Print Buying Direct

10 Tips for Creatives in a Digital World – 11th February 2009

In the last 20 years, the creative process has undergone a nearly total digital transformation, giving creatives the power to eliminate steps in the workflow, deliver new value and change the way clients are served. Here are some helpful hints for managing this expanded creative latitude.

Discuss your job with your print provider.
Before you begin your design, contact your print provider for requirements that can help you do the job right the first time.

Follow the standards.
Standards like SNAP, GRACOL, SWOP, PDF and PDF/X help enable today’s ever-faster turnarounds, ensuring smooth handoffs from creatives to pre-press and printer.

Simplify the workflow.
By moving to a total digital, standards-based workflow, many creative agencies and production operations move at much faster paces, with fewer people.

Explore elegant digital typography.
Much like offset, high-end digital presses are excellent for reproducing solid text with fine lines and serifs as small as four point.

Specify Pantone colours as spot colours.
This allows most digital printing systems to achieve the best match to the original spot ink by using an optimized Pantone matching table.

Mix paper stocks.
Digital presses allow automated intermixing of different insert and cover stocks within the job, with no waiting for ink to dry. And they retain vivid colour across all papers, even uncoated stocks.

The basics still apply.
Many of the same rules apply in digital printing as in offset and gravure. It’s not enough for the pages to look spectacular; the designer still has to pay close attention to details, such as type readability.

Use On-Press Proofs.
Digital presses can switch between jobs on the fly, permitting printers to easily produce on-press proofs that are the exact output of the job, on the same paper. This eliminates the need for simulated proofs produced by offline proofing devices.

Make final tweaks.
With the all-digital workflow of a digital press, late revisions and many color and image quality adjustments are more easily accepted and applied – a major advantage for digital printing.

Explore new applications.
Cross-media, variable information and on demand communications programs are all ideally suited to digital printing, and they provide a valuable service to clients who want to provide the most timely, accurate relevant, and persuasive information.

Bonus tip:
Study the craft of being digital. Tap into the growing number of educational initiatives from trade associations and universities to help sort out the constant flow of new digital design technologies.

For more information please see our websites

The Printing House

Print Buying Direct (Print Buying Direct is a brand of The Printing House Ltd, Crewe, Cheshire, UK)

PREPARING TO PRINT

Once the layout and design of a job is complete, you’ll need to decide how to hand over your files. At The Printing House (Print Buying Direct) we usually prefer a single PDF but can work with all of the source files.

Either way, you’ll want to run though a preflight checklist. For more information see our artwork guidlines webpage.
PREFLIGHT CHECKLIST… ARE YOU READY?

• Ensure that all graphics and images are in their final size and correct resolution, 100% at 300 dpi.
• Rotate, scale and edit images and graphics prior to placing them in page layout applications.
• Image file formats should be EPS or TIFF (not JPEG) and verify that all source files are linked properly.
• All spot colours should be designated as spot colors and not as CMYK recipes.
• Spell check your document.
• Remove any trapping (allow the printer to apply trapping).
• Check for transparency and either flatten or notify the printer so they can flatten the file. All bleeds should generally be set to 3 mm.
• Gather all source files: fonts, graphics, images and layout documents, if requested. Use the [Package] feature in InDesign or the [Collect for Output] in QuarkXPress.
• Perform a visual preflight using overprint preview, colour separations preview and transparency flattener preview.
• Prepare a mock-up to give the printer as a finished sample.

TRAPPING

• For best results, trapping should be applied by The Printing House and not the yourself. Trapping settings made in the application are not included in the PostScript when printing with the Composite mode.
• Avoid instances where trapping to gradients or images is required (the change in color may not reproduce well).

BLEEDS

Include 3 mm bleed for all areas that extend off the page when trimming is required.

IMPOSITION

If you plan to use binding, leave ample room for the gutter. Aside from that, we will do all imposition work.

INDESIGN CS2 PREPARE TO PRINT

PREFLIGHTING

• Use the [Preflight] feature under the File menu to make sure all fonts, graphics and image links are present.

PACKAGING

• Use the [Package] feature under the File menu to collect all fonts, graphics and images used in the job. This will ensure that all elements are collected when the job is delivered to The Printing House. Instructions and contact information can also be included by the designer for us.

QUARKXPRESS 6.5 PREPARE TO PRINT
USAGE…

• Use the [Usage...] feature in the Utilities menu of QuarkXPress to review that all fonts, graphics and images are linked correctly in the file.

