Our services ‒ Repro ‐ EPFL

The Print Centre is a printing (digital and offset), binding and large-format communications workshop. Our services are aimed at the entire EPFL community, for work related to education, the promotion of your services and events, your associative activities, but also for your private projects as long as they are not for commercial purposes.

■ Graphic design

You can entrust us with the layout of your annual report, the creation of the posters, flyers and program for an event, the design of brochures to present your department, roll-ups or any document that is essential to your communication.

Please contact our grahic designer to explore the feasibility of your project and define a timeline.
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■ Printing, finishing and binding

Equipped with several digital printers suited to your small to medium-sized print runs, we also have a guillotine to cut your documents to the desired format, a creasing and folding machine to create leaflets, a creasing and perforating machine to produce detachable coupons and a laminator to protect your printed material. Lastly, we offer four kinds of bindings: thermal tape, metallic wire, saddle stitching and perfect binding. For more details, you can refer to the technical specifications below.

This equipment allows us to create a broad range of printed material, business cards, flyers, posters, leaflets, invitation cards, ticket or badges, as well as brochures, annual reports, magazines or spiral bound notebooks. Each job is treated individually so that your projects can be produced either in a standard or customized format.

→ For large print runs, we have an offset printing press.
→ For large formats, A2 and above, two types of printers are available.

Banner format: our digital printers are suitable for the printing of elongated formats up to 88 cm long by 32 cm high. This allows for instance the printing of four-panel A4 leaflets, flap covers or bound documents in A4 landscape format.

White ink: one of our printers is fitted with a fifth cartridge of white ink. This specificity is interesting for printing on colored or black paper. To work with white ink, read our instructions.

Clear varnish: another printer is fitted with a fifth cartridge of clear varnish. This ink is useful to enhance a design by adding a background pattern or to protect objects such as tickets to an event. To work with clear varnish, read our instructions.

We offer a basic range that includes 80 g/m² offset paper and 80 g/m² white recycled paper, satin paper in 90, 120, 160, 200, 300 and 350 g/m², and a choice of colored paper.

In addition, we have a few alternatives such as natural, recycled and semi-matte paper. Lastly, we have a few specific media: transparent, printable plastic or self-adhesive labels.

	Folding and creasing All types of folds made of one or two parallel folds, such as Z-fold, roll fold or gate fold.
	Micro-perforations Used to define a detachable section, such as a tear-off voucher.
	Laminating Used to waterproof and strengthen a printed document. Type: glossy or matte, available in A5, A4 and A3 sizes; glossy or matte, with one adhesive side, available in A5 and A4 sizes.
	Staples One or two staples on the side.
	Perforations Two or four holes for folders (machine finishing), one or two holes for badges, two holes for suspended cardboard (M1 metro).
	Guillotine cutting Cut to the final format to finish a document.

	Thermal tape binding Quick binding with thermally bonded canvas tape. It is possible to add a cardboard back cover and a transparent plastic front cover sheet. Color: black and white, plus a large choice of colors. Max. thickness: up to 30 mm, i.e. 600 pages printed on both sides. Max. paper size: A4 portrait or A3 landscape.
	Metal wire binding Quick binding. Possibility to add a cardboard back cover and a transparent plastic front cover sheet. Color: black, white or matte silver. Max. thickness: up to 12 mm, i.e. 240 pages printed on both sides. Max. paper size: A4 portrait or A3 landscape.
	Saddle-stitch binding The sheets are folded and stapled together in the middle. The document must be printed in a specific manner to ensure the correct page imposition. Number of pages: must be a multiple of four, up to 40 pages maximum. Max. paper size: A4 portrait
	Perfect binding The cover is printed on a heavyweight paper sheet that wraps the body of the book. The back of the book block is notched and sawbound to allow the hot glue to penetrate properly, ensuring that the cover is securely attached. If the book is thick enough, it is possible to print the title on its spine (see DTP guide, page 04). Finally, it is also possible to produce a cover with a flap. Lead time of two to three working days. Max. thickness: up to 50 mm, i.e. 1000 pages printed both sides. Max. paper size: 320 x 360 mm.

■ Offset printing

When your print run reaches 500 to 600 A3, offset is the most cost-effective solution. We are equipped with a five-color 37 x 52 cm printing press, which enables us to print in one pass your color documents with an additional fifth color.

Please contact us to get a price quotation and find out when our offset printing press is available.

Print quality: offset printing produces superior print quality to digital printing, especially regarding the regularity of flat colors and gradients, fine screen work or simply the precision of registration.

Pantone color systems: offset also offers the possibility of using Pantone inks, for instance to enhance your project with a vivid, metallic or fluorescent color.

In stock, we have a range of offset, recycled and semi-matte paper in different weights. If necessary, we can, of course, order the desired paper specifically.

The standard paper size for this printing press is 500 x 350 mm that is a useable area measuring 490 x 320 mm. For specific applications and with a limited choice of paper, it is even possible to reach 510 x 350 mm.

■ Mailing

We can manage your mailings, from personalizing envelopes to overprinting addresses, and folding and putting into envelopes.

Please contact the person responsible for mailings to best plan your project.

■ Posters and large-format communication

For indoor use

For large-format prints, we are equipped with inkjet plotters to print A2, A1, A0, F4 posters or personalized sizes, as well as banners mesuring at most 1 m high by 25 m long. The plotters are fitted with twelve cartridges that provide high-fidelity color rendering, particularly to emulate vivid colors represented in RGB. We offer several paper media, as well as foldable fabric.

→ To make your print more rigid, we can offer gluing on cardboard.

