the 4 colour print process

Although at Advansys we specialise in e-commerce solutions, we also offer a wide range of graphic design services within our studio. We can design everything from your company logo and brand, to contemporary business cards and brochures. What people don't understand is just how much work goes into the design, and the print process. In this blog I will explain exactly what happens once you have approved your design.

Imagine you have come to Advansys, and we have worked on your full colour brochure design, and now it is just the way you want it. Your logo will be designed, your company image will be superb, and the brochure content and layout is perfect. A proof has arrived in your inbox, and you confirm you are happy with everything.

Now that you have approved the design our creative team will now work on preparing the artwork for print. All images will be checked to ensure they are saved in CMYK format and not RGB. Colour formats on a computer screen is different to print colours. CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black - the 4 colours, which are referred to as 'the four colour process' used in the print industry. These four colours mix together when printing to create almost any colour. On the other hand RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue, which are 3 colours used in website design. The fourth colour in print design is black, which is needed as the mixture of CMY creates a murky brown, and looses definition, which does not happen when RGB is mixed - it will create white (black is the result of no light).

Now that the images and files have been checked, the artwork will be packaged together and sent to a leading print company over the internet. When artwork is packaged, all fonts and images in the design are saved together in organised files, and linked together in a page layout software package.
Now the print company has the artwork they will begin the process. Firstly the company will ensure all artwork is ready for print. The company will have specialist people who will check fonts, and file formats. The artwork sent from Advansys will be problem free and ready to print immediately, although quite often they will need to check, and amend this on artwork supplied by others.

Now that the artwork is ready, it will be prepared to print. The artwork will be analysed and prepared in order that the end result comes out correctly. An A4 brochure will not be printed on A4 paper, this will be on a larger sheet with 4 pages per side, so that the end printed sheets can easily be collated, stitched, folded and cut. To visualise this, take an A4 sheet of paper, fold it twice, then cut all edges other than the longest fold, which will create a small brochure. To end up with more pages, have more sheets and the end result will be evident. All this is worked out prior to print, and laid out on printing plates.

Printing plates are large sheets slightly smaller than A1 size. There will be four plates per sheet, each one specific for a colour, either Cyan, Magenta, Yellow or Black. These plates will then be put on huge printer drums, each plate specific to a section of the printer. For a single page, the paper will go through four sections of the printer, before coming out the other end. If you have chosen a specific coating to your brochure design, the coating will be added after the printing.

Your brochure design will now be collated, stitched, folded and cut before being packaged and sent to you.

Four colour printing is only specific when CMYK is used. Occasionally you may wish to add extra colours that are not possible from CMYK, which are called spot colours, or pantone colours. This means you can use only one or two colours to reduce the cost.

If you want superb artwork ready to go through the print process, contact the team at advansys. We can design anything you need. For further information, click here.