Print Media Production: Test 2

Lectures 6-8

Turnaround

the whole production process from start to finish

Q

quantity needed - number of finished pieces, ask for 2-3 times higher quality that you think you need

M

If quantity is more than 1000, specify quantity in M

M=1000 5M=5000 10M=10,000

MM

If quantity is more than a million (1,000,000) specify quantity in MM

MM=1,000,000 2MM=2,000,000

Price Break

printing cost per unit decreases with an increase, in quantity; this is where the cost per unit drops significantly

Over/Under

printers generally allow a 10% over/under tolerance for print runs under 10,000; this means that you could get 10% over the quantity you asked for or 10% under the quantity you asked for - bc there is some paper waste when setting up and shutting down the press

Cost Per Unit

the individual cost of an item after a large quant has been printed; the higher the quantity, the lower the per unit cost

production planing

a roadmap or a strategic approach which defines the specifications, plans, parameters, costs, activities, to achieve goal of project 

production planning 7 considerations

Purpose, Audience, Use of Piece, Other Processes, Scheduling, Quantities, Quality

Production planning 7 considerations:

Purpose

• physical form (stationary package, brochure, bound publication, etc)

• determines quantity - generic — more for various uses at multiple times (ex: letterhead)

• - specific — once only usage, exact quantities (ex: invitation)

  • determines audience

Production planning 7 considerations:

Audience

• primary force for Quality - inter-office memo can be different quality than letterhead or business card where customer has contact

• who client is changes quality — upscale broker vs local butcher, Fortune 500 vs 25 person small business

• Internal/client, viewed only by employees — business documents

  • external, viewed by a customer — billing, to marketing/advertising materials

Production planning 7 considerations:

Use of Piece

• Life—short term vs archival - affects paper and ink choices

• Durability - menu vs direct mail piece

• Flexibility - will info change in piece frequently or never

• Short term - used to disseminate information then discarded, such as a poster for an event

• Long term or archival - some archival papers can last more than 1000 years, this can affect paper and ink choices

Production planning 7 considerations:

Other Processes

• Mailing — meet postal regs

• glued

• folded/perforated

• bound

  • specialty effects - die cuts, coatings, embossing

Production planning 7 considerations:

Scheduling

• turnaround - the whole process from start to finish

• schedule backwards from deadline to delivery

• factors you control when scheduling

  • delivery of files on time

  • delivery of files to printer’s specifications

  • check proofs promptly (24hrs)

  • minimize changes

  • paying on time

• Factors the printer controls

  • scheduling job workflow inhouse

  • ordering paper

  • ordering inks if necessary

  • scheduling subcontractors for special needs, binding, etc

• If you are late, expect the printer to be late an equal amount of time

  • quality can be affected when printer is forced to rush

  • rush jobs are usually subject to overtime fees

• scheduling is more difficult when using multiple vendors

  • an all-in-one printer may be slightly more expensive but more flexible in meeting deadlines when problems arise

Production  planning 7 considerations:

Quantities

• consult with client about best quantity

• printing cost per unit decreases with an increase in quantity

  • points where cost per unit drops significantly are called price-breaks

  • usually a good idea to quote quantities 1.5, 2, and 3 times greater than projected amount

• other costs are constant and one-time fees

  • prepress/trapping

  • stripping/film-processing

  • proofing/press checks

  • plate-making

  • wet-up/wash-ups

• for quantities under 1000 a digital press may be more economical

  • digital presses are the same cost per unit at any quanity

• printers allow a 10% over under tolerance for print runs under 1000

  • if an exact quantity is necessary specify it in the bid

• press size can affect quantity/cost relationships

  • a smaller sheet quantity with more pieces per sheet may be more economical

• plant size of printer affects cost/scheduling/quality

Production planning 7 considerations:

Quality

• different printers can deliver different quality printing

• four main divisions of printing quality

  • Basic - standard materials and little quality control, primarily copy shops and quick printers

    • use toner and sometimes inks

    • generally handles a maximum of colors and handles small quantities

    • adequate for line art but contionous tone work loses detail

  • Commercial - standard materials, trained quality control; color work

    • sometimes have higher end digital presses

    • general commercial printing

    • offset sheet and web

    • CMYK and spot capability

  • Premium - high quality materials, refined quality control

    • color matching is very close

    • few flaws

    • 4CP+ capability

  • Showcase - best machines and materials available

    • exact reproduction of artwork

    • generally used for pieces that are works of art

    • prints, museum/archival books, finest/most expensive marketing materials

specking

the process of selling our and submitting a specified proposal for printing work - a printer will us this as a guideline for coming up wit a price for printing services

• generally spec a job with 2-5 printers depending on quantity

• prepare a comprehensive spec sheet organized with all costs including labor broken out

  • this forces printer to price a job based on your needs allowing a better comparison between vendors

  • the printer’s bid is the basis for the printing contract - itemizing all tasks and prices inhibits any add-ons or surprise charges

• include a dummy when possible

Preparing the Spec Sheet

1. description of the job

   1. brochure, letterhead, etc. for company A

2. frequency of printing

   1. once, every 3 months, yearly

3. materials to be furnished

4. quantity

   1. number of finished pieces, ask for 2-3 Q’s to look for price break

   2. specified in hundreds if less than 1000. Q is specified in M’s

5. trim size

   1. # of colors over # of colors with # of bleeds and what sides; specific inks; specify coverage (ex: 1/0, no bleeds, 4CP/1 bleeds all sides, 4CP+2/2, bleeds top and right)

