GBD Works: Using a Touch Plate to Make Images Pop on Uncoated Paper (1/3)

MADISON FLOWER SHOP ANNIVERSARY BROCHURE: USING A TOUCH PLATE TO MAKE IMAGES POP ON UNCOATED PAPER (1/3)

Most full color pieces are printed with cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) inks. CMYK printing relies on a subtractive color model, meaning ink absorbs specific wavelengths of light reflecting off white paper to create visible color. It uses four primary inks: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black). Rather than mixing liquid colors into a solid paint before printing, press systems overlay tiny, microscopic dots of each ink side-by-side and on top of one another—a process known as halftoning. By adjusting the size, density, and screen angles of these tiny dots, the printer tricks your eyes into perceiving thousands of continuous colors and gradients. Black ink is included as a dedicated channel to sharpen text, build deep contrast, and save ink volume without oversaturating the paper.

For the Madison Flower Shop’s anniversary brochure, we started with Tom Hopkins’ beautiful photography. Because we wanted to make it elegant we decided to print on uncoated stock which is notoriously difficult because the paper absorbs the ink, resulting in dull color. In order to make the photographs “pop” by using five plates rather than four. The fifth plate is a modified version of the black plate with increased contrast and sharpening. In this this case the touch plate prints on top of the CMYK adding additional depth to every photograph.

Working with Tom’s photographs in Adobe Photoshop, I started with the traditional four ink colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). I duplicated the black plate which became the black “Touch Plate”. Working on what was now a fifth plate, I “opened up” the lighter areas using the curves function in Photoshop until I had roughly about 1/2 to 2/3 of the original black in that plate. I then used Photoshop’s sharpening tools on that plate to add that extra touch of crispness on the uncoated sheet.

No one involved with the project had ever worked with a black “Touch Plate” before so we ran a press proof using the five-plates (four plates plus the black “Touch Plate”). The press proof was a success. The results actually exceeded everyone’s expectations and the brochure was a success.

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