The Printing Process (PrePress)

This is my fourth week at my internship with Prisma and I have learned many things that I had no clue about. When we all see a flyer, magazine, or brochure; most of us think of it as a piece of paper that will usually end up in the trash or the recycling bin. However, I believe that the majority doesn't think about the process that is involved when producing that magazine or brochure. The process that takes place before the final printed product is produced is known as pre-press. The pre-press process can involve designing the images that are to be printed (graphic design). It also involves printing multiple proofs; some in low resolution and others in high resolution. This week I have been working on learning another area of the pre-press processes, this area involves printing the plates that will be used to print thousands of flyers, brochures, or magazines. In the photo you see that I am waiting for the plate to finish printing. These plates are thin sheets of aluminum that are placed inside a massive thermal printer. When these plates are done printing we need to be very careful when handling them because a single scratch can ruin the entire image. 














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HUGE Rolls!

This week I started my first day at my new internship at Prisma Graphics. I was eager, nervous, but excited to start. My first day was this past Tuesday (10/1/19), I really like that this company allows college students to intern with them and I am grateful for that. The department I am working in is in the Prepress. For those who don't know what Prisma does here is a little bit of background; Prisma does the printing work for multiple businesses who they refer to as their "clients". They print magazines, brochures, mailers, books, etc. they also bind books, emboss, and die cut. They have two buildings and there are different departments in each building. Today, during my internship I was taken on a tour around the magazine printing department and I was amazed to see the amount of paper and the size of the paper that is required to complete the printing task. The rolls used in the printing process are HUGE! They take up so much space they have a warehouse just to store all of the paper. Here are a couple photos of the rolls. 

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