Lithographic Printing or Digital Printing – What’s the difference ?

Lithographic Printing explained

Lithographic Printing is a process using wet ink and printing plates.

It is more cost effective and suitable for larger print runs.

Why ? Because there is a lot of cost and time involved in making the printing plates and preparing the ‘spare’ material that is required for all the plate images to be processed and registered before the job can be run.

However, once this is done the cost per copy will be cheaper for bigger printing runs.

The turnaround time is longer with lithographic printing (usually at least 5 working days on average).

This is because time has to be allowed for the ink to completely dry before finishing. Longer run jobs have to be scheduled to run on the bigger presses.

Benefits of Lithographic Printing

Suitable for a wide range of surfaces including paper, card and plastics

The larger the order the cheaper it gets as the cost decreases as the quantity increases

Ability to cope with long runs with out losing quality

Special inks allow you to keep your brand consistency with your Pantone colours

Digital printing explained

Digital Printing is a process that uses toners on a press and is more suitable and cost effective for shorter runs.

This is because there is less initial set up involved making it a cheaper option for small businesses.

Digital printing is what we call a four colour process reproduction method that uses electronic files (PDF artwork).

Dots of colour are used to produce an image using toner or ink.

(Unlike litho printing no printing plates are required)

This means there is less waste of the chemicals involved and paper because there is no need to make-ready.

Benefits of Digital Printing

It is great for a quick turnaround as the job is produced in its finished format.

No additional drying time required.Its quick to set up so fast turn around of orders

Colours are bright, ideal for vibrant images on a vast range of materials

A much cheaper option for small volumes which makes it ideal for Small Business owners.

Personalisation is much easier as text and graphics can be changed on each item without stopping or slowing down the press

Although there are benefits for both options, it is also depending on the size of your business, your budget and your specific requirements.

Particularly if your brand colours are vibrant, and you want to keep the consistency of your Pantone colours.

Using a graphic designer will help you decide the best cost effective printing option for your business.

It will ensure that all your brand colours are consistent especially if you use business stationery so they should match specifically.

If you would like some further advice on brochures and leaflets, read our blog

If you would like any advice and guidance or a quote please contact us

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Pantone Colour of the year 2020 is Classic Blue

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Pantone colour of the year for 2020 is Classic Blue

In their words is a “shade reminiscent of the sky at dusk” (credit to Pantone for the image).

Some designers will be absolutely delighted with this choice, and some businesses will want to ensure they include it in their mix of branding.

However, it is all down to personal choice, it will mix well with other colours so it is a good choice.

Your business card is a talking point and an important stepping stone to a potential client or collaboration.

Whether you are a business owner, an entrepreneur or starting a new job/career it’s a very important choice.

It also depends on the industry you are in and what your brand represents.

Certain colours have significance. You have to remember it’s a first impression of who you are and the brand that you represent.

Colour and texture is a good starting point to ensure you have a talking point that will catch people’s eyes, grab their attention.

Images are equally important to get you noticed, either a ;ogo, photo, or an illustration or design if that’s your line of work.

How many different types of business cards have you had since your career started ?. The question is when was the last time you changed yours and why?

If your card looks just like everyone else’s card, then chances are you have probably failed and you’re in the bin. So, in our opinion it is worth the time and effort.

What does the colours for Business Cards mean ?

White is standard, safe and used by many to fit into their business stationery and is an easy option.

This is fine but to stand out choose a logo and colour for your brand that will distinguish you from all the others in your field.

If you want to make an amazing impression and to stand out with something really special then you need to strengthen your brand credibility ?

Red is bold, daring and exciting so the market leaders that spring to mind are Virgin, Lego, Coca-cola, Nintendo, Red Bull.

Orange is confident, friendly and warm you think Fanta, MasterCard.

Blue is the signifies reliability, peaceful, confidence, and trust. NHS, Facebook, Twitter, Intel and Skype spring to mind as the leaders in this field also we at Millfield Media have chosen this colour too.

Pink is usually associated with feminine, symbolising sensitivity and love.. Barbie and Victoria´s secret are brands that use pink so they will be delighted at this choice

Yellow is sunshine, bright, happy and cheerful – Mcdonalds, Ikea, Post-it, Shell and Snapchat are a few that have opted for this colour.

Green presents balance, growth and nature. BP, Holiday Inn for example.

Black and White signifies importance. Nike, BMW, Apple, Disney and Harley Davison are the brand leaders in this field.

Purple cards suggest imagination, dreams and spirituality.

People from the holistic sector usually prefer this colour. Cadbury and Hallmark are brands that spring to mind for this colour choice.

Now think about the shape, everyone has a rectangle business card because it is the standard size, why? because they fit into a purse or wallet easily, but you want to be different right ?

Although Standard business card size is usually 85mmx55mm they tend to be a bit cheaper.

Have you thought about about dye cut, square business cards or mini business cards just to be different ?

These will bring a different element to your design,

The shape of your business card should complement your brand.

Every detail from fonts/typography, which includes spacing between letters are an important factor to consider.

Then decide do you go funky, traditional or elegant?

Again, think of the message and your brand and choose wisely to compliment this.

