Chapters 8,9, & 10

CSR rule/ Talking with the Printer

Short for Customer Service Representative the CSR is the second person that you will normally be handed off to whenever your giving a job to the print company, the first being the salesman. One rule about CSR's is that you always want to make sure that they are knowledgeable at the print processes. In some cases your printing knowledge might supersede those of your CSR, in this case it is absolutely important that you handle this situation in a cor-gel manner. Asking to speak to someone directly on the print line about your job is not consider pestering them until you take it to that point. If you are able to speak directly with those handling your project on the print line then it is also imparitive that you keep your CSR in the loop. This will in turn improve your CSR's knowledge and make your job turn around in the future possibly easier.

 Planning for Print

Print planning is an essential process when it comes to a designer, and it is highly important that you know these steps to insure your job security, plus it will save you the embarrasement of the printers telling you to redo the job. Now let's learn these steps:

External Document Size: Whenever creating a piece whether it be a one page poster or a tri-fold brochure, knowing your final document size is crucial. This can be done either from your clients specifications or from an example that you already have, if you already have the example then get a ruler and make certain the final size.

Adequate Bleed: Most projects are set bleed is 1/8th of an inch, you should be fine to set your bleed at this. However speak to your printer to ensure that they do not require any larger.

Internal Panel Sizes: If your setting up a job that folds, make sure that you incorporate those folds in your document. One easy way to do this is to establish guidelines in your layout program, also you can speak with you print service to see if they provide a template.

Artwork Interactions with folds, perforations, or die cut trims: It is important to speak with your print provider on your folding jobs to ensure that any artwork that is placed up against a fold line does not bleed over. Speak with your print company so that they can ensure that this doesn't happen by giving you guides or bleed lines that you should establish in your document.

Correct Number of Pages: In all multi page documents the number of pages should be divisible by four. An example used in the book is, "pull out the pages in a book, look at the loose pages remaining and you will notice that they are fours, two front and two back." If you are putting together a notebook or something of the sort then you can get away with an odd number by using the blank pages as a place to write notes.

Correct Inks: Delete all unecessary colors that are in your swatches panel. This helps the printer in establishing which colors in your job are used.

Checking Raster Images

Making sure that your images are named correctly, colored correctly, and are the correct resolution is imperative so that your design comes out correct and that there are no hiccups in the printing process.

Resolution: When using a raster image normally it needs to be set to 300 ppi at it's final image size however there are exceptions. In large format printing your customers will probably be several feet away from your final design so with a lower ppi setting you will achieve the same result as if they were looking at a small document up close. So on your large format prints most the time you should be able to get away with a 150 ppi.

Color Space: In most print shops you will want your final file to be colored in CMYK, however again in a color managed print shop you may be allowed to use RGB. In your grayscale projects then make sure that they are truly gray scale and are not just colored in gray in a CMYK format.

Retouching: If you have an image that needs retouching and you are not comfortable doing so then ask your print shop to provide this service for you. If you are going to ask this question however come prepared. Have your images that will need retouching printed before hand and explain to the printer what you are wanting to retouch on those images.

Rotations and Scaling: This is always to be done in the native software that the image was created in, example being photoshop, or illustrator. When you perform these rotations or scales in your layout software your image will most likely become pixelated and you will not receive your intended quality of that design.

Filenames: For easy use avoid useing any special characters in naming your files for the simple fact that whenever carried across platforms the file could not open correctly. Always instead of using a space use a _, and always try and keep your file names short for ease of recovery.

Vectors

Correct Colors: If you will be placing a colored illustration into your page layout software always use pantone colors. These can be located in Pantone books that will also ensure upon print that you will have the desired color you are looking for.

Images: If using an image in your vector art make sure that if you are planning to do any alternation or retouching to that image that you attach the image in your final file. Also always embed your images to ensure that image comes along to the final layout file.

Fonts: If possible try and do your typing in your layout file software, if you are bringing type into this software then make sure it is embedded. This will ensure that the final file has the correct look that you are trying to design. Also make sure that your layout file is packaged so that the fonts used are brought along.

Bleed: Set a bleed that is matching to your layout software in your illustration software so that if your vector art is going to bleed from your layout it you will know the precise size that it needs to be and it will be embedded into your layout without any pixelation.

Types of Proofs

A proof is a rough draft of what your final file will look like. Submit these as PDF's for ease at your local print shop. Most print shops will have the same software as what you are working on and can open the file however this is not a guarantee. Always do a final check of your project to ensure all of your vector and raster image checklists are correct, then export as a PDF with the correct file name. Whenever going to your print shop as them to print a proof and provide them with a high quality print PDF file.

Photoshop Elements

After finishing any editing that you might do within photoshop it is imparative that you flatten your file. This ensures that you are only bringing in one file to your layout software and not every layer you have from your photo. This will cut down on file size whenever exporting and packaging your file later.

If you are using a transparency on your final layout file make sure that this is done in your layout software. If you bring in a already opaque file then you will lose detail in your final file and this will give you no room to make changes later after seeing your printed proof.

AI artboards are what your working on within your Illustrator files, whenever you resize your illustration and place it into your layout software that board will come with it. It is always a good thing that you make your artboard a little larger than you 100% illustration to enable you to move the file if necessary within your layout software. Some people however like to scale there artboard down to that 100% illustration to ensure that your are not picking up any extra space.