FAQs - Newman Thomson

The 10 Commandments of Typography

Newman Thomson — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 15:13:35 +0000

Typography is one of the most important elements of design, after all, with an unreadable font, a book or magazine would be essentially useless. The info graphic below details what types of fonts compliment others, the differences between weights, sans-serif and serif fonts amongst a load more useful info. Team the info from this up with the 10 commandments of logo design and you’ll be well on the way to logo nirvana.

Know your font families – GHOTMS, Geometric Sans, Humanist Sans, Old Style, Transitional, Modern, Slab Serifs
Combine a sans-serif font with a serif font – contrast is king here, the combo of sans serif and serifs can be really effective, just don’t go overboard (see no.7)
Combine a serif font with a sans-serif font – the same as above, just turned upside down
Combining two similar fonts is not cool – You’ve got the opportunity to do something striking, don’t make it look like you’ve forgotten what font you initially used then found something similar
Contrast is key – See points 2 and 3
Stick to two fonts, only go to three if you absolutely have to – Don’t over complicate things, only go for three different typefaces if it’s essential.
Don’t mix different moods – don’t mix something ‘Wild West’ with a graffiti type font then some sort of calligraphy font, that’s never going to work.
Combine fonts of complimentary moods and periods in time – it stands to reason that these will ‘get on’.
Use different weights of fonts from the same families – they were designed to match up, so make use of that.
Lastly avoid using any of the fonts shown in point 10, there are a whole lot more to add to that list as well… (this is purely down to personal preference of course!)

Credit to Designmantic for the artwork for this info graphic.

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How to set up a cutter guide

Newman Thomson — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 15:22:49 +0000

The process of creating a cutter guide is not terribly difficult, however there are a few considerations that need to be made when working with more complex jobs. Probably the easiest tool to use is Adobe Illustrator, though it is possible to work in Photoshop or InDesign. In this guide we’ll concentrate on Illustrator as it’s the most commonly used method.

First of all you will need to size your artboard to a bit larger than the artwork you are working with, once you have done this you can place/import your artwork onto the the artboard. At this point it’s good practice to name the layer ‘Artwork’ and to lock the layer to prevent any accidental editing.

Once you have done this, create a new layer, and name this ‘Cutter Guide’, from here you can begin to design your guide, if you are making your own, or to drop one of our templates on if you are using that. If you are working with a fairly simple shape this will take you no time at, just bear in mind that you will want some bleed (3mm is ideal) around the outside of the guide.

To make the guide use the pen tool, or a specific shape if you’re after a simple square, or ellipse type shape. You want to have the stroke or outline set at no bigger than 1pt in size, and you should make a new spot colour up when assigning a colour to the stroke/guide. By assigning a spot colour it makes it easy for our pre-press team to separate the guide and the artwork, just make sure the spot colour isn’t used elsewhere on the document.

One important thing to remember with any type of cutter guide is that a cut is represented by a solid line, a fold is represented by a dashed line.

If you are working with a more complex shape, such as a folder or a wallet which will have glued or taped flaps/pockets then make the tabs at least 13mm wide, the capacity itself will depend on what is being put into the pocket/wallet, our studio can advise you on the thickness needed if you can tell them how many sheets you are inserting and what stock they are.

It is also worth thinking about where the tabs will sit, as if you are putting inserts into a wallet with a top opening, you don’t want a tab at the bottom, as the inserts may well get stuck on this and not fit snugly into the wallet. On the job above, it does have a bottom tab, this was due to the yield being better setting it up this way as we could get 2 copies to a sheet. Another consideration with pockets etc. is the orientation of the artwork, so if you have an image running from the folder onto the pocket, then the image on the pocket will need to be rotated 180 degrees so that it shows the correct way up when the pocket is folded up to its final position.

The die makers we use are vastly experienced, so if there are some small tweaks needed to the guide which will improve the design, or produce a better result, they will make any necessary amends. Our pre-press studio know how best to set up a job for die-cutting, so if you are looking to get several items (the same shape and size) out of one sheet, don’t worry about producing multiple guides, we will lay it up to be most economical in terms of cost per tool, and usage of paper.

Once you have your guide set up, save it (artwork included) as a hi-res PDF and send it over as you usually would.

