HOW SKATEBOARD DECKS ARE PRINTED:

The industry standard for printing skateboards is a process known as heat transfer printing. Point along with the majority of skateboard manufacturers use this process, which involves screen printing ink in reverse order on carrier sheets of thin plastic. The sheets are then aligned to the deck and run through a heated silicone roller machine that transfers the ink to the decks. This allows for a high quality print on the curved bottom (or top) of a skateboard deck. Point still direct screen prints some skateboard decks but we reserve this for small and less detailed prints (this method is less consistent).

WHAT SOFTWARE/FILE TYPES TO USE?

Point Distribution recommends that whenever possible skateboard art be designed (not just imported) in a vector based program such as Adobe Illustrator, due to the superior quality of the print. ‘Vector‘ based programs are the standard in which most skateboard graphics are created. Vector graphics have the ability to be scaled larger without a loss in resolution. It is recommended that all spot color graphics be created in vector based programs to ensure the highest quality print.

In some cases it is necessary to use a ‘raster‘ based graphic created in Adobe Photoshop. All native Photoshop files will be printed CMYK unless a correctly separated and layered file is provided. The benefit of using a raster based program is the ability to reproduce photorealistic and other high detail images. Please note that with raster graphics the approximate resolution of the final print is 150 dpi. All of our heat transfers are screen printed, and due to the human element in this procedure CMYK transfers have a small margin of inconsistency. Point recommends familiarizing yourself with this process and understanding the limitations before ordering, this makes it easier for us to meet your expectations. All raster files must be created in the CMYK color space (not RGB). The figure below illustrates the comparison of an actual CMYK graphic file (what it looks like on your monitor) to the actual CMYK printed transfer (what it looks like on a skateboard).

CMYK PRINTING VS. SPOT COLOR PRINTING:

CMYK printing simulates a full range of colors by mixing varying percentages of four primary colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. When these colors are printed on a surface, they subtract from white light that reflects off the background, creating the illusion of color; for this reason, CMYK is a “subtractive” color model. This is called “4-color” or process printing. With heat transfer printing, the dots used to make the final print are fairly large resulting in a resolution that is somewhat low.

Spot color printing is recommended over CMYK(in terms of print quality) because the solid blocks of color used maintain a higher amount of detail compared to CMYK printing. The biggest drawback to Spot color printing versus CMYK printing is that CMYK can effectively recreate a wide gamut of colors and shading by only printing 5 colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, and White).

Spot color printing requires that every color in a graphic be printed individually. Metallic, pearlescent, fluorescent, and phosphorescent colors cannot be created by the CMYK color space; therefore each of these colors must be printed individually using the spot color method. The other benefit of spot color printing is the ability to choose specific colors for specific areas of your graphic. Using the Pantone Matching System (PMS) ensures that the colors you choose will be the colors that get printed. Heat transfer printing is a labor intensive process, in which each transfer is screen printed by hand one color at a time, so the question to be answered is, “Am I willing to spend the extra money on the additional set-up fees to get a higher quality final product?”.

The figure below illustrates the CMYK printing process compared to the Spot Color printing process. The first graphic is an example of a image created in a raster based program, and due to the shading, textures, and amount of colors it would be printed using the CMYK process. The second graphic is an example of a 4 color image created in a vector based program. Due to the minimal amount of colors, and the use of a metallic gold, this graphic would be printed using the Spot Color printing process. Although both graphics look similar they are very different in construction, it is wise to choose your printing process before creating a graphic.

HOW TO ACCURATELY REPRODUCE COLOR:

What you see on your monitor is not what you will see printed on a deck. Therefore it takes extra care to accurately match a color in a graphic. The company PANTONE was invented just for this reason. The Pantone Matching System is regarded as the industry standard for communicating color. ‘Pantone Books’ and specifically the ‘Pantone Solid Coated’ swatch book are used for accurately communicating colors from the graphic designer to the printer. When building spot color graphics use the ‘Pantone Solid Coated’ swatch book and if you are using Photoshop to create a spot color graphic please name your layers accordingly. Furthermore you should rely on your pantone book for choosing colors and use the Pantone swatches in Photoshop or Illustrator merely for communicating the colors. All graphics created without using these swatches will be converted to the closest Pantone equivalent.

The swatch book on the left is the actual pantone swatch book we use here at Point Distribution. The benefit of the color bridge is it offers the Solid Coated Pantone alongside its CMYK equivalent, although it is not necessary to buy the color bridge version, we recommend at least having a book containing Pantone Solid Coated colors which can be purchased here . The image on the right is an example of the Pantone Solid Coated swatch library within Illustrator and Photoshop.

MORE QUESTIONS

Point’s sales reps are trained in graphic creation and can answer most questions.