Basic Guide to Getting a Print Quote

Basic Guide to Getting A Print Quote

It pays to give detailed information when getting a print in order to save a lot!

The question is....what to give?

If you are new in getting prices for printing, you could be missing out when the estimating department of the printer is not giving you what you really want in the first place. You see, the printer works on a complex set of instructions that relies on many variables. There are many ways that you can save money and time.

Here are some things you need to tell your printer, with explanations why:

Quantity: How many copies do you need?
Colors: How many colors do your item requires?
Paper: Is there any paper that you are looking for? Is it thick, thin, glossy, matte?
Size: How big is the finished print going to be? A4, A5, A6, DL?
Pages: Do you require both sides printing or single side will do?
Finishing: Is it going to be a book? Requires stapler or binding? Does it need to be folded?

Quantity

The number of prints can alter the cost of your job enormously. As there are usually up-front setup costs and these factor into the price whether you have 100 or 10,000. Unit costs can come down dramatically as your quantities increases because the machine just needs to keep on running. 

For example, the price between 500 and 2000 may not be great, the only factor that continues to increase as the quantity increases is usually paper costs and finishing costs. 

To get an idea, I suggest to get quotations for a couple of quantities, for example, 2000, 5000, 10000.

With this knowledge you may also want to alter your marketing plans as spending a few more bucks may get you a better value on a larger print run.

Paper

In the print industry, the paper is often referred to as stock and comes in different thicknesses and finishes.

For us, we have Flyer paper, which is usually 70gsm or 80gsm woodfree. As a rough guide, the 80gsm paper resembles the ones used in photocopiers.

Letterhead paper, which is high-quality 100gsm woodfree paper. This paper is of premium quality and substance good for overprinting of information from any printers.

Brochure paper, which is usually 128gsm or 157gsm art-paper. This paper is glossy in appearance and usually referred to as "magazine paper"

Postcard paper, which is usually 260gsm art-card. This paper is the standard offering for mailing processes and the minimum card stock for direct mailing exercises.

Namecard paper, which is usually at least 260gsm art-card and goes all the way to 310gsm.

Size

For us, we work on A series sizes which is the standard A4 Size, 210mm x 297mm. We can work on half of that size which is A5, 148.5mm x 210mm,, or even one-third of the size, 99mm x 210mm.

Pages

This may seem to be a no-brainer, but a printer really needs to know how many pages you require. If it's a flyer, is it single sided or double-sided? Multiple page documents tend to go up in 4s. 

For example, 4, 8, 12, 16......

If there is a requirement for different paper stock for different pages, it is also better to discuss in detail to get a more accurate quotation. Which can be phrased as follows: 12 pages document with Cover 260gsm Art Card and Contents is 128gsm Art paper. In this case, the idea will be that the first 2 pages and the last two pages are in 260gsm ArtCard and the rest of the pages will be in 128gsm Art paper.

Finishing

When an item is printed there are many finishing options and these can sometimes add significant costs to a print job. The standard printing job without finishing is named Print and Trim.

• Folding: Required for a brochure or any multi-page document
• Scoring: For folding on thick papers like the 260gsm Art-Card, scoring is required as there are no ways to fold a card using a machine. To prevent cracking of the paper, it is required to do the scoring to create a line on the card prior to folding.
• Saddle-Stitch: Standard Staple stitching for a brochure
• Perfect-Bind: When there are books which are above 24pages we can opt for a perfect-bind with a spline.
• Lamination: A thin layer of plastic is applied to the printed piece, you can have a choice of matte or gloss.
• Spot UV: Areas of the design are left with a gloss finish to make them stand out. This finishing has to be applied after a matte lamination had been done.
• Hot-Stamping: A layer of Gold or Silver Fold is applied on the printed piece. This finish can only be applied also after a lamination had been done or on a gloss paper stock.
• Die-Cutting: When the print needs to be cut into a special shape after the print process, we will need to make a cutting mold and load the prints into a Die-Cutter to cut the prints into the special shape required. We have standard molds like a rounded corner mold for name cards. This is also used to make other products like folders.


So, as per what you have seen here, ordering prints can bring up quite a few questions. Sometimes, it will be a good idea to check with a printer that doesn't undermine. That is also why I like to talk to people and advise them on ways to save. This is a win-win situation. We save so that you save while I get my profit. So why not let me know if you need any help. Call me @ 9186 9976 (Singapore) for a friendly chat.