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Many scholars refer to the printing press as the single most important invention of the Middle Ages. The printed word is the basis for all quick and efficient communication between human beings. Print development gave way to an explosion of cultural and societal power and freedom; as ideas and thoughts were recorded and passed on. In fact, there is much argument suggesting pivotal turning points in history would not have occurred without the ability to mass-produce words in print. What follows is a general time line detailing the development of print and how this ingenuous invention changed the way people see the world.
7th century – 13th century: Prior to the creation of the printing press, manuscripts were transcribed by hand, mostly for the purpose of religious worship.
13th century – 15th century: In this time period, manuscripts became secularized. The focus was no longer on piety, but rather on passing along knowledge of the observable world.
End of the 13th century: Mass-development of universities throughout Europe fostered strong relationships with books and the knowledge that could be extracted from them.
- Unfortunately access to books was not readily available at this time. In order to balance out the demand, universities implemented stationers which housed books. Students could come to these stationers to copy books by hand, or pay book copiers to copy books for them. (A stark difference from the easy online custom printing access we enjoy today.)
1440: German Goldsmith, Johannes Gutenberg, combined elements of paper, oil-based ink and the wine-press to create the printing press process of movable type, which quickly replaced block type as the standard for print.- Although many before him were making discoveries with movable type, Gutenberg was the first to make type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, which produced the most durable high-quality print.
15th century – 16th century: The first printed books were created. These were very traditional works, such as the Bible and other prayer books, as well as religious calendars.
- 1501: By this time, there were 1,00 printing shops in Europe, which produced 35,000 book titles and 20 million book copies.
16th century – 17th century: Printed book content expanded outside of religion and began to explore European life and society. This is when the idea of promotional printing first came about.
1796: Lithography was invented by Bavarian author Aloys Senefelder. This was a method for printing on a smooth surface using a chemical process to create an image.
1818: Senefelder introduced colored lithography, known as chromolithography, the first method for making true full color fine art printing.
1907: Samuel Simon took out patents on his concepts for screen-printing, which had its origins in stenciling, most notably derived from the Japanese.
1960s: Xerox introduced Xerographic office photocopying, which gradually replaced copies made by Verifax, Photostat, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and other duplicating machines over succeeding 20 years.
1969: The laser printer was invented at Xerox by researcher Gary Starkweather. The idea was based on a modified xerographic copier, and became a multibillion-dollar business for Xerox.
1970: Creation of the Dot Matrix printer, a computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact.
1979: Thermal inkjet printing (or giclee printing) was invented in HP Laboratories.
1993: Digital C Printing came about. This was the first reproduction of digital images on a physical surface (common or photographic paper, film, cloth, plastic, etc.)
Life Magazine referred to the printing press as, “the greatest invention in the last 1000 years.” The creation of movable type had an extreme impact on the social, political, and scientific evolution of Europe. Gutenberg’s movable type printing press provided the foundation for the printed word, and remained as the principal means of printing until the late 20th century. While, today we are accustomed to receiving quick full color digital c printing, and other online custom printing services, with the click of a button, we have traveled quite a distance to get here.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Education, Technology, Digital C Print on January 30th, 2008
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Color printing is the act of reproducing an image or text in color, as opposed to black and white or monochrome (one color). Nowadays, color printing is a commonplace task that most people perform on a daily basis. In fact, full color online printing services are now readily available if you’d rather not deal with such a chore. The process of full color photo printing and full color fine art printing is a precise and detailed science.
Have you ever pondered the symbolic relationship between the computer and the printer? How is it that colors we designate on screen are able to so accurately replicate on paper? Equally as fascinating is the color copier; which is able to instantly clone and multiply our original color pieces. Who is the man behind the curtain making all of these features possible? Today’s technological machinery had the power to print custom pantone colors in full range, due to a method known as four-color process printing.
Four-color process printing is, exactly as its name suggests, a process of full color fine art printing which uses four colors—or three primary colors and one shade—cyan, magenta, and yellow, plus black. The commonly accepted abbreviation is CMYK. While four-color process printing is most typically used, six-color process printing is the new trend in full color giclee printing. Six-color adds orange and green to the CMYK model for a larger palette of vibrant color resolution.
In order to print a color image in CMYK, a series of steps must occur.
