JRN 302: Introduction to Graphics and Visual Communication - Commercial Printing Wednesday, 7/22/15

Class Objectives Lecture Commercial Printing Designing for Print Homework assignments ID Tutorial due by the end of class Thursday

Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black(k) Color mixture in print Subtractive: all added together make black Due to impurities of ink, all added together really makes it muddy brown, so we add black ink CMYK (review)

Best practices when working in Photoshop (review) CMYK has a smaller number range of color than RGB, therefore you will be unable to do everything in Photoshop when in this mode Best advice, always start in RGB and make your all of your changes, then, as a last step, convert to CMYK image mode.

Limitations of RGB and CMYK modes and Photoshop CMYK is limited in color representation. Most filters only work in RGB CMYK doesn’t have nice pinks or bright greens RGB’s yellows and oranges are lesser Even though you're working in CMYK mode, your monitor is RGB so Photoshop is converting these values continuously (used to slow computer down) When will you see a change? If you use somewhat “neon- looking” colors

Photoshop Color Warnings Pay attention to out-of- gamut for printing Ignore warning about ‘not web safe’

When to use CMYK (review) If you are working as a graphic designer and will be sending your image to a commercial printer, you will need to convert to CMYK If not, they will charge you an extra fee to do this

Types of commercial printing presses Sheet-Fed Offset Printer Mainly used to print brochures, magazine advertisements, cards, etc. Uses sheets of paper Web-Fed Offset Printer Mainly used with newspaper printing Uses a continuous roll of paper -M (5 minutes) -M

Printing Presses Determine # of colors by “humps” Presses can only print 1 ink at a time

6 color press prints 6 inks at one pass CYANCYAN MAGENTAMAGENTA YELLOWYELLOW BLACKBLACK VARNISHVARNISH SPOTSPOT

4 color press prints 4 inks CYANCYAN MAGENTAMAGENTA YELLOWYELLOW BLACKBLACK

Where do you add the ink? At the top of each press hump

2 methods for printing color on a press Process Overlapping of cyan, magenta, yellow and black Colors do not mix on paper; your eye mixes color Spot The printing ink is just the right color you want

Process colors Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black These are printer's primaries and can be combined to create the majority of visible ink colors. Again, they do not blend together… your eye blends the dots on the page Do not confuse 4 inks colors to mean you can only print 4 colors

When to use Process Inks Most of your print jobs will be done in process (cymk) inks Positive: good for complex imagery (photographs) Process is “generic” ink Compare to generic soda pop Positive: cheap (esp. if your print job is not color sensitive) Negative: color may not be the same  Different ink manufacturers  Different presses (some run “hot”, others run “cold”)

What is Spot Color Instead of using a “generic” ink, you select the exact ink/color you want to use The most common spot color system is Pantone Is the main international reference for selecting, specifying, matching and controlling ink colors. In Photoshop, to see Pantone colors, click on your Foreground Color, and select Color Libraries.

Pantone Matching System (PMS) An international color language that helps the designer to communicate colors for reproduction Each ink color is assigned a PMS number and is created using a specific formula. When a commercial printer uses Pantone colors, they buy that specific ink and load it into their printing press. Do not need to mix inks to get Pantone color

When to use spot color To maintain consistent color In a logo, you want to make sure your red is the same red, not matter what ink brand or press it runs on With a spot ink/color, the color reproduction will be identical every time you print No matter where you print your job  Different printers  Different materials (labels, t-shirts, brochures on plastics, paper, fabric, etc.)

When to use spot color To reduce costs In a 2 color job, use black and Pantone Red #whatever and Pantone Blue #whatever… job can be run on 2 “hump” (ink) press If you don’t specify a Pantone color, the red will be made up of cmyk… and job is now a 4 ink job

When to use spot color Certain colors can’t be mixed Metallics can’t be mixed by using cmyk Example, Purdue logo is officially old gold Pantone1245 (uncoated) and black Cheap work around is they use yellow or brown instead of gold so you don’t have to pay for spot inks in a printed piece Remember, colors on your monitor may not look the same as those printed