This site is all about Litho – one of the best, but hardest-to-get-right printing technologies there is. With a mix of oil-based inks, water, paper of varying quality and print buyers who insist on dead-flat perfectly artefact-free tones (while paying prices to make a grown man cry), it can seem like a recipe for disaster.

But it needn’t be so.

My name’s Harry Carson, I’ve been in printing for forty years, and in that time I’ve seen them all come and go. So I’ve set up this site to tell you what I know about getting plates that actually do what they’re supposed to, managing prepress to save you time and money, how to save a boatload of ink, and how to meet the quality expectations of the most demanding customers.

This site is mainly aimed at people who work in Litho – production directors and managers, and pre-press managers. You might also find it useful if you’re a print buyer – particularly if you’re asking your printer to achieve certain print standards – e.g. ISO12647-2. Along the way, we’ll look at new technology as it comes up, fight over the accuracy of articles in the printing business press, and hopefully end up as good friends.

If you ever have a print issue you want to discuss, you can always contact me via this site, on Twitter, or via LinkedIn. I’ll do my best to help, and with my experience in the printing business, if I don’t know the answer myself I almost certainly know someone who does!