What is polygraphy definition. What is printing? Production of printing products

Among the various services offered to the population is printing - the production of a variety of printed products. But not everyone understands the meaning of this type of activity.

The quite common word "printing" in different people evokes an association with colorful posters or posters, in extreme cases with a publishing house that publishes a book. It is far from indifferent to those who are directly connected with the printing industry - this is one of the main whales on which the fame of the enterprise rests. Because maintaining not only your name, but also the image of the company as a whole depends on the advertising products of the printing industry. And therefore for them this term has a slightly different meaning. According to its capabilities, it can satisfy the demand of any client: not only a private person, but also large enterprise and organizations that need printing products.

Printing and its importance for advertisers

Modern printing is one of the industries of industrial importance, which is engaged in the reproduction of printed material, as well as the release of books and magazines, newspapers, label and packaging products. And the services offered in the form of a variety of products are in demand among advertisers. Therefore, today the printing industry is an opportunity to satisfy the demand of any client.

For many companies, paper business cards, various posters, various advertising products that are in demand are a way to attract the attention of consumers. Therefore, for them, printing is an opportunity to get the right product according to requests and needs, it becomes an integral part of their professional activities.

The role of design in printing products

In printing products, the main place is occupied by the design of printing, because the future of organizations in the field of sales of goods depends on this. For people, for example, this is just a colorfully designed invitation that is pleasant to hold in your hands, which lifts your spirits. Specialists working in this area provide a full range of services designed for any audience of consumers. Because the printing design of any execution project carries a semantic load and plays the role of an incentive to purchase a product or service.

The value of printing in people's lives

The term "printing" itself is a concept of generalized meaning, it can be attributed both to a separate area of ​​production of printed materials, and to goods produced by a typographic method. But the meaning does not change from this. And it all depends on the different directions of the printing industry, as well as on the number of printing products that are used for various purposes.

The concept of "operational printing" is the release and manufacture of various products in a printed version. It implies a small circulation of products in a very short time with the transfer of different colors of the media inks and includes several technology processes associated with the concept of "online printing".

Printing from a ready-made product layout is operational printing. And it can be offset and digital. The need for prompt printing arises in a variety of situations, for example, when additional copies of an already finished product are required, or there is a need to create a new one. also refer to online printing.

Advertising printing - the engine of progress

We inevitably see advertising products every day and everywhere: in everyday life, squares and parks, street avenues, offices. Accordingly, the advertising products produced by the printing house are very wide in the number of assortments. It is based on the idea, the level of design skills and quality printing. Therefore, the production of brochures, catalogs and posters requires careful preparation with the development of unique ideas, slogans and uniform styles.

What do printing services include?

Products of this type of printing include:

• Various in format and quality of the material used, which are the cheapest media from this area.
• Calendars and posters differ only in size, but they carry a lot of information about the products.
• Catalogs, brochures are designed mainly for target audience with many color illustrations.
• stickers are the expression on the face of the company, protection against counterfeiting and carrying information about them.
• Notepads and various types of kubariks, postcards, serve as reminders and are excellent advertising material.

PRINTING: BASIC CONCEPTS

What is printing?

Typically, many consider the printing industry to be the printing industry. Others call printing all the products that modern printing houses produce. In principle, both are right.

Printing is a generalized concept both for various areas of the printing industry, and for a huge variety of printing products that we use every day for a variety of purposes. We deal with printing on a daily basis: at home, on the street, and in the office. The range of printing products produced by modern printing houses is incredibly wide: these are leaflets and booklets, books, magazines and newspapers, posters and posters, brochures and catalogs, cards and invitations, packaging, labels, stickers, stickers and even ballots for elections to state authorities ... Without printing and printing products, in our time, it is impossible for a business to exist, no matter what area it belongs to.

According to the definition, printing is the process of multiple acquisition of an image (its replication) on a printed material by transferring ink from any medium. And they are engaged in this process of replicating printed products (in other words, printing or printing) printing enterprises - printing houses.

Benefits of digital printing

Digital printing is one of the most popular modern printing methods in the printing industry. With this printing method, it is possible to print documents directly from a computer, without additional prepress processes. This significantly saves time on the production process of printed products.

Digital printing is a technique for taking impressions using a variable printed form... The changes in the printing press at each stage are controlled by the computer of the publishing system. Small-run digital printing is very profitable and cost effective by saving on expensive prepress operations.

Digital printing makes it possible to produce small runs of printed products and provide customers with a wide range of printing services for the manufacture of one or another type of printed products. The quality of prints is not lower than in offset printing, but at the same time, when using the digital printing method, it becomes possible to personalize prints, quickly change text or images. It is not only the cost of prepress that is significantly reduced; no printing plates and films are made, but there is also a risk of quality loss at these stages of printing. Digital printing is characterized by the use of any medium - paper, self-adhesive backing.