RGB inks: to take advantage of these special inks, we recommend you work with RGB and provide us with your poster in TIF format.

Standard paper: 180 g/m² coated white paper adapted to all types of printing and particularly those meant to be read (no reflection). It is suitable both for event posters and posters for scientific presentations.

Satin photo paper: 200 g/m² photo paper with a matte finish to enhance photographic subjects that offers brilliant color rendition. It is suitable for all uses.

Glossy photo paper: 190 g/m² photo paper with a glossy finish. It is mainly suitable for photographic subjects since the reflections hinder reading.

Foldable fabric: 110 g/m² synthetic materials designed to be folded, ideal when you’re traveling by air as it allows you to fold your poster in your suitcase. We recommend avoiding dark backgrounds and flats, as the ink could crack on the folds.

For outdoor use

For more robust large-format prints, we also have a plotter using latex ink, waterproof, for printing outdoor posters and canvas, which can be enhanced with eyelets.

→ For stickers in variable shapes or the cutting out of lettering, we are equipped with a cutting plotter.

→ To make your print more rigid, we can offer gluing on cardboard or Forex.

Grommets: we can fit your printed banners with grommets in view of their installation.

Large format: we are able to print these banners in sizes up to 1.5 m high by 25 m long.

Blue Back paper: 130 g/m² paper suitable for outdoor displays and pasting on public billboards. The blue back provides better opacity, which is useful if pasting the poster on top of existing posters.

Decolit canvas: lightweight 325 g/m² display material mainly used for printing stands and roll-ups. It can also be used to print banners with the possible fitting of grommets.

Bâche Expolit: thick 500 g/m² display material suitable for printing a long banner, with the possible fitting of grommets.

Exhibition material

If you need to embellish a space, we offer two exhibition structures: the rollup and the stand. The design is printed on light display material and offers a visible area of 85cm by 2.20m high.
Please follow our technical instructions (rollup / stand) to provide a suitable file for production. Ideally, allow a lead time of two working days for production.

If you have questions regarding the creation of the file or if you are planning to place a sizable order, please contact the employee in charge.

Rollup

The printed design is glued inside the casing to the roller system (like a blind). As the canvas can only be replaced once or twice, this system is preferable for repeated use of the same visual or for frequent trips.

The whole system is transported in a bag (23 x 93 x 10 cm), the installation is quick, as you only need to unroll the canvas.

Stand

This system allows you to display your printed visual on a canvas, once the two clamps have been put on the ends. This system is much more durable than a rollup, as you can replace or swap the graphics as needed.

The stand’s parts are stored in a bag (15 x 20 x 95 cm) where a tube is also provided to slide the rolled up visual.

Rigid media

To produce a rigid print, we can offer you various solutions obtained by gluing: the visual will be printed on a paper or vinyl base, then glued to a rigid cardboard or Forex plate. These different materials can be used for a wide range of applications, from short-term indoor use to long-term outdoor use.

We would be happy to discuss your ideas and advise you on the most suitable solution for your project. Please do not hesitate to contact the person in charge.

Grey cardboard : raw cardboard offering good rigidity for indoor use only. Thickness 3.5 mm, max. format 92x122cm.
This medium can be combined with printing on standard, photo satin or Blue Back paper.

White cardboard : treated cardboard that withstands contact with water and can be used outdoors for several weeks. Thickness 2.2 mm, max. format 100x150cm.
This medium can be combined with printing on standard, photo satin or Blue Back paper.

Forex : a PVC medium offering good rigidity and suitable for long-term outdoor use. Thickness 5 mm, max. format 120x200cm.
This medium can be combined with a print on white vinyl. If use is demanding (rubbing), we can offer to laminate the vinyl to protect the print. The maximum format will then be 100×20.

■ Stickers and cutting

We are equipped with a cutting plotter that enables the high precision cutting of intricate patterns. The main applications are the die cutting of stickers preprinted on the latex plotter and the cutting of lettering or logos on dyed vinyl supports for signage.

Lastly, if you want to produce a rigid print, we can offer you the solution of laying it on a Forex medium (5 mm thick plastic).

Please contact the employee in charge to discuss the solution best adapted to your project and organize the work.

Vinyl sticker : white printable PVC suitable for the production of stickers.

Mass-coloured vinyl sticker : coloured PVC for cutting out lettering or logos. In stock we have white, black and red vinyl.

Personalized stickers: the pattern is first printed on white self-adhesive vinyl using the latex printer. It is then inserted in the cutting plotter to be cut according to the desired outline (different sizes and shapes). Then it remains only to remove the areas around the stickers and separate them in plates (usually A4 for small stickers). As the implementation is significant, we highly recommend that you order at least five A4 (or equivalent) plates.

Signage: cutting is usually carried out in a “mass-dyed” material (meaning the dye is incorporated in the matter during its manufacturing). The color is chosen from a more or less rich color chart, depending on the matter and the application (durability, adhesion, support, etc.). Generally, an order is placed specifically to meet the needs of your project.
Once the cutting is carried out, the areas not belonging to the object need to be removed and a transfer paper will be applied; it will later be used to “take away” all the elements when affixing your sticker. Depending on the type of application, we can offer our services to proceed to the (paying service).

Rigid plaque: to produce a rigid printed plaque, we offer Forex in 5 mm thickness to be cut to your required format. The design, previously printed on white self-adhesive vinyl is placed on the (rectangular) Forex cut to size. For large orders, we can also examine the possibility of ordering a specific material: the order is placed per plaque (about 1.5 x 3 m).