c/design-and-print

rayc83•5h ago

The print shop in my town has a 1970s letterpress still running, and it's wild

Honestly I stopped by a local spot in Cleveland last week to grab some business cards, and in the back corner they had this old Heidelberg letterpress from like 1974 just clanking away. The owner let me watch them run a wedding invite job on it, and the way the ink sat down on the cotton paper was totally different from the digital stuff I'm used to seeing. There was this slight deboss where the type hit, you could feel it with your finger, not like the flat smooth print from a laser printer. They said the setup takes about 45 minutes for each color, but once it's rolling they can do maybe 700 sheets an hour. I ended up paying $120 extra to have my logo printed that way on a batch of 500 cards, and honestly I don't regret it one bit. Has anyone else run into old school presses still being used for real work, or is this just a dying craft hiding in plain sight?

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burns.brooke•1d ago

Pantone book update finally fixed my teal problem

After 3 years of guessing on brand colors for a client in Denver, I picked up the new Pantone guide last Tuesday and my teal matching went from 6 attempts to 1 try on the first print run. The old book was from 2018 and the inks had shifted enough that my proofs never lined up with the final sheets. Has anyone else had a company logo color change subtly between editions, or is it just my luck?

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miles_roberts22•2d ago

I finally replaced a 15 year old raster image with vectors

That old logo looked fine on screen but fell apart when we printed it on a 40 foot banner for the job site. Swapping it over took an afternoon and the difference in the final print was massive. Anyone else put off vector conversion way too long because the file worked on screen?

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nora735•4d ago

PSA: The FedEx drop box ate my wedding invitations

I print invitations for a living out of my home studio in Boise. Last Tuesday I finished a rush order for a bride, 120 envelopes with custom wax seals. I sealed them all, hand addressed them, and drove to the FedEx drop box downtown at 7pm. The slot was jammed. I pushed a stack of 60 in and the door snapped shut mid-stack. Half the invites were stuck inside the metal box, and I had to call FedEx on their 800 number while crying in the parking lot. The guy on the phone said, yeah, happens all the time, they can open it in the morning. I stood there until an employee showed up at 8am. The rescued cards had dents and smeared ink from being crushed. I had to reprint 58 invites and redo the wax seals, which cost me $3.50 a seal and a full day. The bride got them two days late. She was nice about it, but the groom's mom called me "unprofessional." Has anyone else had a delivery box eat their printed work? I need to know if I should just use a print shop's drop slot going forward.

1 comments

wren301•4d ago

That 2am markup critique saved my whole poster run

A guy in the print shop in Austin looked at my vector file and said "your leading is wrecking the rhythm," I thought he was being dramatic. Changed the line spacing by 2pt after 3 test prints and the whole layout finally clicked, has anyone else had a random stranger's comment fix their biggest headache?

1 comments

felix488•5d ago

Found a cheap way to check ink coverage before printing

Been eyeballing ink coverage for a while, kept wasting test prints at the shop in Columbus. Tried using the grayscale preview trick from an old forum post, now I spot heavy areas before I even send the file. Anyone else use that method or is there a better one for saving on ink?

1 comments

max388•6d ago

Lost an entire print run last Tuesday because of a spot UV mistake

So I run a small shop and last Tuesday I had 500 business cards go out with the spot UV layer completely off. The file looked fine on screen, proof looked fine under the loupe, but the plates were set to a different layer order. Took me 3 hours to figure out where the misalignment came from. The client was cool about it since we caught it before shipping, but now I'm paranoid. Anyone else had spot UV layers shift between software versions? I use Illustrator 2024 now, was on 2021 before.

1 comments

iris_park•8d ago

Pantone book in the attic was 14 years outdated and my client noticed

Found my old Pantone guide from 2010 up there and used it to match a logo for a bakery in Tulsa, but the printer's new edition shifted every single swatch so the sign came out orange when it should've been coral, now I'm eating the $300 reprint cost, anyone else keep an old fan deck around and regret it?

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-3

nancy3•8d ago

I finally realized my bleed settings were ruining every trim job

For like 2 years I kept sending files to the print shop with no bleed and just hoping they'd fix it. Last Tuesday I watched the guy at FedEx in Austin trim 200 business cards and every single one had a white sliver on the edge. I felt stupid because I thought bleed was just extra space, not something that actually mattered. Now I set 3mm bleed on everything and extend my background all the way out. Anyone else learn this after a batch of ruined prints?

1 comments

noahw53•9d ago

Lost $120 on a wide-format print that bled through the logo

Tbh I ordered a roll-up banner from a quick service in Denver without asking for the ink density spec, and the background bled right into the white text by day two. Anyone else had a cheap print job fail because you skipped the proofing details?

1 comments

robinl90•9d ago

CMYK preview on my monitor lied to me for 2 years

I design posters for local bands in Austin, Texas. Always used my calibrated monitor for colors, never bothered with soft proofing. Then a client printed 200 flyers and the reds came out muddy brown. Print shop owner pulled up the file, showed me the CMYK values versus what I saw. He said, 'Your screen shows you a dream, the ink shows you reality.' Now I check every file in the print preview before I send it. Has anyone else trusted their monitor too long and paid for it?

2 comments

roberts.diana•10d ago

My foil stamping die cracked after 300 prints, check yours before a big run

Just had a brass die split clean in half mid run on a wedding invite order in Austin, 300 sheets in. The finisher said it was a hairline fracture from the start, so now I'm checking every die with a loupe before I even load the press. Has anyone else had a die fail like this or is it just my bad luck with this supplier?

1 comments

robinmason•11d ago

My $120 business card order showed up with a typo I proofread 5 times

I checked that spelling over and over before sending it to the printer in Cleveland, and somehow still missed 'manger' instead of 'manager' until the box arrived last Tuesday. Has anyone else had a proofing fail that cost them real cash, or am I just the only one who needs a second pair of eyes on everything?