Digital printing can be used to produce business cards, leaflets, brochures, calendars of various types, letterheads, self-copying documents, flyers, wobblers, stickers and much more. Speaking about the equipment for digital printing, it can be noted that the market of the offered printing equipment for digital printing is currently rich in various equipment (digital printing machines and printing systems for industrial printing houses, copiers, printers). Digital printing is widely used for printing small-run advertising or commercial publications, which can be changed during the production process even after each copy has been printed.

Based on the foregoing, we can single out the following advantages of digital printing over offset.

• Using the digital printing method makes it possible to preview a copy or print a trial version of future products before the printing process itself. This will help to pre-assess the quality and design of products and make the required changes in a timely manner.
• Digital printing allows you to print small runs (up to one copy) in the shortest possible time (up to several minutes) without significant impact.
• Digital printing does not require prepress in the form of printing plates and films. Thus, the process of printing by means of a digital method becomes inexpensive and the risk of loss of image quality during prepress is reduced.
• Digital printing products are characterized by high image quality. The amount of toner used to create the colors in the image is controlled by the computer, and accurate color registration avoids the need for overlaying colors to hide defects - a property that is unique to digital printing.
• Digital printing allows you to personalize data and enter numbering, make changes after printing each print.

Production of printing products

The quality of advertising printing consists of three components - the idea, the level of design and the quality of printing. Therefore, with the right approach, work on an advertising brochure, catalog, poster should begin with the development original idea, slogan, uniform style. After that, the designer's task is to find the most optimal and accurate way to implement it (whether it be photography, three-dimensional images, involving an artist, etc.). And only at the final stage is the selection of the printing house carried out in accordance with the design features and printing requirements.

Directly the cycle of production of printed products (printing) occurs in three stages.

• Preparing the finished layout for printing
• Seal
• Post-printing processing

The first stage is preparing the layout for printing: checking the finished layout, bringing the layout to the requirements for the manufacture of one or another type of printed matter, assembling impositions (distribution of the layout strips in a special way for subsequent post-printing processing), etc. The second stage is the actual printing process itself. Oddly enough, but in most cases this stage takes the least time in the entire production cycle and is mainly due to technical characteristics and the condition of the printing press. Well, the last, third, stage of production of printed products is post-printing processing. This includes many varieties of processes for giving the desired appearance to printed products. Cutting the printed sheet, folding (for booklets), stitching (for catalogs, magazines), bookbinding (folders, diplomas, diaries), die-cutting, etc. High-quality finishing gives the product the individuality conceived by the designers and makes the finished product stand out among others. Any type of printed matter needs post-printing processing, at least cutting. In some cases, the time required for post-printing in the manufacture of this product can be several times longer than the time spent on printing and even on the development and preparation of the layout.

Paper sizes and sizes

Paper Size - The standardized size of a paper sheet. V different countries v different time various formats have been adopted as standard. Currently, two systems dominate: the international standard (A4 and related) and the North American one. The international standard for paper formats, ISO 216, is based on a 1 m² paper sheet format. The standard has been adopted by all countries except the United States and Canada. In Mexico and the Philippines, despite the adoption international standard, the American letter format is still widely used. All ISO paper sizes have the same aspect ratio equal to the square root of two, this ratio is approximately 1: 1.41. The most widely known ISO standard format is A4. Also, this standard assumes three series of formats - A, B and C.

Series A

The largest standard size, A0, is one square meter. The long side of the leaf has a length equal to the fourth root of two, which is approximately equal to 1.189 m, the length of the short side is the inverse of the indicated value, approximately 0.841 m, the product of these two lengths gives an area of ​​1 m². The A1 dimension is obtained by cutting the A0 sheet along the short side into two equal parts, as a result of which the aspect ratio is maintained. This allows one standard paper size to be produced from another, which was not possible with traditional sizes. Keeping the aspect ratio also means that when you scale an image from one aspect ratio to another, the aspect ratio of the image is preserved. A1 format is A0 cut in half. In other words, height A1 = width A0, width A1 = half the height of A0. All sizes smaller than A1 are produced in the same way. If you cut the format An parallel to its short side into two equal parts, you get the format A (n + 1). The standard heights and widths of paper sizes are rounded to the nearest whole millimeter.

Series B

In addition to the A series, there are also the less common B series formats. The area of ​​the B series sheets is the geometric average of the two subsequent A series sheets. For example, B1 is between A0 and A1 in size, with an area of ​​0.71 m². As a result, B0 measures 1000x1414mm. The B series is almost never used in the office, but has a number of special uses, for example, many posters come out in these formats, B5 is often used for books, and these formats are also used for envelopes and passports.

