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ultimate guide
on Printing

BY ZAIN AHMED KAMAL

This Ultimate Guide on Printing is for designers or people interested in “Print Design”. We here will be covering the following topics-

What is Print and Digital Design?

In simple words, anything designed for the purpose of getting it printed is called Print Design.  For example a business card, brochure, flex, catalogue and the list is never ending.

Anything designed for the sole purpose of displaying it on digital medium like mobile phone or computer is called Digital Design. For example creatives designed for Facebook or Instagram or an e invite for Whatsapp and much more.

A designer can be into both Print and Digital Design or can be an expert in any one.  The work of a Digital Designer ends at designing but for a design which has to be printed also needs to get “Print Ready”. The process of making a design “Print Ready” is our next subject.

Here are some print and digital design examples:

Print Design
Process

In this section of Ultimate Guide on Printing we will in detail discuss the step or process of making a design print ready.

CMYK

First thing first, while designing in any software we are provided with two color mode option. One is RGB and the second is CMYK. RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue and CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. In the entire universe whatever color you are aware and unaware about is made mixing Red, Green and Blue. However the printing machine uses ink cartridge made with four color Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

So keep the color mode CMYK for the design which has to be printed and RGB for a design to be used on digital mediums only.

embed
image

If you are designing anything in Adobe Illustrator and if that file is opened in any other computer then it will not have that image in it. The solution is to embed that image by selecting the image and click on the embed option as shown in the above image. 

outline

Suppose you are making a visiting card design and downloaded a font which is not originally available in the software. Then you take that file to a printing house to get it printed and as soon as they open that file it will show a font missing dialog box. To avoid this mishap its a good practice to outline the font. In order to do that, click on the right mouse button while keeping the cursor on the font and then select create outline.

Setting and
Cut marks

Now to move further in this Ultimate Guide on Printing and understand the process we will take an example of a print design business cards made by us for a client by the name Decor and Beyond.

This is the visiting card we designed and now we will set it for printing.

First thing is the size of the visiting card, which is usually 3.5 inches in breadth and 2 inches in height. This is the standard size but you can definitely play with the size as per your wish. Now comes the part of setting the design on the paper. For digital printing the machine prints paper of two sizes 12inches (Height) X 18inches (Breadth) and 13inches (Height) X 19inches (Breadth). 

So now if we have to set it, then on 12X18 size paper we can make 25 copies of the design and on 13X19 paper 30 copies. Below is the example.

This is the front side

This is the back side.

Your print design has to be arranged in this way before getting it printed.

Moving on to cut marks, but what are they? After printing a business card it has to be cut in 25 or 30 parts depending on the size of the paper and design. Cut marks are basically a guide for cutting and without which it cannot be properly done. These cut marks are nothing but thin lines put on the four corners of the page and in between every design. Let see an example of it.

The red lines you see on all the sides are cut mark.

This was the print design process for a business card but let’s see one more example, a little complex one say a four page brochure design i.e. 8 sides brochure design.

For example let’s take this brochure designed by us for our client Super Servo Filters.

It’s a folded four page brochure and before we proceed lets understand the order of the design first. The cover page is of a filter then once we open it comes about Gold Filter & Co section, then Oil & Fuel Filter, after that Cabin and Air Filter then EDM and Hydraulic Filter and then Panel Filter and Air Oil Separator, ending it with Bag Filters and Clients and the last page with contact information. The width of the brochure is approximately 17 inches and then folded in two halves making it 13.5 inches; the height is little less than 11 inches.

So here the designed will be set back to back i.e. on both sides of the paper. There are going to be two 12X18 sheets which will be one on one.

We will set cut and creach marks. Creach marks are nothing but a guide for the person to fold the brochure from this point.

So the first sheet will have two sides and we will be setting the designs in this way.

This is the front side and the red lines you see on the left and right sides are cut marks.

This is the back side and the red line you see in the center is creach mark. This is place from where the paper will be folded. The creach mark is in the exact center of the paper.

Similarly the second sheet will have two sides and we will be setting the designs in this way.

After proper placement and setting the cut and creach mark you can print your design.

Print Design
Services

In this part of Ultimate Guide on Printing we will discuss about print design services. It is very obvious that one has to design to print it on something and so this industry is very much dependent on designers. Talking about printing services, it is a vast field. So many things are printed on different levels, but for all of them design is a must. Let’s discuss in detail about printing as a service:

Print design on t shirt: A trend has set in of T shirts printed with quotes and designs on them. These designs and quotes on the t shirts are printed with heat press machine (we will discuss about it later in this blog). Again these quotes and art has to be first designed before getting it printed.

Print design on mug: A lot of different designs are printed on mugs through heat press machine and again first the designer has to prepare the designs.

