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How To Prepare Materials for a Commercial Printer
However, if your job is a brochure or will be printed on a printing press, it is best to create the document in a page-layout application.
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Business New Haven
11/22/1999
By: Susan Banfield
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It used to be that preparing something for the printer simply meant creating a pasteup of the item to be printed, with everything glued in place as it was to appear in the finished product. Now, in the age of electronic media (which were supposed to make our lives simpler, right?) getting something ready for the press is much more complicated. Most people, even those with some experience with computer design, could use a few pointers.
The first step, if you haven't yet created your document, is to use the right tool. If you are talking about a simple one-page flyer that you will reproduce on a color copier or a digital printer, just about any application will do: PowerPoint, MS Word, WordPerfect.
However, if your job is a brochure or will be printed on a printing press, it is best to create the document in a page-layout application: Quark XPress, Pagemaker, MS Publisher. These applications allow you to do color separations, which are necessary for all color work printed on a press.
They also allow you to convert what are called reader's spreads to printer's spreads. (Take apart a simple, stapled-in-the-middle eight page brochure, and you will see that, on the flat pieces of paper that comprise it, page one is next to page eight, page two next to page seven, etc. These are printer's spreads.)
(If you do not have a page-layout application, it is still acceptable to type a multi-page document in MS Word. Printers can do the conversion.)
Once you have created your document, next contact your printer, ask how he wants the job supplied, and let him know what your capabilities are. Ask: Does he want you to do the conversion to printer's spreads? Does he want you to do the color separations? Some printers, even though you may have created a document in an application that makes these tasks easy, prefer to do them themselves.
Ask how the document will be bound and how that affects your page layout (what kind of margins binding requires). Finally, ask about any photos in the document. What resolution (dots per inch) does he need? What color format - RGB (red-green-blue) or CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black)? Or perhaps the printer would prefer to scan the photos himself. This may cost a little more than having it done at, say, Kinko's, but is almost sure to result in better color quality. Also, let him know if any photos will bleed (run off the edge of the page), as this will affect the way he sets up the press.
When preparing the text of your document, it is essential to supply font files. There are so many different versions of fonts that, even if you are using a common font such as Times Roman or Helvetica, your version may be different from the printer's. This can affect spacing and the way your document sets up on the page.
Ideally, supply fonts as separate files, not embedded. In a pinch, however, you can supply fonts embedded using Word (under “Options” in “Save As,” click on “embedded true type fonts”).
Note, too, that if you are giving the printer Postscript fonts (Postscript and True Type are the two main kinds), you need to give him two files, a PFM and a PFB file, for each font.
When preparing images for the printer, provide him with an original file for all placed graphics. Do not just place them in the document. The printer needs them in a separate file in order to modify them. In fact, it's not even really worth the time it takes to place them in the document; simply provide the separate file. If the printer has asked for the photos supplied in proper resolution and color format, and you have the capability, do so.
Finally, remember that your printer can work with almost anything you supply him - even a paste-up - provided he knows in advance your technical limitations. The key is communication.
The Five Most Annoying Things People Do When Preparing Jobs for the Printer
1. They do not provide separate font files.
2. Placed graphics are not provided in separate files.
3. When rules or borders are used, people specify the width as “hairline.” Hairline is defined as the narrowest width the printer can print, and while on a laser printer hairline rules print at 0.25 or 0.5 point and look nice, a print shop's equipment will print them so thin you won't even be able to see them. Specify a specific point size.
4. People select a color from their computer screen, which is in RGB format, and expect the printer to match it in his CMYK format. When specifying a color, it is better to give the printer a Pantone number, or mix the color in Quark or MS Publisher.
5. MS PowerPoint, Word or similar applications are used for graphics in a four-color print job. If you don't have someone on staff who can use Quark or a similar application, it is better simply to provide the printer with the photos and other graphics and let him handle them. Word will not produce a high-quality four-color print job.
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