Silk-screening the face of your CD

**Always, always print laser separations from your prepared file to ensure that it is separating properly before having film produce from it. If a spot color job is set to run CMYK separations, your file will produce four pieces of film instead of the single piece you required for your spot color job. If your file is not properly prepared, you will be charged back for the film output from the incorrect file you supplied.**

Full-Color Printing is actually 5-color printing. When silk-screening, white is considered the fifth color. A full-color job will be separated into Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and White (CMYK, White) - five separate pieces of film are necessary to create the silk-screens that will be used to print your disc face. Using the silver surface of the disc instead of white can be an effective design choice.
Spot Colors can also be printed to a maximum of 5 colors. Spot colors are identified as Pantone, or PMS colors, and are identified by a number. When designing with Spot colors, be sure that your file is saved for Spot color separation, not CMYK. The Spot colours used in your file must be identified as a Pantone number in the colour pallet of your file.

Preparing art for your CD face

Designing for silk-screening is a bit different than designing for print. Here are some guidelines to follow:

• MEHco supports Illustrator (preferred), Freehand, QuarkXPress, and Photoshop files. We work in a PC environment.
• You must use MEHco templates when providing art for output
• Minimum type is 6 pts., sanserif bold
• Reverse type minimum 6 pts. sanserif bold
• Serif type faces can be used but should be restricted to larger type
• Minimum line width is .75 points
• Trapping (overlap of colors) needs to be at least 1 point
• Always be aware of the non-printing area identified on the template when designing your disc label
• Art must not exceed the printable area as identified on the MEHco templates. Silk-screen labels do NOT have bleed.
• If white is used as a part of your art, you will have to create another layer in your file for it to be output to film.
• All fonts must be converted to outline
• If the software used does not allow you to convert the type to outline, be sure to include all fonts with your output files - PC fonts.
• Support files should be a minimum of 300dpi.
• All RGB files must be converted to CMYK or greyscale images.
• ALL non-printing items from templates must be removed on your final output document.
• All colours that are not being used must be deleted from the colour pallet.
• Supply all support files that need to be used in the printed piece. Do not include files that are not being used.
• When using Spot colors, be sure your file is saved for Spot separation and that your spot colours are clearly identified.
• Provide colour proofs with your art files.
• Files submitted for output must be compressed using WinZip.

Print a colour proof of your documents when submitting your files for manufacturing

Film specifications for silk-screening

All digital files must be output to film. To be silk-screened properly, the film output must conform to the following specifications:

• Positive film
• 300 dot per inch resolution
• Emulsion up
• 133 line screen
• Elliptical dot
• 20-80% tonal range (very important - even on your separations)
• Film angle 30 degrees

Screen Angles: for full-color printing (CMYK), screen angles should always be positioned at 30 degrees apart. Yellow 0, Cyan 15, Black 45, Magenta 75 degrees.

If printing portraits and skin tones, yellow and magenta are predominant and should be positioned 45 degrees apart. Yellow 0, Cyan 15, Magenta 45, Black 75 degrees.

If printing predominantly Green, yellow and cyan must be 45 degrees apart. Yellow 0, Black 15, Cyan 45, Magenta 75.

Note: Changes made to your art files by MEHco will be charged out at $50 per half-hour with a minimum charge of one half-hour.

If you do not supply a colour proof with syour output files, one will be created at MEHco at the cost of $20 per proof.

Click here for Disc label templates