Earlier this week I was proofing another Designer's work for a company I do contract work for. It was a busy and complicated design created in Adobe Illustrator using gradients, overlays (transparent layers) and drow shadows. When I spoke to the Designer, I realized they didn't seem to have much knowledge about the print world or at the very least, certainly not for SPOT COLOUR printing. This is not an uncommon experience since afterall, I did my training over 20 years ago when web was just starting to be taught and I was fortunate to learn a lot about the printing process in school and in my career.

Now, more than ever, digital design courses have replaced graphic design and print training. While I'll admit that some of those new grads can probably run circles around me with their knowledge of mixed media and the latest digital practises, I think they are missing out on some important training of graphic design principals and all the amazing things you can create in PRINT.

Here's a little list of info new designers should learn:

  1. How to make your design for 1, 2 or 3 Pantone Colour (spot colour) printing
  2. How to create a custom spot varnish or dye cut
  3. How to create a custom painted duotone in photoshop for stunning 2-colour printing
  4. Simple things like, knowing that you don't count WHITE as one of your colours as that is the surface you are typically printing on
  5. Understanding that if you add a drop shadow using black, you have now added black as one of your colours
  6. Understanding overprinting
  7. Realizing that you can do many things in illustrator but it may not actually work when you go to print
  8. Transparencies will only work if you know what you're doing (ex. layers that use effects like Multiply (to darken) creates a whole new colour so you are no longer just printing 1, 2 or 3 colours)

When I began my career, 4-colour printing was considered expensive, which made the choice to go with 1 or 2 Pantone inks, an obvious one. Now the reverse is true—4-colour printing has become very affordable using digital printing (no longer need to create plates and negatives) and printing many jobs at the same time, while spot colour printing (Pantone inks) is now considered more pricey.

There are many printing techniques that Designers wish their clients would go for. It seems people want quick and cheap so when there is an opportunity to do something unique, where a client would really like to make a statement, here are some ideas to try:

  • Embossing

  • Foil Stamping

  • Custom Dye Cut

  • Extra Thick Stock (latest trend is a sandwiched paper with colour in the middle)

  • Coloured or Textured Stock/Paper (harder to come by now)

  • Printing on Plastic, Wood or Metal for business cards

  • Metallic Stock!! I love this one. I printed all my wedding invites and thank-you cards on metallic stock and it was stunning.

  • Metallic Pantone Inks

  • Spot Varnishes (shiny vs matte)

  • Experimenting with halftone patterns

With this conversation we should also discuss stock (paper). There once was quite a variety of papers available which gave a designer more possibilities for their design. I'm not sure if it is due to the digital age or the idea of saving trees that has caused the decline in the paper business but there are no longer the same options I had 10 years ago. So you may have to hunt a bit for your paper or create a faux paper by using digital photos of paper textures to create the look you want. And while we have less papers to choose from, there has been some recent developments or trends of designers using sandwiched stocks for business cards (usually white with a colour in the middle creating a thick card) as well as using unique materials like wood or metal, to give that extra edge.

Wherever you’re at in your design career journey, there's always something more to learn. It can be a very exciting field and now with free online tutorials, one could really get carried away watching hours of techniques to try!

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