If you do have any questions regarding cutter guides, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch and one of our team will be more than happy to help out.

Please note, whilst the above guide has dimensions on it, there is no need to add the dimensions, this was done so a client could see exactly what dimensions we were working with.

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Elements of Design – Info graphic

Newman Thomson — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 13:36:08 +0000

The essential elements of design, lines, shapes, colours, size, texture, space and values. These ‘rules’ form a good foundation for a solid piece of design work, however, that does not mean that they are unbreakable. Pushing the boundaries, can often produce impressive results, however it is essential to understand the basics before pushing further. Some, if not all of these elements will appear in all well designed items. For more design and print related info-graphics why not have a look at the 10 Commandments of logo design and the 10 Commandments of typography.

Credit Paper Leaf Design for the original artwork

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A brief history of print – info graphic

Newman Thomson — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 13:31:18 +0000

A simple pictorial breakdown of the history of print and how it has changed over the ages.

Printing is often seen as an ancient invention, and relative to some things, e.g human flight, space travel, the internet, then it is. Print as we know it has been around for approximately 1,800 years, that’s around 100 years after the first ‘steam engine’ (The Aeolipile) had been described and most likely invented by the Hero of Alexandria. Print is also a relative newcomer in comparison to strung musical instruments and the first pyramids by over 2,600 years.

Click here, or the image below to see the full size version.

Credit – www.uprinting.com for original info graphic

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Digital Vs. Litho Printing, what are the differences? Info Graphic

Newman Thomson — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 13:45:20 +0000

Digital print has come a long way in the last few years, however it does still differ from Litho in a number of ways, click on the image below to see our differences between Digital and Litho info graphic. Originally deemed inferior to litho printing, digital has now truly come of age and the difference in most cases is indistinguishable in terms of quality to litho. There are of course still advantages to using litho, the main one being speed, and the fact once you’ve hit the point where litho becomes economical, it represents very good value for money.

Digital vs Litho print

General notes:

Digital is more suitable for shorter runs and Litho for longer runs. We have already established that digital is more cost and time effective on shorter run jobs, and that the quality of print is pretty much equal to that of litho. So, what else differentiates the two then?

Digital tends to produce a single copy of a file, so if you have a 28pp self cover document of which you want 100 copies, a digital press will produce 100 collated copies of a 28pp document, which will then need binding, and any other finishing (trimming etc.).

A litho press would produce 100 copies of the first sheet (so OFC, IFC, OBC and IBC) then 100 copies of the next sheet, and so on, which would then need collating, followed by whatever finishing was specified by the client.

Litho printing requires plates being made to transfer the image to the paper, a digital press simply uses a file to print from much like you home desktop printer, though obviously on a totally different scale.

Downtime between jobs and set-up times are much less on a digital press.

Different stocks

Most litho presses can run down to around 90gsm stocks if you wanted them to, and up to 450gsm, the digital presses tend to run around 115gsm lowest and up to around 350gsm.

There are specific stocks designed for digital and litho printing, though increasingly more stocks are compatible across both methods.

DPI

This is where digital has an advantage, a digital press can produce decent quality images from a 150dpi file, a traditional litho press would need 300dpi minimum to create the same results. Whislt this doesn’t mean you can print web graphics at an acceptable level of quality, it is a little more forgiving.

Overprinting

It is worth considering that if you plan to overprint the job (i.e. it will be going through another printing process such as a desktop printer) then some digital press processes are not compatible as the image will be melted in the process.

Variable Data

This makes each print a unique print and as such is most suited to Digital printing. The use of this service will considerably increase the return on investment and response rate for mailing campaigns compared with the shotgun approach.

To learn more Wikipedia has this to say about digital printing.

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Newman Thomson Info Graphic

Newman Thomson — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 14:52:02 +0000

Want to find out a bit more about us, who we are, and what we do? Check out our Newman Thomson info graphic, we’ve put some quick interesting facts together giving a brief insight into what makes us who we are. You can keep up to date with current goings on at Newman Thomson by signing up for our monthly newsletter, which you can do by filling in the form at the bottom of this page.