Deciding where you put your logo is crucial

Another element to consider is the white space which is linked to sophistication .. less is more.

Make sure all your contact details are there relaying your key message.

Proof read all the time to check for spelling, phone numbers etc and then save in a format that is compatible for your printer.

Choosing the right colour and combining with a specific paper choice and feel can mean you either stand out from the crowd or your card will just be put in that drawer and forgotten about.

We suggest you go for something different, perhaps a gloss, Spot UV or a decadent Foil finish.

We are happy to take on any project, regardless of size, so whether you need 100 business cards or 10,000 business cards, we will be more than happy to help.

We dont like the phrase cheap business cards because it infers that they are inferior.

All our cards are printed on quality paper at an affordable price so it suits all budgets.

We offer Small Businesses a branding offer. So if you are looking for cost-effective advertising and want to make a excellent first impression with your Business Card then contact us now for a quote

Why not order one of our business cards sample pack to help you decide.

Contact me for a discussion direct on millfieldmedia@outlook.com

To help you to decide we have an amazing FREE sample pack that could help you decide on the paper choice/quality

How to create Print ready artwork – Guidelines and Tips

Branding, Design Ideas, Design Tips and Tricks, Print and Design / Graphic Designer North East, how to create print ready artwork, Print & Design Solutions North East, Print and design service, Print ready artwork, Printer in Northumberland, Printing Solutions North East, Printing Specialist North East England

Print Ready Guidelines Tips and Tricks

What is print ready I hear you say…..

Print Ready is the term used in the trade to describe a document or file that is ready to proceed to print

In the print industry there are certain specifications that help us produce a high-resolution printed outcome.

Part of this specification is that the artwork needs to be supplied with crop marks added to each corner and set with a 3mm bleed to each edge.

This ‘bleed’ edge will be trimmed off in production but it is necessary as any colour or images need to ‘bleed’ over the finished size so that you get a nice clean edge (no paper showing on the edge).

If bleeds are not included then to mimic the appearance of the bleed, we have to cut into the edge of the document.

You’ll end up with a printed document which is 4 or 5mm narrower and shorter than you intended.

Which may result in critical content being cut off or the finished job looking uneven/off-centre once cut.

You may have some text very close to the edge of the page so these may be completely cropped off.

So for this reason we recommend keeping all text, logos etc inside the ‘safe area’ to avoid any possible cutting issues.

There’s inevitable movement with print in the cutting process and if you have text too close to the finished size line it may be cropped.

We advise you to set the safe area 5mm in from the finished size line.

Standard method in the industry is PDF for submitting artwork for printing.

This is because PDF generates smaller files and, when used correctly, it ensures that all graphics/fonts are properly embedded and therefore there is no movement.

Enabling them to be printed correctly, no matter which computer you print them from and is ideal if you are creating a multi-page.

FONTS

Check and try where possible to stick to standard fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman, as these are usually installed on nearly every PC.

We understand that you may want to be different if it is part of your brand identity and choose an unusual font.

If this is this case for your brand, all we ask is that you remember to tell the designer or printer.

Changes that may be needed by your printer or designer will have to be done in this font and therefore downloaded to re-create or change your artwork for you.

Ideally, all fonts in print ready artwork should be converted to outlines to avoid any potential font embedding issues.

Choose the highest available quality setting, look for “print quality”, “press quality” or “high quality”.

COLOURS

To get the best colour match we require artwork to be set as the CMYK colour model which is a four colour process used in colour printing and used to describe the printing process itself (Cian Magenta Yellow and Key which is black).

See our blog on Digital and Lithographic printing explained regarding colours

The colours of your artwork will always look brighter and richer on your screen or monitor as it’s a back lit screen and those colours are made up of three colours – Red, Green and Blue (RGB)

They will will always be slightly darker than how it appears on a computer because the colour is reproduced from four colours.

Standard print(CMYK) then printed onto paper or board (which can also affect colour) then left to soak into the stock and dry.

When colour printing please remember to specify colours by indicating the Pantone name or number.

This assures that you get the right colour when the file is printed, even though the colour may not look right when displayed on your monitor, the printed article will.

Remember too how important it is for top quality images if you are looking at wide format printing such as outdoor banners or pop up banners.

Decide on the size of your banner. the images need to be at least 300dpi (dots per inch) preferably bigger if possible to ensure they are crisp and dont blur or pixilate.

Making sure they are saved in the correct colours CMYK.

PDF is now the industry standard method for submitting artwork for printing, because it generates smaller files

When used correctly, it ensures that all graphics and fonts are properly embedded to guarantee that they will print correctly no matter which computer you use.

If your PDF is password protected we won´t be able to print it. Please ensure all document restrictions are removed.

To remove document restrictions, bring up the document properties (File – Properties or Ctrl+D), click on the Security tab and ensure that all actions are set to ´allowed´.

It is so important to get your artwork correct so that when you are preparing your business cards, flyers, brochures and leaflets.

They will look so much more professional and set your brand off.

Read our other blog Brochure and Leaflet Design Tips to help you also

We hope this information is helpful if we can be of any further help or you would like a quotation please contact me

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