Creating a press-ready document is not simple. Publishers who understand most common problems can save their printer lots of aggravation.In print publishing, prepress problems typically cost money and can mean missed deadlines. Nobody likes getting the "we have a problem" phone call from their printer.
However, while mastering graphic design and prepress may take some time, publishers can avoid many of the major prepress pitfalls with a little knowledge, communication and some software tools.
Mordy Golding, founder of the New York-based Design Responsibly consultancy and author of numerous books on Adobe desktop publishing software, said the most common prepress problems happen because publishers are "not aware of the printing process."
"If you can arrange it," Golding said, "go to a printer and spend the day watching them running the presses. That, I think, is more valuable than going to a six-month course at a college. I know there are certain printers, especially the smaller mom-and-pop shops, that are usually very happy for you to come in and watch their presses run and see what they do on a daily basis."
Golding, whose latest book Sams Teach Yourself Creative Suite 2 All in One (Sams Publishing, $34.99) was published last month, said by shadowing a prepress professional, publishers can quickly understand press-specific subjects such as bleeds.
Making PDFs is not a cure-all
PDF (Portable Document Format) has been touted as an ideal and reliable file format to distribute and exchange electronic documents—including press-ready files for commercial printers. Unfortunately, customer-created PDF files have arguably become the number one prepress problem in desktop publishing today.
Golding said, "People are under the impression 'if I make a PDF file it will print correctly.' And printers are frustrated because they advertise they accept PDF files, yet they still have problems printing those files and turning them around and reproducing them reliably because there are many different variables that go into making a PDF file. Yes, PDF files can embed the fonts, but that doesn't mean that every designer will embed their fonts.
"And yes, PDF files can contain CMYK or spot color information but that doesn't mean that the user sets up that file correctly to begin with. And yes, a PDF can contain high resolution files but again, there is no assurance the designer used high resolution files. Maybe they downloaded some low-resolution GIF or JPEG images off of a Web site which can't be reproduced in high quality."
Click here to read advice from an Adobe expert on getting PDFs to print properly.
Garden-variety PDF files are not the same as press-ready PDFs. As a file format, PDF appeals to a wide range of publishers who can incorporate hyperlinks and multimedia files in their documents and may create these files for on-screen consumption only. Because of this, and because PDF files can be very difficult to fix, many printers hate receiving customer-created PDF files.
"It frustrates printers because they never know what they will be getting," Golding said.
However, print publishers can turn to a version of PDF to help them avoid some press-specific problems. PDF/X is a restricted subset of the PDF specification, created specifically for prepress and print-publishing workflows. Adobe writes that PDF/X "eliminates many of the color, font, and trapping variables that lead to print problems."
Unfortunately, Golding said "not many people are aware of this yet."
There are different PDF/X flavors. For most four-color commercial printing, PDF/X-1a is the top choice, but print publishers should consult with their print providers before submitting files. Default settings in some desktop publishing applications may not have all the desired options selected (such as bleeds and printer's marks). Plus, the print provider may already have published settings available for download.
Golding said all the Adobe CS2 applications have the ability to make PDF/X files. He said the best (and easiest) way to create a press-ready document from an Adobe CS application is to select File > Export.
Creating a PostScript file and then running it through Acrobat Distiller has been the accepted method of creating a press-ready PDF. Although selecting "Print to File" and distilling the PostScript output is still the recommended method for other desktop publishing programs, Golding explained that is no longer the optimum method when using an Adobe CS2 application.
He said that because PostScript is an older and more primitive format than PDF, lots of native file data such as transparency, security and JDF (Job Definition Format) information gets tossed out.
Technical issues often involve fonts and images
Aside from improperly created PDF files, missing or incorrect fonts are the most common digital file prepress problems. Even the most careful publisher can forget their fonts and suffer a text reflow or substitution nightmare.
Fortunately, desktop publishing software manufacturers have responded to this long-time issue by including font collection functionality in their programs: QuarkXPress has "Collect for Output". InDesign has "Package". Microsoft Publisher has "Pack and Go". And the discontinued but widely used PageMaker has "Save for Service Provider."
Plus, through the power of the Internet, publishers can quickly send their printers missing fonts before they even get off the phone.
Image problems are also very common. Issues include missing images, low-resolution images, incorrect color space (RGB and not CMYK) and wrong file format for print (JPEG instead of TIFF or EPS).
Using built-in collection functions can quickly solve missing image problems.
For most four-color print jobs, make sure all images are separated into four colors by changing the color space from RGB (red, green, blue) to CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Check with your print provider, because some digital press printers prefer getting RGB images and letting their RIP (Raster Image Processor) software do the separating.
Next Page: Page settings and bleeds are potential problem areas.
Wrong file format problems can also be easily solved as resaving the image in a print-preferred format. JPEG, BMP, and GIF are not good image formats for print; EPS and TIFF are better. Check with your print service provider as some will now accept native document formats such as Photoshop and Illustrator.
Unfortunately, not having enough resolution (dots) in an image can be difficult to fix. Typically, all images on the Web are scaled to be 72 dpi (dots per inch). Commercial presses (and most desktop printers) output at a much higher resolution and images need to be at least 300 dpi.
If 72 dpi images are output on a high-resolution press, they can look fuzzy and the colors can shift. There is no easy fix except to use the image at a smaller size or get a higher-resolution scan. Typing a larger number in the resolution box in Photoshop (called an "upres") adds more pixels, but diminishes image quality and sharpness. This practice should be avoided.
Bleeds and page settings can be off
Communicating with the print provider can eliminate two additional common prepress mistakes. Incorrect page settings can be avoided by downloading templates from the printer or asking specific questions (such as "How big exactly should I make this page?"). For example, the inside panel on a tri-fold brochure is typically a little bit smaller than the other two, so it can fit inside the fold. Because mechanical folders are a little bit different, this measurement may be a little bit—different.
Bleeds are something many new publishers don't understand and fail to create.
Look at any glossy magazine and see how images and ads appear to bleed off the page (there is no white space around the edges). This is a very common technique.
Printing presses can't print to the edge of a page. So, to achieve this graphic effect, the page is printed on an oversized sheet and a cutter (such as a guillotine) is used to trim the page. Because paper can shrink and swell from humidity, paper cutters are not exact. So they need a little extra area for wiggle room.
By pulling images and elements a little beyond the "trim" size, this ensures that there will be no ugly white space at the edge of the page. This little trick is called pulling bleeds. Most printers request a 1/8" inch bleed on all edges but some may require more, so be sure to check.
Learning all the tricks
Besides shadowing a printer, Golding suggested publishers get a good print reference book. He specifically mentioned the venerable Pocket Pal (International Paper, $14). First published in 1934 and now in its 19th edition, this diminutive resource is crammed with print information and is edited by Frank Romano, professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology.
To preflight (borrowing a term from aviation) means checking a file for problems before printing. Markzware Software offers a number of quality-control products for publishers including FlightCheck. Enfocus Software offers PDF preflighting with its PitStop product, and Callas Software offers pdfInspektor2.
Click here to read a review of Enfocus PitStop Pro.
The Adobe CS applications offer advanced prepress functions built-in, and Quark has announced that XPress 7 will also offer "comprehensive rule-based preflight capabilities."
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