Color separation process
First, the original color piece is separated into three gray scale images of red, green, and blue (RGB) components. Next each of these components is inverted into their negative counter part. CMY are subtractive primaries. Each component of CMY represents two of the three additive primaries (RGB) after one additive primary is subtracted from white light. In other words CMY represents negative images of RGB. When inverted red transforms to cyan, green transforms to magenta, and blue transforms to yellow.
Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the three main color properties used for color printing. When these three colors are combined the result should fall fairly close to the original piece. Due to the shortcomings in ink pigments, however, the darker colors of the pieces become muddled. Black is then used to fine-tune the shadow and contrast of the image. The letter “K” is used to represent black in the CMYK model. The “K” stands for “key,” because black is the key color or shade used in the RGB printing conversion process. The black separation allows accurate colors within a color model to be obtained. This is called color matching.
Screening
The next step in the custom pantone color printing process is screening. Screening essentially accounts for the fine details of a color image. In screening, lighter shades are represented as tiny dots rather than solid sections of ink. A printing press on its own cannot determine the variations of ink needed to detail an image. In the process of screening the screen grids are set at different angles. The screening dots create tiny rosettes, which, through the power of optical illusion, appear to form a continuous-tone image.
And this is how you get your finished color image in print. Now you’ll know, the next time you hit the “Print” button, exactly what’s going on amidst all that humming and whistling of the printer.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Education, Technology on January 24th, 2008
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Lambda printing is a form of large format printing with digital c printing technology. This process uses photographic output from a digital camera, scanned print, or transparency, rather than an original negative. As a result of lambda printing, you will receive superior quality photo printing. Lambda printing can be done on all types of mediums including photo printing paper, duratran printing paper, or film. Lambda printing produces sharp photo printing images with a continuous tone and full color fine are printing graphics.
In the process of lambda printing, images are exposed to three lasers – one red, one green, and one blue – merged into a dingle beam and directed through the photographic material, without the use of a negative. The image is produced quickly and efficiently. After this digital c printing technique, the photo material is created using the same methods as traditional photography. At this point the photo is developed in a “wet” film processor. The lasers make for a tighter, cleaner, more exact piece. This means there is no distortion and no blur.
With stronger color, sharpness, saturation, and overall caliber of print quality, lambda printing of promotional and corporate identity materials will give you a professional advantage over your competitors. Crisp and precise images not only appear more sophisticated, buy they are also more attractive to the eye. Once you use the techniques of lambda printing on one project, you’ll never want to settle for less. Remember, though, that digital c printing is a meticulous are and should only be left to the skilled hands of trusted professionals.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Technology, Digital C Print on January 17th, 2008
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Sometimes in life it is better to choose the more difficult path. For example, perhaps you’d rather visit a friend face-to-face, as opposed to talking to him or her on the phone or through the computer. Also, you’d probably rather attend a concert or a sports game, than watch it on television.
Passing up the ease and simplicity of online custom printing, to order your promotional printing at a printing store, however, is probably not a good idea. It barely makes sense when you can probably find more options and capabilities online. I understand that there are many people out there who just aren’t technologically-inclined. So, the concept of going through any type of computer-related process is daunting. However, the steps are mapped out for you on most custom online printing sites. Specifically, the one you’re at right now. Each specification is a matter of a mouse-click.
But what if you’ve never purchased corporate identity printing materials before? Honestly, this is a non-issue. Online custom printing affords you time to click around and try things our before you make your final decisions. All of the specifications are laid out for you. So, all you have to do is select.
If you’re a first-timer in the printing industry and you actually go to the giclee printing company, you may feel intimidated by the printing lingo. You may also find that the representative may be too busy or not a good instructor when it comes to explaining the giclee process. This may propel you to make a quick decision without thinking it out. This site was built on the principals of educating our customers and in turn offering productions to customers who know the difference.
Also, who wants to lug all of their promotional printing materials to a printer? With custom online printing you can upload as many files as you need and receive soft on screen PDF proofs or hard proofs back to you at your location for approval before your work is produced. Virtually the same process that you go through in person. If the word “upload” scares you, and you feel that I’m getting too technical, not to worry. Upload just means that when you click on the “upload” button, a little window will come up with access to all of the files and documents on your computer. Once again, all you have to do is click.
So, as you can see, the advantage of online custom printing strongly outweigh the option to order in-store. Happy ordering!
