Lithographic Printing of Stationary

As described earlier here, the majority of all printing in the world is CMYK.

Background
CMYK is the use of 4 colours generated by the combination of primary colours red, green and blue (also known as RGB).The concentration of the merging of each of these 3 colours determines a multitude of colour variations.


The halftoning or screening process allows a tiny dot of each primary colour to be printed in small enough detail that the human eye perceives a single colour. For example if magenta is printed with a 40% halftone, it appears to be a dusky pink colour as the white space around each dot looks lighter than magenta. It is an optical illusion to the eye.

CMYK Basics

4 colours are used by a print device to replicate individual colours. Ideally 3 would suffice given that cyan, magenta and yellow can make black.
There are several recognised problems with not having a designated black feeder:

• The majority of text is printed in black and fine detail depending on the font used, 3 colours can cause blurring
• In order for cyan, magenta and yellow to create black, an excess quantity of ink is used - the paper takes much longer to dry, if at all
• Deeper blacks can be achieved with the use of a black colour as opposed to the resulting brown of cyan, magenta and yellow blend
  
• Black improves the shadow and contrast of the image
  
• It is considerably cheaper to print pure black with just black
  

A small office printer contains a cartridge combining elements of 4 colours. A commercial digital printer will use individual cartridges of susbtantial size for each colour (50x10x10cm+). Depending on the primary colour of the print job, an individual cartridge may use more colour than the others.

The Process
The principle to litho printing is that oil and water do not mix.
A complete design, with all colours converted to cmyk is placed in contact with a flat, rough emulsion coated 'plate'. The print image is oil receptive and the non print areas are oil repelling. Use of water will render the non print area blank and allow colour to be absorbed to the print area. The template is transfered to a rubber blanket which removes any water, picks up the ink and transfers it to paper with uniform pressure. The plate can be reused but not amended in any way. Paper is supplied either as large sheets with multiple images that are then cut down, individual sheets or rolls for larger print jobs.

With CMYK/litho printing, the more copies printed, the cheaper it is. The price goes into the preparation with set up and making of 1 plate per image, the cost generator. A booklet of 16 pages needs the same number of plates, each plate costing up to £50 to prepare. A client is paying for make ready time on the press and 'run on' costs of another 1000 copies are minimal. For example, 500 copies can cost £950 and an extra 300 copies only another £40.

At Evolve, we use litho printing for the majority of our printing work. Experience has taught us there is no comparison. Lithographic printing does give a superior quality and depth of colour, together with 100% colour consistency on each page.

A good lithographic printer is worth his weight in gold.

Editor's Comment:

I do get asked by most clients why we recommend, suggest and INSIST letterheads and A4 office stationary are litho printed. I will cover digital versus litho in another post, but for now..........

Answer:
Most xerox/laser office printers will lift the toner off any digitally printed paper which will then stick to the printer roller and murder any design logo or contact details. Some office printers work at a higher temperature than the digital printer that burnt the images on in the first place.

If it melts on, it will melt off!

WORTH A READ - CMYK VERSUS RGB, WHAT IS A PANTONE