Color Approximation

Note: Mis-registration is inherent to the riso process. You can solve mis-registration by designing your images with trapping, designing in a way that this does not matter, or just not caring.

Note: Caused by oversaturation of color over large patches, cannot be fixed outright, but mitigated by limiting overall opacity of the area.

Note: Caused by major blocks of color through the center of the image. Roller marks are caused on pickup in the paper tray when printing multiple colors at once. This has to do both with the absorbancy of the paper and the liquidity and density of the ink. Needle marks are caused by "peel off" from drum during printing, the drag on the color occurring as the machine tries harder to remove the paper from the drum. Both can be avoided by limiting both centrality of image and density of overall print colors. Generally if you are printing dense blocks of color, avoiding the center 2 inches are a good bet. You can also erase these with a plastic eraser in post-print production (just time-consuming).

Note: This is caused by placing your image too close to the edge of the overall print area. Usually this doesn't happen, but it can be avoided by placing images more inwards overall.

Considering Imperfections

When working with Riso, factor these imperfections into both your design process and expectations with a final product. You must be willing to fall into the wind (so to speak) and embrace either the imperfections or the additional process.

HERE IS A GRAPH ILLUSTRATING THE ABOVE.

(The line represents overall doability)

File Prep: Short Version

• Print layers must be delivered as Greyscale PDFs
• Must be accompanied by full-color reference image(s)
• Multi-page projects must be delivered as "Single Page" (as opposed to "Spreads" PDFs

File Tips: Format and Delivery

• We ONLY accept .PDF files for printing.
• Each unique color layer must be provided in it's own greyscale PDF.
• Multi-page projects must be delivered in sequenced multi-page PDFs (For example, a 16 page pdf in greyscale for a red layer of a book).
• Projects must be accompanied with full color reference PDF or JPG, otherwise print quality can't be ensured.

File Tips: Typography

• Convert all typography to outlines
• Convert all "Black" color spaces to "Registration Black" for better color saturation

File Tips: Image

• Large patches of color can not be more than 80% opacity - otherwise they will jam the machine
• Printing full-color saturation and full-bleed across a page is not feasible at best, impossible at worst (it sticks to the drum and is too inky).
• Generally lower mid-tones wash out.

File Tips: Bleed, Trim, and Pagination.

• We ask for atleast .2 inch bleed on all files requiring cropping.
• All multi-page projects must be sequenced for printing (this is called "Pagination")
• If you don't want to paginate your book, send us your project as single page (NOT spreads) PDF and we can sequence it for you for a small fee.

File Tips: Designing for Riso

• Avoid Cross-gutter design when possible
• Avoid narrow margins to edge of crop (generally 1/3 of an inch is good)
• Avoid large color fills or reduce density ti 85%
• Consider the scale of your project

Sheet Size & Printable Area

Risograph can print up to 11x17 inches (Tabloid) sheets of paper down to 8.5x11 inches (Letter) sized paper. We can't print larger or smaller, sorry! Printable area falls roughly .25 inches from each side of the overall sheet size. For example, the maximum image size for tabloid would be 10.5x16.5 inches. That said, giving half an inch is safer for quality control purposes.

Note: Colors subject to change.

Printing Policy

If you send it, we print it. We are not editors or proofreaders. We do not know your project. If you send us a PDF with any mistakes, we will not know.