The word “printing plate” is frequently mentioned when discussing offset printing. Before the advent of digital printers, offset printing was the norm, and some still prefer it now. Our business cards, brochures, envelopes, and catalogs are created using offset printing at PrintRunner. Offset printing uses a photomechanical or photochemical method to transfer an image onto a metal sheet called a printing plate. Each color in the design is printed on a separate plate. Ink and water are added to the plates as the paper material travels through the holders.
Printing Plates in CMYK
The format CMYK is used to transform color design files to be printed using an offset printing process (black). When printing, you can use four plates for printing. An additive color model used in color printing, the CMYK model (sometimes called the “four-color” model), is based on the CMY color model and describes the printing process itself. CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and key and is the abbreviation for the four in CTCP plate commonly used in color printing (black).
The CMYK approach utilizes a lighter, usually white, background to partially or entirely masking colors. The ink causes reduced light reflection. Inks “subtract” the hues red, green, and blue from white light in a subtractive model. Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the resulting colors of white light devoid of red leaves, green light bare of blue leaves, etc.
Why Are Printing Plates Blue?
In other words, why are printing plates blue? Is that going to have an impact on my final design? The finished result will not be blue unless that is the intended outcome, so there is no reason to be concerned. Today, new technology in printing presses is known as CTCP plate (computer to scale). The plate for printing is etched with the help of laser technology. When the cylinders contact the paper, the ink is directed where the blue parts indicate.
In painting, drawing, and conventional color theory, blue is one of the three primary colors and the RGB color model. When looking at the visible spectrum, it’s somewhere in the middle of purple and green. Light with a prominent wavelength between 450 and 495 nanometres is seen as blue by the eye. Other colors can be found in most blues, including azure (green), ultramarine (violent), and cobalt (yellow). Rayleigh scattering is an optical process responsible for the blue hues we see in the daytime sky and ocean. The Tyndall effect, optical phenomena, explains blue eyes. Aerial perspective, another optical phenomenon, causes distant objects to appear bluer.
Do I Need to Provide My Printing Plate to Print?
Creating plates for printing falls on the shoulders of the printer. All digital files submitted by customers must meet all specifications, including image resolution and proper bleed arrangement. Maybe it’s time to try offset printing now that you know more about plates for printing.
Final Words
A plate for printing acts as a carrier for an image printed and multiplied during the reproduction process. Printing ink transfers a digitally created picture onto a printing substrate using these surfaces. Aluminum is the most often used metal for plates for printing because of its light weight and smooth surface. Business cards, catalogs, and brochures, among other printed materials, commonly use them.
