From now until June 20th, the Summer Solstice, get savings of 10% when you purchase a website development, graphic design, logo design, video or slide design, or ad design service!
That’s right, we’re excited about Spring time growth, so when you order one of the services below, we’ll give you a 10% discount on the price.
The offer extends to these products and services:
New website design
Upgraded website design
Blog design and setup
Social Media custom profile images and design
Graphic design for collateral, stationery, posters, flyers, etc.
Logo design
Video editing, slide, & presentation design
Illustration
Ad & marketing design (website banners, print ads, Facebook ads, and Google ads)
*Note that this discount does not apply to design and development time banks, website SEO plans, website maintenance programs, or blog & social media plans since these programs are already discounted.
In a previous post we talked about the difference between in using color online and in print; we mentioned CMYK process, spot color, and Pantone colors in reference to print and in this post, we’ll go over the print process itself, whether to choose traditional lithographic offset print or modern digital print for your commercial print projects.
Traditional Print
Traditional commercial printing involves the use of industrial lithographic (or litho) offset printing presses, varying in size and capability from small single color, single sided letter-sized machines, right up to massive presses capable of printing four color CMYK process, spot colors, varnishes and double sided on large sheets, all at the same time.
Modern presses may or may not have integrated color management, meaning that color mix and density information is sent to the press from the computer system that processed the print job.
The print process itself relies on the fact that water repels by oil. A printing plate is produced that contains blank areas (that absorb water, thus repulsing ink)) and image areas (that attract oil, repulsing water). This plate, among others in the print job, is attached to a cylinder on the press; both water and ink are applied to plate on the cylinder and the ink, being oily, attaches to the image areas of the plate and is repelled from the blank areas of the plate by the water. The ink on the image area is then transferred to a second cylinder that holds a rubber blanket; this blanket in turn presses the ink onto a sheet of paper with the aid of the impression cylinder, creating the printed sheet.
This complex, mechanical process does make for a high quality finished print, but the presses and other equipment required are large, expensive, and complex in themselves. For this fact, offset printing, as well as other lithographic print process, sits squarely with commercial print operators.
Pros
Very high quality results can be achieved with the finished printed product
Color reproduction is very accurate, which makes it easy to guarantee consistent results, accurate to designer expectations
Price per unit is very low for medium-to-long run print jobs with large sheets
Cons
Expensive at low run quantities; many print operators will have a minimum quantity for offset print jobs
Expect a longer turn-around time for offset print jobs, since setup is complex and time-consuming
Proofing and edits can also be time-consuming due tot he long turn-around times
Litho printing has a higher environmental footprint since more chemicals are used
Digital Print
Digital print, in contrast to the industrial machines of litho print, uses machinery that is not too dissimilar to the inkjet or laser printer that you have in your office. In fact, some of them are remarkably similar, and the technology is starting to merge.
The main difference is the printing technique itself. Whereas litho offset uses printers’ plates, offset blankets, and impression cylinders to get the ink from the reservoir onto the paper, the digital press uses a print head, just like your office printer, but of much high quality and accuracy.
Like your office printer, digital presses uses CMYK ink cartridges, and in some cases the also have additional colors, such as light cyan or light magenta to increase the gamut of the color mixes that they can produce. But even with these additional colors, the color spectrum of digital machines is still limited and they are not as capable of producing the high quality, accurate results of a litho offset press, especially when it comes to solid Pantone colors or metallics, for instance.
That being said, quality results can be achieved, and for the price you pay, you get job flexibility and speed that you won’t get with offset print.
Pros
Easier to make edits and design changes, virtually ‘on-the-fly’.
Print jobs on digital machines have a low setup and turn-around time, with no minimum quantity
Price per unit is very low for short to medium run print jobs on smaller sheets
Newer technologies, such as Variable Data printing can be integrated with digital print machines
Low environmental footprint
Cons
Print quality and color management is good, but not always as accurate or consistent as traditional lithographic print
Quality and consistency is not so good with longer runs or large sheets
In Conclusion
So which method is right for you: digital or litho offset? Well it largely depends on the exact requirements of the job:
If your print run is high, your page size is big, or your color matching and quality are of primary importance, opt for litho offset
If your print run is low, if you’re not too concerned about have the best quality, of if you are restricted by budget, opt for digital
In some instances, the choice will be made for you:
If you’re printing a magazine or book-type publication, then you should opt for litho offset
If you need variable data print, then you’ll have to opt for digital
As for commercial operators, you’ll both traditional and digital high-street print operations wherever you are. Many print operators have machinery for both processes, as well as in-house design and print finishing services.
And of course, searching online will reveal a swathe of online print companies that provide virtually every service you can think of in regards to a print job. These online companies will tend to follow the same outlines as above – litho for long runs, digital for short.
If you need any additional help or advice regarding print projects, please don’t hesitate to contact Gleneden Ridge Design. We’d be happy to help!
These days, everything is online, especially at the moment with the COVID-19 pandemic continually looming over us. We browse online, shop online, chat online and we even watch TV online. So, with all of this electronic media and streaming going on, how are traditional brochures and flyers still relevant today?
The simple answer is ‘Yes’! But why?