Series C

Series C is used for envelopes only and is defined in ISO 269. Series C sheets are equal to the geometric mean of Series A and B sheets of the same number. For example, the area of ​​C4 is the geometric mean of the area of ​​sheets A4 and B4, while C4 is slightly larger than A4, and B4 is slightly larger than C4. The practical meaning of this is that A4 can be inserted into a C4 envelope, and a C4 envelope can be inserted into a heavy B4 envelope.

Types of printing products

Polygraphic (printed) products are the main means of mass information and communication between people, a powerful tool for the propaganda of political and scientific knowledge, a means of political struggle and expression of public opinion, as well as the keeper of the spiritual values ​​of all ages and all peoples. The printed matter currently being produced is very diverse in its appearance, specific purpose, publication time, and technical performance. The most popular types of printed materials at the moment are listed below.

• Form
• Self-copying forms
• Leaflet
• Booklet
• Brochure
• Calendar
• Business card
• Folder
• Notebook
• Envelope
• Kubarik
• Label
• Label

Form

A sheet of paper, usually A4 or less, containing elements corporate identity or information of a permanent nature (invoices, acts, etc.), intended for subsequent filling.

Self-copying forms

Several sheets of special self-copying paper, held together on one side with a special glue that allows you to easily separate the sheets.

Leaflet

A paper sheet, usually A4, printed on one or both sides, in one or more colors, advertising or informational content. It assumes a slightly higher quality of the printing performance than that of the letterhead.

Booklet

Non-periodical sheet publication in the form of one sheet of printed material, folded (folded) in 2 or more folds.

Brochure

Non-periodic text book edition of more than 4 pages, connected with glue, springs, sewing with a paper clip or thread.

Calendar

A printed edition that necessarily includes a calendar grid. There are calendars: pocket, quarter, loose-leaf calendars on the crossbar, "house" and "loose-leaf" calendars.

Business card

A sheet of thick paper or cardboard, usually 50x90 mm in size (sometimes of other formats), containing information about a person or company.

Folder

A product made of heavy paper, cardboard, or resin for storing a small number of sheets of paper. It is mainly used as an element of corporate identity. There are several types: one-piece (made from a whole sheet of material), with glued pockets (a flap pocket is made from a separate sheet of material and then glued to the "crusts"), with lock fastening (the folder can be laid flat and then assembled again, not tearing it apart), with an adhesive bond.

Notebook

A pile of paper sewn or glued from the end, clean or with applied elements of corporate identity, with a cover.

Envelope

One of the types of corporate identity media. There are a wide variety of types of envelopes.

Kubarik

A small stack of paper, glued on one side for easy tear-off. Used for online recordings. As a rule, it bears elements of corporate identity.

Label

A small sheet of special (label) paper containing information about a product or product. It assumes an adhesive fastening method.

Label

A small sheet of cardboard containing information about a product or product and accompanying it, suggesting a hinged method of fastening.

Post-printing processing

Post-processing refers to all operations with printed products that are performed after the printed circulation leaves the press, and until the moment the package is delivered to the customer. In other words, post-printing is the final stage in the production of printed products. Some types of finishing are performed only for certain types of printed products, and some for all at once. So, for example, lamination is possible only for paper products, while die-cutting is possible for all types, including plastic products. The main types of finishing in digital printing are listed below.

• Cutting sheets
• Creasing
• Folding
• Stitching
• Foiling
• Rounding corners
• Die cutting
• Punching
• Lamination

Cutting sheets

The final size of the printed sheet in the printing industry is formed using sheet cutting - a post-printing stage that cannot be avoided by any type of printed product due to a number of technological limitations arising from both offset and digital printing.

Finished sheets are stacked and cut on each side - this is how the white margins (the so-called unprinted area) are removed and the sheets are precisely sized and shaped. This finishing step is called trimming. Often, several future copies of the printed matter are located on one sheet (for example, business cards are printed this way), and after printing they are also separated using sheet cutting - this will be called cutting.

As for the models of brochures, catalogs and other printing, which does not use spring binding, they are cut off after completing all technological operations, including the binding of sheets. This is due to the fact that this produces a perfectly accurate sheet size and a neat, even cut of the finished printed product.

Creasing

A type of post-printing processing of printed products, in which a line in the form of a track pressed into the paper is indicated on paper or cardboard in the places of the future fold. With the help of a creasing machine, paper products more easily acquire the required shape, acquire additional strength at the folds and avoid cracking of both the paper and the paint layer.

Creasing is performed on special creasing machines or with blunt knives. After scoring, the products are folded along these lines. Creasing is mainly used for cardboard and all types of paper, the density of which exceeds 175 g / m². It is also used on laminated paper surfaces and where there is a continuous seal on the fold. In this case, the number of fold lines is not limited.

