of what designers could expect when printing on Neenah uncoatedpaper. The design team learned that tightplanning, quality separations, and an awareness of the unique characteristics of uncoated stock can elevate a projectfiom acceptable to spectacular.

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Wages Design’s Raquel Miqueli and Atlanta writer Melissa James teamed up to steer the project and began a series of meetings with Wages colleagues and Neenah’s Wright. They visited printers and color separators to find out more about the processes they would be using and how those might influence the choice of images and layouts applicable to the less-predictable surfaces of uncoated and recycled papers. Because the primary goal was to find the best reproduction tech- niques for uncoated stock, the team decided to try both conventional and waterless

printing, special halftone screening meth- ods, unusual inks, and lavish bindery work.

To challenge the versatility of printing on Neenah’s uncoated stock, Miqueli did not consider which grade of Neenah paper would be used for each section of the piece, but designed only with the title, Pushing the Limits, in mind. Wright chose the paper after the design was completed and included a wide cross section of Neenah lines and weights. Miqueli only knew which sections would be on cover stock and where recycled paper would be compared with virgin-fiber stock.

Pushing the Limits, a promotional piece for Neenah Paper, was done by Wages Design in Atlanta. The complex brochure was designed to showcase top-qualily results on uncoated stock, and included u n w a l elec- tronic screening technologies, offbeat inks, and a special watedess printing process.

Even though the brochure itselfserves as a sample of Neenah paper products, the company wanted to present the entire line of Classic Crest papers in one place, with traditional and recycled stock samples side by side, to show the results of various printing techniques in combination with uncoated stock.

Because this comparison would present the same photograph 90 times (6 times each on 15 different paper stocks), designer Miqueli Iooked for a versatile shot that would be compelling as a stand-alone image when printed very small and also would create an interesting geometric pattern when reproduced many times on the Same spread. At the same time, she needed an image with colors vibrant enough to stand up not only to uncoated stock, but also to the multitude of colors in Neenah’s line.

She selected a photograph of a woman cyclist, an image with strong colors, plenty of difficult-to-reproduce flesh tones, a graduated background, and fine detail-

challenges that would test the process well. “And,“ Miqueli says, “I loved the notion of an athlete working in unison with a machine, much like a designer works in unison with the paper.”

Miqueli decided to reproduce the photo in six different ways, including four- color with petroleum inks, with vegetable inks, with both gloss and matte varnish applied, with a substitute of fluorescent yellow for process yellow, with a touch plate of fluorescent yellow over process yellow, and in black and white. Each sheet of paper contains a total of I2 different inks and was printed in three passes on a five-color Heidelberg press. The printer used small sheet sizes for the entire brochure to allow better control of ink coverage and dot gain, important on uncoated stock, which is less tolerant of variations in press adjustments.

The design team knew that the small examples would not be startling-the dif- ferences between images are very subtle.

“We knew, for example, that one coat of varnish would not be enough to show a dramatic difference,” says Wright, “and that most designers would prefer to see the honest result and go from there, adding more coats if necessary to achieve their desired results.”

these comparisons-identical for each of the four-color process examples-with adjustments made for press dot gain. The black-and-white example was made electronically from the color scan at Quality Color Graphics in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Its technicians created the fluo- rescent touch plate by adding a fifth color consisting of 60 percent of the process yel- low plate. The printer added fluorescent ink directly on top of the process yellow- the more-opaque fluorescent ink covering the process yellow for a vibrancy greater than either ink alone could provide. This technique helps compensate for the less- reflective quality of uncoated stock.

The separator prepared separations for

Fowcolorhagsmnned~ uncoated paper, pdmd wits retnlaum-based lnh

Fourcolor haw mncad for uncaated paper, printat with qetabla-basad ink&

Olsplaying the versatility of uncoated stock required slde-by-side comparisons of various techniques. The photos shown here are reproduced from printed samples and can only approximate the sub- tle differences achieved by the various Ink and screening methods used in the brochure, ly uslnu fluorescent Inks, the desluner was able to boosf color briohtness and achieve results normally rESeIVed for coated stock

burcolor imaie printed with qetable-based inks, Iduffl~ a tatlch plale of I l u m yellow.

