Jul 092011
 

Go to the grocery store and at the check out line the question is “paper or plastic?” There are some quick print and “big box” printers that have pretty much the same limited choices. Text or cover? Gloss or matte?

There are countless choices in paper. Weights from a very light weight 16 pound text to a very heavy 110 pound cover are all available for our digital printer. And finishes vary from uncoated to dull coated to high gloss, and cover weights coated on one side or both sides are also available. The possible permutations seem truly overwhelming. Which should you use? There’s no one right answer; the choice depends on many factors. We like to ask about how and where you are going to use our product before you make that choice. Some people think we’re a bit nosy. And maybe we are, but in a good way.

All paper is roughly divided into text and cover. Text weights refer to the kind of paper that would make up the inside pages of a paperback book. Cover weights are what the cover of that paperback book might be made of. Within these categories, paper can be uncoated, dull coated  (also called semi-gloss) and gloss coated (also called “calendered”).

As we like to say here at Digital Imaging, it’s a matter of personal preference. Photos tend to set up and look snappier on a gloss paper, but if you’re planning on looking at the piece in what we call “high key” or bright overhead lighting, you may want to consider a semi-gloss to cut down on glare. Will you need to have someone write on the finished piece (perhaps a form to fill out)? Then gloss is a poor choice. Is the piece going in an envelope? Select a text weight. Is it a stand-alone piece? Perhaps a cover weight is a better choice. Bleed through is always a factor. Selecting a heavy enough stock to prevent the image on one side of the paper from being visible from the back of the sheet depends on the content being printed. Toner-based digital printing also tends to impart a gloss to the printed material. In some cases, if you use a semi-gloss stock, the printing looks as if it were varnished. This may be a good thing or not, depending on what you had in mind. We have a certain amount of control over this gloss. The newer equipment (like our DocuColor) has good control over this gloss effect.

Cost is always a factor. In general, the heavier the weight the more expensive a paper is. Gloss papers tend to cost more than uncoated paper. Semi-gloss (or dull coat) is often more expensive than either uncoated or gloss. Premium papers cost more in all weights. These are the fancy sheets that contain fibers, unique surfaces, or specific colors.

Post-processing also is a factor. Gloss papers tend to “crack” more along a fold than semi-gloss or uncoated stocks. Lightweight papers don’t hold up well to perfing. Some sheets are only available long grain; a score and fold across the grain is more difficult to control than a fold along the grain.

It’s confusing but we’re usually amenable to printing a proof on two or even three different stocks to help you decide. The comforting thing about digital printing is that the difference in price for a short run between or most expensive and least expensive stock is minimal.

Not all stocks can run successfully in digital presses. Some heavily-textured or “laid” papers do not reproduce large solids well. The toner needs a relatively smooth surface to adhere to uniformly. If the surface is uneven, a motley appearance may result. A lot of label stocks have difficulty, especially if they are formulated for ink jet printing.

As technology continues to evolve, we are able to offer an ever-growing inventory of papers. Some of the more interesting recent additions are: Window Decals, Magnetic Sheets, Pre-cut door hangers, CD tray cards and inserts, weatherproof plastic, non-tear sheets, metallic finishes, parchments and non-copyable security papers. Also available are carbonless forms in two or three part configurations, clear acetate (for overhead projections), tab dividers and pocket folders.

The world of digital printing offers the same quality, selection, and versatility of offset without the requisite numbers to make it cost effective. Making digital printing work for you requires some planning ahead and perhaps a few design compromises, but in today’s competitive marketplace the added value of quick turnaround in small quantities makes it a valuable tool for every graphic designer.

Next: Variable data: the “big gun” of digital printing

 

Apr 192011
 

About 50% of the time when I ask a customer “What stock would you like this on?” the answer I get is “Whatever you think it will look best (or print best) on.” I always wonder if they imagine a paper storage room with papers that print well on one side and papers that don’t on the other. Sometimes, I think it would be a lot easier if we stocked only one or two kinds of paper. But we don’t.

In the often confusing world of digital printing, paper weights and types have managed to distinguish themselves as a confusing topic for most people. Part of the problem lies in paper’s greatest drawback; it is a tactile product. Talk about it all you want; write long, complicated descriptions that start to sound a little like how a wine taster describes a wine; give it a brightness number. In the end, people want to FEEL the paper. And yet, this is also paper’s greatest asset, the reason it will probably survive the rush to a digital world. Paper has texture. Paper has a glossy or a smooth or a rough surface. It has depth. It has warmth.

In general there are only a few “rules” about what to print on, and these are very pragmatic. Things going through the mail need to be a certain minimum weight. No big surprise here. I have never had anyone try to send a post card that was printed on a text weight. Yet. BRC’s (business reply cards) must be a certain minimum weight. But aside from these few considerations, paper choice is a matter of taste and design. We try to stock a broad enough range of paper to meet most of those considerations.

