OUGD504 - Design Production: Phil's Talk and Task (Print Formats and Finishing)

This morning we had a briefing in the morning with Phil where he went through a presentation he had made to bring up some key things we should really be researching within our work. He wants us to make sure that we investigate in to using different stocks and print formats when designing and making our final resolution to the brief. The key points which were made during this briefing are as follows:

Coated
- UV coating
- Glass and plastic
- Can be applied on Spot locations

Coated and uncoated stock
- Experiment and research in to stock

Die-cut
- Can be used for packaging
 - This is something I need to research as it could be included in any further proposals I decide to include for this brief, when considering how my mailshot will be produced for the masses

Emboss and Deboss
- Something I have experimented with

Laminate
- Inline, offline, sheet to sheet

Duplex
- Double sided

Foiling

Task

We have been asked to research further in to the above so that we have a strong understanding of them all. I will be showing this further down on this post, whilst at the same time considering whether or not I think using any of the processes would be beneficial to me. 

We have also been asked to focus on stock, substrate and special print finishes and find as many variants as possible for each of the following areas of design:

• Branding and Identity
• Packaging and Promotion
• Publication and Editorial
• Information and Way finding

We have been advised to collect physical examples as primary research.

I feel as though this is something I have already been doing really, as I have collected examples of primary research, from shop displays to printed examples of design at a smaller scale. I will however carry out some research on this post to illustrate any examples I find online which may be even more helpful to me, and where appropriate I will be posting primary research I come across.

Coated

Any paper that has a mineral coating applied after the paper is made, giving the paper a smoother finish.

Coated and uncoated stock

Coated paper

Coating is a process by which paper or board is coated with an agent to improve brightness or printing properties. By applying PCC, china clay, pigment or adhesive the coating fills the miniscule pits between the fibres in the base paper, giving it a smooth, flat surface which can improve the opacity, lustre and colour-absorption ability. Various blades and rollers ensure the uniform application of the coating.

Different levels of coating are used according to the paper properties that are required. They are divided into light coated, medium coated, high coated, and art papers - art paper is used for the high quality reproduction of artwork in brochures and art books.

Uncoated paper

Not all paper is coated. Uncoated paper is typically used for letterheads, copy paper, or printing paper. Most types of uncoated paper are surface sized to improve their strength. Such paper is used in stationary and lower quality leaflets and brochures.

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Die-cut

Die cutting is a manufacturing process used to generate large numbers of the same shape from a material such as wood, plastic, metal, or fabric. The die cut shapes are sometimes called “blanks,” because they are usually finished and decorated before being sold. The process is widely used on an assortment of materials all over the world, and many manufactured products contain several die cut components, often assembled together in a series of steps to create a finished product.

Sharp specially shaped blades are used in die cutting. The blade is bent into the desired shape and mounted to a strong backing. The result is known as a die. The material being cut is placed on a flat surface with a supportive backing, and the die is pressed onto the material to cut it. Depending on what is being made, a single die might cut one piece of material, or it might be designed to slice through multiple layers, generating a stack of blanks.

Many consumers find it helpful to consider a cookie cutter when thinking about die cutting. The cookie cutter is a type of die which is capable of cutting out a potentially infinite amount of blanks. Each blank will be exactly the same shape and size, meaning that the blanks can be cooked uniformly together and decorated at will for individuality. The alternative is cutting out each cookie by hand, a painstaking process which would result in irregular final products.

Common examples of die cut items include keys, paper products, and flat plastic pieces which can be snapped together. Die cutting is limited, because it can only really be used to produce flat objects. For more dimensional shapes, other manufacturing techniques such as molds need to employed. Dies can also range widely in size from cookie cutters to massive machines designed to cut out ship components. With large dies, it is important to observe safety precautions while die cutting, as an industrial die designed to slice through metal can also remove a limb without difficulty.

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Die Cutting Explained

The term "die cutting" is loosely applied to many types of cutting process but in our sphere of application and activity it applies mainly to the cutting out of shapes from soft or semi-rigid materials in single or multiple layers.

The process itself is, in fact, very simple but the machinery to perform the process has become increasingly sophisticated.

The closest analogy is to imagine a hand-held pastry cutter being pressed by hand through a sheet of pastry. For 'pastry cutter', think cutting die or tool. For 'hand', think cutting press.

The advantages of the die cutting process are speed, accuracy, use of unskilled labour, material saving, relatively low cost tooling.

