| For all the newspapers, magazines, billboards, business | | | | in proportion and any client will be quite upset it is |
| cards, flyers and other printed matter, someone is | | | | squashed or stretched too much. If you have Quark or |
| responsible for all the creating and printing that takes | | | | InDesign you need to check the x and y percentages |
| place. Problems can always arise between the | | | | of the graphic box in which you placed the art. One of |
| designer's final idea and the actual finished product. | | | | the biggest disadvantages of embedding logos into |
| There are two specific ways that printers receive | | | | any layout is that you cannot tell all the time, on screen, |
| artwork. The old-fashioned way is for printers to | | | | if it has been properly scaled. Be sure to check against |
| receive art boards with pasted-up type and photos, | | | | the original layout if you have doubts. |
| which the printer then screens, takes a photo, makes a | | | | 4. You need to check more common problems like the |
| negative, prepares a printing plate and goes to press. | | | | fonts in the document. To be sure that all of the fonts |
| This takes many steps and is an inexact method. | | | | are installed correctly you can do a simple check by |
| With the advent of computers, new ways arrived. | | | | going to the font menu in your application, and if there |
| Now many of the old steps can be skipped, and | | | | are any faux bold or faux italic fonts, replace them |
| printers can send files directly to printing plates, or use | | | | with the defined bold or italic from the font menu. If you |
| new digital printers with no plates at all. Perhaps the | | | | have to make any changes to the font style, be sure |
| best-known new way is through an Adobe PDF file | | | | to check the line breaks and the flow of how the |
| (Portable Document Format) where everything is | | | | words are running. This will assure that no extra lines |
| collected together from an original work document | | | | have been created or have been altered. A widow is |
| done in QuarkXpress, an Adobe application (InDesign, | | | | the last line of a paragraph that appears by itself at |
| Photoshop, Illustrator) or another computer program. | | | | the top of a column, an orphan appears at the bottom, |
| The PDF will end up with the images and fonts | | | | and you want to reduce the occurrence of both. |
| included, as well as the color information. There are | | | | There are no fonts that are the same, so making |
| certain things to look for before you prepare any | | | | substitutions will always cause a change. |
| artwork for printing that can make all the difference. | | | | 5. Color space is important in your submitted |
| Here are five helpful tips in order to prepare your | | | | document. If you are printing one color, you can save in |
| artwork for the printing phase. | | | | grayscale (black and white). If you are printing in two |
| 1. Getting an overview of the entire job is important. | | | | spot colors, you need to make separations, meaning |
| Make sure to ask questions about the final output. | | | | your document will be output in such a way that the |
| Know the size, shape, how many pages there will be, | | | | printer can deal with art for each color separately. In a |
| etc. Determine if it is a process-color (four-color) job, | | | | four-color job, you need to have the CMYK color |
| one-color (mono) job, a spot-color job (black and one | | | | space selected so that the four process colors (Cyan, |
| or more other colors) or even a process job with | | | | Magenta, Yellow and blacK) can be printed |
| additional spot color. Do any of the colors overprint? | | | | independently. When they are all printed together, the |
| Are there repeated items like subheads that need to | | | | photorealistic effect of four-color printing is achieved. |
| be the same throughout the entire document? Is there | | | | The default color space for computer art is RGB (Red, |
| a certain style like a border or an effect that should be | | | | Green, Blue), and printers cannot print RBG-spec'd PDF |
| throughout the document? These are all important | | | | files. They need CMYK. If this is confusing to you, there |
| questions that need to be asked and answered in the | | | | are plenty of educational resources to help you get up |
| design phase, and communicated to the printer when | | | | to speed, from the Internet to the printer's own staff. |
| ready to go. | | | | Of course, there are any number of other factors to |
| 2. Proofread all of your documents before the final | | | | consider before making a final print. Still, these five tips |
| print stage. You can never go wrong with an | | | | can help you get started. If you are precise, diligent and |
| experienced proofreader but if you're not sure about a | | | | careful you will be able to eliminate all of the |
| simple word or phrase, look it up in Google to be sure. | | | | unnecessary mistakes that might arise. Often times, |
| There are plenty of online dictionaries and resources | | | | mistakes are made because some simple things have |
| that can help you with spelling issues. Be sure that your | | | | been overlooked. Careful planning is the best way to |
| quotes are curling the right way. Always check your | | | | assure that your final printing job is a success (and a |
| hyphenation as well. Using the Find/Replace method is | | | | thorough checklist helps, too).Go Green! At we help the |
| a great way to ensure your hyphens are in the | | | | environment by offering options for green printing. For |
| correct places. It also helps to eliminate double spaces. | | | | all your brochure printing needs, visit online today for |
| 3. You need to take great care in the use of logos, | | | | more information. |
| especially when scaling logos. They need to always be | | | | |
