Ink, Paper and Press Runs

Before you can actually go to press, you have to determine how your job will be printed. Depending on what it is that you need printed, you will need to make a few decisions that will help your printer cost out your job accurately. These are common questions you can expect to hear, “How many do you want to print?”, “1 color, 2 colors or full color?”, What kind of paper do you want to use?” There are so many factors in the printing process that can alter the price dramatically. It is important to know all the specifications of your project so you have an understanding of how your finished piece will look and know exactly how much it will cost once it’s done.

INK
There are two different types of commercial printing. These are called “Spot” color or “Process” color. Spot color is generally used for 1,2 or even 3 color printing. A specific color ink is mixed at the press and a plate is made for each color used. If it is a 2 color job, let’s say black and blue ink, you would need 2 plates. Anything printed in black ink goes on one plate and anything printed in blue ink would go on a separate plate. This tells the printing press what color to use and where on your paper. There are colors used in the industry that are standard. Common standard colors are red, reflex blue, green, burgundy and of course black. Ink colors that are extremely specific are called PMS colors. This stands for Pantone Matching System. This is used when a color needs to be matched exactly to something else, usually like a company logo and is also usually more expensive than a standard color ink. Factors that tend to drive the price up, printing this way, would be if the colors touch each other or if they run off the edge of the page. If they touch each other, it could end up costing you more for metal plates depending on the printer and the presses available. If they run off the edge of the page, called a “bleed”, it could end up costing you more for paper and trimming. Printing involving bleeds need to be run on over-sized paper and then cut down to the finished size cutting off the excess area where the ink needed to be printed for a bleed. Spot color printing is generally used for letterheads, envelopes, forms and general business stationary. It can be printed on a white bond paper or a more expensive professional textured paper. A printing company can help you decide what is the best way to go for your job by asking the right questions. Together, you may decide that the best way for you to go is full color printing, also called four color process. At one time, full color printing was not common and quite costly. Over the past few years, it has become extremely mainstream and available to everyone at affordable prices. Full color printing gives you the ability to use a multitude of colors. It allows you to use photos containing vibrant colors, shadows, 3d effects, screens and really just about anything a photographer or artist can capture. Full color printing is popular for magazines, ads, postcards, flyers, brochures and business cards. Here is how full color works: it uses four plates, a Cyan (blue) plate, a Magenta (pink) plate, a Yellow plate and a Black plate, commonly called CMYK. The mixture of these four colors is what forms the various colors and shades in photos. This allows you the flexibility to create artwork using any color you desire at no extra charge. Almost always, the price you are quoted will automatically include a bleed and of course colors that touch each other.

PAPER
Along with ink colors, paper is another important factor that needs to be discussed with your printer. Depending on your budget and desired finished product, you may choose an inexpensive paper such as a 20lb bond or opt for a nicer stock such as the linens or laids. This is fine for short runs using 1 or 2 color inks. You have the freedom of choosing your ink colors and specific paper choice at a reasonable price. Common for letterheads, envelopes, newsletters and forms.
If you are printing a full color product such as a brochure, it is more likely you would want to stick to the standard glossy stock. The reason full color brochures, postcards and business cards have come down so much in price is because these job are generally run with other jobs on large presses which are called “gang runs”. They are printed on a large standard gloss paper together and then cut down and boxed separately. If you require your job on a different kind of paper other than the standard, you will end up paying for a separate run and covering the cost of the press run by yourself. It can be done but when most people see the price of a separate run, they tend to agree to use the standard paper. When choosing the right paper for your project, ask to see samples from your printer and this will really help you decide which one is the best for your needs and also give you a good idea of what to expect when the job is finished being printed.

PRESS RUNS
A quick explanation of press runs. There are two general concepts I’d like to explain.
1. “Price Breaks”: A price break is a quantity where you get the best deal for your money. For example, price breaks usually start at a quantity of 1000 and then go to 2500, 5000, 10,000 and up. The largest cost of putting a job on a press is the setup. It costs the same amount to setup a job for 500 as it does for 1000. The only difference you would incur for the 1000 is the extra 500 sheets of paper which is usually a small amount compared to the setup and the ink. This why it wouldn’t pay to order 500 when for a few more dollars, have twice the amount of your printed product. Now if you just don’t need the extra 500, you can save yourself a few dollars, otherwise it is just a better deal to order the 1000.
2. In printing, the more you print, the cheaper it is. What this actually means is the more you print, the cheaper each unit is. If you print 1000 sheets and divide the price, let’s just say $40 by the 1000 sheets, you would actually be paying .04 cents per sheet. 4 cents x 1000 = $40. Now if asked for a quote for 2500, you may get a price of $75. Take the price of $75 and divide that by the quantity of 2500 and you would see that you are paying .03 cents per sheet. You may end up paying more money but you are getting a better value for your money. If there were no “price breaks” you would actually pay .04 cents x 2500 = $100. So 2500 at .03 cents each is not only a price break, but is a better value for your money and hence cheaper for a larger quantity.

