Gutter | Creep | Bleeds | Crossover
Orientation Marks | Folding Dummy | Other Design Considerations
| Finishing processes should be considered early in the digital print project design process in order to avoid costly mistakes. Certain designs may not be appropriate for the types of finishing operations that may be required. Described below are several items that should be considered when designing a digital print application to ensure that the finishing methods required will be compatible with the design. |
Gutter
| Gutter is a term used to describe the margins of a signature, specifically the top, bottom, edge, and binding margins. The gutters may require adjustment according to the layout of the application and the manner in which the signatures are to be folded. If several signatures are to be nested together, the size of the binding margin may have to be changed for each signature to avoid a phenomenon called creep (see below). |
Creep
 Due to the paper thickness of the pages contained in a publication, each successive page, beginning with the outer page and working inward, is farther away from the binding the page preceding it. (See the illustration at the right.) This phenomenon is known as creep. As the number of pages in a publication increases, the greater problem there is with creep. To compensate for creep, the pages are shingled, which is the process by which the inner margin, or gutter, is increased on the pages working from the inside of the book to the outside. The gutter becomes successively wider, page by page. The outside page has the widest gutter and the inside page has the narrowest gutter. Increasing the gutter moves the printed area closer to the outside margin. When the pages are trimmed flush, the printed copy appears to cover the same portion of each page. |
Bleeds
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Bleeds refer to printed colors that extend beyond the edge of a page. To accommodate a bleed, the printer must print the bleed area larger than the final trim size. The printed image extending beyond the bleed area is then trimmed off so that the printed area extends to the edge of the sheet. Bleeds require more paper and production time, thus, printers charge extra for this service.
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Crossover
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When a graphic on a page is too large for the page or the orientation makes it impossible for the item to be contained within the page, the graphic must be split and extended onto the next page. This is known as a crossover. The primary difficulty with a crossover is that the split item may not match up when the pages are bound. Skill must be used when working with crossovers because the following problems may occur:
- Instead of appearing like a continuous image from the left page to the right page, an image that covers both pages may not line up correctly.
- It may be difficult to maintain color consistency between the two sides of the split graphic when each side to the split it printed on a different sheet of paper.
- Narrow rules that extend across two pages may not be aligned properly when the pages are bound.
- Certain types of bindings can make alignment more difficult and part of the image can be lost within the binding if this is not taken into consideration when printing the application.
The image above illustrates what can happen if a crossover is not
printed correctly. Note the poor alignment of the image and text
elements and the inconsistency of the color between the two sides.
The only time that a crossover does not present a problem is when working with a center spread. The center spread is printed as one sheet instead of being joined together across two separately printed pages and therefore, the image lines up from left to right and the color is consistent. The only notable issue with a center spread is when the publication is saddle stitched and a staple is visible where the copy crosses the binding as shown below.
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Orientation Marks
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Marks are printed on the press sheet to indicate the position in the margins where the sheet is to be trimmed and folded. This makes it much easier to complete the finishing processes accurately. The placement of the marks is based on the type and size of the application and the number of images printed on a single press sheet.
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Folding Dummy
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A folding dummy is basically one or more sheets of paper that are folded in the same manner as the actual signature. The folding dummy can be very helpful for visualizing how the pages must be laid out on the signature so that the pages will be in the correct order when the application is produced. It is also helpful for determining the correct orientation of the printed area on the press sheet.
To prepare a folding dummy, fold sheets of paper to obtain the desired number and size of the pages and then number them. The odd numbers are always on the right-hand side and the even numbers are on the left. Most printers work with 16-page signatures, so the first spread would be pages 16 and 1. |
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Other Design Considerations
| The location of solid areas of print and the location of file punching must be considered when planning an application. If a document is to be folded, large solid areas of print should be kept to a minimum in the areas where the folding is to occur, otherwise the toner may flake off throughout the fold, although because of improvements in technology, this problem is not as common as it once was. If the document is to have file hole punching along the left side, it must be designed so that the punching doesn't interfere with the printed areas. |
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