AYARUXGuide
Imposition guides
Plain answers to the questions that come up in prepress every day — written for the person who has to get the sheet right before it goes to plate.
What is preflight? A PDF checklist before print
What preflight is and what to check in a print PDF: bleed, resolution, CMYK vs RGB, fonts, total ink, hairlines and overprint, item by item.
What is bleed in print? How many mm, and how to set it up
What bleed means, how many mm to add, bleed vs safe area, setting it in InDesign, Illustrator and PDF, bleed in imposition, and files without bleed.
What is paper weight (gsm)? Sheet weight and kilo calculation
What gsm means, how much one sheet weighs, how many kilos in a ream, how many sheets in a tonne — the formula, worked examples and gsm by job.
How to calculate print cost: the lines of a print quote
Costing an offset print job: paper by weight, plates, impressions, make-ready, waste, margin and VAT — step by step, with worked numbers.
Sheet cutting: how many pieces from one sheet?
From parent sheet to press sheet to the job: how to work out pieces per sheet, waste and paper per piece — with gripper margin and grain direction.
What is imposition in printing?
Imposition explained: how pages and pieces are laid out on the press sheet, gripper and bleed, sheetwise and work-and-turn, and choosing the sheet.
How to impose business cards
Step-and-repeat business cards on the press sheet: bleed and gutter, shared cuts, how many fit, double-sided cards and front-back registration.
Signature imposition: how book pages are laid out
How book and magazine pages are imposed on signatures: 8, 16 and 32-page signatures, saddle stitch and perfect binding, page order and creep.
Box dieline basics
What a carton dieline is: cut and crease lines, panels, glue tab and dust flaps, bleed on a box, nesting on the sheet and the mistakes to avoid.