Folding

Folding is the application of fold lines to paper without preliminary pressing with a blunt knife and can be done either manually or using special equipment. The manual version is used when preparing small editions. Folding is performed on medium-weight paper (up to 150 g / m²), but if it is necessary to fold paper over 170 g / m² or cardboard, it is necessary to perform a creasing operation, this will help to maintain good appearance products on the fold.

Folding allows for the final look finished products... It can be booklets, brochures, catalogs, all kinds of promotional items, drawings and much more. The simplest example of folding is a flyer folded in half.

Stitching

Binding is a technological process as a result of which a number of sheets are connected into a notebook, the so-called brochure. It is customary to call a brochure a publication with more than 4 block pages interconnected. The number of sheets in a product is limited by the selected binding method and the purpose of the brochure itself. Binding is used for printed materials such as notebooks, brochures, catalogs, notebooks, etc. There are three main types of binding: stapling (stapling), adhesive seamless binding (hot melt glue) and spring winding.

Stapling is commonly used for brochures, catalogs and magazines. In this way, as a rule, no more than 40 sheets are fastened. If there are more sheets in the printed edition, then you need to already use metal springs or hot melt glue (KBS). 1, 2, or more staples can be used depending on the design, size and number of sheets in the unit. The stitching can also be done with silk or polyamide thread and used as an element for multi-page publications such as books.

With adhesive seamless bonding, the elements of the book block are fastened with KBS glue along the spine. With the help of KBS it is possible to staple products, the block of which consists of paper with a density of not more than 170 g / m², spine thickness up to 3 cm. This method of binding is usually used for products that can no longer be stapled due to the large number of pages and thick cover. As a rule, these are various multi-page products: catalogs, magazines, books. Often, a similar method of bonding is used in the preparation of annual reports, abstracts, term papers... The binding design can be made at the request of the customer.

Very often, stitching is carried out using springs (combs). This method is most often used to fasten notebooks and notebooks, but it is also used for catalogs, abstracts, tablets, etc. The printed sheets of the block and covers are perforated (holes are punched along the edge) and fastened with a spring. You can bond a block up to 100 sheets of 80 g / m² offset paper (depending on the diameter of the spring itself). The advantage of this binding is that the sheets and covers in publications can be quickly replaced if necessary. Depending on the volume and purpose of the product, both a metal spring and a plastic one can be used. The metal spring looks less presentable and effective, but its advantage is the strength and reliability of the fastening. The plastic spring has a more attractive appearance, it is practical and convenient to use, but under any load (for example, when falling), the spring can damage the stitched sheets of paper with its sharp edge.

Foiling

Foiling or foil stamping is the operation of applying shiny metal foil in individual letters or specific areas. This gives the effect of silvering or gilding, but foil of a different color can also be used - red, green, blue, yellow, etc. The embossing is carried out on manual, semi-automatic and automatic presses for embossing under the influence of high temperature or cold.

Foil embossing allows you to give the finished product a special appeal and a more expensive and elegant appearance. The embossing process is expensive but very effective, which is why many customers prefer this method of finishing. The embossing on designer papers and plastic looks very interesting.

Rounding corners

Rounding corners it is used in the manufacture of small format publications to make the corners more round, which do not bend as sharp, do not break. In addition, after rounding the corners, the product acquires a neater appearance.

Rounding of corners is used for calendars, business cards, notebooks, etc., and can be performed not only on paper products, but also on plastic products (badges, tags), as well as on any other type of printing products. Depending on the size of the product and the equipment used, the corners are rounded with different radii (the standard value is 6.38 mm). Rounding the corners does not spoil the image, does not affect the structure of the material, and is a purely aesthetic stage in the processing of printed products.

Die cutting

Punching (punching) is used to give an already finished image the required shape, other than rectangular. The die-cutting equipment allows, when using a press from a solid sheet of cardboard, paper, plastic or leather, to obtain a shape of any complexity, already ready for use or in need of subsequent assembly. It is used for the manufacture of folders, boxes, wobblers, shelf talkers, any non-standard polygraphic products. The simplest example of using corner rounding is a pocket calendar 100x70 mm.

Punching

Perforation is a collection of holes in a line, in a sheet or roll material, that allows the material to break easily and accurately along that line. Created with special perforating knives.

Perforation is used in the manufacture of various printed materials: tear-off calendars, notepads, invitations, tickets, coupons, postage stamps, stickers, spring notepads, diaries with tear-off corners. Choice of hole shape for punching: square or round holes depends on the general style of the product. In addition, perforation is often used instead of creasing. Thanks to perforation, the fold of high-density materials is neat and the paper does not break. As an example of the use of punching, we can consider tickets for a concert with a tear-off part "Control".

Lamination

The process of covering images with a special transparent glossy or matte film with a thickness of 80 to 250 microns on the front side or on both sides of the image. This method of processing allows you to protect the image of external mechanical, water, chemical, temperature effects, increase the density of the image and give an attractive appearance.