COLLECT FOR OUTPUT

Use the [Collect for Output] feature in QuarkXPress to gather all fonts, graphics and images used in the job. This will ensure that all elements are collected when the job is delivered to the print provider. Note, however, that you will need to gather fonts from imported EPS or PDF pictures manually unless they are already imbedded into the EPS or PDF file.

ACROBAT DISTILLER 7 SETTINGS

• Create PostScript from the source application using the Acrobat Distiller PPD.
• Be sure to use the Binary data format and include all fonts.
• Use the Smooth Shading feature in Acrobat Distiller.
• The Save As features in PDF Writer/Maker or the Mac OS X Save As PDF feature should be used with caution.

The following recommended settings have been optimized for high image quality printing. In some instances, productivity may take priority over image quality and, therefore, require different settings (such as adjustments in compression).

Open Acrobat Distiller and go to the Settings menu. Select [Edit: Adobe PDF Settings...]. Create a custom set choosing the following recommended settings and select [Save As...] using a new fi le name (e.g.,“ artwork for The Printing House”).

Distiller will save the file in the right place so it can be accessed as a new Job Option set.

• Select Acrobat 6.0 ( PDF 1.5) for the best compatibility. Note that since you are working with a PostScript file there is no need to select Acrobat 4.0 compatibility for transparency concerns (writing files to PostScript always flattens any transparency effects).
• To ensure that the orientation of the pages prints correctly, do not select the Auto-Rotate Pages feature.
• Embed Thumbnails is optional. Versions of Acrobat 5 and higher are able to dynamically create thumbnails on the fly.

IMAGES

To preserve the best image quality, compression is generally not recommended.

Distiller 7 contains a new Policy button. You will need to decide the threshold of what level of resolution is appropriate for the quality of the job and if the job should pass, fail or warn the user. Try setting the minimum as 200dpi and the max as 400dpi.

FONTS

• If jobs fail while distilling, check the job for missing fonts. The following settings recommend cancelling the job when fonts are missing to ensure the document prints correctly.
• To guarantee the font information is successfully included in the Adobe PDF file and will view properly on the monitor, the required fonts should reside either in the system folder of the computer or in the PostScript file.
• A higher percentage value is generally recommended for [Subset embedded fonts . . .].

COLOUR

• The Settings File selection under Adobe Colour Settings should usually be set to [None], [Leave Colour Unchanged].

ADVANCED

• The Convert Gradients to Smooth Shades feature can help smooth vignettes/ sweeps/ gradients with Vector-based programs such as Adobe Illustrator or QuarkXPress. Using this feature with Microsoft Office jobs may or may not improve the job due to the way sweeps are generated in those applications.
• As a precautionary measure, use the Save Adobe PDF Settings Inside PDF File feature. The recipient of the PDF may be able to troubleshoot problem files more easily if the settings are included with the job.

EXPORTING PDF FILES

When exporting files from InDesign or QuarkXPress, you can apply many of the same Acrobat Distiller recommendations discussed previously.

INDESIGN CS2—EXPORT PDF

The PDF options for InDesign are fairly similar to those in Acrobat Distiller. If there is a custom set saved from Distiller, it will be selectable from the PDF Export dialog box. Follow the settings previously discussed.

There is one additional group of settings, [Marks and Bleeds], that can be set to your preference.

QUARKXPRESS 6.5—EXPORT PDF

In QuarkXPress be sure to click on the [Options...] button to access all of the available controls over PDF settings.

You will want to check the options under the Job Options and the Output tab. Take special care to ensure the Color [Output Type] is set to [Composite] and that [Print Colors] is set to [As Is].

Note that blends made with PANTONE® colors in Quark 6, will print as RGB when the [Print Colors] selection is set to [As Is]. To preserve PANTONE Blends (gradients), set Print Colors to [Device N]. Using [Device N] will, however, convert any RGB text, objects and images to CMYK.

PREFLIGHTING PDF FILES

In Adobe Acrobat 6 or higher you can use the Preflight tool to create your own custom preflight profile or use one of the default profiles. If you are not familiar with this tool you may want to talk with your print provider first. They may be able to provide you with a customized profile or walk you through the process.
Also refer to the Adobe documentation provided with Acrobat.

For more information or help please call The Printing House (Print Buying Direct) on 0870 950 8444

The Printing House Ltd – Marshfield bank, Crewe, Cheshire, UK