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Neenah Paper had been printing its pro- motional materials with soy-based inks for some time, primarily because the results on uncoated paper were better. Vegetable inks have a lower tack and slower drying time, which helps reduce mottling in areas of large ink coverage. Designer Miqueli used screens on the full-bleed tab divider pages to test this. The printer printed the majority of the promotional brochure with soy inks, though several petroleum-ink sections were included for comparison.

In addition to showing the differences between vegetable and petroleum inks, Miqueli wanted to show what would hap- pen when fluorescent inks, metallic inks, and varnishes were applied to uncoated stock. Fluorescents are particularly suited to uncoated paper because they compen- sate for its greater absorption by helping to brighten colors. Metallic inks generally perform better on coated stock, because

they are more dense and require a bright white, glossy background to show off their metallic qualities to best advantage.

Rather than simply add an additional ink color to an existing photograph, Miqueli decided to substitute the process magenta areas with fluorescent red in a picture of a toy race car. She was hoping this would give the image dramatic punch and demonstrate that uncoated paper responds well to this type of substitution. It did. Quality Color Graphics created the separation in the normal way, and the printer simply replaced the process ma- genta on press with fluorescent red ink to create a much more dramatic image. This technique might not have worked so well if the image didn’t have such a strongly focused area of pure magenta; for those images in which magenta figures heavily in other areas, a better choice would be an additional overprint of fluorescent ink.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle when printing on uncoated stock is the problem of dot gain. In any printing process, ink tends to spread as it is absorbed into the paper. When halftone dots are printed, the spreading of ink into shadow and dark areas (where halftone dots are very close) can eliminate subtle detail. In highlight areas, where dots are far apart, this spread- ing can tone down brightness. Color sepa- rators compensate for this process when creating halftones by considering both paper stock and press type when making initial separations.

“Dealing with dot gain is the single most important consideration we con- fronted when printing on uncoated stock,” says designer Miqueli. She chose images that had full tonal range to demon- strate that quality separations made with

uncoated paper in mind can produce excellent results. “Working with the separator in advance is extremely cru- cial,” she says.

dot gain adjustment, the design team wanted to address the relatively new, and somewhat controversial, technique called gruy component replacement (GCR). In this process, Quality Color Graphics adjusted the electronically pro- duced separations to pull process gray and black areas out of the red, cyan, and magenta plates and add to the black- only plate, causing less ink coverage and less dot gain. On uncoated paper the process allows for slightly higher line screens and more stable neutral tones. The process was originally developed to save ink on long press runs-using more black ink and less process color ink.

“Ideally,” says Quality’s Tesmer, “GCR is a printer’s tool, not a design element. Somehow, though, it has become a fashion thing.” Quality did the bulk of separations for the Neenah piece and worked very closely with the printers to determine hqw to compen- sate for press and paper conditions.

The Neenah brochure is peppered ’

with duotone, tritone, quadratone, and black-and-white images scanned as process color images. To test these effects, designer Miqueli scanned prints and transparencies into Adobe Photoshop on the Mac, manipulated them, and had prints made from the files on a Canon Color Laser Copier. When satisfied with the results, she gave the prints to the color separator to use as guides. “1 was amazed at how close they were abie to come in matching the copy colors,” she says. “I like what copiers do to color and was afraid we wouldn’t be able to capture those unusual qualities.”

In addition to showing examples of

Because printing and separations took place at several different plants and bindery work at yet another, the project traveled quite a bit before its completion. The production team worked almost eight months from start to finish.

screens and halftones, Miqueli did only basic page layouts in QuarWress and left all of the color work to the separators. Quality Color Graphics did the scans on a Dainippon drum scanner and transferred them to a Scitex workstation where they were merged with the QuarkXPress files. Quality made compensations for dot gain and did some minor retouching to images on the Scitex system.

Quality then output all pages (except those for the waterless printing compar- isons) in Scitex format to a Dolev film plotter and 3M Matchprints were made for color proofing. “It is very diffi- cult to proof metallic and fluorescent inks,” accord-

In order to maximize the control over

ing to Tesmer, so the press check was a crucial step in the proofing process. Some pages were proofed directly on the paper to be used-a process Neenah recom- mends for uncoated paper. It is extremely difficult to show the expected dot gain when making nonpress proofs, however, so Tesmer warns that “customers have to trust their separator to some degree when evaluating colors, particularly when print- ing to uncoated stock. We know what the press will do and how it will change the image. They must have faith.” As digital proofing technology improves, separators will be able to create proofs that mimic paper and press variables more accurately.

