Printing Knowledge

What Is DPI (Dots Per Inch)
DPI stands for Dots Per Inch.
It refers to the number of dots a printing or output device can place within one inch (2.54 cm).
In the printing industry, DPI is mainly used to describe the output precision of printers and presses.
The higher the DPI, the more dots are printed per inch, resulting in finer details and smoot…

Hardcover binding is one of the most refined binding methods in book publishing. Compared with paperback books, hardcovers feature superior materials, durable binding, elegant appearance, and better long-term preservation.
1. Common Types of Hardcover Binding
1.1 Classification by Spine Shape
Square Spine
A square spine usually appears slightly thi…

Many critical details of the printing production process are determined during the prepress imposition stage, including the unification of trim and register marks for different jobs, the reservation of binding and milling margins, the standardization of process marks, and the handling of cross-spread and bleed images.
For saddle-stitched products, …

In the fields of book, magazine, and packaging printing, color printing has become the mainstream, and overall print quality has continuously improved. However, due to both subjective and objective factors, truly high-end printed products are still relatively rare and cannot yet fully match the quality of premium foreign prints.
It is well known th…

Trapping is a time-consuming and highly specialized prepress technique used to correct misregistration between solid CMYK color areas.
In general, trapping should not be applied to continuous-tone images such as photographs, as improper trapping may degrade image quality.
Excessive trapping of color blocks is also unnecessary and may result in visi…

In the printing process, numerous factors contribute to color deviation in spot color production. The following is a detailed analysis of these factors:1. The I…

As awareness of counterfeit products continues to grow, the importance of ink and paper in security printing has become increasingly evident. Both are essential components of modern anti-counterfeiting systems and play a critical role in preventing document alteration, duplication, and forgery. The following sections discuss their respective functi…

Paper, including both paper and cardboard, is made from plant fibers, fillers, pigments, and adhesives. In packaging printing, to ensure high-quality printed products, five key factors must be considered: people, machines, materials, methods, and environment. As a primary material, the quality of paper has a significant impact on printing. Its effe…

Post-press surface finishing plays a vital role in color printing and packaging production. In today’s highly competitive printing market, the success of a product often depends on the quality of its packaging. The effectiveness of post-press surface finishing directly determines the overall appearance and grade of the packaging, thereby influenci…

Prepress plate-making equipment is highly precise. In practice, a large proportion of equipment failures are caused by external factors rather than inherent defects. These causes are diverse, and solutions must be determined according to actual conditions.
Based on long-term maintenance experience, the following 23 factors are summarized as common …

The success of shadow tone reproduction in printing largely depends on the proper setup and effective use of the black plate (K plate). In practical production, problems such as blocked shadows, muddy dark areas, or loss of detail are often caused not by equipment or materials, but by improper black plate control. Common issues include the followin…

There are various ways to classify printing plates used in book production.
Generally, they can be categorized in two major ways:
(1) By the materials used for making the plate
(2) By the surface structure of the plate
I. Classification by Plate-Making Materials
Common types include wood plates, metal plates, stone plates, resin plates, glass plate…

When creating structural designs for printed products—especially items with irregular shapes such as custom-shaped book covers or specialty packaging—designers need a solid understanding of printing and die-cutting processes. For example, when preparing artwork for a book cover with a special outline, the designer must also prepare a precise die-…

1. Common Standard Sizes for Printed Materials (Finished Size)
Type of Printed Material Standard Size (mm) Notes
IC Card 85×54 Universal standard size
Tri-Fold Brochure 210×285 Designed based on A4 specification
Regular Brochure 210×285 Compatible with A4 paper
Document Envelope 220×305 Suitable for inserting A4 documents
Poster 540×380 Regula…

A thermal dissolution CTP plate is a type of thermal computer-to-plate material. It typically consists of three main layers:
An aluminum substrate that does not require mechanical graining
An ink-receptive thermal imaging layer
A top protective layer, which is either PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) for conventional offset printing or silicone for waterless…

Prepress refers to all technical and creative tasks completed before the actual printing process. It includes typesetting, layout design, image processing, color correction, file preparation, proofing, and plate-making. Prepress is the bridge between graphic design and print production, requiring knowledge of both desktop publishing software and pr…

Tote bag printing can be classified into three main categories based on purpose and design style: advertising tote bags, shopping tote bags, and gift tote bags.
1. Advertising Tote Bags
Advertising tote bags focus on promoting brands and products. By combining creative graphics, recognizable symbols, descriptive text, and appealing print colors, th…

The main methods for controlling gray balance in printing include the gray balance curve, gray scale, gray balance test chart, and the G7 methodology. The following section compares the gray balance curve, the gray scale, the gray balance test chart, and the G7 process in terms of their approaches to gray balance control.
Gray Scale
The most common…

1. Standard Artwork Size for Catalogs
The design file size should be 291 × 426 mm (including 3 mm bleed on all sides).
Add a center guideline to divide the layout into two pages.
2. Standard Finished Size
The finished catalog size is 285 × 210 mm.
3. Layout Requirements
When designing the layout, keep all text and important elements at least 5 mm…

Because the cylinder-to-cylinder (rotary) method uses line contact, it can completely avoid the bubbling issues that may occur in flat-bed hot stamping, while also offering higher speed and better quality. However, since both the stamping plate and the counter-die are cylindrical, the machining difficulty and cost are high, and the heat-transfer ef…