Creative Suite Session 4

We were given the task to find 9 errors that had been deliberately made in a indesign document, we had to find them as if we were preparing it to go to print.    

Things to consider

5 ink print job
9 errors 

Things we found 

- 6 inks are being used so it makes it a 6 plate process not 5 which it specified 

- 2 spot colours one is not being used, so delete it 

- The top right Image is RGB needs to be changed to CMYK, right click the image and press edit with then choose Photoshop or use Alt and double click the image 

- One colour swatch is RGB, change it on Swatch Options to CMYK  

- One of the images is 200dpi it should be at least 300dpi, this can be edited in Photoshop 

- The cow needs to be scaled in Photoshop (Alt and double click)  

- Left Logo at the bottom needs to be scaled up in Photoshop. Greyscale TIFF files can have there colours changed in indesign. 

- Right Logo at the bottom needs to be scaled down in Photoshop, (Alt and double click)
this logo would have to be made again because the quality of the image will decrease a lot when scaled.  

- Good Practice to have a tint swatch of the CMYK colour 

- The image of the 'heifer water' should be saved as a TIFF or PSD not a JPEG, reopen the file, right click and open with Photoshop, then save as a TIFF file. Then in indesign relink the image and exchange the jpeg for the tiff file. 

- The type at the bottom is set as a registration not black, the registration is used for printers marks and it will go on every plate so it will be layered with a lot of ink


- The image on the far left doesn't have a bleed of the edge of the page so there might be a white edge when cut. 


There is a quick way we can get to all this information we just discovered about this flyer. We can gather everything together in Package, it makes a copy of everything in the indesign document and all the images and all the fonts, this gives you everything you need to send to the printers. 

It also gives us a summary of what has gone wrong on the document, such as links, images and there resolution, fonts that might not be there and also the inks that are being used. A report can also be printed out. 

It then offers printing instructions, where a note can be left for the printer, such as things that are there for finishing processes. 

It all then gets put into a folder. 


We would also provide a PDF file for the printers, for print the best quality one to use is [Press Quality] 

For Digital Print just use 'High Quality Print' 

If sending an email that will just be viewed on screen smallest file size will do 

PDF contains everything 



PDF export options, during the process of creating a PDF all colours get converted to CMYK apart from Spot colours 

Make sure you confirm with the printers that crop marks and bleed are being used 

Then press export   

Embossing

This is the embossing plate i created using the laser cutter which i went on to use to create the examples shown below.

Somerset White

Zerkall 145gsm

 Somerset Satin

 Canaletto Bianco

Watercolor paper 225gsm

I Think the one that turned out best was Zerkall, it produced a sharp design and the type appeared to come through a lot more vividly than the others.  


Wet Water colour paper 25gsm

When using the wet paper i think i wet it too much or didnt get enough of the water out so when it came to embossing it the paper stuck to the wood plate and ripped as shown below. Another reason could be because it was watercolor paper that it soaked up too much water! 

Foling and flocking

Foiling and Flocking

After getting my screen exposed i made registration marks around the paper so i could easily move paper into the correct place.

 

I then put the screen down and put the glue on it so i could pull the squeegee across it

This then put the glue through on to the paper, as can be seen below then glue is now on the paper and ready to print. 

These are all of my prints after using the screen to put glue on them 

I then took the print over to the heat press, making sure the temperature was at 160 and the timer was at 12 seconds, before this i also placed the foil on top of the glue.

Once taking the paper out of the foil i let it cool down so i could then peel the foil off.

My Final Outcomes

The foil sheets that were peeled off the paper.

Considerations


What paper i should be using, the quality of the prints changed depending on what paper i was using, the black paper which appeared to be very smooth created a much stronger quality of image especially with the flock, the rougher paper didn't seem to print the foil as well. 

Mixing the two different processes can be done, but i have to watch out for the overlapping of the foil and flock, especially if the type is so close together its hard to place the foil on the correct place without it lapping over. 

Making sure that the flock is bigger than the paper i am printing on otherwise it will leave a square around the print. 

Having the correct temperature on the heat press otherwise the foil gets too hot and doesn't come off properly.  

 
 

Laser Cutting

Original design

 I made these on illustrator so i could then get them laser cut.

 




Laser Cutting


Creating a embossing plate and laser cutting some logos i mocked up.

This first one i didn't select the correct material so it didn't cut through properly, hence why the type is so faint. 

 

I then created this using the raster tool whereby it engraved lines through the circle to give it this effect, i feel it has worked really well and gives it a rustic look

 

 

Embossing plate 

This plate took 45minutes to cut so if i was to make it using the laser cutter for the final image id have to consider how long it would take to do.
      It also leaves a layer of ash over the design which id have to be careful of didnt go on my final design.

Creative suite session 3 - indesign

Indesign

Things to know:

• The size of the document is whatever the size of artwork is 
• White space is important 
• 3mm bleed
• Slug area outside printers marks, crop marks, fold marks
• Booklet - saddle stitch, has to be a multiple of 4 
• Facing pages - displays pages as a spread for editorial and publishing 
• Text heavy document, primary text frame puts a text frame on every page for you 

To edit a page thats been created select, file - document setup

Swatch palettes 

The colour of the text can be changed by selecting the T above all the swatches, then when choosing a colour it will automatically change. 

If you select the square next to the T then the background will change colour.

You can then create a square with the type and background filled in

Creating a swatch is very similar to illustrator, go to the swatch menu then select 'create new swatch'

Grey square next to swatch colour is the global square, these are automatically like this on indesign

Spot colour library available

Creating a colour swatch, you can create a spot colour just select the one you want then it will appear in the swatch library 

Creating a new tint swatch

After selecting new tint swatch this appears below, then you just change the tint percentage 

This will then appear in the swatch palette with the percentage 

Then by double clicking a swatch you can change the colour using the levels. Also if you edit the %100 swatch of the tint created then they will both automatically change for you. 

Should always place files that are your own artwork, only open indesign artwork. 

Once the pictures have been placed the spot colours automatically transfer over. 

Separations shows all the colours that are in your artwork, shown below  

You can the view how everything is made up by turning on and off the small eye symbol next to the swatch 

Things to pay attention to when transferring artwork over to indesign 

Photoshop 

1. CMYK - colour mode
2. Actual size
3. 300 dpi
4. What to save it as - Tiff or PSD, if you want an image to have transparency save as a PDF

Illustrator 

1. CMYK - colour that has been applied 
2. Save as AI or you can copy and past artwork over 

How to get from a indesign layout to print 

Should always print on paper bigger than the artwork being printed

Select print then go to separations

Also going on Print - page information is useful to see 

Its good practice to delete unused spot colours from the swatch palette 

Windows - output - attributes 

Overprint preview - the decisions indesign males when creating separations  

When selecting a image thats on top of another and you select overprint fill it will layer the images like shown below. 

Known as knocking out - when one spot colour is printed on top of another 

Black will always print on top of the colours no matter what is selected