Are you passionate about printing, we would employ this guy…

Going digital nowadays has become a necessity, especially in fast paced world of colour printing.

Our customers need things quicker these days – so back in February 2009 we decided we were going to supply digital printing to run alongside our litho printing. Digital printing is perfect for small runs and is incredibly cost effective for quantities of 1000 or under. But what makes us stand out from the competition is that we now offer next day delivery. if you place your order before noon of any given weekday then we guarantee next working day delivery. We also have a before 9am delivery and Saturday delivery if you your deadline is such.

Click her for more information on Digital Printing

Spot Colour is used by actually mixing ink to the desired colour rather than using the CMYK process to achieve it. The printer will mix varying amounts of colour to reach the correct consistency and then this is printed directly onto the document.

Its not un-common to see a ‘full colour’ print job having an additional spot colour or ‘special’ as its known added to it either during the actual printing process or added after in a seperate process. Some large printing machines have an additional facility for this, taking form a 4 colour machine to a 5th or 6th colour machine, so they are able to print the whole document using full colour and two spot colours in one pass.

Spot colour is common when metallic colours are required, whereby they will not be achievable using the CMYK process.

What is CMYK or Process Color?

CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black are used in the industry standard colour mixing techniques to achieve full colour printing of just about everything from A5 Leaflets and flyers, to full colour brochures and newspapers. Have you ever noticed on the back of a newspaper that there are several blocks of colour, these are used for registration of the four colours. When CMYK are mixed in the correct proportions they produce millions of colour possibilities. Sir Isaac Newton developed the technique over 300 years ago, using the CMYK which are directly opposite the RGB on a chart known as Newtons ‘Colour Circle’.

Full colour printing presses use CMYK inks in a subtractive process to absorb light which is then reflected from the white of the paper or card underneath. In a very similar method to mixing paint like a child would do at school, i.e red & yellow mixed together make green, the ink used in varying density to create the desired result.  This technique is also known as Four Colour Process or Full Colour Process and has been with us for many years.

The range of colour that CMYK can produce is vast, but it has a limit as is not as wide a range as that of RGB. As a direct result of this bright colours with intense colour values such as Orange, Green, and Blue can sometimes appear to dull or sometime dirty, however red will appear almost the same with either process.

Most professional colour printing companies will be able to reproduce almost every colour imaginable, but for those specific colours which are not available in CMYK, then the printer will usually use a ‘SPOT’colour.

What is RGB Color?

Scanner and digital cameras create images using combinations of just three colors: Red, Green and Blue (RGB). These are what’s know as the primary colors of visible light and this how computers and televisions display the colour that we see. RGB colours will appear more vibrant as light is being ‘transmitted’ or being projected directly into the viewers eyes.

These 3 colours when combined with different amounts make up all of the monitor or TV pixels that you see.

Many computer software uses RGB as a default as desktop monitors display this colour themselves. Desktop printers and laser printers also use this 3 colour technique in order to simplify the output of a printed sheet.

RGB Must be Converted to CMYK Color in Order to Print

Images photographed using a digital camera are usually saved using RGB. These will need to be converted to CMKK before they can be printed using full colour process. Most image software is capable of doing this, however there can be some slight shift changes in the colour when it converts, these can easily be addressed by adjusting the contrast and brightness etc.

Colour charts can be used for converting rgb colours into CMYK, and PANTONE is the industry standard. Pantone supply various colour matching books in particular the Pantone Colour Bridge set, which have the RGB colours next to the CMYK equivalent making it easier to match them.

We here at Print-Print ant you to be pleased with your print job, so taking time to prepare your document prior to it being printed is very important, so please feel free to ask us for our advice on colour conversion.

Please call us if you need to discuss any artwork queries, either call us on 01952 850730

or Contact us via email, we are only too happy to help.

When artwork is created and made ‘print ready’, in almost all cases bleed is required. This is an additional area added (normally 3mm on all edges) to the finished size of your document. It allows either the finishers or even the guy who guillotines the final job down to size when its completed, a little room for maneuver.

If you have ever seen a finished printed item with a very fine white line on one of the edges, this usually means that bleed was not allowed for and when the final job was cut, it left a white strip along the edge. This doesn’t mean that the guillotine is not accurate, but when several hundred items are being cut at any one time – the guillotine only has to be out by a fraction of a millimetre and the white edge will appear.

So it’s best to add a 3mm edge to your artwork on all edges. Every image or background colour which reaches the final cut size of your document, needs to bleed over the edge, so that when its cut no white areas are showing.

If you are experiencing problems with bleed edge with your artwork, give our studio a call and we can give you advice or maybe even add bleed for you.

For other information and paper sizes see our Artwork Specifications page on the website.

Most people view a business card as means to an end, a way of leaving your contact details with someone after a meeting. Business cards have been around for a few hundred years and in some circles they are regards as a symbol of the person who hands it over. Some people take business cards very seriously, spending hours – even days getting the font correct, the font size, the leading, the caps the spacing – it means so much to some people who would like to view a business card as reflection of themselves

I believe that business cards have an important role to play, both in private and in business circles, as after all, they represent an introduction to who you are and what you stand for! Business cards represent part of our identity! But it can be take all too seriously some times..

To demonstrate what I mean, here is an example: “American Psycho” business card scene – these big investment banking executives compare business cards.

Of course most of us don’t take business cards this seriously, but they are still hold a snapshot of ourselves either personally or professionally.

Here at Print-Print we spend a lot of time giving advise to customers who are new to the world of full colour printng, advising them on how to prepare their design work for print.

This is our first blog – so you’ll have to forgive us if its a slow starting. We plan to use this blog as means of sharing some of our knowledge and experiences form the world of design and full colour printing.