oxburger
Well-known member
Top 10 File Prep Gripes (These are by no means all inclusive. Just my top 10.)
Other posters, feel free to add anything I may have missed.
1. I know that the file is the "final" version. I assume this because you sent the file to us, your printer, to be printed so I'm assuming you don't want to print version 2 out of 8 and that you do want to print the "final" corrected file. You do not need to call the file "Brochure 3-9 FNL.indd". We get the idea.
2. You do not need to put colored boxes that are colored CMYK on the edge of every page. I can see from the print order that it prints CMYK so you don't need to specify that on every page.
3. You also do not need to put "Gray prints Pantone Cool Gray 4" off to the side. If you did your job correctly, there will be a spot color in your pallette that is called Pantone Cool Gray 4 and any object you want to print that color has been colored in the document as such.
4. We do not need you to put trim marks on the page. (The computers we use are quite accurate and can do this quite well on their own.) Provided of course that you were smart enough to build your document at the trim size and not on some god awful page that's 4 times bigger so you could accommodate all your little "notes".
5. When you color something white, we understand that if it's printing on white paper it's going to reverse to white or reverse to paper color. We have been doing this a while and understand "the printing process".
6. You also don't need to put the document in printer's spreads or try to impose the job yourself. You have no idea how were going to run the job, on what size stock or how were going to run through our binding equipment. In fact, we'll probably have to tear your file apart so that we can impose it our way anyway, so don't even bother. If you want a 16 page brochure, make page 1 the front cover and page 16 the back cover, and we'll take care of the rest.
8. For the love of God, pull out your bleeds to at least an 1/8" of an inch. I know you want to see it at final trim while you're designing it, but if you could, pull out the bleeds before you send it in. If you have a photo that needs to bleed and doesn't, open it up in Photoshop and clone it. Or enlarge it slightly in the program to get the bleed.
9. When building or using logos in Illustrator, if they are to print in CMYK, build them this way and not in Spots. It saves us time opening them up and converting them.
10. Don't use rich black for small text. You're just going to run in to registration problems in the end. If you use rich blacks for solids, don't use registration. Use a mix closer to 40,40,40,100.
I know this is probably what you were taught in design school, but it really isn't necessary and is a waste of your time and your clients. Save them some money and bring in more clients for your business (you'll have plenty of extra time on your hands if you avoid these unnecessary steps)
Other posters, feel free to add anything I may have missed.
1. I know that the file is the "final" version. I assume this because you sent the file to us, your printer, to be printed so I'm assuming you don't want to print version 2 out of 8 and that you do want to print the "final" corrected file. You do not need to call the file "Brochure 3-9 FNL.indd". We get the idea.
2. You do not need to put colored boxes that are colored CMYK on the edge of every page. I can see from the print order that it prints CMYK so you don't need to specify that on every page.
3. You also do not need to put "Gray prints Pantone Cool Gray 4" off to the side. If you did your job correctly, there will be a spot color in your pallette that is called Pantone Cool Gray 4 and any object you want to print that color has been colored in the document as such.
4. We do not need you to put trim marks on the page. (The computers we use are quite accurate and can do this quite well on their own.) Provided of course that you were smart enough to build your document at the trim size and not on some god awful page that's 4 times bigger so you could accommodate all your little "notes".
5. When you color something white, we understand that if it's printing on white paper it's going to reverse to white or reverse to paper color. We have been doing this a while and understand "the printing process".
6. You also don't need to put the document in printer's spreads or try to impose the job yourself. You have no idea how were going to run the job, on what size stock or how were going to run through our binding equipment. In fact, we'll probably have to tear your file apart so that we can impose it our way anyway, so don't even bother. If you want a 16 page brochure, make page 1 the front cover and page 16 the back cover, and we'll take care of the rest.
8. For the love of God, pull out your bleeds to at least an 1/8" of an inch. I know you want to see it at final trim while you're designing it, but if you could, pull out the bleeds before you send it in. If you have a photo that needs to bleed and doesn't, open it up in Photoshop and clone it. Or enlarge it slightly in the program to get the bleed.
9. When building or using logos in Illustrator, if they are to print in CMYK, build them this way and not in Spots. It saves us time opening them up and converting them.
10. Don't use rich black for small text. You're just going to run in to registration problems in the end. If you use rich blacks for solids, don't use registration. Use a mix closer to 40,40,40,100.
I know this is probably what you were taught in design school, but it really isn't necessary and is a waste of your time and your clients. Save them some money and bring in more clients for your business (you'll have plenty of extra time on your hands if you avoid these unnecessary steps)
