the Mayfair Printing Co. faqs/Print

FAQs & Help

Print

With 30 years in design and print and with engagement across a broad range of business sectors we are in a strong position to advise on the options available to you.

If you’re unable to find answers to your questions here, please call us on 020 7491 1973 or email any questions you may have.

Individual FAQs

We certainly can! Please call us immediately as we as can nearly always find a solution for those unforeseen circumstances.

This is a process where a printing plate is chemically treated to accept ink on the image area. This impression is in turn transferred via a system of rollers to the paper or board — sometimes referred to as offset printing.

There are two variants, laser and inkjet. Laser is similar in concept to lithographic print, but this process uses charged toner attracted to the image areas on the paper and fused at a high temperature. This is ideal for shorter print runs and faster turnaround times. Inkjet printing is a slower process where a controlled jet of ink droplets are sprayed onto the media. Quality is superior and generally used for larger formats such as posters and banners.

We have a wide range from which to choose. Coated papers and boards with a smooth and sometimes glossy feel as well as uncoated and textured papers. The choice of stock is entirely yours but will often be dictated by the print process and the design of the piece.

This is paper sourced from forests that are managed and certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key [Black]) is the description for four-colour process printing whether lithographic or digital, commonly used for printed materials that include images, photographs or documents with multiple colours.

RGB stands for Red, Green, Blue and these are the colours your computer monitor projects to display colour images on the screen.

The Pantone® Matching System (PMS) is the most widely used system for specifying ink colours. Pantone® colours are also known as spot colours and are used when a specific colour is required, e.g. our logo is in two Pantone® colours. PMS 433 is our grey and PMS 324 is our blue.

CMYK colours can be used in both digital and lithographic printing and give a similar result. In digital print Pantone® colours are converted to CMYK so the colour match will not be accurate.

There are 1,755 spot colours in the Pantone® Matching System, the majority of them are referred to using a three- or four-digit number followed by a C or U. There are also a small number of named colours, such as the 18 base colours like Pantone® Reflex Blue C or Pantone® Orange 021 U. The letter suffix refers to the paper stock on which it is printed — a C indicates coated or glossy paper and board or a U indicates uncoated paper and board.

This process uses a metal die to stamp text or an image on paper or board, leaving the image in relief. If the stamping is applied to the face then the process is called de-bossing. This can be applied over an inked image. Without ink the process is referred to as blind embossing.

Crop Marks are guide marks added to artwork to indicate where the printed sheet will be trimmed down to it's required final size.

Bleed refers to the extension of artwork beyond the 'crop marks' to ensure the printed image runs to the edge of the finished piece and doesn't fall short of the trimmed edge.

As a temporary measure we can always print a small run of digital business cards for that emergency.

Yes, we’re always happy to have an informal chat about your requirements, to offer our advice and to make recommendations, with absolutely no obligation on your part. Please call 020 7491 1973 or send us an email to arrange a convenient time to speak.