The answers to everything duplication blog

Silver knockout is the silver part that shows through the artwork of the disc, as the example here. When designing artwork for the silver knockout, simply use white and indicate on your artwork the white areas will actually be silver.

When the discs are printed we will then skip the normal white base and print the art directly on the silver disc. Take note that any CMYK printing on silver will have a slight metallic look. It can be avoided if a special white mask is created just for the areas that do require a white base. To do so create a separate white layer and indicate it as a special white mask. Extra film charges might apply.

When you receive pdf proofs via email, what are you really looking for? Our artwork approval checklist has it all, but what about proofing for color? Can we trust the colors from the monitor screen and say that’s how it is going to print? It’s an obvious and big NO-NO.

PDF proofs are meant for checking font types, images placement etc, while it gives you some indication of color, it is not at all accurate in telling how colors will turn out. Each monitor is calibrated differently and therefore the same pdf will look different on yours and the person sitting next to you.

Whether you are printing just a few or thousands CDs / DVDs, you can always request a hard copy printing proof. This is how you can accurately tell the artwork will print on the production machines, and it is the only way to correctly proof color. Artwork can be adjusted if the proof reflects color differences.

Common design software that are used today include Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Quark Express, therefore our CD DVD graphic templates are designed to work with them. However if you do not own these software you could still create your own design. Many burning software come with a label/cover design program with preloaded templates and will let you create simple CD DVD label and package without much technical knowledge on graphic design. When you are finished, the key is to export the final files to a non-proprietary format such as jpg, pdf or tiff so we can place it on our CD DVD design templates.

Thermal printing is a method we use for short run CD duplication and DVD duplication. The process does not require much set up and allows capacity of up to 1000 discs per day. However as in all printing methods there are certain limitations, if they can be avoided you can make sure to get the best possible print quality.

Tips for thermal on-disc printing:

1. Gradient effect: although it may look good on offset printing, gradient on thermal sometimes results color changes that are not smooth. Try using solids, pattern or photographic image instead.
2. Thin lines: avoid lines that are thinner than 0.3 pt, the result is pixelated lines with uneven colors
3. Small fonts: keep all fonts, even the small copyright copy to at least 5 pt. Text that is too small will be hard to read and look pixelated.
4. Grays and Blacks: avoid designs containing only grays and blacks. Distinctive and contrasting colors can achieve vibrant and pleasing results.
5. No Pantone allowed: thermal printing is essentially a 4-color process, so if your design contains any Pantone spot colors it will be converted to CMYK. If there is a color you need to match, bring a sample print or let our staff know the PMS number the piece needs to match. However the colors will never be the same as the Pantone.
6. Full color images: high-resolution photographic images is the best way to showcase the photo-listic feature of thermal printing, a combination of images, solids and text achieve great results

As always if you are unsure how your design will look on thermal printer, we provide production proofs, or ask to speak with one of our printing specialist.

Many clients ask how to insert special characters such as © (copyright), ™ (trademark) symbols in Photoshop or Illustrator. Here’s how to do it on a Mac and PC respectively:

Mac:

Step 1: First we are going to enable the special characters palette. Bring up the System Preferences menu, via Finder, then click on ‘International’

Step 2: Click on ‘Input Menu’ tab and check the ‘Character Palette’ box

Step 3: Now a symbol like an American flag should show up in the upper right corner, click on it and then click ‘Show Character Palette’

Step 4: Now the Characters window will appear, the © (copyright), ™ (trademark) and other popular symbols can be found under ‘Miscellaneous’. Browse through the other sets for foreign language characters. Once the symbol is selected, put your cursor where the character going to be pasted in the program (Photoshop, Word or others), then click on ‘Insert’ in the ‘Characters window’, whoa-la!

Windows:

Step 1: Go to ‘Start’, ‘Run’, enter ‘charmap’ in the text box and hit ‘OK’

Step 2: Select the font from the drop down menu, browse for the copyright symbol. Once you locate it then double click on click ‘Select’. Click ‘Copy’ to copy to clipboard. Now you can paste it into any program you desire (Photoshop, Word, Email, anything). Also note each font might have a slightly different set of special characters.

