InDesign Midterm Exam Review PDF

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Midterm exam review including lecture materials and textbook notes from assigned readings....

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InDesign Midterm Review 18 October 2017 How many kinds of imaging technology does Westkey operate in full production? ● Four → Flexo, Litho, IInkjet, Electrophotographic Is Westkey a private company or public company? Describe three advantages: ● Private Company ○ Owners work in the facility and are aware of day to day bottlenecks ○ Faster decision making; Quicker response to market trends ○ They can acquire people and technology without consulting shareholders ○ Easier to negotiate business mergers What market does Westkey service with their flexo presses? ● They service the packaging market Describe 4 key components to the inking system on a Flexo press ● Anilox rollers, doctor blade, ink bath, Plates Describe why diversifying their product offerings was the key to Westkey’s success in increasing their gross annual sales: ● Westkey’s core business was NCR business forms which are not used in business anymore. ● They got closer to their customers and supplied what they were buying. That philosophy led to acquiring businesses with the technology to produce what they were selling. Those new technologies now account for 70% of their Gross annual sales What is the largest sheet dimension in inches that can run on Westkey’s Karat press? ● 20”x29” List three ways that printing on the Karat press is more environmentally friendly than standard web offset printing: ● Less ink make-ready ● Less waste → consumables → ink, paper, etc ● Less plate chemistry used Why does Fullfillment play a key role in marketing mass production imaging technologies like web offset and flexography? ● Fullfillment → a service Westkey that can charge their client to 1

inventory large print runs for them and provide them on a “just in time” basis. ○ This lets them market the economies of scale that massive print runs provide and lower the unit cost of the final printed product What is the name of three Color matching Libraries that Westkey’s Prepress manager told us were intended for colors that could be matched on press with process color CMYK inks or spot color inks? ● Trumatch, Focoltone, Pantone, TOYO, ANPA Describe the marketing philosophy that led to Westkey’s rapid growth and acquisition of other businesses: ● Provide a “one stop shop” service for their clients so they can consolidate their supply chain What kind of printing process is both Letterpress and Flexography ? List two aspects of the process that are common and two differences: ● Both are Relief Printing → so the image surface is raised and wrong reading. ● Flexo plates are rubber or plastic while letterpress casts plates in lead ● Flexo uses an Anilox roller to distribute ink evenly while Letterpress uses an ink fountain and roller system to get ink to the plate Describe two types of printing that don’t use ink, but are common employments of the Letterpress process today: ● Foil and emboss List two reasons Letterpress is not used to put ink on paper in today’s printing market: ● Costly make-ready (and prepress) ● Slow run speeds What kind of printing process is Gravure, and what aspect of the plating process makes it preferable for printing photographs? ● Gravure is an Intaglio process. When etching holes in the copper cylinder one can etch both wide and deep or narrow and shallow. ○ This gives photos a greater dynamic range of tonal values

Why is Gravure not used for short run color printing? ● Etching copper cylinders is very costly (prepress is time consuming and costly)

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Describe 4 elements that control inking in the Flexographic printing process ● (1) An Anilox roller picks up ink from the Ink bath and (2) is scraped by a doctor blade so only the (3) etched part of the cylinder transfers ink to the raised surface of the plate. (4) Ink is transferred directly to the substrate from the printing plate Why is Flexography a good process for packaging and label printing? ● Ink density can be controlled on the plate and the pressure between plate and substrate can be controlled and has a wide variance. ○ This allows one to print on a wide range of material from tissue to cardboard and plastics to metallic foils List three components of screen-printing that are streamlining the process, bringing costs down and quality up: ● UV inks, Faster drying times, better screen material (inkjet imaging on screens) Describe two kinds of printed product screen printing is MOST suited for: ● Signage and Clothing Why does the process of imaging the toner drum on a digital printing press lend itself to variable data printing? ● The electrostatic image is refreshed on the drum at every revolution - so it can be changed for every print. ○ RIPs are fast enough to process PDFΓÇÖs with variable data fields that can be generated from databases. ○ Each printed sheet can reflect unique customer information from the database Define a digital halftone dot in terms of laser spots on a plate setter- describing the relationship between dpi and lspi: ● A Halftone dot is a cluster of laser spots that forms a dot shape of a given size and at a fixed resolution.

