Knowledge Bank

Certainly if you award all your print requirement to a single supplier (directly or via your agency), you should be looking for a volume discount of some sort. Be warned though that this can often be a false economy!

Printers have different presses with varying production capabilities so they may not be the most suitable supplier for all your print requirement. They may be well-priced at one product/volume but less competitive on other formats you need printing.

We always shop around to offer our clients the most competitive and suitable print solution for each requirement. This usually leads to more substantial savings than a nominal discount from one supplier who is not best placed or the most competitive to produce all your work.

Much depends on the print process and grain direction as follows:-

Heat set web offset
Cross grain A5 115gsm
Long Grain A4 130gsm

Sheetfed offset
Cross grain A5 130gsm
Long Grain A4 150gsm

The sheet fed criteria can be varied as you can choose the most suitable grain direct if using cut sheet but not if you are using Cut Star reels on a long perfector.

Most binders state 3mm as a minimum thickness although there are specialists who claim thinner. This is where the aesthetic consideration applies as much under 3mm the spine tends to be shaped more like a “U” than square so nullifies the perceived more upmarket quality of perfect binding versus saddle stitching.

As there tend to be premiums charged for buying less than a trailer load (24 tonnes) that is a good rule of thumb to use for mill direct purchases.

Modern sheet fed and web offset presses are equipped with colour density scanners that constantly monitor the colour control strips printed on the sheets/web as they run through the press to ensure the colour densities remain constant and feedback remedies to the ink ducts should a variation be recognised.

The adhesive used to PUR bind is the industrial equivalent of Super Glue. This adhesive cures due to contact with atmospheric moisture (hence the 24 hour curing period) so once set the pages or cover will tear rather than detach from the spine.

Long grain is printing with the grain direction whilst short grain production prints in the other direction, across the grain.

The grain direction is very important and makes a huge difference as to how the paper will react when you attempt to fold, score and bind it.

A typical long grain 48pp press produces 4 x head to tail pages from a 1240mm cylinder cut off. The short grain equivalent produces 4 x spine to fore-edge pages from a 890mm cylinder cut off.

The decision to print in the long or short grain direction will depend very much on the format size. This determines which method will waste the least amount of paper from the cut-off and will therefore be the most economical.

Long grain printing allows for the sections to be folded parallel to the grain with fewer fibre breaks resulting in a strong, clean fold. Paper fibres also expand and contract far less with the grain of the paper which is important factor for perfect binding.

Where a short grain product is to be perfect bound, binding across the grain can lead to warping/cockling of the spine. We only recommend a small number of printers for these formats, those who have the binding capability to produce a perfectly finished product.

It is less to do with the weight and more to do with the thickness/bulk. Thus Galerie Fine Bulk 70gsm bulks up to the equivalent of 80gsm so most long perfecting printers are happy to run that.

Litho inks never truly dry. As matt and silk papers, at a microscopic level, resemble many peaks and troughs, the ink that sits on the peaks, when not dry or sealed, can create marks as the still wet ink smears across the sheet, while gloss, being completely smooth, will not (unless put under undue stress!)

The base paper and the coating are broadly similar the difference comes at the calendaring stage where the paper is pressed between a series of steel and cardboard covered rollers under pressure to smooth the surface, the pressure is greater for silk hence the smoother appearance.