Printing white background in Illustrator

[naturamed]

Hi there,

I'm new to Illustrator and would very much appreciate your help.

I'm trying to create a file with a logo to be print on an aluminium board with white background colour. What do I need to set in Illustrator that the white background is printed on the board?

Cheers,

naturamed

[JETalmage]

How is it going to be "printed"? (Screen printing? Adhesive sign vinyl?...)

JET

[Dynamic Office · Accepted solution]

I’d just use the rectangle shape tool and fill with White (Hex #FFFFFF) than save as PDF, be sure to tell the printers you want the white background.

[JETalmage]

Merely filling a rectangle with white (whether you define it with hex values or not) will not cause it to print in normal color separation. There is no white ink in normal offset printing (nor in most composite printers). White in normal process color separation and in Illustrator means "no ink." To print something white, the swatch will have to be defined as a spot color, and a spot color can be defined using any values. Saving as PDF does not change any of that.

Whenever designing for print (of any kind), think inks, not colors.

That's why one needs to specify the printing method when asking such questions.

JET

[Dynamic Office]

This is down to the printers in my opinion,

If you tell the printers you want the background white as per the artwork, then it's their job to match it - White does not mean 'no ink' unless it's printed on white material, then, of course, you don't need the ink as the material already holds that white - However, if it's printed on aluminium (like the OP) the colour white is the colour white (However they decided to create that colour)

[JETalmage]

This is down to the printers in my opinion,

No, it's up to the designer to build a file correctly. Unless you want to pay for the printer to "play designer" (modify the files).

If you tell the printers you want the background white as per the artwork, then it's their job to match it...

Nonsense. A printing house would be perfectly justified in bouncing the file back to the designer and stating it contains no white. If Naturamed was to set up the file the way you recommended and send it to a printing house, there would be no white ink in the output, and any resulting cost would be upon  Naturamed (or his customer).

White does not mean 'no ink' unless it's printed on white material...

It most certainly does. In programs like Illustrator, white colored objects by default mean exactly that: no ink. It doesn't matter whether you define that white using hexadecimal, RGB, or CMYK values; 0C0M0Y0K precisely means zero percent of all four inks. In other words, no ink.

White objects are commonly created all the time in offset printing. White text or borders or any other kinds of objects in front of other colored objects is quite common. But that just assumes the white paper commonly used in offset lithography (i.e., printing presses). But just coloring an object white doesn't magically cause an offset press to suddenly have an opaque ink in one of its printing heads. Print a job containing white objects on a brown bag, and all your "white" objects will just be bag-brown.

Naturamed specified the job is to be "printed" on an aluminum panel. That pretty much rules out offset printing. The fact that he is specifying the need for a white background implies that the aluminum is not white. Aluminum panel suggests the job will be either screen-printed, or printed by a composite printer onto adhesive sign vinyl (which may be white, or clear, or any other color), or may not even be "printed" at all, but built up from individual colors of sign vinyl. Naturamed has not shown the design, but the fact that he specifies it as a "logo" suggests that it is line art (probably should be), and properly built logos have to be reproduced in a myriad of different methods: offset printing, flexography, screen printing, one-off composite printers, even etching and engraving.

Naturamed most probably needs to define and apply a spot color to the white objects. But he needs to provide more information. He came here for sound advice.

JET

[Dynamic Office]

No, it's up to the designer to build a file correctly. Unless you want to pay for the printer to "play designer" (modify the files).

We've established this though, white background match #FFFFFF

Nonsense. A printing house would be perfectly justified in bouncing the file back to the designer and stating it contains no white. If Naturarmed was to set up the file the way you recommended and send it to a printing house, there would be no white ink in the output, and any resulting cost would be upon  Naturarmed (or his customer).

Sorry, if I'd requested a white background and provided artwork that has a white background via a rectangle (illustrator by default looks like it's a white background but actually contains no background colour) and it came back with no white background i'd refuse to pay and the printers would know this, Infact i've sent 1000s with the above white rectangle and I've never been asked to do it any other way, plenty of printers used too.

It most certainly does. White objects are commonly created all the time. White text in front of other colored objects is a most common example. But that just assumes a white paper. That doesn't magically cause an offset press to suddenly have an opaque ink in one of its printing heads. Print such a job on a brown bag, and your "white" will just be bag-brown.

This has gone massively off point, I understand that a brown paper bag is brown and not white, one would not assume that but one would also know what they're printing on.

[JETalmage]

Charles,

Naturamed never stated that the "white background" is just a rectangle.

Infact i've sent 1000s with the above white rectangle...

I don't care. I've been at this since before anyone ever heard of Illustrator. My clients assume I know how to build files correctly. That's why they pay me.

Your advice to Naturamed is very poor. It begs for error.

JET

[John Mensinger]

charlesd8830180  wrote

i've sent 1000s with the above white rectangle and I've never been asked to do it any other way...

1000's? Considering the rarity of printed white background rectangles, you must be getting a lot more work than the rest of us.

And, the printers you use are apparently a lot more forgiving than any I've used. #FFFFFF = white ink? Nowhere is that true.

A properly constructed file is not on the printer, and I can assure you that just because a printer correctly interprets your instruction to provide something in the output which you didn't do correctly in the input; it doesn't mean everyone will get away with it. Personally, I'd prefer my print provider doesn't secretly have a derogatory nickname for me.

[Dynamic Office]

I'm not arguing with you, use JET's advice and over-engineer an easy job.

My advice is not poor whether you agree or disagree I'm stating a fact. as are you.

[Bexigallio]

I think you are offering advice that works for you, rather than advice that is correct. I agree with JETalmage , the advice given on those posts is correct. Using Hex values in any print job is very confusing (and naive in my opinion). I think you underestimate the amount of work your printer does after you provide artwork, to ensure the jobs you supply them with output correctly. And I beg to differ, you are arguing with someone who clearly knows a lot more about the subject that you do. We are all here to seek advice and offer it. I think a little bit of decorum and respect can go a long way, particularly when people who are obviously very experienced and knowledgable are providing robust and correct advice based on what appears to be solid real-world experience.