Glossy films significantly improve the image, perfectly reproduce colors, make colors contrasting, saturated, rich and bright. Finishing with a glossy film is similar in visual effect to UV varnishing, but provides more reliable protection of the publication from external influences (especially at the places of fold, cut and crease). The disadvantages of glossy films include the fact that in strong light, glare appears on the laminated surface, making it difficult to perceive small details and text information.

Matte films exclude the appearance of such reflections, give a special depth and velvety to the picture, and allow you to make inscriptions on the surface of an already finished publication. The matte film coating looks very respectable and is most suitable for decorating expensive advertising and presentation products.

Lamination of printed products is carried out using special equipment - laminators. It is customary to distinguish between hot and cold lamination by the method of fixing the film. When hot, the printed edition, together with the film, is rolled between rollers heated to the required temperature. The heating power is determined based on the characteristics of the materials used. With this method, an increase in temperature leads to the activation of the adhesive layer, and the pressure exerted by the rollers promotes the adhesion (pressing) of the film to the product. In cold lamination, films are used with a pressure-only adhesive system. This method is justified for materials that are particularly sensitive to temperature effects.

POLYGRAPHY
the technique of multiple obtaining of the same images (prints) by transferring the ink layer from the printing plate to paper or other material. The actual process of transferring an image from a printing plate to paper is called printing. But this is only one of the processes of making printed products; the main printing processes are typesetting, making a printing plate, printing and bookbinding. In printing, three main methods of reproduction of text and illustrations are used: high, gravure and flat printing. Letterpress is the oldest of them. As the name itself indicates, with this method, the printers are embossed elements of the printing plate that rise above the non-printing (blank) elements. Printing takes place when the inked printing surface is pressed against the paper. In intaglio printing, the printing elements of the printing plate, on the contrary, are recessed. The paint is applied to the entire surface of the mold, and then erased so that it remains only in the depressions corresponding to the image. When the paper is pressed against the intaglio plate, ink flows from the indentations onto the paper like moisture absorbed by a towel. The printing and space elements of the flatbed form are located at the same level. This method, which includes offset printing and lithography, is based on differences in the wettability of different areas of the surface. The surface of the form is chemically treated so that the printing elements are wetted with ink, and the blanks are not accepted.
HIGH PRINT
The production of any printed matter begins with a set. The letterpress set can be made manually or by machine.
Manual set. This is the oldest type of set. A separate typographic letter is used for each letter of the alphabet. The letter is a metal bar, on the upper end of which there is a relief image of the letter. From such letters, words, phrases, paragraphs, etc. are made by hand. The typographic font is produced as individual letters of different sizes and typefaces and is supplied as sets containing all uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation marks of the same size and typeface. The height (size) of a font is measured in non-metric units - typographic points. In Russia, the standard point size is 0.376 mm. With a monotype set in Russia, they use an Anglo-American point equal to 0.3528 mm (1/72 inch).
Machine set. Machine typing is, of course, faster than manual typing. There are three main types of typesetting machines for letterpress printing: line-casting, letter-casting and large-sized line-casting. All of them do not actually produce a typesetting type, but rather cast the type from molten metal. Strokotlivny typesetting machines (linotypes and intertypes) type the text in the form of monolithic metal lines with a relief printing surface. Each such machine consists of a keyboard, a magazine and an ejection and disassembly apparatus. When you press a key with a letter designation, a metal matrix is ​​selected from the store, which serves as the injection mold of the corresponding letter. Whole lines are composed of matrices, which are then mechanically transferred to the casting apparatus. Here the matrices are poured with molten metal, and it cools quickly. The cast string is pushed out of the machine, after which the disassembly mechanism returns the dies to the magazine. Before casting the string, it is mechanically justified, i.e. reduction to a given length using blank plates - spacing. The letter-casting typesetting machine (monotype) consists of a keyboard and casting apparatus. When a key is pressed, a code combination of holes corresponding to a given letter is punched on the paper tape. In the casting machine, where there are matrices for all letters, a set is automatically cast on a paper tape. In large-sized string-casting machines, a machine set is combined with a manual one. The hand-picked strings from the dies are introduced into the casting apparatus, in which the set is cast. Speed ​​of execution is not the only advantage of a machine set over a manual one. It is also simpler in many ways. For example, a set made by machine and disassembled mechanically, not by hand. In addition, since the typeface is re-cast each time with machine typing, the difficulties associated with gradual wear of the type disappear.

