digital watermarking

[alu]

Hi guys,

After doing 'free' design for a few clients hoping to get the print job, I have had people leave with the print ready PDF proof that I gave them to go down the street to the next print shop.

Being new to the business I have been a bit naive when it comes to trusting clients.

What is the recommended way to show people digital proofs of the work? Google tells me there are some paid programs that will digitally watermark my PDF. Does anyone here have experience with such applications?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[zoran]

Give them 72 dpi JPEG of your work that should display just fine on screen but will not print that well.

[alu]

Hi Zoran,
It's a good suggestion and I've done it before, but sometimes it's not good enough as it doesn't show the detail that some customers need to see (and that the artwork deserves!)

Instead of physical proofs which I have to deliver and then retrieve, I think that a carefully placed watermark would be best.

And to be honest, some clients would give the other printer a 72dpi image thinking it's good enough and of course my competition will gladly print it for them even at crappy quality.

Thanks

[zoran]

You can give them watermarked PDF that is locked and it takes 10 seconds to remove locked protection and another 15 to remove watermark so it's not really safe.
I do not do design and usually don't have need to lock PDF's but there could be good service for online soft proofing that will keep design locked and still give you high-res preview.
I know there are several expensive services but I am not sure if there is small/cheaper version of the same.
Perhaps someone else will chip in who knows.

[alu]

Online proofing service.. I didn't even think of that - sounds like a good way to do it.

A more involved process would be to take my proof and put in a watermark (either before or after) and make a rasterized/flattened jpg/png/whatever.

A bit more of a pain but might be the safest way.

So this DRM, Document Security & Copy Protection Software for PDF, Flash, PowerPoint, Ebook & HTML Security - LockLizard would be easy to unlock?

[Londen]

You can add water mark to your proof by using acrobat pro.

[alu]

Londen, if the client has acrobat, they just select the watermark and then press the delete key, bingo.. gone.

[graficworx]

I think your problem has happened to every designer a time or two. Best thing to do is create a PROOF wording layer in photoshop, then when you save as a PDF make sure to not include the layers and flatten the image. That way the file is useless if they try to take it somewhere else. I've seen people even copy hard copy proofs. Also, with the proof give your client a proof approval for that clearly states the job description, and their name and company, stating that if they do not accept the proof that the artwork still officially belongs to you. PM me if you would like some help with this.

[alu]

Thanks graficworx, this sounds like the safest/easiest solution.

I liked the ability to simply rename my whatever-proof.pdf to whatever-print.pdf because I was ensured that I wouldn't mess up any settings on my export etc.. But I may have to live with this option.

Good idea, if they don't do the printing with me, then the artwork (which they have not paid for) is not theirs to keep.

Thanks

[michaelejahn]

I suppose this can be defeated, but you can disable the ability to print a PDF.

With the PDF file open - under the file menu, select Properties

In the Properties dialog box, go to the Security tab

In the Security Method drop down, change the default selection from No Security to Password Security

Near the bottom of the Password Security-setting dialog box, in the Permissions section, check Restrict editing and printing of the document - I use a standard password for any of my AcroForms PDF documents to inhibit the casual snooping into how I construct the forms or discovering links to databases that I try and keep private.

This is not unbreakable, but it might do the job for you - they can view, just not print.

Hope this helps.

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