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Education – Paper, Print & Design

  3. Education – Paper, Print & Design

The Bespoke Print Process of Letterpress

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letterpress

  In this educational article we take a look at the bespoke printing process of Letterpress.  A brief history Letterpress is a form of relief printing dating back to the 1450s, when German-born Johann Gutenberg famously printed 180 copies of the Bible on his new invention. The moveable type ‘letter-press’. This invention directly led to the spread of mass produced books, eventually leading to universal literacy and profound social change. Undoubtedly, one of the greatest inventions in history. For over five hundred years, letterpress was the dominant form of mass printing, until superseded in the 1950s by offset lithography.  Galley...

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Label Printing

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Label printing

In this Education article, GSM takes a close look at label printing. And, cover how to get the most from your project... There are four main areas of consideration when it comes to label printing. The label stock, the adhesive, the print method, and the print specials & embellishments. Let’s look at each in turn: Label Stocks At a commercial level, most labelling stocks are supplied to label companies as bulk rolls. There are three main processes for label printing. Flexography, offset lithography (referred to in the print industry as ‘conventional’ methods) and digital printing (see print methods). At the...

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Paper Sustainability – Environmental Certifications

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reforestation sustainable

Sustainability and looking after the environment are important considerations when selecting a paper grade for your print project. The environmental credibility of paper is expressed through a series of Credentials covering various aspects of paper manufacturing, such as where the raw material originates from, how these materials have been grown and harvested, the manufacturing process itself, and the general impact of papermaking on the environment. Environmental Certifications can be split into different levels of accreditation as follows: Chain-of-Custody Certifications Mill-level Certifications Product-level Certifications Chain-Of-Custody Certifications Chain of Custody Certifications are applied to paper from end-to-end―meaning; from origin to printing press....

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Paper: The Suitability of the Stock for your Print Project

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BJ Ball Swatch Books

Paper is to print, what canvas is to painting—you cannot have one without the other. As a designer, it is important to know that your choices around paper will impact the final output. The suitability of the stock when selecting paper for your print project includes a number of considerations. Let’s take a look: Types of Paper Paper, how it looks and feels, is going to have a big impact on the final printed result. And as such—should be an important design consideration early on in any project. Paper can be classified into six basic categories as follows: Uncoated Papers:...

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Artwork: Photographic Images

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photographic images

The use of photographic images in artwork creates a few important considerations that should always be checked. GSM investigates; Correct Colour Mode Photographic images should always be set to the correct Colour Mode—CMYK. RGB images used in CMYK-based printing can potentially create problems (including unexpected colour results). The best professional practice is to open any RGB images in an editing app (such as Adobe Photoshop) and change the Colour Mode—go to: Image > Mode > CMYK Colour. Image Resolution Image resolution, as measured in Pixels Per Inch (PPI), is critical to ensuring photos print correctly. If the resolution is too...

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Artwork: Colour

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CMY colour wheel

Colour is one of the areas that causes the most problems in print. Here are some things to be mindful of: Using The Correct Colour Model Regardless of the intended print process—artwork for print should always use the CMYK colour space—not RGB. This means: Artwork source files (e.g. Adobe Illustrator or InDesign) should be set up using the CMYK (Print) Colour Mode. All linked photographic images should also be converted from RGB to CMYK mode, resaved and relinked into your artwork. When you are adding colours into your artwork, make sure these are CMYK based colours. The only exception to this is...

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Artwork – Document Set-up

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Artworking (sometimes called mac’ing) is the process of taking a final design, and turning this into output ready artwork. Document set-up should be the final step before a file is dispatched to a printery. Being a competent artworker not only helps avoid potentially time consuming or costly mistakes. But also enables maximum benefit from print as you simply understand the medium better. Let’s look at some technical considerations to help you navigate this: Document Set-up Correct document set up is the first component for creating good artwork. For this topic, we will be using the below example project. This is...

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Beyond Print – Binding

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binding

Commercially printed multi-page documents can be bound in several ways. But by far, the most common are soft-cover Saddle-Stitching, squared spine Binding and hardback Case-binding. GSM takes a look... Saddle-Stitching (Soft-Cover) Saddle-stitching is the most common form of ‘soft-cover’ commercial binding. This process uses two or more staples inserted along the spine to hold the document together. Saddle-stitching is a machine process with little manual input, apart from the initial collating of the printed sheets, making this the most costeffective way to bind multi-page documents. As mentioned in our article "Folding" some digital print systems have saddle-stitching capabilities running off the...

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Beyond Print – Folding

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folding

Folding is usually one of the last steps in the print process and is most commonly done as a separate process after printing is complete (note; there are exceptions where folding is done straight off the end of the printing press). On a commercial level, folding is undertaken on a folding machine. These large industrial machines can crease, fold and counter-fold with high precision. Some folding machines also include binding capabilities—particularly saddle-stitching. Note also that some digital print systems include in-line capabilities that produce finished, bound documents directly off the end of the press. Sheet-fed offset lithographic printing presses do...

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Beyond Print – Die-cutting

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cardboard packaging prototype

Die-cutting (sometimes referred to as ‘knifing’) is a non-print-based process of stamping a form or shape out of a substrate (usually paper or board). These can be packaging forms such as  boxes. Or they can be design elements punched out of a flat surface. For example, a shape cut out of a brochure cover. Either way, the process is the same. The Process Die-cutting is undertaken after printing, using a special stamping press. A ‘die’ or knife block, mounted on the press, hits the printed sheets cutting the form. If the project is a constructed form, such as a box,...

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