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There are certain variables that can effect components during production, and though on their own they can be small, they can effect the final design of the trimmed book.

It is useful to follow some basic guidelines for cover and illustration designs:

• Covers and illustrations at Griffin Press are printed at a 150 line screen
• Type and critical non bleeding images such as logos, type or barcodes would be withdrawn 4mm from book trims.
• A 5mm bleeding image is required on all edges
• Avoid fine serif type reversing from 4 colours
• Fine reversed rules or keylines in solid colour should be minimum of .25mm in thickness
• Kiss fit images need to be spread or chocked to give a better fit in final printing
• Large panels of solid black should generally have a 50% tint of cyan beneath to provide best density. Underlying colours should never total more than 120%
• Avoid high percentage tints printing with in large areas of solid colour. 60 - 70% tint will give better definition.

Some further specifics on covers:

• If 5th colour is not a crucial match, it is worth considering producing this from 4 colour process
• Be aware that pantone colours are not always accurately matched by 4 colour process
• Where a pantone colour is specified, Griffin will match this colour to the pantone book, not the representative proof we have supplied
• Pantone colours starting with C are for coated paper, and pantones starting with a U are for uncoated paper. The outside of our cover board is coated. The inside of our cover board is semi coated
• Printing black from 4 colours should always be avoided on covers, especially on spines and trim edges
• Matt Lamination over large areas of dark covers is prone to show scuffing and marking from the book production process
• Do not reverse foil blocking areas from the print image
• Spine bulks less than 5mm should contain no type
• Spines type on thin books between 5-10mm should be at least 2mm smaller in height than the text bulk to allow for bindery variation
Logos and type for wider spines should be sized to give 2mm minimum space either side of the image. This hould be increased to 3mm on spines exceeding 30mm. This is to allow for text bulk variation and binder variation
• We recommend that covers are designed with a spine the same colour as the front and back cover so any variation in spine bulk does not stand out on the finished book.

Embellishment Guidelines:

• Foil should always be underneath laminate or varnish to prevent scratching of foil
• Spot UV varnish should not bleed off the cover edge
• The spine should not be embossed
• Matt lamination is prone to show scuff and handling marks from the production process, particularly on dark colours
• Jackets should always be laminated for strength
• Matt spot UV over gloss lamination is not recommended.