Old School Print Primer

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In some parts of the country, the back-to-school season has already started. Even though we have a few more weeks of summer vacay here in beautiful Western New York, I thought I’d go a little back-to-school — old school style — and talk about some print basics.

In the era of the web, the print world is alive and well. I just stumbled across this interesting blog post about “The Return of Print,” one of many posts I have read recently about print work in a digital world. It’s a good read and is more validation that print isn’t going away any time soon.

While this warms my print-friendly heart, it makes me think that a lot of people, a lot of our clients, don’t really understand the print process. It’s not magic, but it’s not rocket-science, either. But having at least a general understanding of it is helpful when you set out to create a print piece.

Here’s a super-simple little print primer, courtesy of your friends on the creative team at Haley Marketing Group.

MOST COMMONLY USED PRINTING PROCESSES:
Offset Printing

ink is offset (transferred) from metal plates to a rubber blanket (cylinder) to the paper
sheetfed and web
used for medium to long print runs Digital Printing
uses either toner or ink-jet technology
a brand-new image is made from a digital file every time
ideal for fast-turnaround, short-run jobs; print exactly the amount needed, no waste

COLOR MODELS:
CMYK – CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

also known as process color, 4-color, 4-color process or full color
used in offset and digital printing
when these four colors are combined using different percentages, this model can replicate nearly all colors

Spot color/PMS
Select specific ink colors using the Pantone color matching system (PMS)

RGB
NOT FOR PRINT – represents color on a computer display

PRINT LAYOUT LINGO:
Trim Line
Finished size of the piece

Live Area
Area considered safe to keep any important information within

Crop Marks
Indicates where to cut the paper

Bleed Area
Area past the crop marks, where ink goes to the edge of the printed piece; minimum bleed is 0.125 in (1/8 in)

If you want an even more in-depth presentation of print graphic design terminology, be sure to check out Linda’s great blog post here.

I hope you enjoyed today’s old school print design lesson!

Becca Searns

Growing up in an entrepreneurial family where marketing was discussed over dinner every evening, it is only natural for Becca to bring her design talents home to Haley Marketing. Becca ensures the quality of Haley Marketing creative services. She also oversees the design and user experience for Haley Marketing products. Becca graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in New Media Design and an MBA. She jumped right out of school into a program called Remote Year. Spent the first four months as a freelance designer making ends meet to pay the bills and travel the world. Fast forward, she's successfully traveled and worked remote for nearly three years. Becca now combines what she learned from design and business school with more practical knowledge and experience gained starting her club hockey team in college and three years of long-term international travel to provide world-class, easy and affordable creative solutions for your business.