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#93 Work & Turn
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“Work & Turn” is a term used by print­ers to print both sides of a sheet of paper with just one plate & one press set-up.

Find a com­plete list of print­ing terms at wcb​s4print​ing​.com. For more infor­ma­tion about this out­stand­ing full-​service print­er, see the “chaz sez” col­umn below.

What is “work & turn”?

In the case of a two-​sided fly­er, the work & turn job’s plate & paper will be large enough to con­tain two full fly­ers. The plate is set up to print both the front & back images of the fly­er in just one pass. The print­ed work & turn sheet will look like the Amper­Art Work & Turn art, above, con­tain­ing two full fly­ers where the front side is adja­cent to the back side.*

Then then the paper is flipped end-​for-​end (after the ink is dry) so the print­ed side is down and the blank side is up, & then print­ed again with the same plate. In this way, the front of each fly­er will con­tain the oppo­site image on the back. (It’s impor­tant to flip the paper the right way, or each fly­er could con­tain two “front” sides or two “back” sides. Yes, I’ve made that mistake.)

The sheets are then cut apart in the cen­ter to make two fin­ished items, like this — each work & turn fly­er will have a front & a back side:

Although one plate could be used for a 1‑color work & turn job, sev­er­al plates would be required for full-​color print­ing such as shown in the Amper­Art Work & Turn art­work. Still, only one press set-​up is required with only one set of plates, not a sep­a­rate set for front & back. The paper is passed through, flipped, & passed through again.

*Tech­ni­cal note: The Amper­art Work & Turn image would actu­al­ly be print­ed full-​bleed (not shown in the Amper­Art Work & Turn piece), then trimmed on all four sides as well as in half. But full bleed is anoth­er dis­cus­sion. “Bleed,” “work & turn,” and oth­er print­ing jar­gon is explained in a com­pre­hen­sive glos­sary page at wcb​s4print​ing​.com. For more infor­ma­tion about this out­stand­ing print­er, keep reading…

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Here’s a real coin­ci­dence: I searched Google for “work & turn” to find a sim­ple def­i­n­i­tion which I could mod­i­fy for my read­ers. The page I was lead to is wcb​s4print​ing​.com print­ing terms, an excel­lent list of print­ing terms pro­vid­ed by a full-​service print­er in Palm Desert—just a few towns over from me! Of the thou­sands of print­ers all over the world, I find this to be quite a coincidence…like an invi­ta­tion for a short dri­ve to take in the won­der­ful smell of ink & hear the roar of the presses.

The full list of ser­vices & out­stand­ing tes­ti­mo­ni­als have enticed me to ask wcb​s4print​ing​.com for a quote on an upcom­ing print job. And when a client needs custom-​printed bags, badge hold­ers, book­marks, lug­gage straps & tags, mag­nets, mugs, name badges, pass­port wal­lets, pens or post-​it notes…
their spe­cial­ty divi­sion, wcb​s4L​o​go​Prod​ucts​.com, han­dles all those items.

Small world. Or as the TV soap goes, As the World Work & Turns.

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Production notes for #93 Work & Turn:
Original size: 20x30 inches
Program: Adobe Illustrator
Fonts: Rockwell, Bodoni, DIN Schrift
Ampersand: DIN Schrift, modified

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Relat­ed arti­cle in the Print­ing & Pub­lish­ing series:
#63 Upper & Lowercase

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For pro­fes­sion­al graph­ic design, please vis­it Des­i­mone Design.