54
votes
Accepted
Is Pantone becoming antiquated?
Other answers have described in detail why you can't expect 100% color likeness when printing with Pantone inks (mainly because they are not colors but inks).
My guess is that it leaves you with the ...
- 20.6k
42
votes
What is the best software for creating exam paper template?
LaTeX is meant exactly for stuff like this. LaTeX is a programming language of sorts, designed with the explicit purpose of typesetting documents... like, say, an essay template. It spits out nice, ...
35
votes
Is Pantone becoming antiquated?
Yeah, you are totally missing something . . . the actual purpose the Pantone system is used for.
There is natural variation in colour when printing on a commercial printing press. (Not talking about ...
- 83.6k
30
votes
What home printer would allow for exact alignment of front and back?
None.
End user printers are not designed for perfect registrations. None of them. It should always be expected that paper will shift and move slightly and never be pulled through the printer in the ...
- 208k
26
votes
Accepted
Do not overprint black text over metallic Pantone colors
Transparent inks can't stick to the surface of metallic inks.
We've recently had this problem at the offset print house where I work. We wanted to print a black and white image where all the white ...
- 20.6k
21
votes
Is it okay to set a project price significantly higher than the printing costs?
Print costs have nothing to do with the design costs. These are two separate things.
A design could be simple taking an hour or less, or it could be complex and take many hours of work, but the cost ...
- 83.6k
21
votes
Confusion about how bleed works
There are 3 areas...
Trim
Safety
Bleed
Trim is the final delivered size of the piece.If you order an A3 flyer, then the trim is the dimension of the A3 (29.7 x 42.0cm)
Safety is the margin inside ...
- 208k
19
votes
What home printer would allow for exact alignment of front and back?
The only kind of sheet fed printers I know of that can achieve accurate registration are printing presses. They have suckers to lift each sheet, and mechanical lays to push or pull the paper into the ...
- 83.6k
18
votes
Accepted
How can I bend artwork by 25°?
Use the 'Warp' feature in Illustrator (for vector artwork)
create your artwork inside a straight rectangle
group and select the artwork
with this selected, hit Ctrl+Shift+Alt+W which opens up the '...
- 29.1k
17
votes
What printing process is this?
You're describing offset lithography. The maroon (and silver) metal plate was the actual printing plate made by a photomechanical process in a process camera then in a contact printing frame 1:1.
In ...
- 5,041
16
votes
Accepted
Using Google Fonts for print work
It's completely fine to use them. Google Fonts are all open source, so you can use them for whatever you like.
However, they are mostly screen fonts. In other words, they're mostly designed to look ...
- 4,180
15
votes
Accepted
How to print image file so that it blends with 100% black
The black in the bike needs to match the background black.
If the background is 100% K, the bike needs to also be 100%k.
If the background is 40C0M0Y100K, then the bike needs to be 40C0M0Y100K
It ...
- 208k
15
votes
Is Pantone becoming antiquated?
Let me explore. Some are obvious things. Others need to be further explored.
We had a printing company print 100,000 stickers and even between this
batch there were slight changes of hue
First, we ...
- 36.2k
14
votes
Using a clients font to print their files
Each and every foundry has an End User license Agreement (EULA) for their fonts. They all vary to some degree. Some EULAs may forbid the client from ever sending you files to begin. Some EULAs state (...
- 208k
13
votes
Is it okay to set a project price significantly higher than the printing costs?
In a capitalistic world... you are free to charge whatever you want to charge. It makes no difference if you charge 100%, 200%, 500%, or 1000% more than any printing costs.
The only thing which ...
- 208k
12
votes
How to check if a PDF file is in RGB or CMYK?
A simple way is opening the PDF in Adobe Acrobat and checking out Overprint Preview.
The button looks like this:
It opens this window:
Under Show you can filter which color mode you want to see. Set ...
- 20.6k
11
votes
Accepted
How heavy should ink coverage be for a custom CMYK rich black?
There is no answer to your question as such: everything above C0M0Y0K100 is darker than process black. However, consider that 100% ink means that your printer fills the entire raster, while 25 fills ...
- 57.6k
10
votes
Accepted
Why don't we see more of hexachrome to this day?
I know this is an old post, but it deserves some more info.
The reason Hexichrome was discontinued is multi-part, but all rooted to profit. It really didn't die. It just changed form.
Hexichrome ...
- 166
10
votes
Accepted
Select all objects with the same color in Illustrator
Choose an object then simply go to 'Select → Same → Fill color' and this will select everything in that fill color. Note this only works for the exact same color code, it will not work for similar ...
- 29.1k
9
votes
Accepted
What is a critical spine and when should I avoid it?
My guess: their bindery equipment cannot guarantee to fold/score exactly on the line between your colored spine and the white cover(s). Same thing applies in three-fold brochures. I call it a "design ...
- 110
9
votes
Physical paper weight reference
Such a thing does not exist, unfortunately. The sheer number of paper and board suppliers, the vast number of substrates that most of them produce and the constant innovation mean that you could never ...
- 9,498
9
votes
Accepted
Why is Illustrator changing my CMYK numbers?
Your document might be set up as RGB. Check that via 'File → Document Color Mode' and switch to CMYK if needed. Then update your objects again to use CMYK values.
- 29.1k
9
votes
Accepted
What is the best software for creating exam paper template?
Photoshop is probably the last choice for this type of work.
InDesign could work better as it can natively create a 'facing pages' document, meaning left & right page templates and yes with the ...
- 29.1k
9
votes
How do you a get graphic both in front of and behind text like this?
Although it looks like a one-piece symbol, the heart icon is most likely made up of 2 shapes. Part of it will float over and part under the actual wording.
- 29.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to have a lower/higher quality of Pantone inks and what influences it?
Interesting question.
Pantone is not a manufacturer of inks, Pantone is a color matching system.
When you're using Pantone colours
You are not using a "Pantone color", you are using a color that ...
- 36.2k
9
votes
Accepted
How do I set up non-rectangular paper shapes for printing in Adobe Illustrator?
You should really ask the print shop about how to set up your file. They should be able to send you a template of the punch form used and give you some guidance.
That said, a PDF can only ever be ...
- 20.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Outline consecutive numbers up to 132 to be used as stickers
Here's a super-fast workaround:
Use Indesign, place "current page number" in your Master page...
Open page 1 "Numbering & Section Options", then select style 001,002,003...
Finally, in the page ...
- 4,583
7
votes
Accepted
Illustrator - communicating with printing company
Send each print project separately. That means split your AI document into 1 artboard per project. And you can then designate the quantity desired for FileXXXX.pdf, etc.
With varying quantities, ...
- 208k
7
votes
How heavy should ink coverage be for a custom CMYK rich black?
Ok, I think this question is quite difficult to answer because there could potentially be many variables at play. I'm just going to concentrate on the practicalities of printing the job, so you don't ...
- 83.6k
7
votes
How heavy should ink coverage be for a custom CMYK rich black?
200%-300% Never over 400% sweet spot is ~220-250%
Generally you base the % coverage of inks off several factors.
Your 4-color proof
Paper weight being used <---Most important
Paper color (Cyan vs ...
- 5,236
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