Tooling

The tooling is commonly referred to as a cutting die, cutting tool, cutting knife or cutting forme and these are available in three main types:

• Wood forme - Cutting blade to the shape required is set in a plywood backer.
• Strip steel - This is usually a heavier gauge steel, bent to the required shape, possibly with re-inforcing struts.
• Forged steel - This is a heavy duty construction where the highest precision is required, usually for long runs and also, usually, for harder materials. It is also the most expensive.

Hydraulic Die Cutting Machines Or Presses - Principles

For many years now, the vast majority of cutting presses have been hydraulically powered to enable high cutting forces to be developed safely and quietly to cut the most demanding of jobs.

In simple terms, a motor drives a pump, which then delivers oil under high pressure to a hydraulic cylinder or cylinders, thus driving the cutting head down to effect the cut.

All hydraulic presses require two main settings to be made before commencing work – (a) adjustment to the ‘cutting stroke’ which determines the depth to which the cutting die penetrates after it has cut through the material and (b) adjustment to the ‘daylight’ which is the gap measured between the upper and lower platens after the cutting head has returned to top position.

Die cutting presses usually have a polypropylene, PVC or nylon cutting pad on the bed of the press for the cutting blade to cut against (like a chopping board) and this works well with most materials. However, automatic systems may use a special nylon belt as a cutting barrier in order to make sure cut components feed out of the machine – this can avoid sticking or snagging of materials in the cutting area.

Kiss Cutting And Steel To Steel Cutting

The main exception to cutting onto a plastic cutting barrier is when steel to steel cutting is required and a specialized die cutting press is used to permit this.

The requirement usually arises if the material to be cut cannot be cut through or parted off cleanly due it its fibrous nature. Cutting against a precision hardened and ground steel plate can often solve this problem but the cutting press must have additional depth control equipment, in the form of a precision mechanical positive stops, to ensure that the cutting blade literally ‘kisses’ the steel surface in order to avoid blade damage.

This type of press can also be finely adjusted in order to cut self adhesive materials which have a bottom carrier paper. By careful adjustment of the mechanical stops, the end of the stroke cut position can be set to cut through the material but not the carrier paper. In this way, the cut product remains on the carrier paper and is rewound for later peel off and dispensing. This process is also called ‘kiss cutting’.

COMMON TYPES OF HYDRAULIC DIE CUTTING PRESSES AND PRINCIPAL FUNCTIONS

Swing Arm Cutting Press (Swing Beam)(Clicking Press)

Did you know?

That these machines are often known as ‘clicker presses’ due to the historic way of cutting patterns in the shoe industry? Originally, leather cutting operatives used to produce cut parts by using a hand held knife which they would run around a pattern or template. These patterns had a brass edging to protect the template and as the blade ran round the brass edging it produced a clicking sound. Hence the operatives became known as ‘clickers’. With the development of swing arm presses to do this job, the machines became known as clicker presses or clicking presses. The term remains in use to this day.

View our Swing Arm Cutting Press product page

The most widely used model with thousands in daily use. These machines are also commonly known as Clicking Presses or Clicker Presses. For cutting sheets of material (including leather hides) with small cutting dies. The operator manually places the cutting die onto the material, swings the arm or beam over the die, the press arm descends and presses the die through the material.

Travelling Head Cutting Press

View our Manual Travelling Head Cutting Press product page

These versatile machines use small to medium sized cutting dies to cut material which can be in sheet form, long lays, or direct from the roll.

The principle is just the same but the cutting head is motorized so that it will traverse from side to side within the press frame. The operator manually positions the die on the material but uses controls to traverse the cutting head over the die and deliver the cut.

Materials can be up to 2 metres wide (or more) and are fed in through the rear of the press.

Automatic Travelling Head Cutting Press

View our Automatic Travelling Head Cutting Press product page

For fully automatic operation, the cutting die is mounted on the head of the press. The head and the feed system are programmed so that the head travels accurately from side to side, delivering cuts, and the feed system moves the material forward for each successive row of cuts. The head can also rotate to any angle so that cuts can be interlocked to make the best use of the material. Whilst a plastic cutting barrier board can be used, it is more common to cut on a special conveyor belt which carries the cut parts out of the cutting area.

Fixed Beam Cutting Press

View our Fixed Beam Cutting Press product page

For larger components or multiple small components. Higher cutting forces permit large or densely bladed dies to be used.

