Management accounting - Designers will be contracted to provide Essay

Management accounting - Designers will be contracted to provide sketches and ideas - Essay Example When the designs are approved for production, graphic artists and technical production assistants are key to translating original artwork and scrawled words into a pleasing, coordinated product that can be mass produced. Thus, graphic designers might re-size artwork to make it fit a card, add color underneath or on top, combine images with appropriate typefaces for the verse inside, etc. The graphic designers must understand the capabilities of the printing machines and use only those numbers of colors that can be successfully and economically printed. Artwork, transparencies, etc. and verse are united in a mock-up that is approved for further development. When approved, all the specifications for the approved card-everything from the illustration on the front to the verse inside to the UPC code and price on the back-are scanned or input onto a computer disk and sent to the printer (Greeting card n.d.). The printing process is controlled digitally. Plates are created directly by exposure to lasers. A computer disk has "recorded" the image to be reproduced. A plate is run through a machine in which a computer is used to direct lasers to burn an image onto the metal plate. Each color requires its own printing plate and the computer disk is programmed so that it outputs plate specifications for each individual color. ... 1.4. Printing the Cards It is important to note that before an entire run of cards is processed, a couple of examples are run off and submitted for "proofing." The designers, marketers, graphic artists, press operators, etc. examine the card and check it carefully to ensure the imprint is of acceptable quality. Minor color corrections or ink adjustments occur before the print run can proceed. When the proof receives the sign-off, mass-printing begins (Greeting card n.d.). Greeting cards, often printed in runs of 400,000 or more, are often printed using sheet fed offset printing that permits the printer to print between 4,000-18,000 sheets per hour. When ink and a fountain solution (water with chemical additives) are applied to the laser-burned metal plate in the right proportion, the image to be printed accepts ink but repels the fountain solution. The non-image (white or background area) attracts the fountain solution and repels the ink and is left unprinted. From the plate, the image is applied under pressure to a rubber canvas called a blanket. The image is then transferred onto a sheet of paper. The sheets of paper to be printed, about 20 x 35 in (50.8 x 88.9 cm), are put on the press mechanically. The press grabs a single sheet of paper at a time, generally printing all of the black images and words first, then moving quickly to the next metal plate (which applies a different color of the design) without allowing time for drying the just-applied inks. While on the press, an aqueous coating (that provides shine) is applied to the just-printed card by another plate. The cards then air dry for approximately five to six days (Greeting card n.d.). 1.5. Cutting Apart and Packaging After the sheeted cards are completely dried, they are cut into