Consistency. This is our aim as we work on each order you place with us. The same paper, the same colours, the same fold, the same binding, each order matching all previous ones. We think you’ll agree that we’re pretty good at it. So how do we achieve this consistency from order to order? By following the same set of specifications each time we do the job.
Specifications are a way to describe unambiguously how the finished order should appear and can include the smallest detail (such as how the order is to be packaged and shipped). As printers, specifications are as important to us as a set of plans is to a building contractor. In fact, here at Print Three Kelowna, our production manager reviews the specifications on every order to be sure they are clear, understandable, and unambiguous. If anything is missing or in question, the order is not placed into production until the specifications are perfect.

It is the responsibility of our customer service representatives, to write the production specifications. Like all manufacturing trades, the printing industry uses its own words or jargon to accurately and precisely write specifications. If you regularly order printing, you may even have learned a few – PMS or Pantone Matching System; CMYK or cyan, magenta, yellow and black (the colours of full-colour printing); PDF or portable document format; RIP or raster image processing. You may even have learned them from reading the vocabulary section of Digital Expressions.
A distinct benefit of the vocabulary of printing specifications is precision and simplicity. To illustrate, think of the last time you wanted to order a multi-page document such as a 16-page booklet. When you were describing the job to have it quoted, how did you refer to the cover of the booklet? Did you include the cover as part of the page count, or think of the cover as being additional to the inside pages? To accurately quote the job, we must know which you meant. Likely the CSR you were talking to asked a few qualifying questions, and then wrote the specifications as either 16-page booklet plus cover or 16-page booklet including cover.
To relieve you from the burden of having to learn the complete vocabulary of printing, our team has been trained to translate your requirements in whatever way you describe them into the precise vocabulary of print specifications. But here is an important point – the greater the difference between the way you describe the job and its precise specification, the greater the opportunity for an error to occur. That’s why we ask you to learn the basics of print specification, and include the vocabulary section in this newsletter.

Elements of Print Specification

We need lots of specifications to quote a job or enter an order. Here are the basic elements:

• Overall: what is being printed? What quantity?
• Artwork: what will you be providing as artwork? Hard copy? A file? If a file, what format and what computer platform? Will the file be ready for raster image processing, or will additional work be needed?
• Printing: is the printing on one side or both sides? Is it black/white, single colour, full colour? What paper? If a multi-page document, is the same paper used throughout or does the cover require something different than the interior pages? What is the final size? Does the image bleed and if so, on how many sides?
• Special processes: does the piece require special processes such as die cutting, foil stamping, or embossing?
• Finishing and binding: What post-press processes are required (such as folding, drilling, numbering)? What binding is needed (such as stitching, cerlox or coil binding)?

Here is an example of a well-written specification:

• Overall: Trifold brochure, quantity = 1,000
• Artwork: Print-ready PDF will be supplied.
• Printing: full colour printing, double sided, with bleeds, 100# coated paper. Trim size after printing =
  8-1/2" x 11"; finished size after folding = 8- 1/2" x 3- 5/8".
• Finishing: Brochure-fold to 8- ½" x  3 -5/8".

In order to write the specifications, you need to understand the terminology PDF, full colour printing, 100# coated paper, bleed, trim size, finished size and brochure fold. Our team may add to these specifications (by, for example, naming a specific paper rather using the generic 100# coated paper) but this is sufficient for you to receive an accurate quote and a job that looks the way you intended.

In contrast, here is an incomplete specification:

• 1,000 brochures printed on glossy paper.

We will lead you through a series of questions to get to the complete specifications, but the conversation is subject to possible misinterpretation on both sides. For example, to a printer, the term gloss does not mean shiny. In fact, gloss describes the amount of light that a sheet reflects back and is a property of the coating applied to the sheet. So a better term to use when you mean a shiny sheet is coated.

Learning Printing Terms can be easy

We’re not asking that you learn as much as our team knows, only that you learn a few terms that will allow you to communicate more precisely when you are describing the job to be printed. We include many of those words in the vocabulary section of our newsletter, and our team will help you with a brief explanation. Listen for the phrase “the printing term for that is . . . “and you’ll know you are about to hear something useful.
Another way to learn how to write good specifications is to carefully read the wording on our quotations when you have requested one. It is our practice to state the specifications and also include any conditions upon which the quotation is based. So if you requested a quotation for 1,000 brochures printed on glossy paper, you might receive this wording back on the quotation form:

Description:
1,000 Brochures, full colour print double sided, incl. bleeds, white 100# gloss paper, tri-folded

Assumptions:
This quotation assumes you provide a print-ready file including appropriate allowance for bleed. We reserve the right to review our quotation if our material cost changes between the date of the quote and the time the order is placed.

By repeating the specifications back to you, we are doing our part to be sure no miscommunication has occurred.