If you want to know a bit more detail about the kit we use to produce your jobs, such as our Heidelberg presses, then have a look at our plant list here, or if you want to learn a bit more about the differences between digital, and litho printing, check out this info graphic. You can find more out about our company history by clicking here, and you can find out information about our team members here. Got any more print related questions you’d like to ask us, then get in touch with us, we love talking about print. You can find all the different methods of getting in touch with us here. Is there anything relating to print that you would like to see an info graphic on, then please let us know. For more information regarding the world of print, you can check out our glossary of print terms which should give you all the terminology that you need.

Click on the image below to view our Newman Thomson Info Graphic.

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Printing Glossary

Newman Thomson — Wed, 30 May 2018 10:22:06 +0000

Printing Glossary

The terminology of the print industry can be confusing, even if you’re in the trade, so to help you out with some of the more commonly used terms, we’ve put together a printing glossary. If you would like to put all your new found lingo into context, then head over to our artwork guide where you will find a series of hints, tricks and tips to produce the perfect print document.

A sizes
The most common paper size used for general printing

Acetate
A thin, flexible sheet of transparent plastic used to make overlays

Adobe Illustrator
A vector based graphic drawing program developed by Adobe

Adobe Photoshop
Graphics editing program, current and primary market leader for non-vector images, and image manipulation/editing developed by Adobe

A/W
Abbreviation for artwork

Against the grain
At right angles to the direction of the grain in the paper

Art paper
A range of smooth papers with a filled surface

B sizes
Paper sizes which are mainly used for large format printing (in our case B2 for Litho and B2 and B3 for digital)

Back up
Printing on the reverse side of a sheet

Binding
A method of joining sheets of paper

Bitmap
A grid of printed dots generated by computer to represent type and images. The more you zoom in the more pixelated it becomes, until it is just a section of individually coloured squares

Bleed
Where the colour or an image continues off the edge of the paper

Blanket
A rubber surfaced fabric that is clamped around a cylinder on a litho press, to which the image is transferred from the plate and from which it is then transferred to the paper

Blend
A smooth transition between two colours, also known as gradient

Blind emboss
Process of raising letters or designs on paper onto which no image has been printed

Bond paper
A quality grade of paper suitable for office stationery

Blocking
To impress or stamp a design into a cover. Most commonly seen on case bound book covers

Board
Although there is no formal rule, paper exceeding 170gsm is usually referred to as board

C sizes
The size of an envelope, e.g. C3, C4, C5, etc.

Carbonless paper
Paper coated with chemicals to enable the transfer of images from one sheet to another with pressure writing or typing, also known as NCR paper

Case bound
A hardback book made with stiff outer covers. Case bound books are usually covered with cloth, vinyl or leather

Cast coated
A coated paper with a very high gloss enamel finish

Choking (also known as Trapping)
When space left for a foreground image is reduced to avoid underlapping

Clip art
Graphics saved in ready-to-use computer files usually included with shipped desktop publishing solutions such as Microsoft Word, or PowerPoint

Clipping path
Closed vector path or shape used to remove the background of an image in image editing software such as Photoshop

CMYK
Letters which stand for Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) and Key (Black) (K) the standard inks used in a 4 colour process press

Coater
Part of a litho press, which applies coatings to printed literature (see coating)

Coating
A water based coating applied to printed matter during printing to protect from ink smudging and enhance appearance

Collating
Arranging of printed sheets into a desired sequence

Colour mark-up
Specifications for colours on a piece of artwork sent to a printer

Colour separation
Process by which an image is separated into the four colours for print production (see CMYK)

Comb Binding
Binding inserting flexible plastic teeth into pre-punched holes along the edge of the document

Computer to plate
(CTP) The production of printing plates directly from the computer

Concertina fold
Folding a leaflet or booklet where each fold opens in the opposite direction to its neighbour

Continuous stationery
Forms which are produced from reels of paper and then fan folded

Creep
When the middle pages of a folded section extend slightly beyond the outside pages

Crease
To mechanically press a rule or die into heavy paper to enable it to be folded without cracking the ink

Crop
To trim or frame the edges of a picture or page to make it fit or remove unwanted sections

Crop marks
Printed lines on the edge of paper indicating where the paper should be cut

Cyan
The blue shade of CMYK

Die cut
A shaped printed product, often used for achieving unusually-shaped flyers, business cards, pocket folders, brochures or shelf wobblers. Die-cutting is the process of achieving the desired die-cut shape. We have downloadable cutter guides here

