Digital printing is the only way to print small quantities of newspapers cost-effectively. Find out more about how our digital newspapers are printed.

PRINTING FOR THE FIRST TIME?

Remember, digital newspaper printing is an industrial process, designed to be fast and economical.

• Colours won’t look as bright and vibrant as they do on screen.
• Colours may not be consistent. The same colour may look different on different pages in one newspaper, or in different newspapers in the batch.
• Newsprint is a relatively low grade of paper. The print quality is not as sharp as other kinds of paper that you might be familiar with (magazines, for example), and it’s not as bright white as office paper.
• Imperfections are normal and there may be marks or creases on your newspapers.

This doesn’t mean that your newspaper won’t look good, but it does help to design with newspaper printing in mind. We’ve written these guides to help you.

PICK THE BEST COLOURS FOR PRINTING

All of our digital newspapers are printed with the same colour settings, using a CMYK process. This means that every colour is made from a mixture of cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink.

• Exact colour matching is impossible - colours will look different in your printed newspaper to how they look on screen.
• Most colours look lighter in print than they do on screen, and colours under 10% ink coverage might not print at all. Check the colour charts in our samples.

CHOOSE PHOTOS AND ARTWORK CAREFULLY

Because newsprint is thin, we have to reduce the ink coverage, so that there’s not too much ink on the page.

• Choose photos with a good range of mid tones, and enough contrast between important details. There will be less contrast between light and dark areas in your printed newspaper.
• Avoid artwork with very dark areas. Details in dark areas will merge together into one flat colour in print.
• Make sure that text and details contrast well with the background, as there will be less contrast in print.

OPTIMISE YOUR LAYOUT FOR NEWSPAPER PRINTING

Our 45gsm salmon paper is very lightweight. Large areas of dense ink coverage can make the paper wrinkle or curl at the edges. Keep this in mind when designing, especially if the artwork goes to the edge of a page in a trimmed newspaper, like a mini.

Newsprint is thinner than other types of paper you might be familiar with:

• Your design will show through the paper, so avoid dark areas backing onto pale or blank areas.
• Ink may crack or rub off where the newspaper is folded. If you’re printing digital broadsheets, with densely printed artwork near the folds, ask our team support@newspaperclub.com about sending them flat.

Folding and alignment isn’t exact.

• If your design is a spread printed across separate sheets, avoid having text or important details going across the middle as there might be a gap or misalignment between the two halves.
• Artwork on one side of a sheet may be a few millimetres misaligned with artwork on the other side.
• Remember that digital broadsheets come endorse folded (folded horizontally across the page), so this might affect your layout.
• Make sure that text and details contrast well with the background, as there will be less contrast in print.

GET A FREE SAMPLE PACK

Get a free sample pack to get a feel for how your design could look in print.

If you're placing a large digital order, ask us about printing a free test copy. Please email support@newspaperclub.com with the details of your order and we'll be happy to help.