Summer 2007: Concepts

THE BASICS OF DESIGNING FOR PRINT
When dealing with a professional print shop for your promotional materials, it is helpful to understand some of the common terms and requirements involved in printing.

PRINTING OPTIONS FOR LARGE VOLUMES
"Digital" printing is rapidly becoming available for larger print runs (in the past, it has been best for small runs or office work). High quality and fast, digital still lags behind standard offset printing when large numbers are involved, often having higher per unit costs, and less volume discounts. Digital presses are basically large, industrial strength models of color laser or inkjet printers you may have used in your office, though new technologies are appearing every day.

"Offset" printing refers to the image being transferred to the paper from contact with an inked plate in a printing press. For years this has been the standard method of printing, and is still preferred over digital for many reasons, primarily speed and cost (for small print runs, digital will be preferred, but for runs in the 10s of thousands, offset is still king).

Offset printed paper or cardboard items (flyers, magazines, posters) are printed using from one to six inks. The simplest (and least expensive) print job is one that uses only black ink (also called grayscale). Inks can be pre-colored in specific shades (such as the Pantone system). These are often called "spot" colors. Full color images are printed in four color process.

THE FULL 4 COLOR CMYK PROCESS
The print job is printed using four (4) special inks (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), also known as CMYK process. By combining these four colors, nearly every visible color can be achieved (though not all - see color Gamut below). Recently, an updated six color system has been gaining popularity, using two additional colors (orange, green) to increase the range of possible colors. Still, the great majority of print is still done on standard 4 color presses.

SPOT COLORS
When the inks are pre-mixed to be a specific color (much like paint), then the range of possible colors is extremely wide. A system for specifying the colors is the Pantone system, which is widely used. Spot colors can also be used in combination with the CMYK process colors (though an additional expense may occur).

BLACK & WHITE (GRAYSCALE)
If the print job only uses black ink, then it is considered a "grayscale" order, and is often the least expensive printing option. This makes it ideal for the interiors of books or packages, where full color offers no marketing benefit.

Often, these options are referred to by printers and other graphic design professionals using the terms 4/4 ("four over four"), 4/1, or 1/1, to indicate the number of inks used.

*4/4 - full color both sides
*4/1 - full color over grayscale (or spot color)

COLOR GAMUT
The CMYK color gamut is the range of all possible colors that can be printed using the 4 color CMYK process. There are some colors that simply cannot be printed (very vivid blues, greens, reds), and this sometimes becomes an issue when the design is submitted in RGB mode. Unexpected color shifts can occur when conversion of RGB to CMYK is done prior to printing, (which is why it is best to design in CMYK from the start, so there are no surprises). For logos or design elements that need to be a specific, constant color, using a spot color is recommended.

BLEED, GUTTER, AND CROP MARKS
Your print job will be probably be printed on larger sheets of paper, and then cut down to final size. There can be slight variations in the cut, so it is important to build in some safety areas. There are actually two things to watch for, "bleed" and "gutter". Bleed is the artwork that goes past the final cut line, which will be cut off (usually any background image or image that goes all the way to the edge). This is a safety measure so that there won't be a white line along the edge if the cutter is off slightly. Gutter is the safe area on the inside of the cut line, where any important text and images shouldn't go, in case the cut is too far inside. It's also a good idea to avoid having any border or line that runs right along the cut line, it can be lost.

Normally printers ask for 0.125" bleed and gutter, which gives a nice big safety margin. Keep text inside the gutter areas. Missing bleed or insufficient gutter is the single most common mistake made when designs are submitted, and can delay your project. Design carefully!

IMAGE RESOLUTION AND PRINTING REQUIREMENTS
To assure the best possible quality when printing, it is important that all images have sufficient resolution. For normal purposes, all artwork for paper print should have 300-350 dpi (final print resolution).

Resolution is a measurement of the amount of detail in an image, usually referred to as "dots per inch" (dpi) or "pixels per inch" (ppi). The two terms are often used for the same thing. But, just to confuse things, an image's "resolution" may also refer to the total number of pixels in the image (phrases such as "high resolution image" indicate that the image has a large number of pixels - usually over 2000 x 2000).

An image size is a result of both its physical "print" dimensions and its resolution. (IMAGE PRINT DIMENSIONS) X (IMAGE RESOLUTION) = (IMAGE SIZE IN PIXELS). For example, a picture that is 5" x 5" at 100 dpi has 500 x 500 pixels (5 x 100 = 500). The exact same image at 2" x 2" would have a resolution of 250 dpi. To calculate final resolution, you have to know how big the final image will be printed, and how many pixels it has. When resizing an image to prepare it for printing, remember that you can always go down in resolution, but never up - you can always lose detail from an image, but you can't add detail that isn't in the image to begin with. This is why it is important to always work with the best quality, highest resolution images available.

So now, the next time your printer says, "10,000 units offset? That'll be $3000 for the 4/1, full bleed, but I'll throw in a spot for another $100 if you want it.", you'll know what he's talking about.