design guide for designers
( no phone estimates, please )

Letterpress

Foil Stamping

Die Cutting

Embossing

 

CUSTOM LETTERPRESS PRICE ESTIMATORS ARE
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As each job is unique, each job is estimated individually. To provide a firm quote of the production cost before starting a job, I need to see the artwork for all pieces. You will need to supply .EPS files of the complete layout. I need to know if the image is capable of being printed on a letterpress, the design's complexity, along with the image dimensions for an accurate cost.

please provide as much information as possible, including:

  • quantities of each piece

  • size of each piece

  • number of colors per piece and color choices

  • paper specifications for each piece

  • extra operations: die-cuts, scoring, perforating ...

  • date needed

Letterpress is most cost effective with a minimum of 50-100 prints. You may want only 5, but the press set up will be the same as for 500 and the same price. The set up per color is the most expensive operation, highly dependent on the image size. the cost per impression is not much more expensive then on the offset press. Additional colors will proportionally increase the price, each color needs to be set up and then registered with the previously printed panels. If precise color match is needed, you have to be available for the on press color proof. There is an extra charge for that.

In contrast to offset press, where, for the same price you have a given plate size, and you can paste-up as many cards as you can fit on it. Letterpress is charged by the square inch of the image printed. Printing a 3 X 2" image on a 3.5 X 2" business card, or a 1 X 6" image as a letterhead logo on a 8.5 X 11" sheet, cost the same.

the main factors in determining the cost are:

  1. the number of items ( set up cost per item and color )

  2. image size ( plate cost by square inch )

  3. the number of colors ( ink and wash up cost )

  4. quantities ( impression cost )

  5. parent sheet cutting, and card trimming after printing

After an estimate is approved and deposit is received, I can prepare the files for film output, make the polymer plates, mix the colors, cut the stock, set up the press and run the job.

Design Guidelines

LETTERPRESS, as the name implies, is for printing letters ( the alphabet, in random order ), and line art, and is really not suitable for large solids.

Letterpress gained popularity trough sort of a rebellion against high tech, ultra-Photoshopped designs. The resulting look is typically very organic, handmade, retro, and minimal. Print Designers, accustomed to offset printing, often think that if the design looks good on the computer screen, it will look good printed on letterpress too. It might not be the case. You have to look at this process as 3 dimensional relief sculpting ( cavo - rilievo ), acquire the feel, what will happen to the paper under extreme pressure. How will the shadows in the grooves affect the shape of the design, and the color of the ink. Also, what are the structural limitations of the polymer plates, and the particular paper. Perhaps, even the type of my press, and the way I prepare the make-ready, sets the look of my impressions apart from other letterpress printers.

Design Checklist

  • use separate file for each design, with descriptive file names and version numbers

  • avoid placing address over glue tabs of envelopes

  • destination address ( on front ) will show trough to the back

  • avoid bleed, and close tolerance 2 color designs on envelopes

  • bleed should not extend 0.125" over the trim line, mask excess artwork

  • use only standard PANTONE PMS® spot colors, delete unused swatches, avoid halftones and bit-mapped images

  • create a test color separation of your artwork, you should not have any of the CMYK pages showing, only the spot colors you use in your design.

  • avoid large solids, especially with dark colors

  • work out overprint, knock-out and trapping on overlapping or touching colors

  • avoid the mix of thin lines and reverse thin lines ( inside solids )

  • do not place parallel lines close to the edge

  • place a thin stroke ( 0.05 to 0.08 pt. ) on small serif fonts

  • give someone the design to proof read ... really

  • unlock and group the whole design

  • outline fonts and save as PostScript® file to be used in Illustrator®

  • supply hard copy proofs of the designs, marked with quantities, stock, and PMS® color choice

  • supply mock-up of folded cards and pocket folders - make sure that package will fit in the envelope


Tolerances

Nothing is perfect in life, nor in printing, that is why tolerances were invented, to give acceptable level of quality, and still allow for production work.

  • Registration Tolerance and Trap:
     wherever two colors meet, a 1 point trap is required to trap the colors.
    where two colors are adjacent and the designer does not want them to touch, there should be a minimum of 2 points of space between the two colors.
    As a general rule, this register tolerance precludes the use of two overprinting colors to create the third color, whether with solids or screens.

  • Line Width and Type Size:
     Minimum positive line width is 0.5 point. The minimum reverse printing line width is 0.75 point.
    Minimum positive printing type size is 8 point. The minimum reverse printing type size is 9 point bold.
    These guidelines are subject to review with serif type faces, and with designs including heavy areas of broad solid, along with small type in same color. In these circumstance the type may need to be larger and/or bolder.

  • Color Match:
     The inks used in letterpress are essentially semi transparent offset Pantone® colors, which due to the letterpresses different inking process, tend to run a bit darker, like the 2X colors in the back of the swatch book. The color of the stock, and the shadows, directly or indirectly influence how we see the colors.

  • Screens and Halftones:
     The line screen ruling on uncoated, textured paper stock is 45 to 55 lines per inch. The coarse screen insures cleanest possible dot reproduction. Halftones must have strong contrast, subtle tone variations will not reproduce. On coated, smooth stock, up to 133 lines per inch are possible.

  • Cutting Tolerance:
    Card trim size and image position on the cut card is ±0.03". Square ness tolerance is ±0.03" over 18".

your inky artisan,
thanks for reading the above Mumbo Jumbo,
Louie
 


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