1. Keep your logo simple – an over complicated logo will appear harder to read the smaller it is, you also need to consider how your logo will look in other media’s i.e. sign-writing in cut vinyl
2. Do not add tone to your logo – once again, tone is impossible to replicate in cut vinyls, and may also appear differently if using the logo in black and white, or printed at lower resolution i.e. newsprint.
3. Do not use raster images – as someone who works with print you will be familiar with why we prefer using vector images or at least a minimum of 300dpi, otherwise you run the risk of the logo appearing pixelated when it is scaled up.
4. Your logo should be scalable – again, as above you need a logo that doesn’t lose quality when it is scaled up, think billboards, or large posters.
5. Do not use too many colours – the more colours you use, the more visually distracting the logo becomes, making it harder for the viewer to see what it actually represents.
6. Too many fonts kill the charm – at the most stick to two fonts, the ‘the 10 commandments of typography’ which you can find here does a good job of explaining why this rule is important.
7. Do not outline your logo – adding an outline or ‘stroke’ to your logo adds nothing, again its a visual distraction adding more noise.
8. Do not write on your logo – a seemingly obvious one, your logo should convey enough information in the text part of it, without having to add text to the logo itself.
9. Avoid putting the logo in a box – there shouldn’t be a reason for putting a box around your logo, it should be able to hold itself together well enough without needing a frame.
10. And lastly, flat doesn’t mean an icon – just because the current trend is ‘flat design’ doesn’t mean that it has to look like an app icon.

Credit to Designmantic for the original artwork

The post The 10 Commandments of Logo Design first appeared on Newman Thomson.

1. Know your font families – GHOTMS, Geometric Sans, Humanist Sans, Old Style, Transitional, Modern, Slab Serifs
2. 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)
3. Combine a serif font with a sans-serif font – the same as above, just turned upside down
4. 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
5. Contrast is key – See points 2 and 3
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Combine fonts of complimentary moods and periods in time – it stands to reason that these will ‘get on’.
9. Use different weights of fonts from the same families – they were designed to match up, so make use of that.
10. 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.

The post The 10 Commandments of Typography first appeared on Newman Thomson.

Credit Paper Leaf Design for the original artwork

The post Elements of Design – Info graphic first appeared on Newman Thomson.

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.

The post Digital Vs. Litho Printing, what are the differences? Info Graphic first appeared on Newman Thomson.

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.

The post Newman Thomson Info Graphic first appeared on Newman Thomson.

When setting up perfect bound jobs, or one with PUR Binding or Burst Binding and ‘Read Across’ (whereby you have text or images flowing across from the inside front cover onto the first text page) there are some important things to consider to avoid the image or text showing incorrectly. Read on to find out more about setting up perfect bound jobs.

The above types of binding use a hinge system where a small sliver of the inside front cover, the spine and a small sliver of the inside rear covers are glued to the text pages, therefore these parts become invisible once the document is bound.

The illustration below shows this glued area in red.

The correct way to set up a job like this is to use two separate copies of the same image (one on the IFC and one on Page 1), with the left hand edge of the image on Page 1 perfectly following on from the right hand edge of the image on the IFC.

You can see an example of this below with the hinge area shown in white, though in InDesign for example this gap would not show.

Below is how the finished bound document would appear.

Below is an example of where the image is one image flowed across the two pages, and would end up with part of the image being swallowed up into the glued area.

Below is how the the finished bound document would appear if the job had been set up incorrectly, with a slice of the image (the width of the glued section) missing, causing the image to appear misaligned.

This process can also be applied to the last text page onto the Inside Rear Cover.

If you require any more information on how to set up your print job, please contact us, and our experienced Studio team will be able to advise on the best solution.

To see other different types of bindings, click here.

The post Setting up perfect bound jobs first appeared on Newman Thomson.

If you need any more help, or have any questions regarding mailing, or paper weights etc, please don’t hesitate to contact us, or give one of our friendly knowledgeable team a call on 01444 480700.

Listed below are the current (as of 15/08/2017) Royal Mail weights and dimensions for postage categories; Letter, Large Letter, Small Parcel and Large Parce. For more information on postage details please visit Royal Mail’s website here.

The post Paper weight calculator first appeared on Newman Thomson.

Here at Newman Thomson we can offer a wide range of folding and binding options for your digital or litho print job, whether it’s a 4 page leaflet with a simple single fold single sheet , or a perfect bound book you can be sure our expert team produce exactly the result you are after. Our binding guide below gives you a visual representation on what’s what and how it works.

Below are examples of the most common folds and bindings which we offer. For more information about setting up your artwork for specific types of job, please visit our artwork guide here, contact us here, or call our friendly and knowledgeable team on 01444 480700.

We have a selection of templates available for die cut folders here.

 

4 page single fold	6 page gate fold	8 page gate fold	6 page concertina fold	6 page standard fold
8 page parallel double fold	8 page concertina fold	Broadsheet SRA2 double folded to A4	6 page gate fold with flip	8 page parallel map fold
8 page reverse map fold	10 page concertina fold	12 page standard letter fold	12 page concertina letter fold	endorsement fold
portrait (upright)	landscape (wide)	6pp cover with text-throw-out at front & back	cover, flysheet & text	cover with two text sections
perfect bound	folder with diagonal pockets	folder with horizontal pocket	folder with vertical pocket	folder with L shaped pocket
saddle stitching	stab	wiro binding	loop stitching

The post Binding Guide first appeared on Newman Thomson.

The post Cutter Guides first appeared on Newman Thomson.

A Series is used for most standard sized general printing jobs.

A Series Paper Sizes

B Series Paper Sizes

Envelope Sizes

These are just a few of the standard envelopes available.

C Series Paper Sizes (Envelopes)

Magnification/Reduction scales for A Series Papers

The post Paper Sizes first appeared on Newman Thomson.