Spot Colour: Colour reproduced by an opaque, premixed, standard ink chosen from a colour system such as the Pantone Matching System.

Process colour: is reproduced from using translucent inks of primary colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK).

Foil printing: typically a commercial print process, is the application of pigment or metallic foil, often gold or silver, but can also be various patterns or what is known as pastel foil which is a flat opaque color or white special film-backed material, to paper where a heated die is stamped onto the foil, making it adhere to the surface leaving the design of the die on the paper. Foil stamping can be combined with embossing to create a more striking 3D image.

Embossing and debossing are processes of creating either raised or recessed relief images and designs in paper and other materials. An embossed pattern is raised against the background, while a debossed pattern is sunken into the surface of the material.

Metallic inks printing: It is essentially varnish with flecks of real metal (such as aluminium or bronze) suspended in the liquid. As the liquid dries, the metal flecks rise to the surface and begin to reflect the surrounding light.

Die-cutting is a process involving the use of metal dies constructed of knife-edge cutting blades formed into a pattern or die. The die is pressed into the substrate to produce the desired shape. Almost any shape can be created and applied to a diverse array of raw materials or printed products. Labels, business cards, point of sales, magnets, and documents are only a few of the many products that can be die cut for added functionality.

Scoring is the term that refers to the process in which a crease is applied to paper stocks and other substrates. The crease is most often used for allowing stocks to be folded easily for a variety of purposes. The applications in which scoring is necessary are numerous.

Celloglazing is the process of applying a clear film to either one side or both sides of a printed document. Applying celloglaze to print products is usually done as an off-line process and can add a significant cost to the finished product, however it provides numerous benefits:

• Celloglazing adds matt or gloss finish to a printed product
• It provides stability to the sheet, allowing it to be more durable or to stand upright.
• It provides protection to printed products that are handled frequently or may encounter moisture.
• Many celloglazed documents are waterproof, tear proof, and tamper proof.

Varnish and coating: are applied to print projects for a number of reasons, but generally they are used as a protective layer to guard against document wear and tear or as a means to strengthen colours and sharpen graphics. There are a variety of different materials that are used as coatings in the printing process. Among the most popular coatings for printed products are overprint varnishes, aqueous coatings, UV coatings, and EB coatings.

Perforations allow a document to be separated into smaller portions of the whole and they allow a document to be folded easily (similar to the function of a score). In terms of printing specifications, perforations are classified according to bursting strength or tpi, which refers to “ties per inch” or “teeth per inch.”

• Burst and Tear Strength

The burst strength is a measurement of the pressure that is required separate a document at the perforated locations. The tear strength is the resistance that a perforation offers in preventing a document from separating at the perforated locations. This also correlates with the physical effort that is necessary to separate the document at the perforated locations. Tear strength can be categorized as “light release,” which is easily torn; “medium release,” which provides moderate tear resistance; or “stiff release,” which provides the greatest resistance to detachment even after the document is folded at the perforation and is subjected to rough handling.

Binding – types and techniques.

Comb Binding: Plastic comb bindings are more vulnerable to damage than spiral bindings. They hold adjoining pages more tightly in register with each other than spiral bindings. They come in several colours and allow screen printing on a document’s spine. They can bid pieces up to 3 inches thick.

Spiral Binding: Spiral bindings may be made of either plastic or wire and allow the printed document to lie flat and to double over, useful characteristics for documents such as technical manuals, notebooks, and calendars.

Wire-O Binding: A Wire-O binding holds the covers and pages of a document firmly in place by a double-loop wire inserted through holes drilled in their left edges. All of the document’s pages lay flat when opened, can turn easily through 360°, and stay in perfect registration with adjoining pages.

Saddle Stitching: In saddle stitching – the way most booklets, magazines, catalogues, and calendars are bound – wire staples hold the piece together. A machine drives then through its backbone fold to the centrefold, where they clench. A saddle-stitched printed piece lies almost flat when opened, a convenience for readers. A saddle-stitched document must be at least eight pages long and increase in length in four-page increments. Saddle stitching is a good choice for binding documents of up to 64-80 pages.

Perfect BindingTo produce a perfect-bound document, the piece’s folded signatures are gathered together in page sequence, clamped together, and placed in a machine that slices about 5 mm off their left edges. Then roughers mill the newly sliced sheet edges to prepare them for gluing. Finally, the edges receive an adhesive application and adhere to a backing. Perfect binding is well suited for use with books, thick magazines, annual reports, technical manuals, and catalogues.

Coil Binding
A continuous, spring-shaped piece of plastic, this durable crush-resistant bind allows a bound book to lay flat, even back on itself for easy reading.

Case Binding:
In case binding, most often used in book production, a minimum of 60 printed sheets are folded into 16 or 32 page signatures, which are collated and sewn by machine. The sewn edges are coated with glue. Then a strip of gauze adheres to the document’s spine. Finally, a book and its covers are placed in a casing-in machine, which pastes the endpapers and fits the cover.

Tape Binding
This process places a cloth strip of adhesive tape down the bind edge of the book and wraps around about half an inch onto the cover front and back.

Folding a Brochure: Common Types of Folding

Folding a brochure or other marketing design is an art, and part of an effective brochure design is how it unfolds. There are many ways to fold a piece of paper, as the folding is an integral part of the presentation of your products and services in your brochure.

Single (half) Fold
a single fold brochure made by folding the paper in half making four panels:(2-front + 2-back)

Tri-fold Brochure
made by folding the paper in thirds. After folding it consists of six panels (3-front + 3-back) with the right panel tucked inside of the panels created by the first fold.

Z Fold Brochures
are made by folding the paper in thirds in “zig zags.” It opens like an accordion in the shape of a “Z”

Single (half) Fold
a single fold brochure made by folding the paper in half making four panels: (2-front + 2-back)

Double Parallel Brochure
made by folding a sheet of paper in half twice in the same direction making eight panels (2-front + 2-back). The last two panels need to be slightly maller than the outer panels to fold properly inside the outer two panels

Accordion (”M”) Fold
three zigzag folds with 8 panels (3 parallel folds that go in opposite directions). Each panel of the accordion fold are the same size.

Single Gate Fold
The left and right panels fold inwards to meet in the middle resulting in six panels: (3-fronts + 3-backs)

Double Gate Fold
The left and right panels fold inwards to meet in the middle and then folding at the centre making eight panels: (4-fronts + 4-backs) Panels on each end need to be slightly smaller than the outer panels.

Roll (Barrel) Fold
the piece is folded inward multiple times as if you are “rolling up” the paper with folds. The outside two panels must be the largest, and each successive panel beginning with the 3rd must be smaller than the previous panel to fold properly

Right Angle (French) Fold
folding a page in half in one direction and then folding it in half again in the opposite direction. After folding it makes of eight panels: (4-fronts + 4-backs)

Half Fold & Tri Fold
Folding a sheet of paper in half, and then tri-folded in the opposite direction