Design Tips from a Press Perspective

The transition from designers table to actual press sheet usually involves some compromises. Understanding the capabilities of a press will help achieve maximum results. Here are a few tips from a press operators perspective on how to accomplish this.

1.) The printing press always performs better while running on long-grain stock. Short-grain stock can cause dowling, creasing or pit problems. The desired grain direction for the bindery is parallel to the spine. Where possible both should try to be achieved.

2.) When designing a book with a lot of solids, keep in mind the effect they will have on surrounding pictures. A solid (often black) requires more ink to be placed on the sheet in order to give it a deep rich colour.

A picture located in the same printing zone will get an above average amount of ink causing loss of detail. Black solids surrounding a picture (particularly a large solid surrounding a small picture) can give the illusion of a dark picture. See diagram.

S O L I D
	Picture
S O L I D

3.) The positioning of the image on the sheet can have a dramatic effect on achieving colour. An image with soft, pastel tones surrounded by images with a lot of colour is difficult to achieve because of the different ink requirements of each. See example.

H = Heavy Image

S = Soft Image

By moving the images around you would achieve a better colour match. In the example above, exchanging the soft and heavy images would create a vertical strip of H's, then S's, then S's, then H,s.

4.) To give the best opportunity for control of colour, run across images from one section to another should be avoided. Otherwise, one picture could control the colour of multiple pictures.

32	17	20	29		64	49	52	61		96	81	84	93
1	16	13	4		33	48	45	36		65	80	77	68
8	9	12	5		40	41	44	37		72	73	76	69
25	24	21	28		57	56	53	60		89	88	85	92

Form 1

Form 2

Form 3

The above examples are typical 32 page signatures. Let’s assume there are run across pictures between the three forms (ie image 29 and 64 are one large picture) . Upon establishing colour for Form 1 it would set the standard for pages 64, 33, etc. on Form 2 and pages 96, 65, etc. on Form 3 because of the run across.

In this example it would be necessary to match the run across images as colour shift here would be highly evident; compromises would then be made for other images in those zones.

5.) If designing colour type out of process colours, we recommend no more than 2 colours. Three and four colour type can be difficult to achieve tight register and may not give the desired effect. Alternatively, you may choose a fifth colour instead.

6.) A common challenge on 4/2 jobs is to make the screens from the process side match the two colour side. Depending on the colour of the screen this can be impossible. If an exact match is required it would be better to make the job a 5/2.

The above suggestions are tips on how to achieve maximum results on press. Of course, each book is different and the tips are general in nature. For more specific information on your particular job, please speak to your CSR. In the end, our goal is your goal - to achieve the most brilliant looking colour book possible.