What are the differences between printing on the disc face and printing the rest of the packaging that I should keep in mind when designing?
Discs are printed with a different process than the rest of the packaging. Booklets, digipaks, and jackets are printed with process (CMYK) inks, using a high-quality process called offset lithography. Discs are printed with spot colors, and are silkscreened. There are a couple of key differences to keep in mind: • The tonal range that we can hold while silkscreening the discs is 15-85%. Tones lighter than 15% may blow out to zero, and those darker than 85% may fill in completely. As a result, we do not recommend using very dark or very light photos on the disc. • High-contrast images work best. Subtle changes in tone can be lost in the silkscreening process. • Gradients or blends do not print well, and can look uneven or blotchy. We strongly recommend avoiding gradients or blends on the disc.
KEEP IT SIMPLE: While we can print full-color (CMYK) images on the disc, silkscreen printing works best with solid spot colors (no halftones/tints, no CMYK process inks). This is true of all silkscreen printing, whether on discs, t-shirts, posters, or any other surface material. While more simplistic in appearance than full-color, this provides the best print quality on the finished discs — in this case less is more, without a doubt. TONAL RANGE FOR HALFTONES: The tonal range that we can hold while silkscreening the discs is 15-85%. Tones lighter than 15% may blow out to zero, and those darker than 85% may fill in completely.(This does not affect 0% or 100%, of course.) As a result, we do not recommend using images with very dark or very light details. IMAGE CONTENT: High-contrast images work best. We do not recommend using images with subtle details or changes in tone, as they will not be visible when silkscreened.
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