The Printing Process Reviewed. It really isn't magic.
Friday, March 25, 2011 at 3:52PM I have a client ("Joe") who asked me to do an oblong card the other day and was annoyed when I asked too many questions about it. He told me he needed a bunch. I asked him what size, and he said he didn't care. I asked him how many colors and he said to make it pretty. He hung up before I could ask about stock, finish, folding, mailing, and where he wanted them delivered.
So for Joe and everyone else who needs to understand that the printing medium is not the same as a medium with a crystal ball, lets talk facts and figures and understand what they mean.
Quantity and color. They actually go hand in hand. If, like Joe, you want to get the cheapest price, black ink is cheapest. If, like Joe, you want it pretty, there are 4 color printing systems for short runs (a few hundred up to a few thousand) that make color printing economical like never before. It is ok to ask for comparisons on black vs color, but you have to ask for a specific number. A bunch is not a number. Like cookies by the dozen, the more you buy, the less they are, so if you can get your numbers higher, the per piece price drops. Sometimes a bunch!
Size.This goes with the above hand in glove. Different presses print things in different ways. Joe may think 8.5 x 11 is the only size paper comes in, but, in fact, even his finished newsletter on 8.5 x 11 may have been printed on a piece of paper much larger. The trick is the printer puts several newsletters on one piece of paper and then cuts them down after the piece is printed. To illustrate: Imagine business cards. I can get 8 business cards on one letter-sized sheet, but I can get 16 on one 11 x 17 sheet. So if my press or printer can run 11 x 17, I get twice as many cards on each pass through the press. This is how printers estimate jobs. It is a science to figure out how many pieces fit on a press at one time with the least amount of paper wasted. So when Joe changes his mind and wants his oblong piece to be 9 inches instead of 8 inches, it throws the entire estimate off-may even change the press the job runs on, and how much paper is wasted on the job.
Stock.This is the brand, the weight, the color and the finish of the paper you are running. Printers often have house stocks that are affordable and available so ask about those first. The next question to ask is if the piece will be mailed. The stock has to be heavy enough for postal standards (7pt). After that, let a professional take you through the different stocks and finishes available. That is a forest you don't need to get lost in. TIP: err on the side of heavier, whiter, and non-glossy decisions when in doubt. Take it from me, the problems usually arise if the paper is too thin, not white enough, and too glossy to write on.
Even Joe knew he didn't need folding on his oblong card, but if you do want something folded, plan for a small increase in the price and the exact way you want to have it folded, yes there is more than one way.
ALWAYS have a written quote and make sure you understand what it says. Hopefully this review will help the next time you want a bunch of pretty things printed.
This article was originally posted in August of 2010 in Dan Monge's Mac IT Pros E-Newsletter.
Reader Comments (5)
I've been using Fuji Sensia 100 for a while now, and I've been very pleased with the saturated colors it produces.
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