[Ask] Printing process

[adamtuh]

hello all,

i'm new in design world, i need to ask some questions about printing process, as we know that some of our jobs is to provide a ready to print designs. and i hope this thread could be a guideline for other newbies like me

1. if we provide our customers with less than 4 PMS colors, will it cut the cost if we compare it to CMYK colors?
2. if we want to print the stationary with the logo (using 100% PMS 269 C) and watermark (using 10% PMS 269 C). do we need two plate or only one plate?
3. could the customer print their stationary with full bleed using their office printers?

Thank you.

[mpdesign]

Hi adamtuh,

I have worked in desktop publishing and pre-press for some time in my past so I can answer your questions.

1) CMYK needs 4 plates so if you design anything with less than 4 colours it will be cheaper depending on volume. The bigger the order the bigger should the difference be between 4 and less than 4 colour jobs.

2) Since you are using one colour it should all go on one plate. The design itself will be one image together with the watermark so no need for separation.

3) The customer can print full bleed only if they want to start cutting their own paper with scissors! Bleed means that the image is bigger than the actual finished size of the design, so the printed sheets always have to be cut. For example if it is a letter head 8.5 x 11, you would have to print it on at least a 9 x 11.5 paper and then trim off .25" all around as printing machines can not print to the very edges of the paper, there is always a .25" that you can not print on weather it is an office printer or a printing press machine.

[adamtuh]

thank you mpdesign, your answers are really helpful to me. i'm really glad that i've found this community

[mpdesign]

adamtuh, no problems and I just found this community recently myself and am also glad it looks good...