Proofing for artwork proof is an important step in the CD/DVD replication process. It gives you one last chance to see the artwork before it goes off to be printed thousands of times. Here is a checklist that might help you organize what needs to be verified:

• Bleed: make sure there is enough bleed, this is the area that is beyond the crop mark or trim lines
• Crop marks / Trim lines: look for crop marks or trim lines and make sure it is not cropping any important graphics or text off. If the artwork should bleed out, the graphic should continue beyond the trim. If the artwork has a white border, make sure to check the thickness of border is satisfactory
• Safe area: make sure no graphics or text is less than 1/8″ away from the trim or fold, or it might be cut off since the trim line will slightly shift during actual production
• Correct size: dimension of artwork should be correct, print and cut out the proof to ensure the right sizing
• Fonts / type: check to make sure correct fonts are displayed, whether it should be regular, bold or italics
• Text content: proof read all text to make sure there is no typo, however this should have been checked long before this step
• Correct images: make sure the right images have been used, especially when multiple revisions have been made
• Special effects: look for any drop shadow and transparency effects, make sure they show up correctly
• Spot colors: if any spot colors is used, it should be noted on the proof

These are our suggested minimum steps to verify we have received all the graphic elements correctly for print; if there are special requirements for your specific project, please check for that as well.

Remember, when you sign off on a proof, you indicate that everything on the proof is correct. If a problem is discovered afterwards it is likely that you will incur additional costs to fix it.

Next, we’ll talk about the different artwork proof options.

Silkscreen and offset printing are the method of printing for large run CD/DVD replication. Is one better than the other? That depends on the artwork. See the 2 examples here:

The one on the left is offset and the one on the right is silkscreen. Offset printing is best used on photographic images and any artwork that does not have areas of solid colors. Offset printing gives photos a detailed and realistic look.

On the other hand, silkscreen is best for solid colors such as the example here. The colors are vibrant and consistent throughout. For setting up artwork for silkscreening you need to use Pantone colors (or sometimes called PMS colors) and vector art is preferred.

Many manufacturers boast the fact that their products are printed on ‘recycled’ materials. One has to read the fine prints to compare their recycled packaging options. A few things to look for when shopping for recycled packaging:

1. Post consumer waste: also known as PCW, is the preferred recycled materials because it comes from paper and cardboards that are recycled; compare it with pre consumer waste, which is paper that is disposed during the manufacturing process.

2. Percentage of recycled content: find out the percentage of recycled content in the paper stock. Beware of companies who claim to use recycled stock but in reality the paper used has a low percentage of recycled content.

3. Generic cases that are made of recycled materials tend to be lesser quality and less durable; therefore check a sample of cases before making your decision.

For more information on other frequently mentioned print terms, check our FAQ on eco friendly printing.

Many clients have been asking for recycled packaging without any plastics. Same as the packaging used for “An Inconvenient Truth” DVD, a tall case is a DVD-sized wallet, it’s a 4-panel sleeve with full color cardboard printing. It’s sized almost like an amaray case, but much thinner due to the lack of digi-tray. It also weighs much lighter than a digipak and amaray case, which will save on shipping costs.
This product is available with cardboard with AQ, matte, glossy coating, fiberboard/woodfree, recycled stock and reverse printing. Click here for listing of our available finishes.

One of the biggest challenge in a replication/duplication project is making sure the artwork looks as good as it can be. It sounds straight forward but color proofing is a beast.

A few reasons to complicate matters: our monitors, most monitors are non-calibrated so colors will vary from one to the other. Therefore our pdf proof is meant for type, position and image proofing only, not for color proofing. We should not fully trust our office machine to reflect how our piece is going to look. Each printer is calibrated differently, the same piece will look different from one printer to the other.

One might ask, how do we ever get the right color? First off, if colors are important, always request a hard copy proof. It lets you look at your piece on paper, rather than the monitor, so you make the right judgement. It’ll also show how the press is going to interpret the colors in the piece. Furthermore, consider Pantone colors if there are strict color rules you have to follow. Pantone color printing usually increases the cost of printing in booklets, trays and digipaks.

Lastly - have the right expectations, in reality, each time the press prints there will be a small variation, even with the same piece.