Services

With its specs, our Risograph lends itself to smaller prints and books. Our specific machine is the venerable RA5900. Its maximum print size is B4/Legal (8.5" × 14"). This print size can effectively make books up to 6" × 8". We have 7 different color drums, yellow, pink, red, blue, green, teal, and black. We can print on up to 11" × 17" paper, but the print area is no larger than 8.5" × 14".

We will do our best to help our specs support your project! Not everyone has Riso experience, so we're more than happy to provide assistance for designing effective prints and setting up files for printing. Even more specific details about the nitpicks of our process and file templates are available below.

Details

Like all Riso printing, some inconsistency between prints is to be expected. Our machine is missing a few vertical lines, as seen in the portfolio section, and runs of multiple colors can be expected to have light tire tread marks depending on specific in coverage and density. Due to the inconsistent nature of Riso layer registration, we generally have to run more prints than needed so we can always make sure to fill orders with at least the specified number of nice prints. We can print on up to 11" × 17" paper, but the print area is no larger than 8.5" × 14". This print size can effectively make books up to 6" × 8".

Print data is provided to the Risograph through a flatbed scanner. It has difficulty reading anything lighter than 15% black and tends to lose detail over 80%. Using these hex colors and using multiply layers in the the design program of your choice should give a good sense of overprint colors: #ffd700, #ff3434, #ff1493, #3c6aef, #00A95C, #006961, and #333333. You can download a .PSD file that demonstrates some file organization and overprint combinations right here.