Many US paper mills are no more. A good deal of our paper is from Canadian mills, some is from overseas. By the time it’s re-cut, re-branded, re-packaged and re-sold, it’s not always clear who actually manufactured it. Paper can be the cause of huge headaches in the digital print business. Humidity, too much or too little, can cause paper to jam unexpectedly, double-sheet feed, or curl out of the press. We keep most of our paper in sealed packs until we’re ready to use it. (We used to keep all of our paper in sealed plastic bins… the technology has gotten better.) We are very reluctant to add a new paper to our inventory until we have performed extensive testing. Sometimes, a rep (or a customer) will bring us in a few sample sheets which seem to run fine. Then when we begin the larger project, we suddenly experience multiple problems as the device heats up, or we try to duplex, or in finishing.

Most paper has some kind of a grain. In traditional (ink on paper) printing, the grain is usually “long” which means it runs parallel to the direction of the movement through the press (or is parallel to the longest side of the cut sheet). This gives the paper extra strength to navigate the many turns and twists through the press. In general, in digital printing, we like for the grain to be short so the sheet is more flexible. Grain is much more important when you get to finishing.

There are a couple of ways to check the grain. The easiest is to look at the packaging. The direction of the grain is usually the second number you see. 8-1/2″x11″ paper is long grain. 11″x8-1/2″ paper is short grain. (We speak of 12×18 as a stock paper size, but the package says 18×12.) If the paper is loose, fold the sheet you have in half in both directions and feel the folded edge. Folds with the grain will be much smoother than folds against the grain. I know there are other ways; tearing the paper will reveal its grain, but I think this is a bit more difficult to discern.

Grain comes into play more when you are finishing; folding, scoring, etc. Folding across the grain leaves a ragged edge unless you score first. For some paper weights, you need to score anyway, but especially in the lighter weight texts, trying to keep the grain going in the right direction when you are step and repeating a file can be the subject of some serious mental calisthenics. Scores across the grain need to be different than scores with the grain.

Next: paper weights and surfaces.

Apr 162011
 

Back in the “old days” we had a fellow working here as a typesetter (when we still were typesetters), let’s call him Charlie. Charlie was pretty laid back. While we were all running around “doing the crazy dance” trying to meet a deadline, Charlie would just lean back in his swivel chair, put his hands behind his head and say “It’s all just ink on paper.” That was his answer for every problem.

So let’s just take a moment to talk about the pros and cons of this digital printing. It is quite a bit more than “ink on paper,” and quite a bit less.

There’s an old saying that “whatever they’re talking about, they’re talking about money.” And the difference between digital and traditional (that “ink on paper” thing) has a lot to do with the money. A traditional printer buys his press; he (or she) may take out a loan to do it so there’s a loan payment every month. A traditional printer can run a million copies a month through the press and other than the loan payment the only costs are the paper, the ink, the payroll and the overhead. Almost all digital presses have a meter, just like the meter on your electric power. Every piece of paper that goes through the press clicks that meter over one notch. At the end of the month (or some established billing period) a meter read is taken and you are billed for each and every sheet. Whether you use it or not. This is in addition to the pretty hefty lease payment. And of course, there’s the cost of the paper, the payroll and the overhead. So there’s no way that digital printing (as we know it) can ever really compete with traditional printing on volume work. Having said that, I’m sure there are some big plants somewhere that have developed enough of a volume to stay pretty competitive. But for most independent small shops, it’s the “short run” market we look for, in general. Once you start talking about thousands or tens of thousands, we’re probably going to refer you to a traditional printer. At a traditional printer, the cost of all the make-ready processes usually prices short runs out of the market.

On the other hand, there are a number of instances, other than short runs, where digital printing is the process of choice. For example, when you need something very fast. Traditional printing takes time. Time to set up the job, time to make the plates, time to do the stripping, time to set up the press, time to let the ink dry. None of these figure into the digital process. If your electronic file is ready to go, we can usually print you job in a day or two under normal turnaround. And if you’re really in a rush we can usually print it the same day (this will cost you a premium rush charge). Another example would be variable data printing.

Variable data printing allows you to change the content of each and every page you print, “on the fly.” The information can include text, images, page formats, nearly anything. It is usually linked to a flat data file that directs the content of the page based on the data in the spreadsheet. So you could create a coupon page that only featured coupons for products your customer has already purchased in the past. Send a personalized letter with specific information about each customer, all at the same speed and price as a regular print run (there is a small additional set-up fee, but the print price is the same). Variable data is simply not possible with traditional printing; you’d have to make a new plate for each page. Fugggeddaboudit!