Cliche. Besides text, printing deals with illustrations. In letterpress printing, illustrations are reproduced using special forms of letterpress printing - cliches. These are solid printing plates that can be made by hand, but are more often done by photomechanical and electromechanical methods. Depending on the nature of the image, clichés can be dashed, halftone and combined. Line clichés, as their name indicates, are used to reproduce pen drawings, handwritten text, drawings, graphs, and other similar originals. In the photomechanical manufacturing method, the reproduced illustration is photographed and the resulting negative is placed on a metal plate coated with a water-soluble photosensitive material. The light from a powerful lamp, passing through the transparent areas of the negative, causes the coating to harden (harden). The coating underneath the opaque areas of the negative remains soluble in water and washes out, leaving a clean metal surface. After that, the entire surface of the plate is exposed to acid, but etching occurs only in areas not protected by a hardened coating, as a result of which the necessary relief appears. Line clichés are simpler and cheaper than others, but they are only suitable for reproducing illustrations consisting of lines and solid dark areas. For the transfer of photographs, drawings and other images containing different levels of gray, grayscale clichés are used. Since the printing press can only apply an even layer of ink, the image in the illustration is photographically divided into separate dots to reproduce halftones. To do this, at the photographic stage of the process, a raster is superimposed on the original illustration - an optical device with a grid of opaque black lines. The raster divides the image into points, the size of which changes depending on the intensity of the reproduced tone in one place or another. In the dark area of ​​the image, the raster gives large dark points, and in the light area - small, more distant from each other. On the basis of the resulting negative, a cliche is made in the same way as a line cliche. Combined clichés are needed to reproduce illustrations, such as, for example, a shadowed pen drawing. In such cases, elements of both of the above methods for making cliches are used.
Layout, imposition and closing. After the text and headings are typed and the cliches are made, all this should be arranged in the form of a page. This operation, called imposition, consists in placing the individual elements of the set in the position in which they should be on the print. The entire plate is then "enclosed" (secured) in a massive steel frame that will hold it in position during printing. The dimensions of the frame for the enclosure are determined by the number and size of the printing plates that will be fixed in it. If, for example, one notebook requires eight strips (pages), then the printer will enclose four of the eight single-sheet printing plates in one frame, and the remaining four in another. Each of the two 4-lane printing plates will be printed on different sides of a single sheet of paper. After folding (folding) the printed sheet once horizontally and vertically, eight stripes will be produced. In multi-lane printing, it is necessary to arrange the individual printing plates of the strips so that after printing and folding, the prints of the stripes go in the notebook in the correct order. This arrangement is called an imposition pattern.
Stereotypy. In the manufacture of large-circulation products, letterpress forms wear out and have to be restored. In addition, if the same order was printed at the same time on several presses, the same set would have to be performed several times. Therefore, copies of printed forms, the so-called stereotypes, are widely used. They are cheaper, easier and faster to manufacture, last longer, and can be bent to fit onto rotary press cylinders. Copies of letterpress forms are made by methods of electroplating, casting and pressing. In the manufacture of electroplating under the press, an imprint of the original shape is made on a sheet of wax, plastic or lead. Then, a silver compound is sprayed onto the print by spraying the solution and placed in an electrolytic bath, where a copper layer is built up on the surface of the print. This copper layer, adhered to a thick lead substrate, forms a durable printing surface. The foundry method gives the cheapest stereotypes. A thin (1 mm) sheet of multilayer cardboard is applied to the original printing plate and a matrix is ​​obtained from it on a press. Then the matrix is ​​metallized from the surface by spraying with molten metal, which, upon cooling, forms a copy of the printing surface. Plastic stereotypes can be made photographically or by pressing. In the first case, the technique is the same as in the photomechanical production of cliches, and the photoreproduction original is a print of the original form. In the second, a stereotype is obtained from a matrix (made of polymer-impregnated material) of the original shape by pressing thermoplastic plastic or rubber.
Printing machines. Letterpress machines are divided into three categories: crucible, flatbed and rotary.

