Design Practice: Collection Zine - How Risograph Printing works

For me to be able to print my zine on a risograph printer I need to be able to set up my file correctly, otherwise it will not work and I could also be charged for an art working fee if the company I use have to amend my files.

Hato Press, Ditto Press and Risotto press all have lengthy sections of how to use risograph printers, which describe what file formats they preferred to be sent. I learned that all the content within a riso publication needs to have B&W images before being sent. This is because the printers need to expose the layers onto different separations. This is similar to creating positives for screen printing.

I initially wanted my zine to be printed with Risotto, however they replied to my email saying that they aren’t printing publications/zines, but only A3 prints. Therefore I have decided to design my zine for ditto press’s risograph machine because they ask for InDesign cs6 files and not just pdfs. Their approach seems much more convenient than the other Riso Printers in the UK.

Ditto Press go under the name DRUK for their risograph services.

As I love the combination of blue and pink featured in the Risograph content I found online, I want to use DRUK's own pink and blue riso colours for my zine. If I incorporate a mixture of images into publication then I can use these riso colours for them, turning them into monotones, which could look quite appealing. Pink & blue compliment each other really well, however I think I'm going to use black as well for a body copy colour, just because it needs that crisp contrast. If I used blue and pink exclusively throughout the zine, then it could become an over kill.