Designing with print eco-graphics

The inking rate is the sum of the percentages of ink used to reproduce an image, combining the four primary printing colours: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. This printing technique is called four-colour printing.

To reduce the inking rate, and therefore the quantity of ink used for each print:

• Use eco-colours, i.e. colours with an inking rate of less than 100;
• Play with whites, and adopt certain artistic techniques such as the two-colour process;
• Reduce the frame to reduce ink coverage on your medium.

You can reduce the environmental impact of your print media by choosing the right fonts:

• Choose slim, lean fonts such as Garamond, Times New Roman and Calibri;
• Adopt or create eco-bridges like Ryman Eco;
• Adapt to fonts printed reversed out (on a solid colour) by preferring bold fonts such as Arial;
• Make sure that your font is accessible (easily readable by everyone) and that the characters are easily distinguishable from one another.

The aim is to use as few pages as possible, making the most of the space available on the medium. To do this:

• Use standard formats (A3, A4, A5, etc.) to avoid paper waste when printing;
• Adapt the layout to make the most of the space available, and use as few pages as possible;
• Limit your use of solid graphics unless absolutely necessary, to save space and ink;
• Add value to the text to make it more interesting to read and to fill the space better, without the need for full visuals.