Printing methods and finishes

Printing history

Printing is a process for reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest examples include Cylinder seals and other objects such as the Cyrus cylinder & Cylinders of Nabonidus. The earliest known form of woodblock printing came from China dating to before 220 A.D.

List of printing methods

Woodblock printing	200 CE
Movable type	1040
Printing press	1453
Etching	c. 1515
Mezzotint	1642
Aquatint	1772
Lithography	1796
Chromolithography	1837
Rotary press	1843
Hectograph	1869
Offset printing	1875
Hot metal typesetting	1884
Mimeograph	1886
Screen printing	1910
Spirit duplicator	1923
Photocopying	1938
Phototypesetting	1949
Inkjet printing	1951
Dye-sublimation	1957
Dot matrix printer	1968
Laser printing	1969
Thermal printing	c. 1972
3D printing	1984
Digital press	1993

Printing finishes

Gather / Stitch / Trim  -  Three phrases used within the print industry to describe the process of collating print jobs, stapling booklets where necessary and trimming free edges to provide customers with a quality and professional finish.  Graphics and Print have purchased a Horizon Saddle Stitcher in order to deliver this service in-house, thereby helping to speed up delivery and keeping costs to a minimum for our customers.

Laminating - the process of providing a plastic coating to printed material and gluing the two together using an adhesive. It is particularly useful for clients who have printed items that they want colleagues or customers to keep for long periods of time as the lamination helps to extend the shelf life of the item. Laminating is a service we can provide in-house, thereby speeding up delivery for clients and keeping costs to a minimum.

Perfect Binding - Perfect binding is the type of binding you see on books, manuals, catalogues, magazines and annual reports. Adhesive is used to attach a paper cover to the spine of the assembled signatures before being clamped together and placed in a machine that slices about 3mm off their left edges.  Graphics and Print have invested in a Horizon BQ220 Perfect Binder to enable us to provide this service in-house. In turn, this means we can deliver your work quicker and we can keep costs down, with no need to outsource the work.

Die Cutting  - Die cutting is a process used to create shapes to conventionally-edged printed items. For example, rather than having a straight-edged, rectangular brochure, you may choose to curve the edges to bring the item to life. Die cutting is used to generate large numbers of the same shape.  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.  Graphics and Print have invested in a Heidelberg 13 x 18 Platen along with a Heidelberg 57 x 82 cm converted cut/crease cylinder  to bring you speed and quality of delivery by maintaining all the work in-house.

Endorse Folding -   This is a simple finishing option which allows the folding of printed items, usually in half, to keep costs down when posting the items out to customers or colleagues.  Not all print manufacturers offer this service, but with postage costs increasing regularly and A4 envelopes now costing more to post than A5, this can be a very important addition to your ‘finishing’ options. To send an A4 document first class (weight dependant) costs 75p. To send the same document but folded to A5 costs just 46p. Recognising this could be a real issue to our customers. Graphics and Print have purchased a Horizon AFC 504 AKT Folder 2000 to ensure we help you to keep your costs to a minimum by providing you with the Endorse Folding option in-house.

Spot UV - Spot UV is all about providing a varnish finish to your print items. If you want your print job to stand out from the crowd and really grab your audience’s attention, then this is something to seriously consider.  Graphics and Print offer customers the ability to have Spot Varnish – the ability to highlight and draw attention to that part of the design you most want the customer to read – added.  The varied texture also stimulates interest on a single printed surface. Graphics and Print can even apply a UV gloss spot varnish on top of matt laminated printing to provide the maximum contrast between the highly reflective, shiny UV coating and the light-absorbing matt laminate. This is how you can make your presentation folders or brochure covers really stand out from the crowd.

Embossing - Embossing is very simply the process of creating a three-dimensional image or design in paper and other materials. Most types of paper can be embossed, and size is not normally a consideration. Embossing without ink, so that the image is raised but not coloured, is called ‘blind embossing’ whilst embossing used in conjunction with ink, so that the raised area is coloured, is called ‘colour register embossing.’ Embossing used in conjunction with foil stamping is called ‘combination stamping’ or ‘combo stamping.’ This is an option customers may wish to consider if they want to give an impression of quality to their prospective customers.  It is also used by many companies within letters of achievement or recognition cards to colleagues.