Digital printing
Printing straight from electronic artwork. Ideal for short runs up to about the 1000 mark, no need for plate making so usually more cost effective on shorter runs

Debossing
Pressing an image into paper so it lies below the surface, the opposite of embossing

Density
Opacity of printed images

Dot gain
A defect in which dots print larger than intended, causing darker colours or tones. This is caused by the spreading of ink on the paper stock

Digital proofing
Proofing direct from digital files instead of using film, now the most popular form of proofing

Desktop publishing
The creation of artwork and print from your computer using software such as Adobe InDesign or similar

DL envelope
A standard envelope size measuring 110mm x 220mm. They take A4 sheets, folded into three

Dots per square inch (DPI)
Indicates the resolution of an image. The more dots per square inch, the larger it can be printed and the higher the resolution (quality) of the image, a minimum of 300DPI at 100% image size should be used for any print files to achieve a good quality image

Duplex
Printing on both sides of a sheet of paper

Duotone
An image printed using two colours rather than one

Drilling
Drilling holes in paper so it can be used in a ring binder

Dummy
A sample made up with the actual materials and cut to size. Unlike a proof which is usually supplied as a pdf and shows what the finished product will look like, a dummy is a hard copy which still requires further work to get it to the finished article.

Embed
Putting data into a computer file, allowing the elements to be changed

Encapsulation
Plastic coating providing a rigid, watertight covering for printed matter

Embossing
The process of raising letters or designs on card or paper, the opposite of debossing

Encapsulated Postscript File (EPS)
This is a file format, which can be read across different programs on MAC or PC computers

Finishing
All operations post printing (e.g. guillotining, folding, binding, laminating etc.)

Foil Emboss
To emboss an image then apply a foil to it, often seen on hard back casebound books

Folio
Page numbers

Font
The type design for writing in a print document

Font matching
Finding the closest possible match when a chosen font is not available

Four colour process
Full colour printing using four constituent colours: Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) and Key (black) (K)

Format
Size, shape and overall style of layout or printed project

French fold
Two folds at right angles to each other

Full colour
Process using the four basic printing colours, cyan, magenta, yellow and black (see four colour process)

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
A network protocol used to transfer data (most commonly artwork) from one computer to another through a network such as the Internet

Grain of the paper
Paper is made up of many fibres, which usually line up in one direction. This produces a direction or grain along which it is easier to fold, bend or tear paper

Gloss varnish
A varnish applied to printed matter to protect against smudging and finger marking and gives a gloss finish

Greyscale
Shades of grey ranging from black to white

Gripper
A device on a printing machine for holding the sheet during the printing or finishing process

Gripper allowance
The margin of paper which is held by the gripper and cannot be printed on

Grams per Square Metre (GSM)
Measurement of a paper’s weight, paper can also be measured in microns as well

Gutter
The inside margins or blank space between 2 facing pages to allow for binding

Gusset
Expandable portion of a pocketed folder or envelope

Halftone
Picture with a combination of shades of tone created by varying dot sizes

Hickey
Spots or imperfections in printed items due to dirt whilst printing

House Sheet
Term referring to a paper that is used by the printer as their ‘own’ stock, usually held in large quantities and used when a client doesn’t specify a particular stock

Hue
The main attribute of a colour which distinguishes it from other colours

IBC
Inside Back Cover

IFC
Inside Front Cover

Image area
Portion of paper where printed ink appears

Image setter
A device that plots high-resolution images

Import
To bring a picture or text into an application ready for design work

Indicia
The section for postal information on a printed product

Ivory board
A highly finished paperboard used for business cards

Imposition
The arrangement of pages so they are in the correct sequence when folded

Insert
Printed material inserted loose in a publication

Job Definition Format (JDF)
This is a type of computer language which automates workflow from desktop to final print production

Job ticket/job sheet
Alternative names for an order

Jog
To shake a stack of paper, either on a machine or by hand, so that the edges line up

Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
One of the most common file formats for image files

Justified
When text is aligned to the left and right margins

K
The black ink used in the CMYK process, named K so as not to be confused with Blue

Kerning
Adjusting the space between characters in text, not to be confused with tracking

Kiss cut
A type of cut used to cut through the substrate (top layer) but leave the bottom sheet (backing paper) untouched

Knockout
A shape or object printed by eliminating all background colours

Kraft paper
A tough brown paper used for packing

Laminating
A thin plastic film used on printed literature to give protection, commonly available in gloss or matt.

