Gravure, the Granddaddy

Two tips ago, I cited Frank Romano during our Print Buyer Boot Camp, when he talked about the printing process called "gravure." At that time. I was sure the term was already in our Print Buyer Glossary, but many readers let me know that, indeed, gravure was nowhere listed in our resource. My mistake! It has since been added.

I thought it made sense to give more information about this process, which I consider to be the granddaddy of all processes, thanks to the enormity of the presses themselves.

When I think of gravure, I think of very long runs for publications (magazines and newspaper inserts), packaging, and certain products, such as wallpaper. In Boot Camp, Frank taught us that a half a million run for gravure is considered short. The average run is over a million. Another growing application? Shower curtains. We also learned that today there are only three gravure publications printers in North America: RR Donnelley, Quebecor, and Quad/Graphics.

Many publications, like National Geographic, are part gravure (the long-run editorial section, and offset litho (the short-run geographic ad sections and covers).

GAA is the Gravure Association of America, and their site is www.gaa.org. Here I found a good, concise description of the gravure process. And I quote:

"Gravure is an advanced, high-tech printing process operating the fastest and widest printing presses in the world. It uses a unique image carrier, a gapless cylinder that can be imaged directly from the digital data. Gravure was the first printing process to employ a totally digital environment. The Gravure Association of America, Inc. promotes the use of the gravure printing process for publication printing, package printing and product (specialty) printing."

Gravure is short for rotogravure. It is a type of intaglio printing process. Intaglio is Italian for carving (loosely). I read somewhere it can be translated as "I cut into." All you need to know is this: in gravure, the image areas are carved or etched into the surface of the cylinder itself. This cylinder is then bathed in ink, allowing the ink to settle into the etched images. Excess ink is then wiped off the surface of the cylinder by a "doctor" blade. Paper is passed between the inked cylinder and an impression cylinder.

Gravure differs from lithography in one key way: in lithography, which is traditional offset printing, the image and non-image areas are both on one surface, or plane. In gravure, the image area is below the surface (etched or engraved). The non-image area is on the surface or plane of the cylinder.

The depth of the gravure cell controls the amount of ink per spot, and this provides exceptional color quality for photographic imagery; however, text is somewhat jagged. Gravure is all about the cells or spots.

By the way, GAA recently moved its location to Paramus, NJ (there I go, promoting my home state again). Their new address is 75 West Century Rd., Paramus, NJ 07652. They are co-located with NAPL, the National Association for Printing Leadership. Their web address hasn't changed; you can still "read all about it" at http://www.gaa.org.

Comments? Talk to me at mdana@bostonprintbuyers.com.

©2008 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. You're free to forward this email to friends and colleagues: please do! However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.

Print Buyer Conference News

September 11th - 12th, 2008

Sheraton Boston Hotel, Boston, MA

As promised, we are giving away four iPod Shuffles to four people chosen at random, in appreciation of their completing our feedback survey. These lucky ducks are Mindy Fishman, Jim Winn, Nicole Anastas, and Kristyne Bischof.

Plan to join us in November 2009 for the 4th Annual Print Buyers Conference! Stay tuned for details.

Margie Dana
mdana@printbuyersinternational.com

GRAPH EXPO Print Buyers Forum

October 28-29th, Chicago, IL

"Beyond Survival: How to Thrive in Today's Business of Print Buying"

Go to http://graphexpo.gasc.org/printbuyers.cfm to register.

GRAPH EXPO is the granddaddy of US print conferences, and if you've not been to one, now is the time. Our Print Buyers Forum stars Frank Romano, Peter Muir, and yours truly as we focus on you, the professional print buyer.

Frank Romano's sessions always draw the highest of praise from print customers. One Print Buyers Conference attendee wrote, "Frank rocks as usual. Keeps it light and easy to learn such a serious and demanding topic." Another said Frank was "a legend and deserving of being one."

At our recent Conference in Boston, we welcomed Peter Muir as a two-session leader, and he, too, rocked the house. Someone wrote of Peter: "Absolutely awesome speaker! Engaging, and had concrete ideas on how to promote my value to my organization." And another attendee said: "Excellent presenter. Motivating speaker who shared a ton of info from all points of view!"

Now you can hear them both at GRAPH EXPO!

Come to Chicago This Month
Your Print Buyers Forum registration includes a FREE Exhibit Hall pass, which provides you access to the show for all four days of GRAPH EXPO!

Morning and lunchtime sessions will cover the issues of greatest interest and concern to sophisticated print buyers. The afternoon 'practical application tour' will provide participants with the opportunity to explore the expansive GRAPH EXPO exhibit hall and visit with more than 600 manufacturers and suppliers.

Register today at http://graphexpo.gasc.org/printbuyers.cfm.

Job Bank Postings

NEW position posted for John Hancock Funds in Boston, MA. They're looking for a Senior Interactive Designer.

Two current positions exist at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, located in Boston Massachusetts:
Web and Social Media Manager and Traffic and Proofreading Manager.

For more details, visit our job bank page.

Print Buyer Poll for October

Buyers, with whom do you forge the most important business relationship when you work with a printer?

• My sales rep

• My CSR (Customer Service Rep)

• The estimator

• The owner/top brass

• The pressmen/women

• The prepress staff

• Other

• A mix of the above

Cast your vote on our home page at www.bostonprintbuyers.com.

Print Tips Archives!

Our Print Tips archives are public. Access them from the home page of our site
under Print Tips at www.bostonprintbuyers.com.