Be sure to find the right printing company or printing broker who can help you with ink colors, different paper choices and print runs to best suit your needs and get you the best bang for yor buck.

Creating Your Masterpiece

So where do we start? Let’s say we need a brochure created. We need art programs to accomplish this. Yes, of course it can be done in a program like Microsoft Word or Publisher, but these are not standard programs in the industry that presses understand. In order to make these files press ready, they normally would need to be turned into .pdf’s. To do this, you can use adobe acrobat or even download a free .pdf driver. A .pdf driver, once downloaded into your computer, adds an option of changing printers in your print dialog box. When you click on print from any program or link, you can change the option from using your usual printer to the downloaded driver to print it to a file rather than to your paper. I have found Primo PDF (primopdf.com) to be a free and reliable driver for this purpose. If you do choose to design your own artwork using this method, you will save money in design cost but you will probably run into issues with bleeds, resolution and uneven gutters. If you have a knowledgeable printer, they will be able to warn you of these issues before printing your job. It’s usually best to spend the money having a professional design your piece to be printed to avoid these types of problems, wasting both money and time. If you do consult with a graphic designer, you will often need to provide them with the information about what is being designed, any logos or pictures that will be implemented and any input you’d like to offer about what you’d expect to see such as finished size, colors or order of importance. Agree on a price before the artist begins work to avoid confusion or unexpected surprises. Also, a word of caution, if you do pay for artwork to be created, ask for a copy of the files on disk. You paid for it, you are the rightful owner. Too often I hear, “I don’t have the original artwork, the creator went out of business.” You wouldn’t want to pay twice for something you could have easily gotten a copy of.
OK, let’s get back on track. The most popular programs used in the industry today are Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark, Corel Draw and Indesign. Most designers are fluent in some or all of these programs. Quark and Indesign are great for page layout. They offer more options and flexibility than Word and Publisher and the presses speak the language. Type and pictures are brought into these programs strategically placed to capture the interest of the reader and make sense of what is being created. Typography, the use of fonts and character diversity, to express your artwork can be learned but is often innate in the designer. The perfect blend of style, size, boldness and placement can make any printed piece a work of art and really drive your point across dramtically. Pictures must be high resolution, usually 300 dpi or higher, to print with a degree of crispness. These pictures can be taken with a camara or found or bought on the internet and are often touched up in Illustrator or Photoshop.
Finally, your perfect little piece is now created. The next step would be to send the client a proof of what it will look like before actually printing it. This step is very important on the part of the customer. Designers can often catch typos using spell check and proof reading their work, but it is not uncommon for a few to slip by. Such items as phone numbers, addresses or names can often get past a spell check and if not proofed carefully by the customer, can be disasterous. Unlike web design which can be fixed at any time, printing is more permanent. When a mistake is made on one, it’s made on all and that could be thousands of pieces. It does happen and its quite costly. A wrong comma can be forgiven but a wrong phone number cannot. Since most people do not have these programs, they must either proof a printed sample or a .pdf can be made and emailed. Just to clear up a term that I hear so often: “I have adobe”. Adobe is a brand name. Adobe makes a lot of products for all different purposes. It is comparable to saying, “I have GE”. Announcing GE doesn’t tell us whether it is a washer, dryer or refrigerator. So the program that is used to view .pdf proofs is Adobe ACROBAT. Acrobat reader is often put on your computer when you buy it or you can download a reader for free at www.adobe.com. Ok, mistakes were corrected and the proof was signed and approved. Now your artwork is complete and ready to be printed. I hope I have explained the process of how the artwork is created. Please feel free to ask any questions and don’t forget to visit us at www.FloridaDiscountPrinting.com

Opening Day

Good morning. Today is the opening day for Florida Wholesale Printing’s company blog. My name is Debby. I am the owner of Florida Wholesale Printing and have created artwork and sold printing for the past 20 years. I have designed thousands of projects and have stayed current with all the many changes the industry has gone through over the years. I have watched how scanners have come into our world allowing us to digitalize just about anything and how color printing has come down so much in price that most consumers and small businesses can now afford it. It truly has become so user friendly that with a few basic lessons, anyone can create their own printed piece. I have a lot of interesting topics related to the printing industry that I’d like to share with other people who may have questions or curiosities about printing and graphic art requirements associated to the printed format. This blog is intended for the average person with limited knowledge of the topic but all are welcome to comment, correct or add to the discussion. To get started from the very beginning, I will explain the different formats and what will pertain to us on the printing side.