ANNA MAGGI__14 January 2011__Adrian Sleeman: Printing 2011

Adrian Sleeman :Printing 2011           

Current trend in print technology

Changes are not as important as they affect you!

Adrian Sleeman talked about the history of the press and how we arrived at the modern PDF.

He also talked about colour reproduction. When a colour reproduction is made, the image is speared into its component colours by taking multiple photographs filtered for each colour. One result film or plate represents each of the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black data. Colour printing is a binary system, where ink is either present or not present, so all colour separation to be print must be separated into dots. A stochastic (or frequency modulated) dot pattern creates a sharper image.

Adrian explained to us what is an Indigo digital print. It’s a series of digital offset printing presses. These types of presses are used for general commercial printing, direct mails, photos, publications, labels, flexible packaging, etc. Its ability to print without films and plates is to create personalized short runs, changing texts, images and jobs without having to stop the press. Indigo digital press are particularly well suited to consumer-generated web-to-print application ranging from business cards to photo books.

Another types of printers that he talked about are the Digital Flatbed. This kind of printers fill the gap between offset printing and silk screening by providing a way to apply an image to grid, flat or different surfaced objects. The process will print shapes ranging from coffee cups to glass objects, furniture and wooden doors.

Colour profile is a tool to regulate the image’s tone.

It is very important to not disappoint the client. For example, if you are aware of the colour profile from the beginning, you can adjust it consulting other people involved in the project (photographers, illustrators). This is to avoid disappointments with clients.

Adrian Sleeman also spoke about recycling paper. He explained to us that, in terms of environmental concern, It is better to use new paper made through sustainable methods rather than buying recycled one. He gave us some examples such as paper factories that are cutting trees in a responsible way so that wild animals can continue to live in the exploited areas.