick reference table for converting A Series Paper Sizes to mm or inch

A0      1189 x 841 mm        46.8 x 33.1 in
A1      841 x 594 mm         33.1 x 23.4 in
A2      594 x 420 mm         23.4 x 16.5 in
A3      420 x 297 mm         16.5 x 11.7 in
A4      297 x 210 mm         11.7 x 8.3 in
A5      210 x 148 mm         8.3 x 5.8 in
A6      148 x 105 mm         5.8 x 4.1 in
A7      105 x 74 mm           4.1 x. 2.9 in
A8      74 x 52 mm             2.9 x 2.0 in
A9      52 x 37 mm             2.0 x 1.5 in
A10     37 x 26 mm             1.5 x 1.0 in

Images

 

When reviewing images for printing you should view them at approximately 175% size to get a good feel for how they will look when printed. If they look blocky or blurry, that's how they will print too!

When scanning photographs - save them as EPS or TIFF files, this will preserve the colour and clarity of images. GIF formats compress the image and actually discard information, causing colour shifts. Don't use this format. LZW compression and ASCII encoding will cause problems. JPEGs compress the image and again discard information but can be used, we have to uncompress them before sending them into production which can cause colour shifts.