Crucible machine. The crucible machine has two cheeks: a taler, on which the printing plate is fixed, and a crucible, which holds the paper. When the cheeks are apart, colorful rollers roll the paint over the entire open surface of the mold. Then the cheeks move and the crucible is fed so that the paper is pressed tightly against the mold. With this "onslaught", the paint is transferred from the form to the paper. Next, the cheeks move apart and everything is repeated with a new sheet of paper. At the grab crucible machine, both the crucible and the taler move, but such a device is used only on small machines. In large crucible machines, the taler is motionless.
Flatbed printing machine. The flat-bed press (invented before the crucible) is so named because the printing plate in it is installed on a flat bed. The crucible, on which the paper is applied, is an impression cylinder. During the printing process, the taler moves in its plane under the action of the rotating impression cylinder, and the paper is clamped between the taler and the cylinder. When printing is complete, the impression cylinder is lifted, the printed sheet is peeled off and the ink rollers re-ink the printing plate. A flat-bed press can be not only one-color (described above), but also two-color or two-sided. A two-color flatbed press works the same as a one-color one, with the difference that it is aggregated from two separate printing units, each with its own impression cylinder and inking unit. After one plate has been printed, the paper is transferred by a transfer cylinder to a second impression cylinder for printing from the second plate. Thus, the paper is sealed twice on one side. A double-sided flatbed press, unlike those described above, prints both sides of the paper in one pass. Structurally, it is similar to a two-color flatbed printing machine, but does not have a transfer cylinder. After the first printing, the paper is released from the grips of the impression cylinder, flipped and gripped by the second impression cylinder to print the second form on the other side.
Rotary engine. On a rotary printing press, the paper to be printed passes between a cylindrical printing plate (plate cylinder) and an impression cylinder. Such a machine requires a stereotype that can be shaped to match the surface of the impression cylinder. Rotary printing presses are divided into sectional and planetary (with one common impression cylinder), as well as sheet-fed and web-fed. Roll-fed machines are printed on a continuously fed paper web, which is cut into separate sheets after printing. The productivity of rotary presses is generally higher than that of flat-bed presses. In a sectional rotary machine, each color to be printed has its own inking unit, a plate cylinder and an impression cylinder. If, for example, the machine has four colors, then it includes four such printing units. The paper runs through all four sections in sequence. In a planetary rotary machine, around one common impression cylinder, there are up to five (according to the number of printed colors) inking units and the same number of printing cylinders. The paper web, pulled by the rotating impression cylinder, passes from one plate cylinder to another, and each of them gives its own impression until the printing cycle is complete.
OFFSET PRINTING
Offset printing processes differ significantly from the letterpress processes described above. If in letterpress printing, printing is carried out directly from the typographic font and cliche, then in offset printing, it is necessary to photographically transform the image of the typed material into a transparent image on the film. The completed font set is first photographed. Then the resulting film negative is used as a transparency for transferring the image of the set onto a printing material covered with a photosensitive layer. There are three main types of offset printing kits: metal typesetting, typesetting typesetting, and photosetting. The set is metal and on typewriters. After the metal typing has been made by the machine method, a reproducible imprint of the set is most often used to obtain a photo-reproduced original layout. The set, after page layout, is placed on a taler of a sample flatbed press. The resulting print can be photographed as a photo-reproduced original layout. Typewriters are the most common (among those developed in previous years) technique for obtaining a photo-reproducible original without a metal typeset. Electric typewriters with a typographic design, in which ink from a ribbon is transferred by type to paper, produce originals for reproduction in reflected light. Typesetting can be combined with phototypesetting.
Photocomposition. Plants for phototypesetting have gone from the simplest hand-held devices for typing print-quality texts to automatically controlled devices that provide very fast processing of text arrays. Phototypesetting is based on a photographic process (with very short exposure times) in which characters are exposed one at a time on film or stabilized photographic paper. It can be computerized and requires two kinds of equipment: a tape puncher with a keyboard and a phototypesetter driven by punched tape. One phototypesetter can work with several punches. When the key is pressed, the punch punches the pattern of holes of the corresponding typographic mark on the paper tape. On phototypesetters with manual maintenance, line alignment, i.e. fitting them to a given length is performed by the operator. To do this, he monitors the counter readings, which registers the occupied and free parts of the string length. Computerized installations do not require such line-by-line justification. The operator completely concentrates his attention on the continuously typed text, and the information from the punched tape is entered into a computer with an automatic shutdown program installed in it to a standard format. Modern phototypesetting machines are high-speed devices, the design of which allows the use of several operators at once, working in parallel on the keyboard of tape punchers. It is customary to divide them into cars of three "generations". The first generation machines are simple photomechanical devices. The inserted punched tape sets the position of the matrix frame, which is structurally similar to the matrix frame of the shop of a letter-casting machine. The main difference is that here the matrix frame does not contain matrices for casting metal letters, but photographic negatives of typographic signs. When the punched tape calls up one letter or another, the matrix frame is mechanically set to a position where this letter can be exposed in the right place on photographic paper or film. The size of the font is changed by moving the optical magnifying system. The machines of the second generation, the most common at present, have a disk or drum type carrier, around which transparent letters of the alphabet are printed. When the type carrier rotates, the inserted punched tape triggers the exposure device, which gives a light flash at the moment when the desired letter is in the path of light. When exposed, the light that carries the image of the letter passes through a magnifying system, the position of which determines the size of the font. During exposure, the stepping mechanism detects the width of the letter and moves the film or photo paper to the position for the next letter to be exposed. The productivity of the second generation phototypesetting machines is much higher than the first, and ranges from 20 to 600 characters per second or more.

A ROTARY PRINTING MACHINE, which prints text on 10 cylinders as workers manually feed sheets of paper into it, was built in 1846 by the New York firm R. Howe and Company.

