Heavy coverage. It is an expression you may hear from time to time in the printing industry. Sometimes it may come with a frustrated look from a pressmen, or you may hear it as a warning. Today we look at heavy coverage in printing, what it means, and how it can affect a printed piece.
When print designers are planning a new project, we encourage them to go all out. Try new things, push the envelope, and take creative chances. It is our job as your printer to go ahead and try and make it work. We try our best to take your ideas and match them to the realities of commercial printing. We love the challenge.
That said, we feel it is important to educate yourself about the various processes and issues that pop up during during printing.
One thing to always be aware of as a designer is the coverage of your work. And more specifically when a design has heavy coverage
What is Coverage?
Coverage is a term used in printing to express how much ink is on a sheet. So a page with light coverage might just have a small amount of text on it. On the other hand, heavy coverage indicates that a large section of a page is covered with ink. Imagine a whole book cover printed in blue, or an entire page that is one solid color. These are examples of heavy coverage.
The good news is that this can be a fantastic thing. A card or page filled with a single solid color can give a printed work a lavish look and feel. From a designers standpoint, heavy coverage can be used to signal richness or abundance to your viewer.
Okay, so what’s the bad news?
Of course having ink covering a whole page or even a large part of a page can definitely lead to problems. Here are a few of the most usual issues we have seen.
1. It simply costs more
Well, right off the bat, here is a revelation for you. The more ink you use in a design, the more it will cost. Something printed with heavy coverage requires more ink, more ink requires more time of a pressmen, and all of that means greater costs for a project.
2. Might require coating to prevent scuffing
Scuffing isn’t a problem for a lot of print projects. Scuffs on a page with a little text or a small graphic will be barely noticeable. Once you have a large area with a lot of ink on it the situation changes. In areas with heavy coverage scuff marks or light wear will show more prominently.
In this case you may need to consider having a coating or varnish applied to the finished piece. This will help preserve the design and prevent scuff marks.
3. Requires longer drying times
This is something that not a lot of people will think about. But when you offset print something with ink it doesn’t come right off the press dry. Ink takes time to dry completely.
This depends on a number of issues including type of paper and type of ink. The type of coverage also contributes to the drying time. The heavier the coverage the longer it takes to dry, and the longer it takes to dry, the more time you will need to budget for in your schedule.
4. Could lead to cracking
You might think, well I am not printing offset with inks, my project is digital, so I don’t need to worry about heavy coverage. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
Sure, you won’t have to worry about increased ink costs or drying times with digital. But there are other issues. One of those issues we have seen is cracking.
Digital printing is done with toner and not inks. Unlike ink, toner doesn’t penetrate or soak in to a page. Instead, toner is fused onto the surface of a page. When a digitally printed piece is later folded, perfed, or binded, areas with heavy coverage of toner can crack or flake away.
So you’re saying I should never ever design with heavy coverage? I thought it looked lavish?
We are definitely not saying you should never design with heavy coverage.
There are many things that work together to cause the problems of heavy coverage. That can be issues with a paper’s grain, or the way you have chosen to print something, or even the paper you choose.
So, we say go for it, shoot for the moon, use all the heavy coverage you want. We are saying though, that you should be aware of the potential problems.
And how to avoid all these potential problems? Be sure to talk with your printer early and often. We can suggest any number of things to help you avoid the issues we outlined here: including saving costs and avoiding finishing problems
Each and every project is different, and we would be happy to work with you to make sure it turns out great. Feel free to call or stop by!
cutpasteandprint Printing, graphic design, binding, and promotional product specialists in Huntingdon Valley, PA. We proudly serve the Bucks and Montgomery County areas with superior quality, great customer service, and a commitment to getting you and your the best possible printed materials. Our services include: Digital Printing, Offset Printing, Graphic Design, Promotional Items, Bindery, and Copying.
estimating@cutpasteandprint.com • 215.364.3898
