Route 1 Print Ink Coverage Information

Definitions

Ink Coverage or Ink Opacity is the measurement of the amount of light a coating of ink allows to pass through it, ‘coverage’ meaning, the amount of paper or stock that is covered in ink. Each colour we print will have it’s own ink coverage percentage.

Watermarks

Within the print and design industry, it is often desirable to include a watermark to certain products, a few examples being business documents such as: Business Cards, Letterheads and Comp Slips. 

The Idea behind a watermark varies but they are mainly used to create a translucent image on paper stock to provide authenticity, corporate identity or to simply add depth to background design.

To ensure watermarks with lower in coverage print we must allow a threshold of around 12-15% of full ink coverage across the area that is intended as a watermark. Any less, the watermark may print more faded than intended. We have this tolerance for all our different presses, we go with a broad figure to ensure whichever press a job is sent to it will print as intended. There is no great difference with these percentages on our presses.

Any files with watermarks that do not meet the minimum ink coverage threshold must be queried with the client or customer. When queried and the client wants to proceed with a low ink coverage, we wouldn’t be able to offer a refund or reprint if they are unhappy with the finished product’s ink coverage.

Advising the customer & Checking for Ink coverage in Adobe Acrobat Pro

A way we can check PDF files for their ink coverage is within Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Firstly, you will need to open the file within the Adobe Acrobat Pro program, not in any online preview.

You will find the eyedropper tool within your tool section. Click the tool button and your mouse icon should turn into a pepet. 

Click on any area of the watermark on the design and you should be met with a pop-up window displaying the overall ink coverage of that area, you can do this on any section on the file. The percentage is the number we need to compare to our minimum ink coverage threshold. E.g., If the ink coverage is below 12%, this then is to be queried with an ink coverage warning.

Checking for Ink Coverage in Adobe InDesign, further design programs and opacity 

Another way we can check is using Adobe InDesign, there is a section at the top of the tools bar, called ‘Opacity’. Many design programs will have this feature or similar in order to check and alter the transparency of an image or object. This will also be presented as a percentage. 

Warnings

Our current Ink coverage warning is as follows: The ink coverage on the watermark is lower than we would advise due to this it may not print as desired. We recommend a minimum of 12%- 15%.

Main issues to look out for:

• Barely visible watermarks to our eyes
• 12-15% as a minimum ink coverage percentage before a file is approved
• Inconsistent design within the background or watermark
• Similar colour of watermarks to the background colour or text
• Larger scale work in some cases makes lower ink coverages more visible

Ask the client about the usage for their ink coverage, this may affect the stock the watermark is printed on, how it is scaled, associated with colours, toned down or made more visible etc.