Hopetoun off the press

We recently worked with our client Hopetoun to create a brochure to market Hopetoun Weddings. It was a key document, complex to produce, important to get right. So I spent half a day doing a press pass – here’s what happens.

To enhance the luxury feel of the brochure, it was printed on some lovely paper called Munken Polar using metallic inks and a U.V. Gloss on the cover. The brochure also had a custom designed pocket at the back. With all these special finishes being used, we wanted to keep a close eye on the production. To do this I popped along to Thomson’s printers for half-a-day to do a press pass, so I could check over the brochure when it came off the press, and make any necessary tweeks to make sure it came out perfect. Thomson’s were great in allowing me to look at every part of the process in detail, from the job coming off the press, to the binding of the brochure.

 

 

What I checked

My first task was to check the cover as it was coming off the press. The main things I was looking for is how well the metallic ink was taking to the paper, as well as checking the colour and quality of the images when printed. You also check for registration, which is making sure that each separate colour plate (usually Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) is aligned correctly – mis-registration causes nasty smudges and a halo of one of those 4 colours. Now-a-days this is pretty much automated with technology which makes life a lot easier.

The next thing to check was the inner pages, looking at colour reproduction and that it matched the cover. Consistency of colour is very important in a high quality product like this one. I also checked the quality of the print and registration. When you do a press pass you have to sign off on each particular part of the job e.g. cover. So if you miss anything it’s your head in the firing line!

I also got the chance to speak to the printer regarding the binding of the job at an area I wanted the printer to take particular notice to. Which was the alignment of a photograph that was printed on the inside front cover and across to the first page of the brochure – so it was important that it matched up perfectly. The only thing I could not check was the U.V. Gloss and the cutting and assembly of the pocket, which was done after the job, had a few days to dry.

The relationship

Having a good relationship with your printer is essential and not being afraid to ask questions (even though like me you might get bamboozled with all the technical jargon), all contribute in making sure your job is finished to the highest of standards possible. Which means at the end of the day you’ll have a happy client, result.