On manual machines, material in sheet form is commonly processed while automatic models can be fed with rolls of material or stack fed with sheets. Feeding systems and component stripping apparatus can be specified.

Receding Head Cutting Press

View our Receding Head Cutting Press product page

This most versatile cutting machine has all the features of the fixed beam press with the advantage of the cutting head or beam retracting (receding) after the cut. This facilitates the use of larger sheets and roll form material with improved visibility, ease and speed of operation.

Kiss Cutting/Steel To Steel Cutting Machines

View our Steel To Steel Cutting Machines product page

Where perfect quality of cut for difficult materials is required or self adhesive components need to be cut onto a backing material, these machines work automatically and at high speed. Additional positive, mechanical stops allow precise setting whilst rewind stations will wind up the scrap web and the backing material with finished components still in place.

With specialized tooling and equipment these machines can be specified to heat seal the edge of products as well as cutting them out in the same cycle.

Optical Registration Die Cutting Presses

View our Optical Registration Die Cutting Systems product page

Where products, typically printed ones, demand accurate cutting to registration, it is possible for systems to be equipped with fibre optic or laser sensors which ‘see’ registration marks so that the material is accurately fed and cut to precisely align with the printed image.

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Emboss and Deboss

Debossing and embossing are two techniques used to imprint images onto paper, leather, or vinyl. In embossing, an image is pressed into the material so that the image raises from the surface. Debossing is the opposite of embossing; the area around the image is pressed so that the image is pushed down into the material rather than raised.
 
To emboss an image, a logo or artwork must be used as a template in order to cut a metal die and a corresponding counter-die. Dies are made of brass, copper, or magnesium. Brass dies are stronger and they will last longer with repeated use. They are used for multi-level and detailed designs, such as an imprint of a human face. Copper, though usually cheaper than brass, will not withstand as many impressions and it will not be as effective for multi-level printing. Magnesium is much weaker than brass and copper, and it is used one time for simple, single-level impressions.
 
To begin the embossing process, the material is fit between the two dies and a press and heat are used to squeeze the die imprint into the material. The result is a raised and exact copy of the logo or artwork. The embossed area is smooth because the heat and pressure act like an iron.
 
Embossing can be used with textiles, paper, and non-woven materials such as tissue paper, vinyl or leather padfolios. Color register embossed printing is embossing with the addition of colored ink, and blind embossing is embossing without the addition of ink. Foil stamping can be used in conjunction with embossing, and this process is called combination or combo stamping.
 
The deboss process is the same as that for embossing, except debossing raises the material around the die impression rather than raising the design area itself. Brass, copper, and magnesium dies are used in the debossing process as well. 
 
There are several debossing techniques. A blind deboss is used with screen-printing or foil stamping. With the screen process, the art or design is first printed onto the material and then the outline of the print is debossed using a die exactly registered to the silk screen print. In foil stamping, the foil is transferred to the material using a special die and then the same die is used to deboss the area. Debossing is less complicated than embossing, and when done in conjunction with silk screen printing, it results in a colorful and more detailed rendering of artwork and lettering.
 
Debossing and embossing are preferred methods of imprinting onto materials such as leather or vinyl. For promotional gifts on the executive level, debossed and embossed leather or vinyl make elegant reproductions of a company logo or name.

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Laminate

Inline

Duplex

The printer supports Automatic and Manual Duplex printing modes:

• Automatic Duplex Printing (normal paper):The printer can print on both sides of the paper For paper fed from a paper tray or the multi-purpose tray, duplex printing is carried out automatically if you set this in the printer driver upon executing the print command.
  To see how to set in the printer driver in detail, click here.
• Manual Duplex Printing with the Multi-purpose Tray:For thicker paper or glossy paper, you can print on the back surface of the paper from the multi-purpose tray. Print the front surface of all pages first, then put the sheets into the multi-purpose tray to print on the back surface of the pages.

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Foiling

Today we are going to talk about foiling, often referred to as hot foiling. This is another print finishing technique that is used in many different ways by designers and printers.

The type of foil we are most familiar with in day to day life is good old kitchen tin foil which is not too dissimilar from the type that we are going look at, it is thin, shiny and comes on a roll!

