Print Design TipsTips and Information About Printing

If you are a beginner at graphic design or print design, then there are a few things that you can do in order to get off to a great start. First of all, you should be familiar with the bleeding technique. A bleed is when objects that are printed overlap the border of the document. Once the document is printed, it will have to be cropped so that it can fit onto the paper. It is recommended that you use a 3mm bleed on all four sides.

Next, it is important that you know what the minimum resolution is in order to produce professional images. The short answer to this question is in between 300 to 600 dpi. Whenever you print an image that is at a lower resolution than the original image, it is going to come out at a lower quality, but nobody will be able to tell if this is done correctly.

Another thing that you can do in order to improve your print design is to use a grid. It can help you stick with proportions and provide some helpful composition guidelines. While the three column set up is the most commonly used grid, feel free to experiment. Many people appreciate the different combinations they can achieve with a 7 column grid for example.

Finally, you will want to maintain proper typography. The font that you choose for each piece is a matter that should be carefully thought out instead of being picked at random. It is recommended that you choose 5 or so fonts that you think will be good for each piece, and see what it looks like using each of them.

Finally, it is always a good idea to include your web address in your print work. That way, it will be easier for your business to grow by word of mouth.

These basic concepts will be expounded on in future blog entries.

Pantone is a color matching system that was created so that colors can remain consistent no matter what medium is being used to view them. Color is interesting in the fact that it is highly subjective; what one person views as yellow, another may view as orange for example. Now, with the many different types of technologies we have to view colors, it is very important that each of them use the same colors. The Pantone matching system, PMS, is not the only system that exists for maintaining color consistency. It is, however, the most widely used.

A commercial printing company will keep a full supply of Pantone inks in their shops in order to ensure that they always remain consistent in the colors that they use for their printing projects. Take for example, a company that has a logo designed for them in a certain palette of colors. Then, they take this logo to a commercial printer to have some brochures posted. They want the logo on the brochures to match the same colors as the original. Imagine if when they got the completed brochures, that the logo used a completely different palette of colors?

Pantone colors are based on certain recipes that can be created by mixing together certain colors. Some cannot be created by mixing however, and must be purchased. These include colors such as metallics and fluorescent inks. One of the few problems that is involved is when Pantone colors are attempted during a 4 color printing process. This will not create accurate results. The only way that this can be accomplished successfully is to add Pantone as a fifth color which can be quite expensive. The 4 color printing process uses only the colors of magenta, cyan, yellow, and black, which is not enough to create a true Pantone color.

Customer newsletters are one way of keeping yourself connected to your customers and prospects. Good newsletters inform and educate and bring interesting information and opportunities to the reader. Just as there are good newsletters there are bad ones, so take a look at these fast tips to ensure you create the former and not the latter.

Be Relevant, Be Meaningful

We touched on this briefly; to be interesting you need to be relevant and give meaningful information. Readers will follow what you have to say, but to be sure you are not simply sending tomorrow’s trash complement the promotional, sales orientated aspects of the newsletter with practical tips and advice or Q&A’s.

Use Templates

You don’t have to re-invent the wheel and there is no need to have journalistic or editorial experience. There are plenty of newsletter templates already designed and freely available for you to use – save time and energy, not to mention money, and select a template for you to populate with your content.

Write for Your Audience

Address the reader directly – we know you can’t call them by their name, but you can refer to them as “You” or “Your”, avoid using “Their’s” or “Them” because you are talking about someone else and be ruthless with using “I” or “Us” because you are now just talking about yourself. You can also include items which the audience can use such as calendars of trade events or deadlines, coupons and special pricing promotions as well as including your contact information in a handy format.

Use Your Customers

Everyone likes to see their names and faces in print, and your newsletter is no exception. Use your existing customers as case studies in your newsletter so they see how you solved their problems – this is a great testimonial for your business.

Turning a print project around quickly is sometimes an urgent necessity, but whether you are under strict deadline or not, everyone likes to have a job go through the print production process smoothly and without a hitch.

You can help to make the process go faster and without excess hassle by considering these two “fast” tips:

Don’t Submit Print Design Files as PDFs

Adobe Acrobat PDFs should not be used to submit your design files – they are great for making sure the content within is not changed but Adobe will automatically set the control defaults for web presentation and not for printing to paper. This will require your print partner to work around the default settings so true reproduction is achieved when the design files are used to print out the content.

There are a large number of design applications – PhotoShop, Quark, CorelDraw and so on – which are far better for creating and storing your design files. If in doubt, speak with yoru print partner for what is the fastest and best method for your particular print project.

Avoid Taking the Design Close to the Edge of the Paper

If your content runs close to the edge of the paper being used to print it out with, then there is a risk that the ink will not completely covering the full sheet of paper and parts of the content either being poorly printed or missed altogether.

The “bleed” is the space around the edge of the sheet of paper which is used to bound the content you are printing out. Bleeding is the process by which the ink is deliberately run off the edge of the sheet of paper to ensure full coverage of the content. Typically, the bleed is trimmed off the sheets of printed paper so they then conform to the actual paper size required – this means printing with paper which is larger than the finished product.

Offset printing makes use of plates and ink to create an image on paper (though originally, the technique was used to create images on tin in industrial England).  This requires plates to be created which is time consuming and labor intensive; the plates are created by burning and mounting reverse images upon the film, typically now computer driven, and by adjusting the output to balance the color and contrast. For this reason, offset printing is not susceptible to making changes, and especially not in the middle of a print run which makes it imperative that proofs are carefully checked prior to giving approval for the print run to proceed.

Digital printing does not require this heavy labor-input or the cost of creating the plates upfront – everything is software driven, so the first printed piece can be created without incurring great set-up costs.  The catch with digital printing is that offset printing provides greater quality of reproduction and when large print runs are involved, the overall cost drops dramatically because the high set-up costs are spread over a large number of pieces.

The question arises as to when a client should opt for offset printing as opposed to digital printing, so here are a few guiding hints and tips to consider.

Quality

If you are seeking to create a great impression with a glossy marketing brochure, you are going to want the enhanced quality provided by offset printing methods.  Digital printing does deliver high quality reproduction levels and which is catching up with traditional offset methods, but it still lags some way behind them.

Print Run Sizes

The size of print run will determine the economics of the case – print runs of less than a 1,000 will favor using digital printing methods as the high set-up costs are not present, however the variable cost of digital printing is relatively higher than for offset printing.  Larger print runs will cause a financial argument to move towards using offset printing.

The number of repeat print runs you are likely to need will also form part of the financial case.  If you are going to need extra print runs, you should ensure the printer is aware of this so they keep the plates – this will avoid the need for incurring the set-up costs all over again when you place a re-order.

Turnaround Times

If you have a rush job that needs to be done overnight, it is unlikely you will be able to source an offset printer who can manage the job for you.  Digital printing on the other hand, involves setting up the print run using a computer and software – changes can be made on the fly and there is a dramatically reduced turnaround time.  Offset printing is more suitable when you have enough time to provide adequate notice to your printer so proofs can be created and properly checked before the print run takes place.

Summary

There are obviously more issues than these few factors in determining whether you should use an offset printer or opt for digital solutions – quality, time and cost are amongst the most important ones however, and you should discuss your immediate and long-term job requirements with your print partner to assess which is the best method of delivering the material effectively for you.