Take advantage of the versatility of our digital print solutions!
The ability to print amazing results on shorter print runs gives creative freedom that budgets might not have allowed on conventional offset printing. With the largest selection of standard and specialty paper stocks offered for digital printing, more print options become available and therefore greater variables to consider.
Here are some frequently asked questions we receive:

1. Can I control the paper choices when a job is going to be printed at Digitalpress?
You can choose a great variety of paper stocks that are readily available from all our major paper suppliers. Whilst we can't guarantee that some may not work, be assured though with Digitalpress, the selection of possible substrates is larger than ever before available and the chances are excellent that you will find a paper that you like.
We encourage you before a design project commences you talk and allow us to evaluate and recommend suitable paper selections. We may even offer to experiment and trial new stock ranges! [top of page]

2. How about Pantone colours?
Our digital press uses spot colour mapping and special look-up tables to automatically match Pantone and other spot colours to the best of its ability using CMYK dry inks. That means you do not need to alter or re-formulate Pantone and other spot colours. However, if you prefer the control of selecting your own CMYK formula, you can convert colours yourself using standard Pantone-to-CMYK charts. Additionally our “fifth unit intelligent colour solution system” is an easy and convenient way to significantly improve the reproduction of spot colors. By simply choosing a fifth colour special Red, Green or Blue Dry Ink we can achieve a wider colour gamut than standard CMYK process. [top of page]

3. What Is the best way to proof a job?
Unlike traditional offset presses, our digital press is designed to print one-of-a-kind jobs, so they can print a few copies as contract or final proofs. There usually is a minimum cost incurred for this. [top of page]

4. What about large areas of solid colour?
When designing a job to be produced on our digital press with the exception of black and yellow, when considering the use of other large areas of solid colour or flat tints we recommend using the fifth colour imaging unit. Keep in mind while solid colors and tints created from CMYK values used to pose a major problem with the earlier types of digital presses the banding associated with them has been greatly reduced. Which ever option you should choose, if you have any doubts about how something might turn out, you may want to add noise (variation in colour) to create a texture. When in doubt, before you spend a lot of time and money on a design, talk to us and ask to run samples, for a minimal charge you will be rest assured that you have made an informed decision. [top of page]

5. How do you get rich blacks from a digital press?
If you are not happy with the print quality of solid areas of black, you can use a mixture of CMYK, such as 40C, 40M, 40Y, 100K - same as you would for an offset press. By adding in the other colours with the black, you are forcing the press to overload that area with dry ink. Your blacks will look much richer. [top of page]

6. How do I make white text on a black background look more crisp?
Use the same approach as with getting rich blacks, but modify the formula to include less of cyan (C), magenta (M) & yellow (Y). Depending upon how thin the letter forms and how small the point size is, you may have to experiment with the formula for rich black before you are satisfied. Remember, too, that duller white or colored stock will affect the appearance of white text on a dark background, making the text look less crisp. Use a bright white stock for best results. [top of page]

7. How small can the text be and still be readable?
Font choices and sizes are limitless as they are in conventional printing we can print 4 point black type clearly and legibly. However, if you are knocking out white text in a rich black (or any other dark colour) avoid going smaller than 6 point. [top of page]

8. How do I get the best gray shades from a digital press?
Use tints of black, but stay away from 10% black tints unless you want a very light shade of grey. Start with 20% and work your way up to about 80% grey. Avoid large areas of a single tint of grey. Another tip is to use 4 colour grays on darker tints. [top of page]

9. Should I trap the colours in the file?
Our digital press prints in excellent registration, both front to back and colour to colour. The RIP can perform auto-trapping of all files and can be set up to overprint all black elements. To ensure the best quality of your document, turn off any trapping commands in the page layout program. [top of page]

10. What about knockouts and overprint? Should I anticipate problems?
Problems with knockouts are usually caused by a registration problem on the press. Since our digital press has tightly controlled registration, you should not anticipate problems such as gaps appearing between two colors.
When it comes to overprint, the main thing to be aware of is not having overprint on white text or images. This will cause this information to not print. If you are unsure of how something will look, you can use the “Overprint Preview” option inside Adobe Acrobat. [top of page]

11. What about bleeds?
Prepare jobs that bleed with exactly the same way as you would for conventional printing with an extra 3mm to allow for trimming on the bleed edges. For die-cut jobs, increase your bleed to 6mm to anticipate possible movement on finishing equipment. [top of page]

12. Can I use any font I want
There are so many types of fonts readily available, that it's easy to find a font that won't work with the digital press. To avoid type problems and the occasional type nightmare, stick with Adobe Type 1 or TrueType fonts. Do not use Multiple Master fonts. If you wish to use a particular font and are not sure if it is one of these kinds, simply outline your fonts to vector information. [top of page]

13. What about scanning and scan resolution?
Scan continuous tone images at a resolution of 300dpi at the final layout size. Perform all scaling, rotation and manipulation of images in your image editing application before linking them to the layout. [top of page]