Filed under: Uncategorized, Proofs, Education, Technology on December 19th, 2007
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RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the color scheme used in computer graphics. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black or “Key”), on the other hand, is the standard for printing color images. The computer screen displays light. As colors are added in RGB, light is added as well. Alternately, the CMYK color scheme is used in combining inks. Therefore, as more colors are combined, the resulting color becomes darker.
If you are working in RGB, you must convert your promotional printing files from RGB to CMYK so that they can be printed on a printing press. Unfortunately, not all colors can be replicated in the transfer process. While some colors may be out of the CMYK gamut, it is usually difficult to tell the difference in full color fine art printing.
So what the differences?
RGB uses the colors red, green, blue which are the primary colors of light. The secondary colors to these are cyan, magenta, and blue, which can be found in CMYK. Therefore, CMYK is opposite RGB.
Both RGB and CMYK modes use 8-bit channels for each of their colors. Since RGB includes 3 colors, RGB is a 24-bit model. CMYK, on the other hand, uses 4 colors, and therefore it is a 32-bit model.
The RGB process of color is additive. The colors throughout the color spectrum are created in RGB by adding different intensities of red, green, and blue light to black. Black is equivalent to no light on the computer screen. The intensities of RGB light can be as weak as 0, or as strong as 255.
The CMYK process of color is exactly the opposite. As RGB light is striking an object, CMYK colors are absorbing the light and reflecting back appropriately. The amount of light absorbed depends on the amount of CMYK color present. Therefore, CMYK is considered a subtractive process. The colors displayed by CMYK are the result of subtracting varying amounts of red, green, and blue light.
When your promotional printing project uses custom RGB printing, the eye sees the varying light of red, green, and blue (and all the colors they produce) before they are absorbed. When you produce Giclee printing in CMYK, however, we are seeing the color lights that have been reflected back to us after absorption.
This is just more proof that full color photo printing is an amazing and intensely detailed process.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Design, Education, File Preparation, Technology, Digital C Print on December 19th, 2007
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Over the course of the past year, we have been lucky enough to print many custom large format posters and displays for museums and traveling exhibits.
This past spring and summer we had been doing ongoing Digital C Prints and Duratrans signage for a traveling display for Reptiland, which is a traveling display of Reptiles that goes from museum to musem and this summer was at The Museum of Natural History, here in New York City.
Over a few month span last winter we had printed similar images but with insects for the Staten Island Children’s Musem.
All in all doing this type of printing is rewarding, but knowing that children and their parents really get to enjoy them and learn from these types of applications is it’s own reward.
If you have a project like this, please contact Dan Morse.
Filed under: Proofs, Products, Design, Education, File Preparation, Technology, Digital C Print on September 15th, 2006
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There has been an interesting surge of interest (is that redundant?) amongst our customers regarding the process of face-mounting (also known as “second surface mounting”) digital prints to plexiglass or acrylic equivalents.
FYI, digital c print is the generic name for Lamba, Chromeira and Light-jet prints (among other trade names for digitally recording images onto photographic media)
it’s apparently become an extremely popular means of preserving and displaying photographic or any digitally printed artwork—one might go as far as to call it a fad! That is where the REALLY interesting part comes in….(okay, I need a life-but bare with me).
Face-mounting film or prints to plexiglass as a finishing process, in the world of commercial large format imaging, has existed for years. It has been used most commonly for sandwiching duratrans or duraclear prints for installation in backlit display situations, such as lightboxes (you’ve seen them everywhere forever—bus shelters, airports, museums, stores, etc.). Why has it suddenly taken off as a popular finish for artists and photographers? Because it looks VERY cool when used with opaque prints as well, and it’s a good means of protecting and displaying artwork as well.
If applied properly (no bubbles,no dust, no hairs, no sandwich bits), face-mounting to plexiglass provides a very rich, clean and visually striking means of showcasing your imagery (be certain your lab uses a high-grade “archival” adhesive like Optimount Ultra to prevent acid decay). Typically, a backing is also used to protect the rear of the print and to facilitate display mounting (you can attach them to a wall without damaging the back of the print).
Backing substrates can be as simple and inexpensive as illustration board on the low end, plexiglass or sintra on the medium side and aluminum or other metallic composites on the high-end. Don’t get too carried away here though, as the backing adds weight which will increase shipping costs and even rip out large sections of your dry wall, yuk-yuk.