1 comments

morgan_jenkins90•12d ago

My printer nuked 80 sheets of 12x18 at a tradeshow in Reno last week

I was running a booth at a tradeshow in Reno last week and my inkjet decided to park its head mid-run, leaving 80 sheets of 12x18 with a massive smear band right through the middle. Turns out the humidity in that conference hall was way above what the paper was rated for, and the ink just wouldn't set before the next pass. Has anyone else dealt with humidity wreaking havoc on a big batch at a venue, or do you only use solvent printers for on-site work?

2 comments

rowan_thomas•12d ago

Why does nobody talk about using uncoated paper for business cards anymore

Honestly, a buddy of mine who runs a small letterpress studio in Portland gave me this advice like 6 months ago. He told me to stop using that glossy coated stock for my freelance design cards because it looks cheap and slippery. I laughed it off at first since I thought glossy meant professional. Then I ordered 250 cards on coated paper and handed them out at a networking event downtown. Nobody even commented on them, they just took them and shoved them in pockets. Last week I finally tried his trick with a nice uncoated 100lb cotton stock and the difference was wild. People actually held onto them and asked about the texture. Has anyone else switched from coated to uncoated and noticed a real change in how clients react?

2 comments

garcia.miles•13d ago

Tried metallic ink on a small business card run...

I've been doing print work on the side for about a year mostly for friends and local shops. Last month a buddy asked me to print 250 business cards for his handyman service. He wanted something that stood out so I figured why not try metallic gold ink for the logo. I set it up on my little home press and ran a test sheet and it came out looking like dirty yellow streaks. Took me three more tries adjusting the pressure and ink tack before it finally laid down smooth. The final batch turned out way better than I expected. The metallic catches light just right and it actually makes the cards feel premium. I learned that metallic ink needs way more babying than regular stuff especially on darker stock. Has anyone else had luck with metallic on uncoated paper?

3 comments

the_eric•15d ago

Digital proofs beat paper proofs every time for small runs

I keep hearing people in this community say you need a physical proof before printing anything. But I've done about 50 small batch runs of zines and flyers (under 300 copies each) for my local music scene in Portland, and I stopped ordering paper proofs after the first 3 tries. They never caught anything different than what I saw on my calibrated monitor. Plus paying $15 for a single proof sheet adds up fast when you're doing 4 or 5 designs a month. Has anyone else found that paper proofs are just a waste for short runs?

2 comments

grant.kevin•15d ago

Bleed settings on a 500-piece run cost me $200 extra

I was at the shop in Austin last month and the printer called saying my 0.125 inch bleed was cutting into the design. He charged rush fees to reprint 250 of them because the margins were off by less than a millimeter. Has anyone else had a printer refuse a file over bleed size that small?

2 comments

ericjackson•16d ago

What happened when I tried to match a Pantone 877 metallic silver in-house last Tuesday

Ran 4 test prints on different stock and every single one came out looking like muddy aluminum foil until I realized my anilox roll was shot, has anyone else had this issue with metallic inks on uncoated paper?

1 comments

jennifer_fisher•22d ago

Never knew Pantone had a color of the year archive going back to 2000

I was messing around on their website last night looking for a specific green for a client's rebrand and stumbled on this page I had no idea existed. They have every single color of the year listed with the year and the actual swatch number like Pantone 15-4020 for 2016 which was that Rose Quartz everybody went crazy for. I spent like an hour just scrolling through them and remembering what walls looked like that year when everyone painted their living rooms that shade. It's wild how much culture and design trends shift over just two decades. Did you all know this archive was there or am I just late to the party on this one?

2 comments

joseph_west59•23d ago

Spent $300 on a fancy Pantone book and I'm still confused

I bought the Pantone Formula Guide in Nashville last month thinking it'd fix all my color matching issues with clients. Turns out the coated and uncoated versions look totally different on my 8-year-old monitor anyway. $300 later and I'm still guessing which blue is actually blue. Anyone else feel ripped off by color standardization tools?

2 comments

uma_patel19•24d ago

Warning: That $60 "pro" color calibration tool I bought was a total scam

I spent $60 on this little spider-shaped gadget off Amazon to calibrate my monitor for print matching. Turns out it only works if your screen is less than 3 years old and has some specific backlight tech mine doesn't have. So I basically paid for a plastic paperweight and my prints still come out looking like muddy garbage. Has anyone else gotten burned by cheap calibration tools or found one that actually works for older monitors?

2 comments

nancy3•26d ago

Noticed a problem with digital proofs at my local print shop in Portland last week

The owner showed me how clients keep approving proofs on their phone screens without zooming in, then getting upset when the printed result shows pixelation they never saw, has anyone else dealt with this kind of thing in their own shop?

2 comments

noahw53•27d ago

My buddy the sign painter told me to stop using Pantone swatch books

Guy I know, Dave, has been painting signs by hand for 30 years. He said my digital swatches are garbage and I should just eyeball it like he does. So I matched a client's logo to the nearest PMS color on my monitor and the printed banners came out looking like mustard instead of gold. How do you guys handle color matching when the client's dead set on a specific brand shade?

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riley595•29d ago

Color shift after swapping to matte paper caught me off guard

I printed 200 business cards for a local coffee shop on plain gloss stock and they looked great. Then they wanted a reprint on matte paper to match their new packaging. I ran the same file, same printer settings, same everything. The matte version came out way darker and the warm brown turned greenish. I spent about 3 hours adjusting curves and printing test strips before I got it close. Did not realize how much the paper finish changes the color until I saw them side by side. Has anyone else had a brand color look totally different just from switching paper types?

2 comments