What is the function of the halftone dot on the printed page with reference to levels of grey? ● The halftone dot fools the eye into perceiving a certain level of gray at that spot on a printed page ● Each halftone cell images an area in the cell equal to the grey value being simulated. To have 100 levels of grey 100 laser spots must be able to be turned 3

“on or off” in the cell. How many laser spots per inch (spi) does a device have to print in order to render 100 levels of gray for a 200 lpi halftone screening pattern? ● 2000 spi gives 100 levels of grey with a 200 lpi halftone screen. List four new markets that use the new photopolymers in Flexographic plates to produce a better print product: ● Newspaper, flexible film, pressure sensitive labels, corrugated box, packaging Describe what GCR is in creating color separations for print- and why applying GCR to images printed on a web press might be important: ● Grey Component Replacement is used to replace equal amounts of CMY primary colors with Black in the color separations. ○ This adds stability to the color reproduction on a web press, saves time, and money (ink) What does JDF acronym stand for- and how is that file format used in Print production? ● Job Definition Format controls the procurement and entire production process in an automated print environment List six TYPES of Prepress Application Software ● Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Database, Type Manipulation, Image Manipulation, Page Layout, Synthetic Art, Imposition, Color Retouching, Pagination Describe AM screening for continuous tone reproduction on a printed page ● Amplitude Modulated screening varies the dot size in a fixed cell space determined by the resolution. ○ The addressable spots that are available to create the halftone dot within the cell determine the levels of gray that can be created within that cell. Describe Thermal Ablation in relation to creating a thermal printing plate with a computer to plate system: ● A high-powered laser burns tiny holes in a thin plate coating causing it to burst away from the base ● The burned debris is vacuumed and or washed off the plate before inking on the press Describe FM screening for continuous tone reproduction on a printed page: ● Frequency Modulated screening varies the spacing between spots of a fixed size 4

to create continuous tone images. ○ The screening is referred to by the addressable spot size. ○ Altering the spot frequency allows the FM screening algorithms to create random dot shapes within the continuous tone rendering Describe how Quality is a “differentiator” in the market place for Hemlock. How does this create a competitive advantage and how does it affect the other two prime differentiators? ● Price and Time are the other 2 differentiators ● When Hemlock markets themselves as producing the best quality in the market, they are reducing the influence of the other two differentiators in the purchasing decision for their customers. ○ They only have to come close in price and meet deadlines to win a job if they are perceived as producing the best quality ● A commitment to quality also helps create an environment of continuous improvement among their staff Describe five examples of how Hemlock Printers executes their commitment to a more “sustainable environment” in their day-to-day business practice: ● They commit to using FSC paper and have become FSC certified ● Committed to “Zero Carbon” footprint ● Use less energy by doing things like insulating the roof ● Use soy-based inks to reduce VOC’s in the plant ● Employee committee to brainstorm new measures to improve company’s environmental impact

Describe five examples of how Hemlock Printers inspires their employees to put quality first in their craftsmanship: ● They provide “best in industry” machines so employees have the best tools to produce the best product ● Their press environment is always clean and calm, which helps employees work better. ● They have regular gatherings, for instance barbecue lunch, to help create better friendship between employees. ● Hemlock's production always wins awards both in quality and in environmentally friendly operations. ● Their reputation is great motivation for new employees to want to work in that company. 5

