Printing at the Resource Centre

The Resource Centre has a well-equipped print room for use by community and voluntary groups.  If you do your printing here it will be cheap and quick, but there are some limitations.   

This information sheet tells you what it is possible to do, and how to get the best results. 

DIY

The cheapest - and quickest - way to get your job done is to come in and print it yourself.  We can show you how to use the equipment, and give support while you are printing.  It is not difficult, and we are used to teaching people who have never done it before.  

You will need to contact us to book a machine.  We don't keep huge stocks of paper, so if you are planning to print thousands of leaflets let us know in advance so we can order more paper.

Print Service

If time is more of a problem than money, we can do your printing for you.  We charge for this, so it does work out more expensive.  You need to book the print job in at least a week in advance, and allow a few days for the job to be done.

What we can do

Our printing facilities are excellent for large amounts of newsletters, leaflets, posters or cards.

While the quality is good, it is not the same standard as more expensive off-set litho or digital printing.

Text, line drawings and clip-art reproduce well.   You will lose some quality with photos.

We can print in red, green, purple or blue as well as black.   For example you could have a blue heading or a red box.

We can't do full colour printing at all on our digital printers.  We do have an A3 colour laser printer and an A4 colour inkjet printer which can be used as a photocopier, however this is only suitable for up to 30 copies as it is slower and more expensive.

We can't print on glossy paper.

The largest size we can print is A3.

You can cut large amounts of leaflets on our automatic guillotine, and use the folder, collator and electric stapler.

We can recommend other printers for work that's beyond our capabilities.  Remember full colour printing is very expensive.

See for yourself

It's important to make sure you get the result you want.  We have lots of examples of work printed at the Resource Centre.  You can come in and look at these, and get our advice on the best method of printing for your job. 

How many copies do you want?

If you are printing more than 50 copies from one original, you need to use our DIGITAL PRINTERS.

If you are printing small amounts from lots of different originals, or less than 50 copies, use the PHOTOCOPIER.

The information in this sheet is aimed at people using the digital printers.

Do you want to print black & white photos?

You will get the best result with photographs and shading if you print direct from our computer to the digital printer.   This is available on all three or our digital print machines.

To do this you will need to bring in your artwork on a disk, CD, or USB memory stick, or email it to us.

You will need to make sure that either:

• the Resource Centre has the programme and fonts you used
• or you have a file that is formatted so it can be opened on any computer, for example a pdf

Printing text, line drawings, clip art

Text, line drawings and clip art reproduce well on our digital printers.  You will need to either:

• bring in a printed out copy of your original artwork.  The better the quality of the original, the better it will reproduce. 
• bring your artwork in on a memory stick, CD or disk, or email it to us.  We have very good quality laser computer printers at the Resource Centre.
• You will need to make sure we have the fonts and programme you used, or that it is a pdf file.

Is there any colour in your job?

If you are using red, green, purple or blue for selected areas you will need to 'colour separate' your artwork.  What this means and how to do it is described in more detail below.

IMPORTANT points about your artwork

One of the commonest problems we have with printing is that the artwork just isn't suitable for our digital printers.   Complicated graphics that look fantastic in full colour on your computer screen can be very disappointing printed out in black and white.

Think about how you are going to reproduce your artwork, and how much you want to spend on this, before you design it.  

Artwork rules

If you decide to print at the Resource Centre there are a few basic art-work rules:

• ALWAYS leave a margin of at least a centimetre around all the outside edges of your image.
• Don't have huge areas of black or very dense images.  These will come out grey rather than solid black, and won't go through the machine easily.
• You will lose some contrast and resolution when you print.  A complicated graphic with lots of photo images and overwriting can end up looking messy.   Clear, fairly simple artwork reproduces best. 
• Make sure your original artwork is printed out in BLACK ink - even if you are planning to reproduce it in blue ink.
• Make sure your original artwork is printed on WHITE paper.  Coloured paper can create a dirty grey background.
• If you are using photos make sure they are sharp and clear, with good contrast.  Murky or very dark photos will not reproduce well.  Take into account the fact that colour photos will look quite different in black and white.
• Make sure your original artwork has not been folded or creased.
• Make sure your original artwork is only printed on one side of the paper, even if the final copy will be printed on both sides.
• Remember that the quality of your original determines the quality of the reproduction.

Reducing and enlarging

Our digital printers will reduce and enlarge automatically.  If you are printing from an A4 paper original the printer can automatically print it out as 2 x A5 copies, or 4 x A6 or enlarge it to an A3. 

If you are printing directly from the computer, it is better to design the artwork to the size you want it printed, and lay up 2 or 4 copies per page on the computer screen.

Using Colour

If you want to add a bit of red, green, purple or blue to your newsletter or leaflet you can do this fairly simply and cheaply.   This can really brighten it up, but requires some extra work, planning and thought. 

Colour separation

Our digital printers work by cutting a stencil which wraps round the ink drum.  If you are printing in two colours, eg red and black, you have to cut two stencils and put everything through the machine twice.

The first run will have everything you want to print in black on it.

The second run will have everything you want to print in red on it.

You repeat this process for every additional colour you use.

Your artwork must be 'colour separated'.   One sheet of original artwork will contain everything to print in black, and another will have everything to print in red (or green or blue or purple).  A lot of computer programmes will do this for you automatically.

The original artwork for all sheets must be printed out in black, even if you are reproducing it in a colour.

For example, to print this:

you would supply two separate sheets of artwork like this:

Not too close!

Our machines are not accurate enough to deal with colours that are right next to each other - for example, a red square with a black line around it.  The machine jigs things around slightly, so the black line or red box moves a couple of millimetres.  The end result is messy - a red square with a black line that doesn't fit snugly, but sometimes overlaps and sometimes leaves a slight margin. 

To avoid this only use colour for distinct headings, boxes or pictures.  Make sure there are a few millimetres of space around them, so a small amount of jigging won't spoil the overall effect.

Additional work and cost

It will cost you more to print in two colours, as there are two stencils and everything goes through the machine twice.   This is true for each additional colour you use.

For the same reasons it will take you longer to run the print job if you are using two or more colours.

Ask us

If you are in any doubt about how to prepare your artwork, or how it will look when it's been printed, come in and talk to us and have a look at examples.  We are very happy to give advice.