In cases where exact side-by-side comparisons were to be made, the same separations were used for both examples- the printer stripped Nm from one window into another before making plates so that no duplicate separations would be needed.

the p d l d brochure) shows the Mica1 reSUh Thir compensated photo shows what you can when separation techniques common to expect with proper adjustment lor dot fiain on

Wd paper are used on uncoated Papers. unmated paper. Most pdntars will supply the Because uncoated stodc is mare absohent wior separabr with spedc instructions on

than mated slo4 h a b e dots tend to wmpeiWw lor dot uah based on paper Me spread moR (called dOrgSin), CaIISing and pnss andtiom. shadow areas to fill in, looslno detail.

6

When Neenah's Tom Wright first toll-

ceived of the idea for this promotion, he intended to highlight the relatively new process called dryography, or waterless printing (see "What Is Dryography?"). Used by high-end printers throughout the world, this printing method allows for use of much higher line screens (up to 300 Ipi) and generally produces brighter colors and less dot gain than conventional printing. I t i s particularly suited to uncoated stock, because it gives the printer more control.

Designer Miqueli planned this section with side-by-side comparisons in mind and selected images that had the greatest possible tonal range. She chose two main images. One, a montage of a violin and various background im'iges, has extremely subtle shadow areas and sections of super- crisp black-and-white (near line-art) detail. The other, a close-up of a complex fishing lure, has extremely fine detail and

f x p e r h " J Wifh Differen[ L'nects In the brochure PushjnJ the Limits, many special halftoning and screening techniques were used lo show the vecsalility of printing on uncoated paper stock. We have re-created several techniques here.

Black-and-While Halltone This section was scanned and

printed as a standard black-and- while haltlone, using only black.

Duolone Scanned from a black-and-white prink lhis section was manipu- lated in Photoshop to create a duotone with magenta. In the

brochure, designer Miqueli used duolones, tritones, and quadra-

tones to show how black-and- white images could be made

more interesting on uncoated Paper slock.

Four-Color Black and White This area was scanned as a four-color haltone from a black- and-white pr in t creating plates for all lour process colors. This technique usually produces richer blacks but adds cost to both the scanning and printing.

Tritone The original scan was brought into Photoshop and made into a lritone by Ihe addition 01 process yellow and magenta. A quadratone would include all lour orocess colors.

The design team learned the importance of experience and teamwork in producing such an ambitious project. “Printing on uncoated stock just adds another reason to plan the job thoroughly and make sure all parties are working toward the same goal,” says Miqueli. “ I could never have used the photos and large color blocks I did if I hadn’t known I was working with top-notch printers and separators who had experience with this type of paper.”

Wright at Neenah concurs. “We do approximately 15 promotional pieces a year,” he said. “The only way I can do that is to work with suppliers I know have the technical experience to produce the best- possible results.”

And even though they went into this project not knowing exactly what results they would get, the design team had few surprises. “We didn’t know what some of the comparisons would look like until the project was actually printed,” admits Miqueli, “but in almost all cases we had

Hardware Macintosh Ilk Apple Computer Inc, 800-776-2333. Circle 453 on reader sewice card.

Radius 21-inch color moni Radius Inc, 800-227-2795

201-882-1922, Circle 455.

800-833-6687. Circle 4

Production Team Hams Specially lithographers (waterless printing), 404-938-7650.

Melissa James writer, 404-325-9055.

Neenah Printing (traditional offset), 414-751-1700.

Qualm Color Graphics, 414-453-2020.

Wages Oesign, 404-876-0874.

Professional Associations American Soy Ink Associatioh 314-576-1770.

6rapAic Arts Technical Foundation 16Am. 412-fQ1-6941. . ,

National Association of Rinlinfl Ink Manufadarers (NAPIM), 201 -288-9454.

Tomeke~eprnmofonal bmchun Pushing the limits, designers should wntact /heir Neenah Paper npmentfve or call Neenah-link @OO-338-6077, ai 204 delween E a.m. I d

5pm7 Monday U“jh Fndaay) lor a diml wnneclion la fieif local Heenah Paper &nt

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