● Since everyone who works on the production is not able to see the final product, they have a gallery of all the latest jobs for everyone to be able to see and touch their best work. Describe the difference between Quality Inspection- and Quality Assurance that our tour leader, outlined as one of Hemlock’s guiding business principles: ● Quality inspection → a separate step in the production/manufacturing process. The term itself indicates that potential for errors or deviation from quality standards during production process is possible. ○ It requires separate spot inspections to ensure quality standards are met. ● Quality Assurances → the process Hemlock subscribes to and follows. The use of the term implies that ever step during the manufacturing (print) process has followed strict guidelines for quality. ○ Because every step from start to finish (or touches) has followed these guidelines, the need for a further inspection has been eliminated. What kind of work environment did you see at Hemlock? Describe five things that would make you want to work there: ● At Hemlock there are two different environmental aspects that would make us want to work there, the communication aspect and the actual facilities. ● Hemlock’s buildings are clean and efficiently set up. All of the presses were cleaned after they were used to maintain their longevity ● The building was laid out in such a way that the workers have lots of room to manoeuvre and easy access to their tools. ○ The ink room was just outside the press area and the digital portion of the company had a section just dedicated to them. ● Hemlock’s approach to employee moral would be their dedication to employee recognition. They have a wall full of plaques so all their employees know they are part of the team and a showcase to promote the work they’ve done. ● The management also provides a staff BBQ in the summer so the workers feel more like a family. They make these social events a time for managers to serve employees and listen to concerns Describe six qualities of printing with Hemlock’s new XLUV that Hemlock is highlighting in its marketing materials: ● Unbeatable Vigor → UV inks and coatings give the final product a high rub value- inks don’t fade or wear ● Utopian Values → print on recyclables- food grade inks ● Unlimited variety → Print on plastics, foils, many substrates ● Ultra Vibrant → Ink densities are high- smooth solids- even light tones

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● Uber Voluminous → thicker board stocks- packaging durability ● Unparalleled velocity → faster drying; faster run speeds Hemlock opened a new warehouse to expand it’s fulfillment services to their clients. How does fulfillment support their core services of Litho sheetfed offset printing? How is it connected to hybrid printing projects that span several print technologies? ● Offering Fulfillment services to clients lets Hemlock get closer to their clients and anticipate their needs. When warehousing and distributing their printed products Hemlock can get involved in the brokering or procurement of print services they can’t offer to their clients. ○ That lets them keep apprised of their clients’ changing needs. ● More print projects have components that utilize several print technologies. Those projects need a place to come together before distribution. ○ By satisfying their clients’ fulfillment needs Hemlock is supporting all the print technologies they offer in house. Describe the Ink Room at Hemlock in terms of support for the pressroom and commitment to quality at Hemlock ● A significant part of Hemlock’s commitment to quality is achieved by utilizing a specialized ink room. ○ Highly trained ink specialists, with state of the art technology, keep small samples of previous custom-inks, allowing Hemlock to accurately reproduce colour months or even years later. ○ These samples are kept in a temperature-controlled area for optimum preservation. The accurate colour reproductions allow pressroom operators to match the results of previous jobs as closely as possible, every time. ○ Overall the ink room ensures customer satisfaction and makes the press operators lives much easier. How does Hemlock instil a culture of quality at work? ● Having multiple shifts ● Longer running hours to keep up with demand ● Keeping up with the newest/best technology available attracts more customers because they want the best product made and employees because they want to work on the best technology ● Being carbon neutral, energy conscious and environmentally friendly (ex. Changing light to LED) ○ Eco auditing on raw material and processes ● Keeping colour consistency up through processes of proofing

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● 38 conventional printing units ● Being able to mix colours in house ● Keeping customers satisfied with a storage area for fulfillment. Minimizes the turn around time. Print on demand, distribution, and warehousing ● Web development team to instantly proof projects and streamline processes ● Having employees who are highly adaptable and are willing to be retrained What makes it a successful business? ● Buy the best equipment (nothing mediocre) ● Training, Training, Training ● You can’t be afraid of the approach: “Keep doing it until you get it right.” ● “Close enough is not good enough” ● Quality over quantity vs. Quantity over quality (SWOP) What is the difference between quality assurance and quality inspection? Major companies Hemlock works with: ● Columbia Outfitters ● Nintendo ● Aritzia Dicut → Cut crease and slit

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