The Graphical look at typefaces All typefaces are measured in the POINT SYSTEM, usually called pt. One point is equal in line spacing to 0.351mm. The standard size for most script writing is 12pt and is known as a PICA. Writing for computer screen communication, the sizes below 16pt should be avoided to avoid reader eye strain. Up to 12pt are known as Composition, 14 to 72pt are known as Display, over 72pt are known as Headlines

Eight point size Nine point size Ten point size Twelve point size Fourteen point size Sixteen point size Eighteen point size Twenty point size Twenty-Four point size Twenty-Eight point size Thirty-Two point size Thirty-Six point size Forty point size Eighteen point size in Bold is the preferred computer reading size

The Font, or Fount, is the style of lettering/numbering. Computers contain most font styles available, or are available as rub on vinyl called “lettraset”. Justification is the adjustment of the spaces between words to allow the edges of the text to line up, or follow a line.

Ink Roller Plate Roller Blanket Roller Impression Roller Paper feed Direction Wetting solution The image to be printed is transferred photographically onto a cylindrical plate, the plate is washed with a chemical that attracts ink to the surface of the image. The wetting repels ink away from other non-image areas, the plate is then inked and pressed through a Blanket roller. Because there is a transfer of images via the third roller, the process is called Offset.

It must be in Mirrored image!

The image is etched onto a flexible roller is soft plastic. This is most used method of printing en-mass, the speed is high the accuracy good. The cost of changing images is small compared to the print runs involved. Image impression roller Ink supply

Opposite of letterpress, the image is in relief, engraved into the roller, the ink filling the image recess. The excess ink is cleaned off the roller, the paper then pressed onto the impression roller. Engraved impression roller Ink Supply

Not always Silk, the screen can be made from thin Polyester, Nylon even fine steel mesh. The image is in the form of the mesh, the ink or paint, is applied through the mesh, the rest being blocked off.

Newspapers Mass production High Quality Posters Mass production High Quality Packaging T-Shirts Posters Short runs Variable Quality Stationery Batch

YellowMagenta Cyan Black

Making colours by mixing dots of differing colour together. All red Red Red and White Pink Red and Blue Purple

The light sensitive film or ionised plate in a scanner can be used to photograph a picture, pick out only certain colours and then used in separate printing processes to re-combine the colours to produce a finished picture by mass production.

The layering of images needs to be carefully aligned, this is called registering. Mass produced printing has strips of markings on the paper edge, to locate with the machinery alignment mechanism.

The resistance to the environment is very important, a coloured sheet could be destroyed in a damp atmosphere, colours could run together, the paper could even dissolve. Coating for paper or card can be applied in a variety of methods, sprayed, dipped or rolled on. The coating of plastic, varnish can give the paper or card a high resistance against the environment for which it has been designed. BUT Some coatings may change colour with UV lighting.

A clear separate film of plastic can be applied to a printed sheet, this will give a tough shiny finish which is totally waterproof and scratch resistant. Though relatively expensive it is used mainly in the food packaging industry to protect long shelf life products. This process is called Laminating

Simply pressing the image either into the card from the front or from the back to produce raised or sunken effects. Some plastic materials actually change colour with the stressing of the presswork, this effect can be used to produce lighter images.

To mass produce a box, a template is not fast nor accurate enough. A cutter the same shape should be used, this cutter is called the DIE cutter. It is very expensive but will produce many boxes over its life-span. This method of producing box nets is called Die Cutting

Cardboard has thickness and if it is folded too sharply it will crack the outside surface! Too sharp a corner A rounded crease is needed using metal punches

Double - sided tape or hot melt glue or even Sonic welding to join the box together The machines can even put the product inside for you!