OUGD404: Brief 2- What is a book?

In commercial printing where do pigments for each ink come from and how do we ensure they are the same? 

The Printing Process

There are nine main types of printing processes:

offset lithography - what we are exploring in this article

engraving - think fine stationery

thermography - raised printing, used in stationery

reprographics - copying and duplicating

digital printing - limited now, but the technology is exploding

letterpress - the original Guttenberg process (hardly done anymore)

screen - used for T-shirts and billboards

flexography - usually used on packaging, such as can labels

gravure - used for huge runs of magazines and direct-mail catalogs

Offset lithography is the workhorse of printing. Almost every commercial printer does it. But the quality of the final product is often due to the guidance, expertise and equipment provided by the printer.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/offset-printing2.htm

Offset printing is therefore the most popular:

http://www.offsetprintingtechnology.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/offsetprinting.jpg

Offset printing, also called offset lithography, is a method of mass-production printing in which the images on metal plates are transferred (offset) to rubber blankets or rollers and then to the print media. The print media, usually paper, does not come into direct contact with the metal plates. This prolongs the life of the plates. In addition, the flexible rubber conforms readily to the print media surface, allowing the process to be used effectively on rough-surfaced media such as canvas, cloth or wood.

The main advantage of offset printing is its high and consistent image quality. The process can be used for small, medium or high-volume jobs. There are two types of offset printing machines in common use for publication today. In sheet-fed offset printing, individual pages of paper are fed into the machine. The pages can be pre-cut to the final publication size or trimmed after printing.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/offset-printing-offset-lithography

Four colour process printing is a system where a colour image is separated into 4 different colour values (called a colour separation) by the use of filters and screens.

The result is a colour separation of 4 images that when transferred to printing plates and sequentially printed on a printing press with the coloured inks cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black (the k in cmyk), reproduces the original colour image. Most of the entire spectrum or gamut of colours are reproduced with just the four process ink colours. The four colour printing process is universally used in the graphic arts and commercial printing industry for the reproduction of colour images and text. 

http://www.printingforless.com/processprinting.html

Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) and Black (K) – also commonly known as 4 colour process or full colour printing. These four base colours are used in combination (via small dots on the printed page) to form all possible colours within the spectrum. Individual amounts of some, or all of the four colours, are used to replicate different hues.

http://w3.unisa.edu.au/printing/New/LVL3/printing-colour.asp

This means that CMYK four colour processing is not made up of pure colour, it is simply a mix of cyan, magenta, yellow and key. Spot colours do not contain these dots because they are a pure solid colour.

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Colour printing not only uses the four colour process (using CMYK). There is also the use of a system called spot colouring:

Spot colour printing creates brighter, more vibrant results, but with a smaller colour range. When printing in single (spot) colours, a single colour ink (normally with a Pantone reference number) is applied to the printing press roller. If there is just one colour to be printed, there will be a single plate, and a single run of the press. If there are two colours, there will be two plates and two runs, and so on. 

The colours are layered onto the paper one by one. Spot colour printing would be typically used for jobs which require no full colour imagery, such as for business cards and other stationery, or in monotone (or duotone etc) literature such as black and white newspaper print.

http://www.graphic-design-employment.com/4-color-process.html

Spot Colour Ink: Pantone

The Pantone Matching System (PMS) is a formula for the selection and reproduction of accurate individual colour. Accepted worldwide, the Pantone system of named colour is also commonly known as spot colour and is used as both a colour choice within computer software and as an ink for printing purposes. These spot colours are often used to accurately match key corporate colours, as the formula for each named colour can be duplicated by any printer.

http://w3.unisa.edu.au/printing/New/LVL3/printing-colour.asp

Pantone swatches available on Photoshop:

"A system for matching colours, used in specifying printing inks."

Pantone is a standardised colour matching system, utilizing the Pantone numbering system for identifying colours. By standardising the colours, different manufacturers in different locations can all reference a Pantone numbered colour, making sure colours match without direct contact with one another. 

http://www.colorguides.net/pantone.html

http://www.infinitimixedmedia.com/faqs/127-what-are-pantone-colours.html

In 1963, Lawrence Herbert, Pantone's founder, created an innovative system for identifying, matching and communicating colors to solve the problems associated with producing accurate color matches in the graphic arts community. His insight that the spectrum is seen and interpreted differently by each individual led to the innovation of the PANTONE® MATCHING SYSTEM®, a book of standardized color in fan format.

Pantone has since expanded its color matching system concept to other color-critical industries, including digital technology, fashion, home, plastics, architecture and contract interiors, and paint. Today, the PANTONE Name is known worldwide as the standard language for accurate color communication, from designer to manufacturer to retailer to customer, across a variety of industries. Pantone continues to develop color communication and inspirational tools, and aggressively adopts new digital technology to address the color needs of the creative community everywhere.

Graphic Arts – Printing, Publishing & Packaging
The PANTONE PLUS SERIES for multimedia graphics – today’s version of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM – is the definitive international reference for selecting, specifying, matching and controlling ink colors. The PANTONE FORMULA GUIDE, a two-guide set consisting of 1,677solid PANTONE Colors on coated and uncoated stock, shows corresponding printing ink formulas for each color, and the two-book set of SOLID CHIPS provides coated and uncoated perforated tear-out chips that can be used for quality control.

The digitally created PANTONE CMYK Guides provide a comprehensive palette of 2,868 colors achievable in four-color process printing. The PANTONE COLOR BRIDGE® GUIDES coated and uncoated compare solid PANTONE Colors to their closest possible match in CMYK four-color process that can be achieved on a computer monitor, output device or printing press. Other PANTONE Color Reference Guides for the graphic arts include METALLICS, PREMIUM METALLICS, PASTELS and NEONS.

https://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?pg=19295&ca=10

More info:  http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=19890