At the Printers

These are the notes which i took whilst Lorenzo was talking to us at the lecture about what printing styles are which are right when it comes down to the style of printing and preparing for print... 


Repo Graphics - inbetween digital and technical print, this is the middle guy who makes sure that all the colours are right and that everything will print correctly, this could save a company a fortune when it comes to stopping and picking up on the small mistakes. 




There are four main topics of printing, then there is some sub categories but these are the main ones:-


Rotary printing 
Screen printing 
Digital printing 
Pad printing 

Under the heading of Rotary printing there are three other styles which can come from this one, these being offset lithography, rotogravure and flexography

that above is an example of how it would work to have offset lithography, this would be the way to do it. to make it work the best.

Newspapers could be printed onto things such as these, this would personally be the best way to be able to get the most out of it when it comes down to the final. the reason it would be done on this scale and through the use of WEB offset is from the reason that you need to be able to print loads at a fast rate and this is a way which will make the most sense from it all and then at the other end when you have this massive "toilet role style paper" you can then chop it using another machine and it'll look complete. 

Flexography would be best printed onto cellophane or crisp packets, its made for something which aint necessarily the best quality but can produce alot of the same thing for cheap. Crisp packets and things such as that don't need to have alot of value behind them because they will only have a short life and will get binned pretty much straight after there main purpose is complete. 

Lithograph - planograph - flat 

Rotogravure - Intaglio - first style of print method 

Flexography - Relief - Raised surface for longer lasting print pads. 

Digital RIP (Rasta image processor) this is where the computer will then get the code from the computer and then change it into a code which the printer can understand, this then allows the printer to pick up the code easier and get the prints correct. HOWEVER THIS IS FOR MORE SHORT RUNS

PAD Printing, this style is for 3d printing objects, this is made so that you are able to print onto items such as Headphones, Helmets and other items like these. Here is a video which shows how its done...

Always remember to check the colour swatch at the top for a quick and easy way to see that everything is printing through at a fast rate and still to the presets which you started on the first one. this is the easiest way to check to make sure that the inks in the printer isn't messing up. 


This allows you to check the density of the ink, you can do this through the use of a Linen Tester. these are the best way to be able to check up on this.

Grip and Lay Edge - this is the a place where the corner section be placed to make it so that you can make sure that when you are doing screenprinting you can perfectly line it up each time and get a perfectly crisp print.

Spot UV Varnish, - stencil where you want to place the varnish and then you are able to get this tidy little section which adds extra value to the whole piece that you have created, this can be a cheaper way to make something look really expensive

Iridescent Foil Print - this is basically the same as the spot UV varnish, although they are basically the same thing really.

Bus Stop Ads... these are also known as Ad Shells.

5 types of print processes.

- Lithograph

- Gravoure

- Pad Printing

- Flexograph

- Digital