Layout file
The file where all the design elements of the print are kept

Line copy
A document consisting of two tones without gradation

Lithographic (Litho) printing
Transferring an image onto a set of ‘plates’ which then transfers the ink onto the sheet. Ideal for larger runs, traditionally deemed the best quality, though digital print is equal nowadays

Lines per inch (LPI)
A measurement of printing resolution consisting of halftones mixed together to create different tones. It measures how close the lines in a halftone grid are

Magenta
The red colour in the CMYK four colour process

Matt coating
A coating which gives a matt finish as well as protecting the document from fingerprints

Machine fold
The process of mechanically folding paper

Machine varnish
A varnish applied to print to protect it against smudging or finger marking

Micrometer
Instrument for measuring thickness of paper

Moiree
A Printing fault where halftones appear as patterns of dots, also known as cross-screening.

No carbon required (NCR)
Ideal for handwritten forms that require duplicate copies, see also carbonless paper

OBC
Outside Front Cover

OFC
Outside Front Cover

Offset litho
A printing process where the image is transferred to a rubber layer before coming into contact with the paper

Overs
Extra printed products delivered to a customer in addition to the quantity they ordered

Pagination
The term for the numbering of a book

Pantone
A registered trade name for the Pantone Matching System, a system of colour matching used to ensure consisitency across all medias (digital, print, vinyl etc)

Portable document format (PDF)
A file which captures and sends electronic documents in the exact intended format, the industry standard

Perfect binding
Form of bookbinding where the pages are glued rather than sewn, requires a spine

Perfected press
A press which prints on both sides of a sheet of paper during a single pass through the press

Perforation
A dotted score to allow paper to be torn off easily, often used for tickets and vouchers

Plate Setter
Machine that imges plates from a digital file (i.e. PDF)

Printing plate
A metal plate to which the image is transferred before going onto paper used in litho printing

Proof
An exact sample of print to be checked for errors, available in digital (virtual), and hard (physical) versions

QuarkXPress
Formerly an industry standard computer application for creating and editing print files, now mostly replaced by Adobe InDesign

Ream
The name for 500 sheets of paper

Register
Positioning of images on a sheet relative to one another

Resolution
Measurement of image quality – see also dots per square inch (DPI) ideally needs to be minimum of 300dpi at 100% scale for high quality print

Reversed out
White type on a black or coloured background

RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
A three colour split which is typically used for web based images, see CMYK

Raster image processor (RIP)
A processor which converts files into a bitmap format ready for printing

Rosette
Where the four colours of CMYK overlap each other in cluster in right angles to one another and resemble the petals of a rose

Saddle-stitch
When the pages of a document are bound together using metal staples, does not use a spine

Scans
The name given to hard copies of a document which have been converted to a bitmap image

Self-cover
Where the paper used for the cover of a bound document is the same as the interior pages

Set off
The unintentional transfer of wet ink to another sheet

Sheet fed press
Presses which are fed by single pieces of paper rather than a continuous roll

Show through
The degree to which printing is visible through paper, not a desirable effect

Shrink wrapping
A method of packing where the product is wrapped in a thin, clear plastic sheet and blasted with heat to make it shrink to the size of the parcel

Special colour
A colour which cannot be made up of the four CMYK colours

Spread
A reader’s spread is the consecutive placement of pages. A printer’s spread is the position of pages based on how many pages are in the document

Tint
A shade or variety of a colour

Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)
A type of file which stores an image

Trapping
Overlapping colours to eliminate the white lines that can appear between them

Typesetting
Assembling of text and pictures to create a page

Typo
Short for ‘typographical error’ aka a mistake

UV Varnish
A finish which is applied after printing then dried using a UV Lamp

Vector
Infinitely scaleable image, usually produced in Adobe Illustrator or similar programmes

Visual
A preliminary layout of a design, also known as a mock-up

Web fed press
Presses which are fed by paper from a reel rather than separate sheets, used for very high volume jobs

Yellow
The Yellow colour in the CMYK four colour process

Z Fold
A leaflet that is folded into 3 pages in the pattern of a Z

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