Print Collateral
Print is still an important media. People like to pick up, feel things, and read things. And in certain scenarios, such as trade shows for instance, this is especially important, as show visitors like to wander around and collect collateral and trinkets from vendors on display for review later.
That being said, printed material is in decline, however, the requirement for business collateral is as strong as ever, but the focus for of the graphic designer has shifted. Even if companies no longer need to have boxes of hundreds of printed leaflets lying around, they still have the need for similar collateral pieces in an electronic format that can be emailed or downloaded, such as an ebook for instance, or other online or PDF-based document.
Adding Functionality
From an overall graphic design perspective, little has changed. the designer still takes a brief from the client, puts together his rough visuals, reviews them with the client, then adjusts them, creates the collateral design, and edits and finalizes the piece. But there are a few things that that you can create within an electronic document that you can’t do with a printed item, which add additional functionality and make the end product substantially different:
Hyperlinks: because the end-user will now be viewing a PDF, rather than a printed piece, it is now possible to include hyperlinks to websites, social media, and other downloads, making the collateral piece more interactive than a previous, printed version.
Anchors: like hyperlinks, it is possible to link to other internal links, known as ‘anchors’. Internal anchors link to such items as other pages in the document, sections within a page, or diagrams.
Communications: using other types of link, it is also possible to make email addresses and phone numbers clickable, so you can create an email by clicking on the email address on a document page, or make a phone number clickable so you can phone the company by clicking the phone number on their PDF.
Software applications such as Adobe InDesign have the capability to add this kind of functionality to your documents, as do many other design and layout packages, as well as software programs from Apple and Microsoft, so you can even create your own interactive PDFs using the tools that you use on a daily basis.
Gleneden Ridge Design has had lots of experience in creating this type of functionality within collateral PDFs, so if you are looking to shift away from printed brochures to a more portable, interactive, PDF format, contact us and we’ll help you out.
In this previous post, we discussed color theory, and some ways to choose the right colors for your brand. In this post we’ll talk about how you can convert these colors to standard color methodologies so that you can start using them in print and online.
Converting Color Schemes to Standard Color Systems
After you’ve selected the colors for your brand, you now need to convert them into a form where they can be used effectively. For print use, this means converting them into a Pantone color, a CMYK color, or a spot color. For online use, this means using RGB or web-safe colors. Let’s start with print colors.
Using Color in Print
Pantone Colors
Pantone colors are a standardized way of identifying, choosing, and using colors in the graphic design and print world. Each Pantone color is a spot color (see below) and has a specific code associated with it. This code also has references so that the color can be used and printed, such as CMYK Process information (the relative proportions of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black ink to use when the color is used in full-color commercial print processes).
To convert your color wheel colors into Pantone colors, you can use the Pantone reference chart on this page. Pick the closest color to your chosen colors from the color wheel, and make a note of the Pantone color codes. Pantone Yellow 012 C is an example.
CMYK Process Colors
Colors in the CMYK Process scheme are colors that can be printed using commercial printing techniques, such as lithographic offset printing. CMYK refers to Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black – the four colors used in the full color print process. Pantone colors can be converted to CMYK process, and CMYK process colors can be created independently of Pantone colors if you need a specific color. Pantone Yellow 012 C can be described as ‘0 2 100 0‘ in CMYK format.
The CMYK process attempts to replicate the solid Pantone and custom colors by using a series of tints of Cyan, magenta, Yellow, and Black. Because of this conversion process, it’s worth noting that because you’re converting a solid Pantone color into tints of CMYK colors, there is quite often a color shift as CMYK process may not be able to replicate the spot Pantone color exactly. This shift may be quite pronounced with complex colors.
To convert your Pantone colors to CMYK, click on the color in the Pantone color reference chart; there you will see a description of the color, with a CMYK reference.
Note: normally, your Pantone colors will be converted to CMYK process colors for you by your graphic designer or commercial printer, so you won’t normally need to do this step. Unless you’re curious of course!
Some colors cannot be made into CMYK process, such as metallics like gold, silver, and bronze, or some Pantones that are too complex to render as CMYK colors. For these colors, we need spot colors.
Spot Colors
Spot colors are colors that are printed using a single ink, unlike CMYK colors that use four inks. Due to their single-ink nature, spot colors allow for the printing of metallic colors, Pantone colors that cannot be created as CMYK colors, and other bespoke colors.
A Metallic or Pantone spot color is described simply by using it’s Pantone code.
A custom spot color can be described by giving CMYK values, or by giving a sample to your graphic designer or commercial print provider.
Now to online color usage.
Using Color Online
Colors used on websites and in social media cannot be described using Pantone, CMYK, or Spot colors, since these methods rely in printed inks. Instead, colors must be converted into RGB, which are the colors that are displayed on your monitor.
RGB
RGB colors are Red, Green, and Blue; the three colors of light that are used to make up all of the tones and shades that you see displayed on a computer monitor, mobile device, or TV screen. When a file is saved from, say Adobe Illustrator, into a file for online use, any colors within it are automatically converted to RGB colors. This means that you can use whatever colors you like in a document when it is designed, and any colors will be converted to RGB on export.