Literally translated, polygraphy means "to write a lot." This is one of the industries whose functions are the creation and replication of printed publications. These include both sheet products and multi-page products. What is printing in our time? Technological processes never stop improving. Now printing is carried out not only on paper and cardboard, but also on fabric, glass, plastic and other materials. Now you can use relief embossing for postcards and invitations. With the help of printing, you can make unique souvenirs, surprise and delight friends and loved ones.

Peculiarities

Printing can be done in different ways. It depends on the availability of text or graphic elements, the quality and specifics of the materials. Paper, for example, can be glossy and rough, and cardboard of a special density is chosen to create packaging or POS materials. The compatibility of dyes with them is important. What is paint in printing? This is a certain composition with varying degrees of viscosity, fluidity, including a pigment of a certain color and additional components.

In modern printing houses, they have learned to add capsules with aromatic oils to paint. This effect is often used in perfume booklets. Another newest technology in the printing industry is the acquisition of volumetric images. This stereo effect is that two images are printed on the same plane. The combination of layers of paint creates a sense of volume when viewing a picture.

Modern printing

Printing processes have become much easier after the advent of computers. Previously, there were only two printing methods (high and deep), there were many nuances and strict requirements for materials, long preparation times. Later appeared additional view- offset printing, but even here replication took a lot of time, and the required number of copies significantly influenced the cost of publications.

In modern realities, there is digital printing: fast and relatively cheap. Now it has become possible to combine prepress preparation and creation of circulation into one process. Printing houses are engaged in printing, publishing houses are not only large concerns, but also small firms located in the same office space. The customers are now not only legal entities, but also individuals.

Promotional Products

According to various criteria, certain types of printing products are distinguished. Its main classification is related to purpose. Printed publications can be performed as advertisements - firms, individual entrepreneur, corporation or product. For example, an organization brochure, business card, catalog. Some leaflets or flyers announce an upcoming event - another option for advertising. To create a layout for such publications, they turn to a specialist, a printing designer. He pays attention to the color scheme, the arrangement of elements. As a rule, bright, contrasting colors and fonts are used for advertising products.

When the layout is completely ready, the exact dimensions are calculated (taking into account the fold lines, bleed), it is sent to the printing and printing company. What are representative products? She is called letterheads with the logo and details of the organization, as well as envelopes, notebooks, business cards. Their function is not so much advertising as informational, providing the interested person with brief information about the company, creating a certain image.

Volumetric editions

Books and magazines are also produced for informational purposes, but are intended not only for partners and employees of the company, but also for ordinary readers. Publishing houses, universal or specialized, are engaged in the printing of books.

The draft of the future book is coordinated with the author. The publisher is responsible for any additions, design changes. The prepress of the publication includes editorial processing of text, selection of illustrative material, layout of the layout. This is followed by the stage of verification and replication. Then the book is enclosed in a cover (or binding), fastened in a certain way (glue, paper clips or sewing). These printing processes are carried out in the printing house.

Wedding printing

Recently, printed materials have been used as an additional element of decoration of premises for festive events. Wedding printing is especially popular. It helps to create a festive atmosphere, tune guests and newlyweds in the right way, notify about the upcoming celebration. First of all, invitations apply to her. The newlyweds choose in advance the color (one or more) in which the event will be held. Guest invitations are in matching colors. This can be a background, font, small illustrations or ornaments. Most often, digital printing is used for such purposes. Cardboard is suitable as a material, the use of embossing will be an excellent solution.

Printing is also used for seating plans, wedding album covers, champagne bottle labels. It should be noted that design elements should be repeated on all objects, be recognizable. The typeface, the selected tones should be the same. A pleasant surprise for the invitees will be calendars with a photo of the newlyweds and an indication of the wedding date placed in an envelope along with the invitation.

For other events

You can also apply for services to the printing center in order to create a unique gift for the anniversary or birthday of a loved one.

It could be a photo book - print edition small volume, containing mainly images from the personal archive, with a small addition in the form of texts (congratulations, wishes, names and dates). It is carried out on high-density material. The format of the photobook is chosen from those provided by the printing house. The creation of the layout is entrusted to a professional designer (with the transfer of all the necessary materials to him), another option is carried out by the customer himself in certain programs. The finished version in the required format is sent to the email address of the company.

Uniquely designed posters and greeting cards are also popular. They can contain photographs, beautiful poems or congratulations in prose.

Post-printing processing

What is the final stage of preparation of a publication in the printing industry? This is the stage at which the sheets are bonded, creased, trimmed, perforated, and other operations. With their help, the object gets its finished look. Most of the operations require specialized equipment, which is possessed by full-fledged printing houses, such as LLC "Polygraphy".

This technique requires constant maintenance. These are expensive devices that only qualified specialists can work with.