If you need a few pointers on how to spec your job here is a handy print guide to give you the basics.

You can also view the Digital Portfolio to see the spec of jobs we have previously printed.  If you prefer to talk us through your job, then you will always be greeted by a helpful chap at this Bristol Printer, so please just give us a call to discuss your requirements 0117 9728900

Feeding booklets into the saddle stitcher

The Digital press capacity

Print image size up to 320 x 480mm (including bleed)  

Paper weight 80-350gsm 

How to spec a job

What format is the job?

Which of the following common litho jobs does your job most resemble?

4pp
6pp concertina
6pp gatefold
6pp rollfold
8pp concertina fold
8pp double gate fold
8pp parallel double fold
8pp parallel map fold
8pp parallel over and outer fold
8pp reverse map fold
8pp right angle French fold
10pp parallel over and outer fold
12pp parallel with roll

White ink digitally printed onto black plike

What is the finished size?

Lester and Lou discuss digital jobs as they move from pre-press through to the digital department

How many pages?

How many printed pages, that’s pp to those in the trade (be sure to count both sides of the paper or each page of the artwork)

What weight stock?

Check the below guide to help you decide the most suitable weight stock.

Stock

There are generally 4 categories to choose from but hundreds of variants available for each.

Lining up the printed flat sheets ready to be guillotined.

Ink Coverage

It is useful to know how much ink you are using.  It may help us advise whether your job is suitable to print digitally. Are you using solid colour and full bleed images or is there only ink on 50% of the page, ie. black copy only, with a small image.

Finishing

Here is a guide to the finishes available and an idea of how much they might cost.

Finish Type	Price £=Cheap £££££=expensive
Foiling	£££
Embossing	£££
Blind embossing	£££
Debossing	££
Blind debossing	££
Spot UV	£££
Lamination	Matt    ££ Gloss    £ Silk    £££ Soft Touch    £££££ Scratch resistant £££££

Die cutting – Is there a shape you would like the item to be cut into? Remember if you want to die cut anything over 2pp it will need a flat edge for the fold.

The above finishes can be combined to good effect. See the portfolio for some examples.

Binding

On a leaflet we may just need to trim and /or but on anything bigger we will need to bind. Here are some options that are available:

Finish Type	Price £=Cheap £££££=expensive
Saddle Stitched Punching wire through the pages at the spine. Wire is then bent flat on the inside to grip all pages. Similar to stapling.	£
Saddle Stitched colour wire As above but with a coloured wire.	£££
Loop stitching Similar to saddle stitching but with a loop in the wire to allow it to be held in a ring binder.	££
Stab stitching Wire is punched from the front through to the back of the document, rather than the spine. This binding is usually then covered to hide the wire.	££
Perfect bound Sections of folded paper have their spines distressed before securing with glue inside a cover which wraps around them.	££
Singer sewn Like saddle stitching but thread is used instead of wire and the stitching goes along the length of the spine.	£££££
Case bound Typically used for hard back books. There are many variations to this type of binding but usually the inner pages are sewn together in sections and then glued to the end papers and then glued to the cover	£££££
Comb bound Rectangular holes are first punched into the pages. The rings of the plastic comb are then threaded through the punched holes and wrapped around themselves to secure the pages in place.	££
Tape Bound An adhesive tape is wrapped around the spine of several pages to hold them in place. It can often involve stab stitching too to keep the pages secure.	£££
Wire Bound Similar to spiral binding but the wire passes through each hole twice. This means the ends do not need to be crimped and the book can lay flat once open.	££
Spiral Bound Holes are punched or drilled into the pages. Spiral shaped wire or plastic is thread through the holes. Each end of the wire is then crimped to prevent the wire slipping off.	££
Screw bound/riveting Holes are drilled through the pages. A barrel post is inserted through the holes and a cap screw is secured to keep the pages in place.	££££
PUR Bound The same method as perfect binding but uses a different adhesive which is stronger and remains strong at temperature extremes.	£££
Square back binding Cheats PUR binding but with staples, available on digital only.	£

Any special requirements?

Does it need to hold a business card?
Does it need to match any other literature?

Versions

The advantage of printing digitally is that each copy is printed individually, so it doesn’t matter if they are all different.

Quantity

How many do you need?
Do they all need to be printed at once or is a part delivery required?

Delivery

What is your desired delivery date?

Our considerations would be;
Finishing time. The more complicated the finishing the longer it takes.

With this information Apple Colour will make recommendations on how to complete the job. To discuss your job further please don’t hesitate to get in touch either by calling us on 0117 9728900 or email sales@applecolour.co.uk