How to arrange the printing sequence

In color printing, how to arrange colors sequentially is an important issue for process technicians. An important role of printing is to copy the manuscript artistically. This requires the printer to have a certain level of artistic appreciation and ability to grasp the changes in color. Improper arrangement of the color sequence may lead to color deviations, color mixing, and reverse overprinting of the printed matter; the scientific arrangement of the color sequence will make the color of the printed matter closer to the original, and even strengthen a certain color atmosphere, so that the level is clear, the outlets are clear, and overprinting is accurate. The colors are real, natural, and coordinated.

There are three reasons that cause the color sequence to be arranged: the effect of overprinting of the ink and the disadvantage of the ink color material itself, the quality of the paper, and the ability of the human eye to recognize the color. The most fundamental reason is the incomplete transparency of the printing ink itself, that is, the hiding power of the ink itself. After printing, the ink has a certain hiding effect on the ink layer that is printed first, resulting in the color of the printed product is always emphasized on the performance of the latter color, or it is emphasized on the mixed color of the rear color and the front color.

The starting point of choosing the color sequence is to take care of the main aspects (such as tone reproduction, color reproduction, graphic clarity, printing uniformity and print repetition rate, etc.) according to the specific conditions of the manuscript, combined with the current process conditions, and flexibly arrange the color sequence. .

The following points are arranged for the principle of color sequence, for reference by the majority of peers.

1. Arrange the color sequence according to the content and characteristics of the original. Printing is a means of designing layouts and texts, and the emotional components of each color are also different. Therefore, the arrangement of color sequence must first consider the content and characteristics of the manuscript. The editor has often chosen the tone of the layout color when designing the graphic layout. This tone represents the overall feeling of the overall tone and becomes the dominant color when printing. In terms of color, red, orange and yellow are called warm colors; green and blue are called cold colors. Due to the hiding power of the ink, it is generally based on the warm tone of the first printed black, blue, after printing magenta, yellow; mainly cold-tune first printing magenta, after printing cyan. Everyone hopes that the ripe watermelon pods are red, and they do not want to see the purple and green color of the prints. Different color sequences have different color cast effects. Therefore, the color of the screen color needs to be enhanced, and it can be printed on the last color.

2. Arrange the color sequence by the transparency of the ink. Good ink with good transparency. After the two colors are overprinted, the color light of the ink layer below can pass through the ink layer above to achieve better subtractive color mixing and display the correct new color. If the yellow ink used is clear yellow, the order of the four inks' transparency is: yellow> magenta> cyan> black. In general, inks with poor transparency are printed first, and inks with good transparency are printed.

3. Arrange the color order from the advantage of overprinting. Due to the objective defects such as paper deformation and stretching, we can arrange the main colors of printing products with higher printing requirements to be printed in the adjacent two color groups. Such as two-color machine, can be arranged in the same unit to complete a print, to avoid paper due to the existence of paper stretching and other issues. Large areas of the field can be arranged for post-printing to avoid problems such as smearing during the transfer of paper. In addition, the monochromatic machine superimposes the second color after the first color is “dry”, and the multicolor machine is the process of “wet pressing wet”, so the viscosity of the ink and the amount of ink under the ink should be controlled. That is, the arrangement of a large-viscosity ink for printing first and a low-viscosity ink for printing afterwards is crucial. Otherwise, the disadvantage of reverse printing may be caused.

4. Consider the nature of the paper to arrange the color sequence. Poor quality paper, considering its whiteness, low smoothness, loose fibers, poor ink absorption, easy to lose powder off hair, you can print yellow ink first to make up for the paper's above-mentioned defects. When printing at night, due to the recognition ability of human eyes, weak color ink with low lightness should not be arranged in the first color printing. The order of the brightness of the ink is: white <yellow <green <green <red <blue <purple.

5. Consider process factors such as plate making. When printing, the difference between the angles of the lines of the adjacent two color groups is at least 30°, which is beneficial to preventing the defects such as color shift and moire.

6. Consider the color sequence arrangement based on cost. Cheap black and blue ink are printed first, high-priced magenta and yellow ink are printed.

In general, large-area scenery dominates the picture (cool tone as the keynote), with black, magenta, cyan, and yellow as the sequence. Black prints are arranged first, and blacks are used to draw outlines to facilitate overprinting of other colors. Transparent yellow last print, can be used to adjust the brightness of the entire screen to form a shiny, bright colors. People generally dominate the picture (warm tone) using black, cyan, magenta, and yellow sequences. The ink with poor transparency is printed first and will not cover other colors. After the magenta and yellow prints, the characters' faces are ruddy, with rich colors and vivid effects.

Color printing is a combination of technology and art. When we arrange printing color sequence, we appropriately consider it from an artistic point of view, can make the printed matter more artistically appealing and satisfy readers' needs.