How business print gets made.
- 01
The Sheet Size Sets the Price Break
A press sheet holds a fixed area. Twenty one business cards fit where sixteen would waste half the sheet, so a small change in finished size can move a job onto a cheaper sheet. We check this before quoting and will tell you when a millimetre saves money.
- 02
Digital or Offset Depends on Quantity
Digital printing has no setup, so short runs are cheap and a hundred costs little more than fifty. Offset needs plates making, then runs fast and cheap. The crossover usually sits somewhere in the low thousands, and we work it out per job.
- 03
Artwork Needs Bleed and Margin
Everything is cut after printing, and a guillotine moves by a fraction. Artwork extends past the trim line and nothing important sits within a few millimetres of the edge. Supplied without bleed, a job either gets white slivers or gets redrawn.
- 04
Paper Weight Changes How It Feels
The same design on a light stock and a heavy one reads as two different companies. Weight is the cheapest way to change the impression a printed item makes, and it is the thing clients most often leave to us by default.
- 05
Finishing Happens After the Ink Dries
Lamination, foiling, creasing, folding, binding and numbering all come after printing, in sequence. Each one adds a day or two, which is why a plain job runs quickly and a foiled, creased and bound one does not.
- 06
Proofed Before the Press Runs
Nothing goes to print without your approval on a proof, because a press correction after the run is a reprint and not an adjustment.
One thing we will always raise. Colour on a screen and colour on paper are different systems, and a bright screen green or orange cannot be reproduced in process inks. We will say so at proof stage and offer the nearest achievable match.
Start with business cards, marketing collateral, office stationery, or books and NCR forms.