Print design on tote bag: Tote bags are like jute bags with trendy designs on it. It is very often used and for multiple purposes and again the designs are printed with heat press machine.

Print design wedding invitations: Wedding invitations is a must for any function and it can be of any type. May be a simple card printed on a paper or something fancy printed on a rolling cloth or anything. Whatever to be printed has to be designed first.

Print design business cards: Business cards or visiting cards are carried by working people and has all their contact information like name, number, email id etc.

Printing flex: Flex are large sheets printed and put as a hoarding on road sides and maybe on top of the building for advertisement purpose. Again for any print the design has to be prepared first.

Printing banner: Banner and flex are somewhat same and fulfill the same purpose.

Printing letterhead: Letter head are a4 size sheets containing information of the company.  The top and bottom are designed; space is left in the centre for different matter to be printed.

Printing books: For any book to be printed it has to be first arranged in order and cut marks are to be set. Additionally the cover and back page has to be designed. After all this has been done then it is printed.

Printing Standees: Standees are large stands with flex on it. It is portable in nature and the flex can be replaced with other on the condition that the size has to be same.

These are just some of print design examples and there is way more. Once you have some idea print your design on products like wrapping paper, fabric and the list is never ending.

Types of
Printing

In this part of Ultimate Guide on Printing we will discuss the types of printing machine, won’t be going in details of printing technology because this entire blog is for print designers to get basic printing idea and not for people from printing press.

Digital Printing Machine: Digital Printing is best for instant printing; also they can print as less as one sheet for sample. For quantities less than 5,000 pieces digital printing is only done. They however support only two sizes, 12X18 inches and 13X19 inches with variety in GSM (thickness of the paper).

They also support printing in Gum Sheet (sticker sheets).

Offset Printing: Offset printing is only done in bulk, nothing less than 5,000 sheets. Digital Printing is expensive if printing in bulk and so offset printing is used in that case. They print big sheets like 20X30, 22X32 inches etc. These machines can also print on paper with various thicknesses and even on gum sheets.

Screen Printing: Screen printing also known as printing by hand is done in a completely different way. The design is first printed on tracing paper which is then attached to a board, then color is spread on it and a wooden block is used to push and slide. This way whatever design in on the tracing paper comes on the thing it is printed on. Screen printing has its advantages and disadvantages. It is a time taking process and it cannot print multiple colors on a single print like digital and offset machines. However digital and offset printing can be done only on paper but screen printing can be done on almost anything including all kinds of paper.

Heat Printing: Heat Printing Machine is used to print on different objects like T-shirts, mugs, tote bag, laptop cover and more. First the design is printed on a specific type of heat transfer paper through a digital printer. Then that paper is placed on the object and through a heat plate the print leaves the paper and sticks on that object permanently.

Flex, Vinyl, Banner Printing Machine: These machine specifically and only prints on flex, vinyl and some type of cloth. What they print can be used on standees, hoarding, boards and more. Vinyl has gum on the back side, flex does not and Vinyl is also thicker than flex.

Lamination:

If a paper is covered with a thin plastic sheet then it is called a laminated paper and the process is called Lamination.  It is basically done to give a premium look also it gives strength by increasing the GSM and makes it water proof. Anything can be laminated as long as it is paper like brochure, visiting card, catalogue, menu card and more. There are many types of lamination but we will be discussing about five commonly used one:

Gloss Lamination: This is the most used type of lamination in the print industry. It gives a shiny glace look to the sheet which is laminated.

Matt Lamination: Matt lamination gives a dull matt finish to the laminated sheet. This is comparatively new and expensive than gloss lamination.

Velvet Lamination: Velvet Lamination is more or less like Matt Lamination, the only difference is that velvet lamination gives a smooth velvet feel which matt lamination does not. It gives a real premium look to brochure, catalogue and other stuff.

3D Lamination: 3d Lamination as the name suggests gives a 3d pop up look. It also gives gloss look the laminated sheet.

UV Lamination: All the above laminates the entire sheet but what if you want any specific part to be laminated? For example suppose you are getting some business cards printed and you want the entire sheet to be laminated with matt lamination but the logo with gloss lamination. This thing can be done with the help of UV lamination.

Let’s talk about the process, first make a copy of the print ready file of the visiting cards. Name it UV Lamination so that you don’t get confuse. Now delete everything except the logo which you want to be UV Laminated.  Now you have to get file printed on a tracing paper which you will find on any digital printing shop. Just give that sheet to any lamination shop and they will do it.

Foiling:

What is Foiling? Foiling is somewhat like UV lamination but instead of plastic it is very thin metallic sheets. Just like UV Lamination, foiling covers certain desirable part instead of the entire sheet and even the process is same. Foiling is available in three colors gold, copper and silver.