   2. default color of a press is black

6. page count

7. plate changes

8. paper stock

9. inserts

10. binding

11. delivery/shipping

12. storage

13. special effects

InDesign

layout program for multiple page documents; .indd is the suffix to save files

PSD

native Photoshop Document - usually your layered (or unflattened) files before you save to another format; work in this while you make changes, then change appropriate file type for output

LWZ Compressions (Lempel Ziv Welch)

a compressed image is same as original when decompressed

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format - the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Standards Organizations (ISO); RIPs same on only equipment

EPS

Encapsulated Post Script - contains bitmap information for preview image; in PS it is a file type that supports clipping paths, duotone, spot channels

JPEG

Joint Photographic Expert Group - developed for exchanging information via the internet - not suitable for printing

DCS

Desktop Color Separation files - separates data into files for preview images and for each color channel

PDF

Portable Document Format - allows user to view and print independent of program that created it (Adobe Acrobat Reader); Adobe Acrobat Pro will allow users to make minor edits to type and image placement; InDesign you can export several different quality levels; smallest file size - for emailing proofs; high quality print - for a printing comp

Trapping

the process where colors are set to slightly overlap each other so white gaps do not appear around objects; don’t do yourself - printers usually do this

What types of trapping are there?

choke and spread

Choke

technique of slightly reducing the size of an image to create a hairline trap or to outline - traps a surrounding light background to a dark, inner foreground object by expanding the edge of the lighter object so the two colors overlap

Spread

technique of slightly enlarging the size of an image to create a hairline trap or outline - traps a surrounding light foreground object to a surrounding dark background by expanding the edge in the inner so the two colors slightly overlap

surprinting 

colors do not trap, but overlap or print directly over each other -  be careful of black overprints that breaks the colors it overlaps with - can result in a diff tone of the black

proofing

a print made from negative for plates to check for errors and flaws, predict results on press and record how a printing job is intended to appear when finsihed

blueline

prepress photographic proof made from stripped negative where all colors show as blue images on white paper - ‘blueline’ is a generic term for proofs made from a variety of materials having identical purposes and similar appearances

Whiteprint or VELOX

a photographic reproduction of camera-ready art, made using a special photographic paper called velox-velox prints are used to make multiple copies of camera-ready art for distribution to various prints advertising media

integrals

color proof of separations shown on one piece of proofing paper-also called composition proof, laminate proof, plastic proof, and single-sheet proof

overlays (not used anymore)

color proofs consisting of polyester sheets laid on top of each other with image in register, as compared to integral proof-each sheet represents the image to be printed in one color

dot gain

phenomenon of halftone dots printing larger on paper than they are on films or plates, reducing detail and lowering contrast; also called dot growth, dot spread and press gain

problems on press:

Set Off (offsetting)

ink doesn’t dry properly and transfers from top of sheet to back of another

problems on press:

Hickies

dust, dirt on blanket prevents ink from printing creating halos

problems on press:

Show Through

printing from one side interfere with the other due to low opacity

problems on press:

Poor Trapping

incorrect trap, too large/too small, wrong type makes boundary area/overlap very noticeable

problems on press:

Poor Registration

white gaps between colors, or blurriness due to screens misregistered

What is the purpose of mark ups?

To ensure the professional printer fully understands all aspects of the job that you are giving them, you will need to provide them with Mark-ups.

It allows the person handling your print job the opportunity to see the project without having to view it on the computer. It also acts as a safety net as it will reinforce any discrepancy in your digital file.

File Prep checklist

• Name all files, folders and documents in a clear logical manner. Always include file extensions.

• Turn in only the files/documents that are needed to open your file. Any extra files or unnecessary items will be confusing.

• All images must be placed in the file at 100% of actual size to be used. Slightly larger or smaller is ok, but engaging an image too much in will hurt the print quality.

• Include all images, fonts etc. with your file. Check and double check this. Any delay in opening your file could destroy a deadline and can be very costly.

• Include a detailed markup with your disk. This is beneficial to you and the printer. It safeguards against potential problems.

• A full size color comp should always accompany a print job. This ensures that the printer will understand your piece and back up the pages correctly. Never make a printer guess what you want.

• Black and White printouts with mark-ups.

Check Usage of Fonts and Images

Window → Output → Preflight

LINKS AND IMAGES

• Image type should be TIF or EPS

• Image status should be Linked. If image is missing, locate it before collecting your file.

• All images should be in CMYK mode. If your images are RGB, your separations will not print. Change the color mode of the original file. 

FONTS

• All fonts listed should be used in your document. If there is a font listed that you did not use, locate that font and remove if from your file.

COLORS AND INKS

• All colors used in your document are shown in the Colors and link window

Separations Preview

Window → Output → Separations Preview

• You can view all your color separated files before printing. Turn the layers off to view only specific separations.

Swatch and Swatch Options

Window → Colors → Swatches → Swatch Options

• To highlight special effects including die cut and varnish, create a new spot color (CMYK mode) and change the swatch name. This will allow the effect to print as a separate plate.

Print Separations

File → Print

• Marks and Bleeds - In the print window under the Marks and Bleed tab, check All printer’s Marks, this will print crop marks, registration marks, etc.

• Under the Marks and Bleed tab, In Bleed and Slug box

  • uncheck “Use Document Bleed”

  • check include slug area

  • set the bleed margins to .25 on all sides

• Output - In the print window under the output tab

  • Color to Separations

  • Trapping off

  • All plates that are listed will print as separate pages

Short answer: How to create a spot color to show effect?

1. draw shape around object you want a special effect 

2. create new color swatch from this

3. change name to name of effect

4. change to spot color 

5. change to CMYK

6. make it a color that will stand out

7. you know its right when a spot shows in the little grey box next to color 

8. put on separate layer in file

9. should show up in separations window with CMYK colors