Printing
Having made selections in design, proofing and paper, we now turn our attention to printing. The most important thing to remember is to be sure you are happy with color and content prior to this step, making sure everything is there. As it is very costly and time consuming to make changes at this stage, it is not a good idea to get to press and try to make changes. When press checking a job you want to be sure there are no unwanted defects such as streaks, scratches, hickeys or ghosts. Keep in mind that color will change with the lighting conditions and types of light it is viewed under. At Quality Impressions we use color-corrected industry standard light booths. When viewed under fluorescent light or natural sunlight, colors will visually change.

Line Screens
The standard line screens we use at Quality Impressions are 133-175 LPI (lines per inch) for jobs printed on uncoated paper and 200-300 LPI for printing on coated sheets. The better the paper grade and coating, the higher the line screen we can use on your project. This results in a higher-quality printed piece. The details in your photos will also be much sharper when printed at 200 LPI. Line screens are generally lower when printing on uncoated paper. The reason for this is that paper, especially uncoated or offset sheets, will absorb the ink and create a larger dot, resulting in a dark or muddy image. The coating on a sheet holds the ink away from the paper and allows it to dry on the surface instead of absorbing into the paper, spreading out and creating excess dot gain. Please let us know if you have any other questions regarding which line screen will work best with your printed product. We would be happy to answer any of your questions.

Printing Presses
Printing presses come in many sizes, color configurations, quality levels and types of print processes. Each press has its benefits and also its limitations as to competitiveness and quality. At Quality Impressions, we have attempted to maximize our press configurations to be as competitive and quality-oriented as possible with regard to the marketplace we serve. One specific printing press or process is NOT perfect for all print jobs. Our presses range from 12" to 29" in width and from 1 to 5 colors, plus coating units. For more information please request our equipment list to see a full range of our presses, both offset and letterpress.

Press Checks
If you request a press check, be sure that we have your phone number where you can be reached. At Quality Impressions we work days and evenings and some of us even work around the clock. Don't be surprised if your press check is scheduled for a time that seems unusual to you. Printers deal with deadlines constantly and jobs are often run on 2nd or 3rd shifts. So if you have a specific time that you must do your press check, please advise your account executive ahead of time. At times there may be conflicts between getting the job done or waiting for the appropriate time and person to do the press check. If you are expected for a press check, please don't be late!

Dry Back
You have gone to the trouble of coming in to Quality Impressions for your press check. The job looked great on press and was approved by you. Now that you have the job in your hands, it looks different! What happened? This difference is called dry back. Your colors may not look as vibrant as you had imagined. No, we did not run disappearing inks or switch sheets on you. Dry back is what happens through drying and oxidation. While dry back is somewhat unpredictable, we can make compensations on the press for a portion of it. Press operators realize that a job will change as it dries, so they compensate by running a little over-color. The only catch here is when doing press checks, it is advisable to allow the operator some lead way, particularly in volume of ink applied to the sheet. The pressman understands these changes and makes allowances for them. If you hold too tightly to your idea of how a job must look when it is finished, it just may not come out the way you expected. While you are our customer and it is our job to deliver a piece you are happy with, allow us to help you with our experience and knowledge.

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