On the dark side,  there is this problem with alignment. Printing presses have a mechanism that positions each page before the image goes on. It keeps everything pretty much in line. They are still imperfect things, but they are a lot more perfect than many digital presses. Most toner-based digital presses are really souped-up copy machines. As such, the paper travels along a belt and the image is applied to it. This results in a couple of problems. First of all, the image does not necessarily go down on the same place on each page. In fact, on some digital presses, the specs allow for a substantial difference across an entire run, maybe as much as 1/8″. Then there’s the skew. The heavier the paper and the larger the sheet, the more skew you are likely to see. Both of these are combined to cause some issues on two-sided pieces where the designer has decided to use a different color panel on each fold. Expecting all of these sides to line up perfectly for each and every sheet is probably a bit optimistic in the digital  print world. It might happen, but don’t be too surprised if it doesn’t.

And finally there’s the post-processing issues. Scoring is my favorite. Toner, unlike ink, sits right up on the surface of the sheet. Try to score that nice glossy sheet on an all-black surface and you are probably going to end up with the image “cracking” along that seam.

Of course, all of these issues can be designed around. Try to keep your folds on light or white areas. Allow for a little extra “slop” on two sided pieces so folds that are a millimeter or so off won’t be too noticeable. Avoid borders, especially on business cards. We print them about 20-up on 12×18 and the cards on the outside corners are going to have just enough torque to show that border is not quite even. It’s the nature of the beast.

Digital printing is a valuable tool. It’s not, in its current generation, the answer for all your printing. But it can be the best way to go in a lot of cases. It does put some restrictions on design, but it can make up for that in speed, price, and flexibility.

Apr 132011
 

Space; the final frontier. Or, to put it another way; size matters.

Most, but not all, digital printers are sheet fed. At least our DocuColor is. And the “standard” size sheet we use and quote prices by is either 9×12 or 12×18. We do not stock a “legal” (8.5″x14″) size sheet. Some of the paper we use is not available in cut sheets and in a lot of those instances, we end up with a 11.5″x17.5″ size sheet cut from the 23×35 master sheet. And in at least one instance, we stock a sheet that is 13×19 (this is the largest size that can physically be run through the DocuColor). All of this is real important as you create files for digital printing.

Like traditional printing, digital “presses” need a “gripper” on the page. That is, there’s a portion of the page that simply cannot be imaged. On all size media this is 4mm (.15748031″) for lead and trail edge and .3mm (.11811″) on the edges for 12×18 media and 3.5mm (.13779528″) on the edges for 13×19 media. So, whatever you design, you have to start by subtracting that area from your total image space.

The size of your finished piece is the result of a lot of factors, some of a design nature, some of a more pragmatic origin, e.g. postal regulations, envelope size, etc. Sometimes, these parameters must be compromised to utilize digital printing efficiently. For example, let’s say you want to produce a note card that will fit in an A-6 envelope (4.75 x 6.5). A good size to make this note card might be 4.5×6.25 folded, 6.25×9 flat. However, this would something we could only print 1-up on a 9×12. If it was, say, 4.5×6 folded, 6×9 flat, we might be able to print it 2-up on that same sheet. Just a teeny, tiny quarter of an inch difference and we cut the print run in half. It will be a bit looser in the envelope, but that’s the compromise you have to decide to make.

Now, a word about “bleeds.” Whether it’s traditional ink on paper or digital toner-based printing, the world of print is a relatively imprecise place. No matter how you print something, when an image or a background color comes right to the edge of the trimmed sheet, you must leave at least 1/8″ of image BEYOND that trim for successful printing. This is referred to as a “bleed.” It prevents the occurrence of a thin white line on the edge of the finished piece where that particular sheet was printed perhaps little too far to one side (it’s an imperfect world, as I mentioned). It also requires that the piece be printed on an oversized sheet and trimmed.

Bleeds can really complicate the issue. In order to trim a piece that bleeds, we need guides that tell us where the trim should be, “crop marks.” In general we need about 1/2″ of space on each side of a bleed image to accommodate the bleed itself and a crop mark to indicate where the trim should be. So a piece that bleeds needs an extra 1″ in length and width on the page. You need to take all of this into consideration, preferably in the design phase, if you plan on digital printing. We’ll normally try to pry this information out of you when you call us for a quote. I know we sound very nosy, but most of our customers hate surprises, especially when they occur long after the design has been approved, priced out and is under deadline.

Finally, a word about customer-supplied stock. There is a minimum size that can successfully be printed on the DocuColor. This is 5.5″x8.5″. We cannot run anything smaller than that through the device. While we will usually try to run whatever you are interested in printing on (with some exceptions; materials that appear to be capable of melting on our fuser are usually politely declined), it is sometimes impossible to print on the smaller pre-cut papers available at the local arts & crafts store.

