GCSE Revision Commercial Printing

Commercial Printing Printing has been used for many years to produce graphical products such as news paper and certain types of packaging. Some of the oldest forms of printing can date back to the start of the 1800’s.

Printing - Sets of colours There are two common sets of colours used in print: RGB – (red, green & Blue) is a common term of colour used in media for products such as TV’s, Monitors and projectors. CMYK – (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) are the key colours that are used by printers today. Anything that’s printed in colour is made up of a mixture of these colours. When the computer is instructed to print, the printer recognises the required colours and starts to build layers using CMYK to create the final image.

Screen Printing Screen printing is in common use today as it is relatively cheap and a variety of colours can be used. In industry this technique is used to produce thousands of screen printed items e.g. T-shirts, posters and some types of packaging. However, although this is used in industry, you must remember that this process is not the fastest way of printing but it is one of the cheapest. This process is more than likely to be used in a batch production, rather than a mass production. The material to be printed on is placed on top of the base. In the example, paper is being used. A template made from card with the required shape cut out of it is placed on top of the paper. A screen is placed on top of the template. The screen is made of  stretched nylon fabric and has a wood frame to hold it in place. 4. Ink is then squeezed onto the nylon fabric. A blade is used to spread the ink out and push it through the fabric, through the template, and onto the paper. The paper is taken out of the screen printing equipment and the printed pattern can clearly be seen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNyG6ATkCpc&feature=PlayList&p=A41CC46C1C2CD1E9&index=16

LITHOGRAPHY Lithography is mainly used by commercial printers, printing companies that will print thousands of copies of the same item, in one production run. Lithography machines can print on both sides of paper/card and they rely on four basic colours; yellow, cyan (type of blue), magenta (type of red) and black. This is also known as the CYMK process. 1. The printing plate has the image to be printed, in relief, on its surface (the image stands out slightly from the printing plate surface). 2. The printing plate is kept dampened. Ink is applied to the plate but it is repelled from the dampened surfaces which are the non-image areas. 3. As the printing cylinder rotates the ink is transferred to the rubber blanket cylinder. 4. The ink, now on the rubber blanket cylinder, is pressed onto the paper or card as it is pulled through the machine. (The paper is trapped between the blanket cylinder and the impression cylinder - these pull the paper through the machine) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUlBueqStg4&feature=PlayList&p=E06471FB3EF94CB5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5

(Quality Control) is to ensure quality product, reduce wastage, economy, acceptable client/customer sharp imagery QC = Registration Marks To make sure that the four printing plates are in line with one another Crop Marks This shows the manufacturer Where to cut and trim. Colour Bar This is a test to demonstrate that the write amount of each colour is being produced.

(depends on size, material & More recent printing production methods LITHOGRAPHY Screen Printing Printer Printing Plastic bags Leaflets (very small batches) Leaflets T – shirts Retail (high street) shopping bags A1 Posters (very small batches) A1 Posters Fabric packaging (depending on finish) Business cards Business cards News papers Photographs Magazines Card packaging Banners (depends on size, material & quantity Business cards, T – shirts , Plastic bags, Retail (high street) shopping bags, A1 Posters, Leaflets, Magazines, Photographs, Banners, Fabric packaging, Card packaging, News papers

LITHOGRAPHY Screen Printing Printer Printing More recent printing production methods LITHOGRAPHY Screen Printing Printer Printing Business cards, T – shirts , Plastic bags, Retail (high street) shopping bags, A1 Posters, Leaflets, Magazines, Photographs, Banners, Fabric packaging, Card packaging, News papers

Screen Printing Screen printing is in common use today as it is relatively cheap and a variety of colours can be used. In industry this technique is used to produce thousands of screen printed items e.g. T-shirts, posters and some types of packaging. However, although this is used in industry, you must remember that this process is not the fastest way of printing but it is one of the cheapest. This process is more than likely to be used in a batch production, rather than a mass production.

LITHOGRAPHY Lithography is mainly used by commercial printers, printing companies that will print thousands of copies of the same item, in one production run. Lithography machines can print on both sides of paper/card and they rely on four basic colours; yellow, cyan (type of blue), magenta (type of red) and black. This is also known as the CYMK process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUlBueqStg4&feature=PlayList&p=E06471FB3EF94CB5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5

"How does commercial printing work?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUlBueqStg4&feature=PlayList&p=E06471FB3EF94CB5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5