Colors in your HTML, however, will need to be described by their name (Yellow), RGB values (255,255,0) , by their hexadecimal code (#FFFF00), which can be found on this page.
Colors in the RGB color scheme are described using the relative proportions of each of the Red Green Blue colors, using a number ranging from 0 to 255. Thus, Pantone Yellow 012 C is described as ‘255 215 0‘ in RGB format.
However, there is normally a color shift during this conversion process because, like the Pantone to CMYK color shift, Pantones and other custom colors may not be able to be recreated exactly by RGB color conversions. There is an RGB color picker on this page if you want to pick your specific colors in RGB formats.
Note: normally, your colors will be converted to RGB for you by your graphic designer or web developer, so you won’t normally need to do this step. Again, unless you’re curious!
We haven’t covered all aspects of color use in this article as its a huge field, but we hope that it has been informative and of use. We will be covering additional aspects of color use in design, graphics, and online use in future posts, so keep watching out for more.
And please contact us if you need any help or advice with your branding or color schemes, or for any other information that you may need.
We take pictures on our phones all of the time. Of family, events, and day-to-day stuff. The quality of these photos varies by phone and camera type, but in general, these days, phone cameras a far better than they ever where, in some case, they may even approach what you’d get with an actual camera. However, when it comes to picture usage, there are some applications where you do need to be sure of your quality, for example:
When you’re printing out your photos, particularly if you’re enlarging them
when using your photos in printed material, such as brochures and posters
Lets go into those two areas in greater detail.
Photo Enlargements
Here’s a common scenario. We take a family photo at Thanksgiving, everyone’s happy and smiling, and the picture looks great on our phone, so we get it printed at an enlarged size for everyone, but when you get the prints, they look grainy, or washout out, or pixelated. This is one of those times that you wished that you’d either used a dedicated camera, or that you’d increased the resolution and quality of your phone’s camera. For these situations, here’s how to change your phone camera’s picture quality:
A few points top note:
Resolution describes how many pixels (dots) are in the image. The greater the number of pixels, the greater the image looks when you print it out
Megapixel is a measurement of the quantity of information saved in an image. One megapixel is approximately 1 million pixels (or dots) that creates the image. It’s usually abbreviated ‘MP’
Setting Image Resolution on Android Cameras
Remember that each phone and camera will have it’s own way of setting picture resolution, so this is a general guide. For instance, the camera app icon maybe on the screen, in a menu within the Control icon, or in a Menu icon. For the standard Android app:
Touch the ‘Control’ icon. Additional icons appear
Select the ‘More Options’ icon. Touch it and a new set of icons appears
Select the ‘Picture Size’ icon. The ‘Picture Size’ menu appears
Select an available resolution. in general, QVGA is the lowest, followed by VGA, then other megapixel sizes. Select the highest.
Resolution on iOS Cameras
When it comes to cameras, iPhones work differently to Android phones as you can’t change the picture resolution. You can change the size of you images, however, with the default Photo app, or an app from the App Store. Remember though, that just because you increase the physical size of a picture, it doesn’t increase the resolution of the picture, so be careful about how much you enlarge.
Photos for professional print
When it comes to printed brochures, flyers, and posters, you need the highest resolution that you can get. This is because when you create a job for lithographic or digital print, the photograph that you’ve taken, which is already composed of thousands of dots, is then broken down again into more dots, normally at a resolution of 300 dots per inch (DPI), but the exact DPI depends on whether the final print quality and process, for instance, are you using digital print (essentially a giant, high-quality ink jet or laser printer – good for short runs) or lithographic (traditional, high quality print process, using large, professional offset printing machines – good for longer print runs or higher quality work)?
For this reason, you need the highest quality pictures that you can get for your print projects,because you want your brochures to look good, and portray your business as professionally as possible.
Photos for online use
For online usage, like Facebook or for your website, the resolution isn’t quite so critical. The quality still needs to be good, since you want to present a professional online presence, but the resolution can be much lower, since whatever resolution your image is, the screen will only present it at 72 DPI, as opposed to the 300 dpi of print media. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have higher-quality pics on your website; since screens can present 1,920 pixels at least these days, your images will still look sharp and clear.
We hope this short article has been useful and informative. If you need any help or advice on pictures, pixels, or printing, get in touch with us and we’ll help you out.
We’ve been talking a fair bit about websites and social media, but lets not forget old school technology: brochures, flyers, posters, stationery and other printed collateral.
Gleneden Ridge Design has a great many years in design for print, going right back to the late 80’s. Back then, we used drawing boards, rulers, sketch books & layout pads, pens & markers, gouache and airbrushes, templates and compasses, typesetting and a scalpel to bring our designs to life.
Now things are a bit slicker; now we use software tools such as Adobe illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop to create our layouts and prepare the resulting artwork for print. Whereas once we produced a piece of separated artwork with overlays for each color and separate photos for scanning, now we produce a PDF; it’s much simpler and quicker, thank you very much! You can see a few samples here.
So if you find yourself in need of a new business card, logo, print brochure, rack card, or poster, get in touch. We have the experience, the know-how and the tools to bring your print project to life.
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