After snooping around and checking out some of the relevant blog sites which are great sources of real world information and feedback (www.largeformatphotography.info and www.photos.net), it seems that the only explanation I could find to describe the face mounting process is that it is basically the same process as traditional face-mounting to plexi: Print, clear glue plus plexiglass, except they guarantee that it will be very clean and dust free (as any good lab should be able to do, if you ask me-I didn’t know you could patent cleanliness, otherwise my Mom would’ve been rich!)
If anyone out there wants to knows more about this mysterious process, feel free to e-mail me at dmorse@printpromotion.com.
I’d also be curious to know who started adapting this process as an artistic vehicle, as it is indeed a very cool twist on the old.
Thanks for baring with me…
Cheers!
Dan
Filed under: Proofs, Questions about active job or job status, Products, Design, Education, Technology, Digital C Print on September 14th, 2006
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This is a special production method is used to glue the Photo, the production process. In this way the image is protected against scratching, dirt and premature aging. A unique way to preserve photographs and for the presentation of photographs in a museum or gallery environment.
People mainly want it because it looks great by adding a dimension to your photography based or digitally mastered graphic artwork and preserves the image at the same time. The mounting process to a thick material gives the appearance of a museum or shadow box.
While standard framing provides great flexibility, by choice of materials and colours of frame and overmat, to optimally match a picture to your home decor, face-mounting behind plexiglass (acrylic glass) is by far the most impressive way of presenting a photograph.
This technique has only recently gained wide acceptance among museums and art galleries. Mainly because it seems to add a third dimension to the two-dimensional image and provides a brilliance and intensity unobtainable by any standard framing.
Process Production technique:
The end product contains mainly three parts:
*A digitally printed photograph,
*A 100% clear adhesive
*1/4” piece of plexiglass or other acrylic glass.
This production technique involves a digital C print or a permanently elastic, smooth fusion of paper print and acrylic glass. By using a special adhesive, an airtight bond is created with no air bubbles, fixing the print with its front side to the back of UV-resistant acrylic glass or plexi-glass.
By directly gluing the front side of the photograph to the back of a sheet of plexiglass, any light reflections between the photograph and the glazing of an ordinary frame is eliminated, thus increasing image sharpness, contrast, and colour saturation.
When light penetrates the layer of acrylic glass, the light reflection on the print’s surface is completely different from the effect when a print is framed with a passe-partout and ordinary glass. With this unique production method the diffusion of light diminishes because of the homogenous quality of acrylic glass. As a result the colours seem sharper, more brilliant, more intense and more immediate.
The assembly of plexiglass, photograph and protective back layer is attached to a recessed aluminium frame which serves as a spacer between picture and wall, providing the impression of the photograph to be hanging in the air.
Although face-mounting provides a spectacular way of presenting photographs, it’s virtually not more expensive than “classic” framing using window mount and a good wooden or metal frame.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Products, Design, Education, Technology, Digital C Print on September 14th, 2006
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Well, it has been quite an experience taking our business from phones, email and all the other typical business communications methods to a more streamlined and more customer oriented web application to sell our products and service our customers.
We started out getting a lot of traffic from our fellow “techies” out there, and quickly were found out by the freelance designers in the world. Next we were fortunate to work with many of the hardworking and very talented freelance and graphic designer firms all across the US, then we started getting inquiries and live jobs from corporate america, top clothing brands and non-profit groups, who of course were buying recycled paper based print jobs.
Who?
Ralph Lauren, Verdura Jewelers, US Helicopters, Silas Partners, a group of 17 doctors in Virginia, a Bio-Deisel company in California, Pentagon Software, a movie producer, Phoenix Marketing, UsedBicycleBuyer.com, Viacube, and not to mention AIGA.org/The United Nations, the non-profit group that is helping to build alliances and programs internationally for graphic designers.
What? Pocket folders, business stationery, many, many orders on recycled paper, brochures, envelopes, business cards, sell sheets, postcards, photo printing, giclee prints and many others.
We are very happy to have worked with such great organizations, brands and non-profit groups.
Thank you for all your support,
The Marketing Team at Print Promotion.com
Filed under: Uncategorized, Products, Design, Technology on February 15th, 2006
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Our excellent lead developer, Lucas Carlson, wrote a great blog post about the technology we’re using to remove the stress and aggravation from the print buying experience.
Filed under: Technology on July 6th, 2005