 

Apr 122011
 

Ain’t technology grand? Digital printing has certainly changed things. Few of our customers today know what rubylith is (or was), have ever seen a stat camera, or have come home at the end of the day with a few miscellaneous words stuck to their elbow like oversized flakes of dandruff.

But digital printing is a two-edged sword and it takes some special considerations to get the most out of it. Let’s begin with the most obvious one, color. At a traditional printer (ink on paper), each color you add will probably change the price of your job. At most digital printers (toner-based), there’s one price for color and one for black and white. At a traditional printer you may pay a bit more for a piece printed, say, all in blue. It will probably include the expense of a press wash, but it will still be a one-color project. At a digital printer, you will probably be charged the same price as if you were printing a full color photograph covering that page.

These are considerations that should probably be made at the the design level. Once you’ve designed the piece in one color, you’ve substantially diminished the likelihood of digital printing as an economical choice down the line. On the other hand, if you plan on using digital output, let your creative juices fly and take advantage of the power of color to make your point or sell your product. Don’t forget to add color photos wherever you can. This is an expensive process in traditional printing; you need scanning, 4-color separations, and careful alignment of the plates for it to work. Not so in digital printing; take the electronic file of the image and drop it in the layout. Done. Well, you might want to make sure the image is CMYK and not RGB.

Which brings me to difference between the color models. If you’ve ever gotten your digital prints back and noticed that the color photos looked a bit flat or off color, there’s a chance you may have used RGB files instrad of CMYK. Most digital cameras, by default, shoot in RGB. This is the Red-Green-Blue color model. Almost all the light that is emitted by natural sources (e.g the Sun) is in this color spectrum, as most probably is the monitor you are viewing this page. It is the spectrum of transmitted light. If you think way, way back to High School health class, you may vaguely remember something about “rods” and “cones.” Well, that’s the connection, we see by interpreting the RGB spectrum. If you do the math you find there’s nearly 17,000,000 colors you can make with this combination (there are 256 steps of each color that are possible on your RGB monitor). Turn on the red, green and blue lights full strength on you monitor (or in the Sun) and you have white.

CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) on the other hand, is what we see when most things are printed. It is a product of reflected light. Actually there are only three colors involved: Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. Black is added because we live in an imperfect world. In theory, if you mix 100% Cyan, 100% Magenta and 100% Yellow, you should get Black. But you actually get a muddy reddish brown. Black is added both to achieve a real black and to replace some of the other colors in a process called Under Color Removal (UCR) or Grey Component Reduction (GCR). Maybe more about that at a later time. The CMYK spectrum only gets us about a million colors (100 steps of each of the three).

How and where an image is converted from RGB to CMYK is critical to how it will look when it’s printed. As you can see, the gamut (or range of colors) in RGB is substantially greater than that of CMYK. And since 100% of all the colors in one model equals white and in the other it equals black, you might guess there is more to converting between the two than meets the eye. The best plan is to convert the color in software designed for that purpose: PhotoShop. While most RIPs will do this conversion on the fly, some handle it much better than others. Making the conversion yourself in PhotoShop will at least let you know which colors, if any, will change.

 

 

 

 

Weather-proof Synthetic Paper

 Posted by at 1:20 PM
Mar 012011
 

March is sure to bring some serious storms. And for those who need to get out in the weather no matter what the weather, dealing with printed materials in the rain can be a frustrating experience. But we’ve got a product that will not run, turn to mush, or suffer from exposure to rain, snow, sleet, coffee, or an occasional beer. It’s a non-tear synthetic plastic paper we can print on through our DocuColor. The result is a pretty bullet-proof sheet for in-the-field usage. Other applications are short-run color and/or black and white labels for products that are stored outside (e.g. fertilizer, compost, ice melt, etc.), charts and instructions on board watercraft, poolside notices, etc. Give us a call for a quick quote on this great weather-proof printing solution.

Magnetic Paper?

 Posted by at 1:31 PM
Feb 252011
 

Well, almost. Our new material is just a bit thicker than cover weight, but thin enough to not tip your mail scale to the next postage increment. Our customers have already used it for contact information for tradespeople (plumbers, electricians, emergency numbers… sticks to service panel doors, water heaters, etc.) and more creative applications as well, such as save the date cards for weddings/bar & bat mitzvahs (they always go up on the refrigerator anyway). Best of all, it runs right through our DocuColor; short run color or black and white. So anything we can print on paper, we can print on a magnetic sheet. The cost is attractive as well: in full color, about $1.90 a letter-sized sheet in small quantities (10-25) and as low as $1.20 in big runs. Ask for a sample and we’ll send it out.

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