Print Bureau

25/10/2016 - Workshop Week

In this workshop, we spoke about printing and book binding to help me when I eventually have to print a booklet, magazine etc.

We first spoke about book binding and the different types of it to get an idea of the pros and cons of each so when I come to printing, I know what I want.

Perfect Binding

How this binding works is the pages are folded into sections then the wrap around cover is glued around the book.

- It's the most used in books.
- It's not the strongest form of binding and the book won't open flat.
- The cover needs to be a wrap around cover to make this work.
- I need to think about margins when designing especially the inside margin. I need to make sure that the inside margin is not to close to the edge.
- This type of binding is useful for manuals, catalogues and annuals.
- One of the pros of this binding is that it can be designed landscape.

Saddle Stitch

How this binding  works is the stitch of thread is placed into the fold of the book.

- When printing, the total pages has to be a multiple of 4.
- This type of binding is good for mock ups for clients but not good enough for production.
- Make sure the text isn't close to the clutter.
- The con of this binding is that it can't be designed landscape.
- It is mostly used for magazines or booklets.
- It has to be double page.

Spiral Binding

Holes are punched near the edge of the book and held together using wire or plastic colls.

Advice

The advice we got was to do mocks up first by drawing it out on paper first to get an idea of where to place everything and how it will look then transferring it into Indesign.

Print it off a couple of times as mock ups to know how it looks printed and make changes if needed before printing it for the final time.

The other advice was the thicker the book is, the bigger the inside margin should be.

The best file to save an image from Photoshop and safely uploading on Indesign are TIFF or PDF because there are times that saving the image as a JPEG could cause trouble when uploading it on Indesign.

Types of Printer

- UV Printer - This printer can print on hard surfaces.
- MFD Printer - The printer that is used in the studio, ordinary and standard printer. It doesn't print high quality photographs so it's best not to print my final work with this printer, it's more as a business printer.
- Digital Press - Produces very high quality prints, this would be a great machine to print my final work. It can print saddle stitch booklets.
- Wide Format Inkjet - It's a meter wide. It has a wider gamut and it can print digital photographic prints in RGB.