To help understand what I am talking about, take out any bank note from your pocket or wallet (if you are lucky enough to have one!) and have a good look at the fancy shiny silver strip or shape on the right hand side of the front of the note. This is a type of foil that is applied to the note after it has been printed. In this instance it is used to verify that the note is genuine. This is a special type of holographic foil that is specifically designed for euro bank notes. It has textures and numbers designed into the foil to prevent counterfeiting. Concert tickets and some vouchers also use a very similar type of foil.

Foiling is also used on book covers, leather products, business stationery, packaging, greeting cards – the list is endless!

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Branding and Identity

I searched for the National Trust to see what their branding and identity had been applied to. I saw that they had used uncoated stock which is good as it is better for the environment. This led me to raise a question in my mind as to whether there is such a thing as environmentally friendly coated paper, which is why I have posted some further research below. I also came across the image of the van which had been printed on, this gave me the idea to perhaps take my idea further and in my proposal write how the government could have my message printing on moving vehicles as well to spread the message about vegetable based inks.

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Can you get coated and uncoated recycled paper?

As a visual medium, it goes without saying that a magazine’s look is an important selling point. For most magazine publishers achieving the desired look means using a coated paper. However, coatings introduce a specific set of environmental concerns, particularly as they complicate the recycling process. There are different types of coatings, separated not only by composition but also by function. Clay coating is applied at high-pressure to add a glossy finish or shine to magazine paper prior to printing. This coating improves the opacity of the paper, helping to prevent any bleeding through of inks. The vast majority of magazines currently use this type of coated paper. A second coating is sometimes applied after printing to seal the inks onto the paper.

When magazines are discarded for recycling, the clay and final sealant coatings act as contaminants in the recycling process and must be fully separated from the paper. Complete separation is not always easy, and failing to remove coatings from the mix results in the production of low grade recycled paper. A final sealing coat adds an additional level of contaminants that must be removed during recycling. Sealants often contain polymers (plastic-type substances), which are even more difficult to separate from paper. This final coating is also potentially harmful to the environment, as its application can result in the release of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are suspected carcinogens and contributors to ozone depletion. UV coating also guzzles tremendous amounts of energy, calling for intense heat and a UV light source.

Both clay and UV coatings reduce the recyclability of magazine paper. Deinking mills tend to accept less coated paper because when the paper and clay are separated, the quantity of clay nearly equals that of the usable paper fiber. For these reasons, coated and re-coated magazine paper is less than desirable from the viewpoint of deinking mills. The best environmental choice is to go with an uncoated paper whenever possible. There are uncoated paper options available that contain as high as 100% postconsumer recycled content, and maintain superior print quality. Publishers should try to avoid using the second UV coat. If your paper must be coated, make sure the coating is VOC-free, or a non-volatile varnish.

For a greener publication with maximum sustainability: Work with a printer to find uncoated magazine paper. High quality matte finish products exist that will improve a publication’s readability, maintain appeal and make it more recyclable. If altogether avoiding coated paper is not an immediate possibility, get rid of the extra recycling hassle of a sealing coat. Eliminating polymers from the mix makes magazine recycling more effective. If a final sealing coat remains necessary, commit to using VOC-free options. Choose a non-volatile varnish and/or water-based coating. Printers can help determine what eco option makes the most sense. For information on coats and finding the best choice, visit Ecoprintand Quad/Graphics.

I took a photograph of some perfume blotters I had collected at home because I simply loved the design of them. Here you can see that foiling has been used for each separate design, and the second one down has also been debossed.

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Packaging and Promotion

This is an example of an uncoated stock being used to create some sustainable packaging. I particularly like the use of brown card with black ink printed on top and think that it works well to portray the product itself. I am not sure at the moment whether or not I would use coated or uncoated stock, however I think that uncoated would probably be the most suitable in terms of using recycled paper.

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This is an example of a die cut envelope. I was fascinated when I watched the videos posted above, to see how it actually works as a process. This is something I would love to get some experience with as it is very hands on but produces such accurate and precise outcomes.

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Publication and Editorial

Below are two books which I have had for a while in my room and I absolutely love the covers of both of them, the first one being my favourite because of the detail involved in the design. Both books have been foiled on the cover and I think this makes them look a little bit more special and elaborate.

Information and Way finding

I found this way finding example online which looks as though it has been designed with the text carved out of the wood, this is a variation of standard embossing.

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Whilst I was in Thailand I took some photographs of the road signs whilst I was walking around. This illustrates way finding in another country, but is also an example of duplex printing at a larger scale.