The Advantages of Having 4-Color Printing
In the realm of printing services, the choice of utilizing 4-color printing goes beyond mere cost considerations; it delves into the realm of efficiency and quality. A recent experience at a national conference of aeronautical engineers and designers underscored this point. Tasked with delivering a presentation at the event, I sought to depart from the conventional PowerPoint approach, which many deemed stale. Instead, I envisioned distributing personalized printouts to attendees, complete with spaces for notes and feedback. However, due to time constraints, I had to submit my 4-color printing job to the printer just four days before the conference, necessitating a rushed order that incurred additional costs.
Upon receiving the completed printouts, my initial impression was that the 4-color printing job appeared satisfactory upon a cursory review. Everything seemed ready for the conference, and when my turn to speak arrived, it was met with applause. Little did I know that half of the printouts had been misbound, with pages jumbled out of order. Furthermore, some copies were missing pages, while others had superfluous ones. While the printing quality lived up to the promise of perfection, the binding was severely lacking.
To avert a 4-color printing disaster akin to my experience, it can be advantageous to consider binding the printouts yourself rather than relying on the printer to do so. Many 4-color printing companies offer this option and may even extend a discount for self-binding. However, it’s important to acknowledge that manually assembling numerous printouts can be a time-consuming endeavor, and the final result may not exude the same level of professionalism. Alternatively, you can seek a money-back guarantee from the printing company, ensuring that their printouts arrive correctly assembled, well-printed, and punctual. Any reputable company should stand behind its product in this manner. If such a guarantee or a similar agreement isn’t readily available, it might be prudent to explore other printing options.
Although 4-color printing is the technical term for the process, it culminates in the creation of several thousand colors. This is achieved through the use of pixels, and minute dots of ink, combined in various permutations to deceive the human eye into perceiving a broader spectrum of colors than is physically present. This method mirrors the techniques used in newspapers and many magazines, and the end result is indistinguishable from actual colors. ■
