The printing press check is a step in the printing

Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....

 process. It takes place after a printing press

Printing press

A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...

 is set up but before the print run is underway.

While errors should have been corrected during the Color Proofing and proofreading

Proofreading

Proofreading is the reading of a galley proof or computer monitor to detect and correct production-errors of text or art. Proofreaders are expected to be consistently accurate by default because they occupy the last stage of typographic production before publication.-Traditional method:A proof is...

 stages, the main purpose of a press check is to make sure that the color on press comes as close as possible to the color proof. Color proofs are valuable guides, but due to the inherent differences between color proofing techniques and printing itself, proofs will match the printed sheet with varying degrees of exactness.

Areas that are commonly evaluated at a press check are:

• Flesh tones or corporate logo match colors.
• Overall color balance across the sheet.
• Paper stock (checking for correct color, weight or texture).
• Content (looking for missing elements and confirming copy changes).
• Registration (checking sharpness, color overlapping, edges of images and screened type).
• Physical defects (checking for broken type, odd scratches, hickeys, spots or ghosting).

Post press check

While some printing jobs are delivered as printed, most printing is usually not complete until it is converted into a "finished" product. Post press includes various types of finish work such as trimming, embossing, foiling, die-cutting, scoring, folding and bindery. Post press checking can include:

• Embossing: Defects that are commonly checked for are un-sharp edges, pinholes, ruptures and "halos" (shadows around the emboss).
• Foil stamping
  Foil stamping
  Foil stamping, typically a commercial print process, is the application of pigment or metallic foil, often gold or silver, but can also be various patterns or what is known as pastel foil which is a flat opaque color or white special film-backed material, to paper where a heated die is stamped onto...
  
  : Defects to be avoided are feathering, color changes, scuffing, peeling and un-sharp edges.
• Die-cutting: Defects that are commonly checked for are clean cutting and correct positioning.
• Folding/ Bindery: Before the printed sheets are folded or bound it is common to make and review a trimmed dummy of the finished piece. Defects that are commonly checked for are page order and alignment.

See also

• Prepress
  Prepress
  Prepress is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing...
  
  
• Pre-flight (printing)
• Color printing
  Color printing
  Color printing or Colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color...
  
  
• Offset printing
  Offset printing
  Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...
  
  
• Modern Engraving