PrintPlace.com Blog

You know the drill -

you get your files set up just right; fonts embedded and/or converted to outlines – check;

color settings correct – check;

folding dummy shows front & back correctly aligned – check.

Then you upload it to your chosen online printer and send it to press . . . only to have it come back to you with the inside of the card upside down.

What did you do wrong?? You made your list & checked it twice, right? Sure – but did you check your layout against your printing company’s guidelines? Do they print work & turn or head to head? There’s a big difference.

That’s where this article comes in.

Most commercial and online printers use what is called a “gang run” method. This simply means that several items are laid out on a 28” x 40” press sheet and printed at the same time. This allows printers to save money, which is generally then passed along to the consumer. It’s the method your printer chooses for printing the second side of that press sheet that affects how you set up your artwork.

The most commonly used methods of “four over four” printing (full color on both sides) are referred to as “work and turn” and “head to head”. In the work & turn method, both sides of a double sided print order are laid out on one side of a press sheet. This would allow the printer to turn the sheets over, once they are dry, and run them through the press a second time, exactly the same way, on the opposite side of the sheet, “backing up the job” without changing plates. The same plates would print the back of the sheet, creating four copies (called “four-out” or “four-up”) prior to cutting and folding.

The head to head method uses two plates – one for the front images, one for the back images. The head of a page is defined by the top of the rendered proof and the bottom is called the foot. Once the front side is printed & dry, your printer can change plates, turn the stack of press sheets over, and print the opposite side of the sheet (the back of the job), then trim down the stack of paper to produce four finished pieces from each press sheet.

When working with an online printer, you are faced with the additional challenge of not seeing your finished product until the entire quantity is printed. For this reason, it is imperative that you check the printer’s policies regarding which method they use. If it isn’t listed somewhere on their website – call their customer service department and ask! Once you’ve determined the method of printing that will be used, you can confidently proceed with your artwork set-up.

If your printer is using the work & turn method, no special set-up is necessary. The alignment of your document will be up to the printer. However, if your printer is using a head to head method, these guidelines will assist you in ensuring a correct finished product.

For this example, we will be using a folded business card. These methods worth the same way for anything with a single fold – greeting cards, brochures, newsletters, flyers, etc. If your set-up is vertical (fold on the left, like a book), the set-up is fairly simple. Notice the orientation of the text in this format. This is very important!!

However, if you are folding your artwork at the top, the layout requires a bit more thought. First, be sure your artwork is set up like so: