OUGD504 - Design for Print

Terminologies:

Colour management:
Good colour management ensues the accuracy of colour reproduction between different equipment and processes in print production.

• Gamut - RGB, CMYK and hexachrome are examples. Gamuts describe how accurately particular systems can reproduce certain colours.
• Colour profiles - pre-defined in relation to specific printing equipment and stock. Differ on photoshop, illustrator and indesign as they assume different print requirements for each package. 
• Coated/Uncoated - paper coating provides a certain surface quality but can affect how ink is absorbed - how sharp the image will appear. 
• Process colour - CMYK, in offset lithography colours are applied using the CMYK gamut using half-tone dots.
• Spot colours - must be defined if a colour to be printed lies outside the working gamut system. Must be defined within the image file (swatches) and in any conversations with the printer. Can be defined using the Pantone colour system as a reference - the Pantone codes will not look the same on screen as they do in print so use printed reference. 

Printing and Alignment:

• Lithography - This printing process uses plates (one for each colour) and ink is applied on the basis that oil and water repel each other. Ink from players are 'offset' onto a rubber printing surface before being applied to the paper.
• Web - Ultra-high volume printing (think newspapers) often onto huge rolls of paper. Often uses flexography (relief) or rotogravure (intaglio).
• Black or 'registration' black - In offset lithography black is one plate in the printing process, registration is a black achieved by printing all four process colours in the same space.
• Bleed - "full bleed" images must be printed beyond the margin limits to ensure that white edges don't appear after trimming. 
• Crop marks - communicate the trim regions. 

Finishes and Specialist Techniques:

• Tipped-in page - a page that is printed separately but bound along with the other pages, Tip-ins can use different formats or different stock to the rest or the pages.
• Tip-on - Added content glued to a page or cover.
• Duplexing - bonding two different stocks together to act as one page with different textures or colours on each side.
• Foil blocking - Coloured foil is pressed into the stick using foil stamp.
• Embossing/debossing - embossed refers to a raided surface and debossing refers to an indented surface.
• Die cutting - a design cut out of the surface using a metal die
• Laminate - a plastic coating heat-sealed onto a stock to provide a crisp finish and a liquid resistant surface.
• Varnish - A colourless coating which can be applied similarly to spot colours. Varnish layers are often identified to the printer on a separate file.