Emboss:

Embossing is a technique in which any specific part of the design can be embossed. The process is somewhat same as above, after printing it on a tracing paper, a dice is made with that shape which is then put it the machine to emboss the sheet.

There are two types of emboss one is normal emboss and the other is reverse emboss in which you will feel it coming up instead of going down.

Paper

In this segment of Ultimate Guide on Printing we will be discussing the types, size and GSM of paper.

There are many types of paper and naming all of them is impossible. So first let’s understand that some papers are used for digital and offset printing only and some used specifically for screen printing only.

Art Paper: This is the most common paper used in printing world and are of various GSM starting with 90 GSM till 270 GSM.

Art Board: This board is widely used for multiple purposes like visiting cards, brochure etc. It starts with 300 GSM and goes till 350 GSM.

Ivory Board: Ivory board is another type of board often used for various purposes.

Textured Papers: There are innumerous types of textured paper and naming them is impossible. You can go to a Paper shop and check them out.

Metallic color sheets like silver, gold and more are also used for various purposes. 

For all the above mentioned papers except metallic sheets can be used for digital and offset printing and all of the above can be used for screen printing.

Types of
Cutting

After printing, lamination, foiling or embossing the final stage is cutting where the extra white space has to be chopped off. So there are three types of cutting

 

Normal cutting machine: This type of machines can only do straight cutting. If the paper has to be cut in square and rectangle shape then it can be done with this type of machine.

 

Dice Cutting: What if a custom shape visiting card has to be cut from sheets? For such custom shapes dice cutting is used. It can be of any shape like circle, triangle, octagon or any random shape. First that design has to be printed on a tracing paper and then a dice is made from that shape. From that dice cutting takes place.

 

Laser cutting: Laser cutting is done with the help of laser, it is precise, clean and very expensive. It can be of any shape.

Print Design Tips

In this section of Ultimate Guide on Printing I will share some print design guidelines. All of the following tips are from my own experience from being in the print design world.

  • While designing anything the color we see on the screen will never exactly match the printed color, there will be always a slight difference and so always clarify this to the client.
  • Before getting anything printed in bulk always get a sample piece printed and check it thoroughly with the client.
  • If you are getting anything printed in quantity be it brochures, catalogue or visiting card always get 10 or 20 pieces extra printed. This is because while getting the sheets laminated or getting it cut some pieces will get wasted, so having extra is a good practice.
  • Once the design is ready, make a copy of it. Outline the fonts and embed the images in that file, this way if the client wants any changes it can be done in the original file.
  • Always leave some white space on the sides of the design. This is to prevent the design from getting cut in the cutting process.
  • After getting sheets laminated, give it one night to dry properly before getting it sliced. Incase if you don’t do this there is high chances of the lamination to come off.
  • Avoid foiling tiny small objects as the machine doesn’t do it effectively.
  • Laminated sheets can never be pasted with another sheet; the gum just won’t be able to hold it for long.
  • Never laminate textured paper, they tend to fill air bubbles inside and then the lamination comes off.

These were some of the print design best practices I always follow and recommend as well.

Some doubts
& questions:

Question: Print design software

Answer- There is no specific print design software. Any graphic designing software can be used like CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.

Question: Print design layout

Answer- Print design layout is what you called setting and putting cut marks.

Question: Print design using Photoshop

Answer – Yes print design can be done using Photoshop

Question: Print design vs Graphic design

Answer- Graphic Design is a vast subject and Print Design is a part of it.

Question: Print design vs Web design

Answer-Print Design is all about designs to be printed and Web Design is completely different from it. Web Design is about designing the layout of a website.

Question:  Print design principles

Answer- There is nothing called print design principles but yes of course there is something called Principles of Designing which is the mantra of designing. No designer whether print or digital can be successful without properly understanding these principles. So if you want to know about it then please go this blog Ultimate Guide on Graphic Designing  https://zakdesigns.co/ultimate-guide-on-graphic-designing/

In this blog you will everything related to graphic designing including the principles.

This is the entire print design brief for Ultimate Guide on Printing and now if you want to start printing as a business you don’t need a printing machine. All you need is some idea on print design which you now have because of this blog. So what you can do is collaborate with a printing press or maybe multiple printing press. If you are just a graphic designer then you can think about printing as a career option also. No matter how big a printing press is they all depend on us “Designers”.

If you are someone who wants to make a career in graphic designing then do check out my another blog Ultimate Guide on Graphic Designing https://zakdesigns.co/ultimate-guide-on-graphic-designing/

If you like this blog do comment, like and share. Also if you think something is missing or this blog can be improved then please do advise.

We at Z.A.K Designs help companies in their branding and provide complete print design solutions for more information please contact at [email protected]

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