PRI

NTI

NG

GU

IDE

H O W T HE RIS O GR A PH W O R K S

THE RISOGRAPH uses a printing process that

achieves similar rich spot colours and ink
textures to screen-printing, but with very
fast duplication speeds, at a fraction of the
print cost.
Risographs work by transferring ar twork
onto a stencil called a MASTER. The MASTER
is wrapped around a colour drum filled with
liquid ink. The paper runs flat through the
machine whilst ink is pushed through the
stencil and down onto the paper. Interchangeable colour drums allow for print in a
variety of spot colours. Photographic reproductions are possible by printing with a variation of CMYK.
APPLICATIONS INCLUDE posters, leaflets,
business cards, invites, envelopes, catalogues, zines, ar t prints, and album covers.
Risographs were designed to bridge the
gap between cheap and expensive print
methods; the photocopier and offset printing / lithography. This makes the Riso ideal
for runs from 1 2000 prints.

SPECIFICATIONS
AVAILABLE COLOURS (including Pantone reference).
Overprint to create more colours!

BR

IG

R
HT

1
D>

85

T
FLA

L
GO

8
D>

71U

AQ

L
AB

3
E>

12C

PU

RP

>
LE

U
75
OR

AN

>
GE

1U
02
TE

AL

2
>3

1U
FLU

P
RO

>
INK

80

YE

LL

6U

OW

>

LL
YE

OW

BU

N
GU

1
Y>

95

GR

5U

EE

3
N>

4U
FED

L
RA

E
LU

>2

BL

94

AC

B
K>

LA

CK

PAPER T YPE: ANY UNCOATED PAPER

PAPER WEIGHTS: 70GSM 250GSM
MAXIMUM PRINTABLE AREA: 400 X 277MM

M I S - R E G I S T R AT I O N
Due to the printing process, mis-registration can occur when printing more
than one colour. It's never more than a couple of millimeters, but something
to consider when reviewing ar twork.
T I P - T I P - T I P - T I P - T I P - T I P - T I P
Increase width / borders of graphics to help layers overlap and ensure a
full colour fill!

INK DENSITY
Large areas of solid ink coverage is not recommended (especially around
the edges and the top 4cm of the paper).
It often makes the paper stick to the internal drum or results in a visibly
varied print consistency.
This is especially impor tant to note if prints are double sided (books,
leaflets etc) or have multiple layers. Ar twork may get light track marks from
the rollers of the printer as it passes through the machine multiple times.
The prints stack up on top of each other once exiting the riso. If the
ar twork is very dense, or multi-layered, it can sometimes result in marks on
the reverse of the prints.

T I P - T I P - T I P - T I P - T I P - T I P - T I P

If print marks do appear, most of them can be easily rubbed out

with an eraser!

To print solid
colours, ar twork
should be set to
registration
black / rich black
(100% CMYK).

PREPARING FILES

Ar twork_Red_A.PDF

Ar twork should
be sent as a grey
scale PDF
(300dpi). Each
colour layer
requires a
separate file.

A r t wo r k _ G re e n _ B. P D F

100%
BLACK

20%
BLACK

ARTWORK FILES
FOR PRINT

50%
BLACK

100%
BLAC K

50%
BLAC K

100%
RED

20%
RED

PRINT RESULT

50%
RED

If printing books,
remember to
consider pagination, creep and
allow for crop and
registration
marks (10mm).

50%
GREEN

FINAL
2 COLOUR
PRINT

The Risograph
cannot print full
bleed ar twork please leave a 1cm
white border on all
A3 prints.
(An optional
trimming service is
available to achieve
full bleed results)

100%
GREEN

MAXIMUM PRINTABLE AREA: 400 X 277MM

Name each file with

the colour you'd like
it printed in.
For books, multiples
and double sided
prints, include page
numbers too.
If you are creating
ar twork with
overlaid colours,
indicate which layer
you'd like printed
first (A for first, B for
second etc)