drupa 2012
Author: admin
a really exciting exhibition |
Author: admin
The most commonly used formats are AI/In-design, TIF, JPEG, EPS, PS and PDF. Nowadays, the technicians working in the output center have little knowledge with different file formats except PDF. Most of their works involves receiving files and sending them straight to the output machines. If they encounter problems with other file formats, they will have very little clue on how to fix those files. PDF does have a few automated tools for pre-flight checking. Thus, a lot of mistakes can be caught at earlier stage. As a result, output centers don’t like people submitting files in AI/In-Design format. On the other hand, end users do like submitting files in those formats because they can let the output center to amend any mistake in the output file.
AI/In-Design – The procedure to send the files to the output machine is more troublesome because these file formats need matching fonts and link with correct photos. It is very common that files are submitted with missing and/or low resolution photos. Matching fonts can caused problem with different spacing and even missing some words. It is because there are cases even the fonts have the same name, they are different in certain character spacing even though the rest looks consistent. Experienced designers will outline the fonts before sending them to output center. However, there are cases that some wordings cannot be outlined. For example, page numbering in In-Design files.
JPEG – It is the worst output format but it is most well-known format by users. It has two unique disadvantages, limited bit depth at 8 bit and lossy compression. Users need to know how to tune the compression ratio with optimum size/quality balance. Any people know how to convert a work to JPEG format. However, not many know the 300dpi minimum resolution requirement for 4C 175lpi printing and 1200dpi for B/W line art. Even fewer people know JPEG’s have to be submitted in CYMK color space in order to match with offset printing colors.
TIFF – It is the same as JPEG as a raster file format. But it has the advantage of using different compression algorithms, such as a few non-lossy ones (zip, lzw or no compression). It also has more color bit depth, such as 16 bit or 24 bit. Thus, it can retain a lot more information than JPEG and it is the preferred format for photos. However, it is still a raster format and needs a lot of information even for a few simple straight lines and words.
EPS – it is a preferred file format in the pass. It is vector based, cross platform and minimum data loss. However, it lacks a few recent technologies, such as layer and spot color. Nowadays, not many data center knows how to handle EPS files so that it is not recommended as an output format anymore.
PS – Most people, especially the designers with lesser experience, knows about PDF but not PS. Postscript is a very old format but it is as good as PDF. For some old program such as Freehand, they cannot export to PDF directly but they can print to PS for output. It is also a very reliable file format, which is cross platform, vector based and compatible with raster graphics, and having all the features of PDF format. The only disadvantage is that this format can only be previewed by very specific design software, such as Adobe’s Illustrator. Sometimes, when a file exporting to PDF has problem, exporting to PS may actually work.
PDF – it is the most well known file format for any kind of work. Office documents, Internet forms and articles, files submission to output center are all using PDF file formats. Most output center welcomes PDF over any other file format. PDF files also have automated tools to check for the most common mistakes (pre-flight), such as using spot colors, RGB graphics, white graphics/wordings with over-print, not embedding fonts and so on. Whenever possible, submit PDF files to output center.
May 22nd, 2013 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Author: admin
a really exciting exhibition |
May 16th, 2012 | Posted in Events | No Comments »
Author: admin
More than half of the books that we produced are using saddle stitching. It is a very common book binding method because it has the benefit of low cost, durable and opening flat on the table. The demand on saddle stitching is gradually raising and our existing 14 years old fully automated saddle stitching machine cannot fulfill our client’s requirement anymore. In terms of quality, the old machine cannot trim every book accurately at the same place so that each book will look a little bit different. If some graphics are close to the edge, people can see the graphics sometimes higher and sometimes lower. If the production speed increases, the problem will get even worst. We always have to choose between quality and speed.
Also, some functions of the old machine are broken beyond repair and it is getting harder and harder to find parts for it. As a result, it is replaced by a new machine on April 2012.
Goodbye good old machine |
May 1st, 2012 | Posted in Company Specific, Events | No Comments »
Author: admin
We have a lot of inquiries from oversea and they keep asking for thread sewn binding. After a while, I start to ask them why they are not using perfect bound instead. Perfect bound has the advantage of lower cost and faster production time. Their answers are very consistence. They don’t trust perfect bound from their pass experience. Once they open up a perfect bound book for a few times, some pages may come off from the book. It is a very serious problem for A4 size books if using heavier paper. If they start to press the book on the table and lay it flat, the spine may actually be broken into pieces. Then, I start to understand why there is almost no perfect bound inquiries from oversea. For local customers, we can demonstrate our strong perfect bound books so that they have no problem with perfect binding.
In fact, many China’s factories still have problem producing proper perfect bound book so that they offer only thread sewn binding. Some of our customers have the experience of telling a China’s factory to do perfect bound. But the result is still thread sewn books. They simply cannot handle perfect bound at all.
Simple perfect bound is really not sufficient to hold on to the pages tightly. Since this binding is simple and cost-efficient, people don’t want to give up this kind of binding. It is later improved and called notch bound. The sections are notched to allow the glue to penetrate into the section better. Thus, each page is strong enough to hold the entire book even for the thick ones. However, when we talk to the clients, we are still using the term “perfect bound” as it is commonly used among clients.
April 12th, 2012 | Posted in Company Specific, Printed by Allion | No Comments »
Author: admin
Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is used to prompt Hong Kong manufactures to the world. It’s web site provides a platform for oversea buyers to look for product and services from Hong Kong companies. They have spent a lot of money on advertisement and search engines so that they have a lot of traffics from businesses all over the world. In order to reach out to oversea clients, Allion has advertised on HKTDC’s web site for many years.
Over the years, we do receive inquiries occasionally but it is not as effective as we expected. Thus, we took the course from HKTDC and re-ramp the web site recommended by HKTDC. After re-launching our web site, we actually gain constant inquiries from all over the world. People are really interested in our product and services offered. Even though we may not be able to offer the exact product and services from some inquiries, we will try out best to help them out in case we have the knowledge. In the next step, we will fine tune the web site to attract our target audience.
– Allion’s web site at HKTDC
– Services offered by Allion
– Packaging boxes by our join-venture company in Shang Hai
June 8th, 2010 | Posted in Company Specific, Hong Kong | No Comments »
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