Articles: printing

These texts are for people who order printing now and then rather than for a living. Instead of trade terms you will find plain explanations and short lists of things worth checking.

Before you send the design

Most of the articles deal with this very moment, because the same small things keep coming back. Separate step-by-step guides walk through Canva and the free GIMP editor, so preparing a design takes no costly software and no special training.

• leave a little spare space along every edge, so nothing important is lost when the sheet is trimmed,
• move wording away from the edges and the finished piece looks even,
• use good photographs rather than pictures saved from a website,
• remember that colours on a lit screen usually look stronger than on paper,
• go calmly through a short checklist before you send the file.

Paper and finish

The second group of topics is the paper and what happens to it after printing. Plain, recycled and decorative papers hold colour differently and feel different in the hand, and a clear texture can do half of the design work. Three foils are available: gloss, matt and Soft Touch, which is soft and warm to touch. Each one changes how the same piece reads. Creasing and folding sound technical, yet they simply mean a guide that helps the paper bend and the fold itself.

Print in everyday work

The rest of the articles look at where print is actually used: pads and forms at a reception desk, patient cards, appointment reminders, small runs of promotional items, or a leaflet compared with an online advert. If you already know what you need, the calculator is the next step, and these texts are the quiet conversation before it.