And I Expected Quality.... (short rant)

[Zwicker Press]

We're printing sales guides / presentation kits for a new wide format machine from one of the big players that evEry Freakin prInter knows. It's a nice job for us. So, I get all the artwork in (PDF's) and none have the bleeds I need. We contact the client (a "designer" not the manufacturer) and find out that the whole thing is designed in Word and they can't / don't know how to add bleeds. I mean, seriously!!, I can't imagine the money this "designer" is getting with the end client being such a large company.

Anyway, back to the daily routine of taking crap files -> pit stop -> outline all the type -> Illustrator -> Manually stretch everything to bleed -> resave -> reproof -> And usually not get any extra $ for it because you can't explain to a good client how f*ing stupid they are.

I weep for the true graphic designers as every Mac Book toting douche bag at Starbucks undercuts your prices.

ok, I feel better now

 

[claude72]

pit stop -> outline all the type -> Illustrator -> Manually stretch everything to bleed

No need to use Illustrator (which is NOT a PDF editor!!! and can give strange results...): simply resize in Acrobat and stretch with PitStop.

Other solutions:
- print "as is" and trim 4 mm smaller (2mm each side),
- print "as is" and trim 10 mm bigger, leaving a 5 mm white margin all around,
- or print at 102% and trim at the original size.

(I tried these 4 solutions... trimming 4mm smaller is the easiest, and the customer rarely sees the cheating!!! )

 

[BigSi]

I guess what he was getting at is he should not have to do these "fix ups" no matter how quick and easy they are to do.
I will NEVER employ anyone who calls themselves a "graphic designer" for these very reasons.

 

[gordo]

I will NEVER employ anyone who calls themselves a "graphic designer" for these very reasons.

We used to call customers like that a "Pewac" - Putz with a computer. Didn't help with the files but made us feel better.

best gordo

 

[maas]

Could be worse, wait till they roll out Publisher...........

 

[easiprint]

Could be worse, wait till they roll out Publisher...........

Personally I would rather have a Publisher file than a Word file, as at least publisher has some bleed and crop mark options, but I know what you mean. It's a sad state these days, but every time we get a client who says "my graphic designer will send you the artwork", we really do dread what carp we are going to get. Sometimes we are surprised and get great pdf's, but most of the time it's just plain old carp!

 

[easiprint]

Just remembered the best one I had from a 'graphic designer' was when he told me that no one uses pdf files anymore as they display differently on different computers and that his old printer never needed a bleed so why should we? I inflated his price and he went elsewhere... sometimes it's just best all round not to take a job on....

 

[Zwicker Press]

No need to use Illustrator (which is NOT a PDF editor!!! and can give strange results...): simply resize in Acrobat and stretch with PitStop.

Other solutions:
- print "as is" and trim 4 mm smaller (2mm each side),
- print "as is" and trim 10 mm bigger, leaving a 5 mm white margin all around,
- or print at 102% and trim at the original size.
)

I'll try using PitStop next time to resize things, I'm not as familiar with it as I should be, and stuff like that is faster for me in Illustrator (As long as the PDF is 2 pgs or less). The enlarge or trim smaller options wouldn't work in this case as there are elements (that aren't meant to bleed) which are 1/16" or so from the edges.

@Easiprint - As a small shop these types of files and customers represent too large a percentage of our work to price them out. I'd love to charge a hefty fee for these kinds of things, but I know the next print shop down the line wont and we lose out. It's just the way it is.

Side note : We do a lot of printing for an Art/Design College and the files we get from them are no better.


Is there some certification/standard for graphic designers set by the print industry?
Something so that you can safely say - This person will know what they're doing
Maybe one that requires at least a day in a real press room.

Anyway, that particular job/frustration is now a distant memory. On to the next.....

 

[claude72]

I'll try using PitStop next time to resize things, I'm not as familiar with it as I should be, and stuff like that is faster for me in Illustrator (As long as the PDF is 2 pgs or less).

For vector element, you can also edit them in Illustrator from Acrobat with the "Touch Up tool"!

The enlarge or trim smaller options wouldn't work in this case as there are elements (that aren't meant to bleed) which are 1/16" or so from the edges.

I also had that crap: texts or pictures that are too close of the edge or touching the edge... but no matter, we cut the end of the words for the trimming!!!
The advantage, is that it makes the stupid ""designer"" understand quickly the use (and need) of margins! And as even Word allows to create margins, next time the pages have margins.


************

Could be worse, wait till they roll out Publisher...

Oh no, don't believe that! Publisher is far more efficient than Word for printing: as already said, it handles CMJN, pages, bleeds, and all what is needed to make a good document for printing (some are only in the most recent versions). The only problem is that it runs on Windows

To be said, Publisher or Word does not matter, as, in fact, the problem is NOT the software, but is the stupidity and the incompetence of the user: whatever the soft used, even InDesign or XPress, if the user knows nothing about the job, and is not enough competent to understand the need of margin and bleed, the PDF will be a piece of crap and will have no bleed...

... and if the designer is a real designer, perfectly knowing the job, he will be able to make a good PDF for printing with TextEdit!!!

 

[Al Ferrari]

I am guessing that you are probably not exploring the possibilities that this customer "flaw" presents:

"We do a lot of printing for an Art/Design College and the files we get from them are no better."

Al

 

[chevalier]

I am guessing that you are probably not exploring the possibilities that this customer "flaw" presents:

"We do a lot of printing for an Art/Design College and the files we get from them are no better."

Al

My thoughts exactly. JOB SECURITY and PROFIT POTENTIAL!