The first step to creating optimal print data – and thus also to realising a high-quality print result – is to choose the right colours or the right colour system. Even an elaborately and expensively created graphic can lead to an unsatisfactory print result under certain circumstances, if, for example, large colour areas are to be printed where the various colour pixels then become visible. To help you choose the right colour system, we have summarised the most common ones here.
CMYK
The term CMYK is derived from the 4 colours cyan, magenta, yellow and black (key colour). It is the standard colour space for offset printing and is therefore also used for our digital prints. The different colours are created by overprinting the individual basic colours in the corresponding ratio. The colour black is necessary because you cannot create this colour by superimposing the others. An everyday example of offset printing is office printers, whose colour cartridges are usually black, cyan, magenta and yellow.
Pantone
Pantone is the name of a colour system that has become established in the field of industrial printing. Each colour in the Pantone colour fan is assigned an individual number, and all the colours in the fan are then mixed from 18 basic colours according to a specific ratio. In screen printing, this system has prevailed because the colour used is mixed before printing, not during the printing process (CMYK) or by optical overlay (RGB).
With all ink systems, it is important to bear in mind that inks can have a different effect depending on the material being printed and the lighting conditions. We therefore use colour fans and special light boxes to check the glass bottles printed by us before dispatch.
Together with our regional partners, we can map a wide range of different printing processes. The choice of the most suitable process for your individual project is made on the basis of the print data provided to us. This section summarises the printing processes and their requirements for the respective print data.
Screen printing
With screen printing, an individual screen is first created for each print image from your graphic layout. This process is mapped in-house in order to guarantee our customers a high degree of flexibility combined with moderate delivery times. The thermoplastic inks used in this printing process are applied in a liquid state through the screen onto the surface to be printed and then baked at over 600°C. The ink is then applied to the surface in a liquid state. In this process, the ceramic portion of the dyes forms a structural bond with the glass of the print surface, which results in a very high wear and abrasion resistance of the print. Screen printing is therefore the standard process for printing our bottles.
Permitted file formats
Colour tone system used
Minimum resolution
Minimum font size
Minimum line width
Primer
Dishwasher safe
Wear and abrasion resistance
PDF/x4 | *.eps | *.ai
Pantone
600 dpi
4 pt.
0,3 mm
Priming is usually not necessary.
Very high
Very high
Since the different colours are applied one after the other in screen printing, it is important to take the different colour layers into account when creating the graphic data. To ensure an optimal print result, the uploaded graphic should be a vector file.
Digital printing
With digital printing, the ink is applied directly to the surface to be printed, so the printed image comes directly from a file. Since the printing process does not require screens or other process-related intermediate steps, it is more flexible than screen printing, especially for smaller batch sizes. By rasterising coloured areas, it is also possible to cover a more extensive colour field. Digital printing is used for printing our screw caps, as these would not survive the firing process of ceramic inks due to the use of natural materials.
Permitted file formats
Colour tone system used
Minimum resolution
Minimum font size
Minimum positive line width
Minimum negative line width
Primer
Dishwasher safe
Wear and abrasion resistance
PDF/x4
CMYK
1200 dpi
4 pt.
0,3 mm
0,3 mm
The printed images are usually underprinted in white
high
high
First of all, it is important to distinguish whether your print data is a vector-based file or whether it consists of pixels.
We all know the latter: In a pixel graphic, an image consists of many very small squares, so-called pixels, which have different colours. If you look at this picture from a sufficient distance, you can recognise the motif depicted.
A more practical way is to make the pixels smaller until you can see the subject sharply – you don’t just want to admire your water bottle from a few metres away. The resolution of a pixel-based graphic is therefore given in DPI, which stands for dots per inch and simply indicates how many pixels there are per inch. So the smaller the pixels, the more fit into an inch and the higher the DPI, so the image is higher resolution.
Examples of files based on pixels are JPG, JPEG or PNG. Pixel graphics may be used in digital printing if they have at least 1200 DPI.
You get a much better result with vector graphics. In a vector graphic, a motif does not consist of pixels but of basic elements such as circles, lines, polygons or arcs. A circle is then described by its centre and its radius, for example, no pixels are necessary for this. This is the great advantage of a vector graphic, it can be scaled up or down without loss, as the description of the basic elements in relation to each other does not change.
The graphic above shows the comparison of a pixel and a vector graphic at high magnification. While in the left image the edges become blurred, the vector graphic on the left can be enlarged as desired.
Print data check
If you are unsure about the quality or suitability of your print data, you can have it checked by our graphics department. We are also happy to support you with the creation of your graphic data or with technical questions about print data and our processes. Simply contact us or fill out the contact form.
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